Joe Weaver

Conveying research goals clearly is important; there are common writing 'moves', exemplified here by Girlfriend (Lavigne, 2007).

I don't like your girlfriend: clearly state the problem

I think you need a new one: propose solution

I could be your girlfriend: describe your specific contribution

@rorylcooper.bsky.social gave a very nice talk (with gorgeous art) on crocodilian head scale patterns. Fav finding was a potential simple explaination mechanisms driving scale diversity between species.

One sad consequence of mobile and cordless phones: much harder to explain DNA supercoiling these days.

A 3D‐printed optical microscope for low‐cost histological imaging 3D printing has become a useful tool for fast, reproducible and accessible manufacturing of optical components and microscope hardware, but often is only used to part-build imaging setups or specimen...

Holy cow, a completely 3D printed microscope, including lenses! (and that nearly a ‘ oh, by the way’ part of @gailmcconnell.bsky.social‘s opening talk on all sorts of advances in microscopy)

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Settling into Durham University and attending the Biophysical Sciences Institute Winter ECR symposium. Had a peek at the posters, there is some amazing work going on at field intersections.

An ORCID battle I choose to fight. ORC-ID, not "Orchid"

Reading some old notes from a project report, "tools need X implemented to fix this problem. Probably about a half a day of coding".

Oh the lies we tell ourselves.

It's not *the* key to success, but on bit on that key is learning to consistently say to yourself "OK, I'll just work on <thing I've been avoiding but which should be my priority> for 5 minutes before I get tea."

2 hours later...

What if I told you you're allowed to place your figures inline in your preprints?

Question for the meta-analysis and systemic lit review colleagues out there. How do you handle bodies of work coming from problematic publishers - straight up exclusion, evidence weighting?

The 'oh my God Karen' meme from Mean Girls, except with the text 'Oh my God ScienceDirect. You can't just ask someone if they're a robot' underneath a screen capture of a science direct 'are you a robot?' captcha

A productive use of my time:

My test cases pass. Time for a coffee.

My test cases don't pass. Time for a coffee.

May the typographers who make fonts with I and 1 indistinguishable and the people who select those fonts as appropriate for a journal have an unpleasant night.

Those who make ρ and p too similar, consider yourself on notice.

I get to do the "I'm pleased to announce" thing!

Durham University has offered me the the position of Assistant Professor in Theoretical Biological (Microbiome) Modelling with the SMART soils lab to help create healthier soils across many environments and spanning multiple disciplines!

This is an indication of learning and progressing. You're doing great!

Even if your code is "messy". Even if it doesn't run fully. Making it easily available helps understanding the nitty gritty details that don't even get put into SI.

Gettin' REAL tired of bubble charts using diameter to indicate p-value when the chart ends up being panel Q of a 3x3 inch figure.

In my current project, I'm tracking my lower and upper task estimates and qualitative 'uncertainty'. I've been tackling the uncertain tasks as soon as possible and updating the upper/lower bounds. It's very fun watching the overall project upper/lower ETA converge.

Did I just become a Bayesian?

a man in a yellow shirt is sitting in a chair holding a cup and pointing ALT: a man in a yellow shirt is sitting in a chair holding a cup and pointing

Me when one of 'my' proteins shows up in Thobela's keynote and #MEWE11:

Kind of blown away that *98%* of U.S. deaths from waterborne illness are specifically from biofilm associated pathogens. #MEWE11

Every time I fly west. "Gosh is this what being a morning person is like? I hate* morning people."

* Am deeply envious of.

#MEWE11

Decades of flying and probably dozens of times through ATL. I think this may be the first time I've ever seen the outside of the airport. #MEWE11

The reality is setting in, getting bags packed for #MEWE11

I saw a version of this talk at the Microbiology Society earlier this year. It was fascinating stuff!

Just me rewriting to remove em dashes in my proposal to avoid the latest generative AI witch hunt.

Keeping my 'moreovers' though.

Lots of writers I admire have advice which boils down to 'be consistent, don't wait until the mood hits you'.

I have had great success using the 'task inertia' of my personality. Not in the mood to write? OK, just set a timer and make an honest effort for 15 mins. An hour later...still writing.

We'll also go over nuts and bolts stuff, like how to get in contact with our colleagues in middle and high schools (hint: talk to them early!), how to bridge the languages secondary and higher education, how to navigate ethics approval, and how to disseminate the lesson plans widely.