We are thrilled to announce the first official release (v0.1.8) of #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿, the successor to one of our flagship tool, #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀! Based on ideas we conceived of long ago (!), this was achieved thanks to the dedication of Brent Pedersen. 1/n

The more deep learning I do, the more I like logistic regression

This has got to be AI generated word salad, surely, because nobody with basic knowledge of real numbers would even think to write that division of integers can generate irrational numbers.

1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv. There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.

Opening for an epidemiologist at my organisation, the Pacific Community (SPC). Based in Suva; not in my Statistics division but in the Public Health Division next door. Applications close 26 October Fiji time. careers.spc.int/job/epidemio...

"A new independent board, Research Funding New Zealand, will bring together multiple decision-makers, including the (MBIE) Science Board and Marsden Fund Council, to make future funding decisions."

I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Anyone that thinks email is a secure means of communication is kidding themselves.

In AoNZ at 18 you can: -be tried as an adult -serve the NZDF -buy alcohol & cigarettes -vote -drive a class 2 truck -work fulltime, including in a bar But according to NZGovt CoC these are children 🙄

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

Shockingly apt. Monday morning gift from @petermace.bsky.social

There's a Dunedin-Ōtepoti based crime series?! Yes please! Thanks @vandasymon.bsky.social

Sent this to a friend yesterday, who had never heard of it, so re-upping for other Ōtepoti Dunedin folk who are finding the whole voting thing a bit overwhelming.

I just read Ihaka & Gentleman for the first time: doi.org/10.1080/1061... It has only taken ~20 years of using R to get around to it. Not as bad as I thought it would be. #impactfulpapersnz

Was in Ōtautahi Christchurch when an epic NorWest sunset kicked off. Hagley Park is the perfect place to frame it up. #Nikon #NZ #GreatNZRoadie #Sunset

Do you like theoretical biology, mathematical&conceptual modelling and want to apply yourself to cutting-edge research at all levels of biology, from molecules to ecosystems? Come to EMBL! Scope includes physics-based models, emergence, statistics, ML/AI embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

In case anyone has forgotten what happened in Christchurch only 14 years ago

Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols. Thread 1/n

One for the rowers. This is called being too ambitious in the 2025 World Rowing Virtual Series. 8x (1min+1m rest). 10m penalty for every metre difference from round 1. share.google/oTYXRmnAPdQ3...

I screen out Frontiers emails so hadn't seen a colleague's invite to their editorial board. so the colleague emailed me directly to ask again (we're friendly w/ each other) I don't like saying 'no' to service for good colleagues, but one must act on principle against bad publishers. here's my reply

*Four* international PhD supervision requests is a new record. Is anyone else receiving these daily?

Maximum eclipse from here in the middle of the south island New Zealand #Eclipse

Yesterday, fishing, not catching.

What are your most snake-oily AI proposals? AI discovery of herbal immune boosters? AI crime prediction? AI detection of AI use? Shoutout to Narayanan & Kapoor: www.normaltech.ai/p/starting-r...

There hasn't been much discussion of the "New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology" here. Our major research grants have been defunded for ~5 AI2commercialisation proposals. Bio/gene tech has been quietly dropped from the new PRO idea. www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/n...

Someone described NZ pols as swinging back and forth between austerity and get-rich-quick schemes. Now that it’s been pointed out, I see it everywhere

new zealand government reaching new heights of stupidity next year our public dollars will go more to AI grants ($70 million) than all investigator-initiated basic science combined ($56 million in the Marsden fund)

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac... A host organelle (in sea slugs) integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

Genius. This strategy could work for Healthcare too, what could go wrong?

Are you looking for a lectureship in biochemistry, molecular genetics, or bioinformatics? Come and enjoy the greatest place for kayak fishing and a fun research+teaching career. *there are other fun things to do here too.

I still can't get over how pointless it feels to be writing grant proposal these days.

Nice to see a bit of joy and fun in the workplace (sorry to have missed it, I was watching my son play his last school basketball games).

We live in exciting times!

Hear hear Cliff! newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/09/w...

More cuts to the Marsden Fund of @royalsocietynz.bsky.social. This takes it down to $10/capita in real terms when it was over $16 for most of this century. Australia's equivalent, the ARC, is NZ$42/capita, as is the US NSF (despite ongoing attempts to gut the latter). www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

4 trips to/from the US with AirNZ, or...

Applied research is digging for gold, basic research is figuring out where to dig. Marsden used to fund it all. Each grant is rigorously assessed in 2 rounds by a panel of local & international experts. It is risky research, with potentially high rewards.

Results so stunningly clear they inspired this classic xkcd (xkcd.com/2400/):

Video of the pre-dawn this morning. (Tuesday 2 September, Wainui Beach, Aotearoa / New Zealand)

Moderna vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... ) 2/2

After defunding the Sciences? Great move...

Funny looking dogs on this beach. #popoikore #pakake

Translational research is digging for gold. Basic research is learning where and what to dig. The more funding is diverted to translation, the more we deplete the research ecosystem, driving the supplies of "gold" - immediately translatable findings and innovations - to unsustainably low levels.

Echo of the great leap

I dreamed a dream of days gone by, when hope was high and life worth living...

Gee, I wonder where the latest round of R&D cuts puts NZ now? Govt must be long overdue in report R&D spend to the OECD. #nzgov

In Australia (UQ) if you click through

we asked a simple question: What does it take to learn the rules of RNA base pairing? using standard deep-learning technics, got a simple answer: don't need structures, nor alignments or many parameters only a few RNA sequences and 21 parameters; doi.org/10.1101/2025...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... From remote matches to @rfamdb.bsky.social models to the discovery of novel *vertebrate* riboswitches!

PhD opportunity!!! Explore the potential of bryophyte natural product chemistry for modifying plant growth. A University of Otago PhD, but based at BSI in Palmerston North. More here: www.otago.ac.nz/courses/post...