Archive for open source
Thunderbird [support]
Posted in pictures, University life with tags donation, email, gmail, Linux, Mozilla, open source, Outlook, pine, support, Thunderbird on October 18, 2025 by xi'an
against modern sl[AI]very
Posted in Kids, R, Statistics, University life with tags AI, AIMS, artificial intelligence, data mining, ethical machine learning, hackathon, Human Rights, IRC, LLM, machine learning research, modern slavery, open source, Paso Libres, QUT, software development, UNESCO on July 2, 2025 by xi'an
computo on the go
Posted in Books, R, Statistics, University life with tags binary, Biometrika, Computo, editor in chief, free software, French researchers, github, journal, Julia, Latin, logo, machine learning, open access, open source, Python, Quarto, R, repositories, reproducible research, Rmarkdown, SFDS, Société française de Statistique, Statistics on April 8, 2025 by xi'an
Nature tidbits [06 Feb 2025]
Posted in Statistics with tags 23andMe, @ScientistTrump, Africa, Australophitecus africanus, bear, bird flu virus, Buachaille Mor, camembert, Canada, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Data Protection Act, Europe, First Nations, fossils, France, H5N1 virus, infectious diseases, lynx, Nature, Nova Scotia, open source, Paris, plastic waste, raw milk, recycling, red deer, Scotland, silence, Spain, superheated water, unions, University of Warwick, Warwick Manufacturing Group, WHO, WMG, wolverines, wolves, World Health Organization on March 10, 2025 by xi'an
A (naïve, imho) call by the presidente of the Union of Concerned Scientists to boost scientific integrity to protect (US) federal research despite the chainsaw massacre unfolding daily in (US) federal agencies. And the disregard of said massacrers for accountability and legal boundaries. And unions, definitely unions.
Also entries (and two Nature collections) on the one hundredth anniversary of the Taung Child fossil uncovering, as the first Australophitecus africanus that opened the way for the theory that Africa was the birthplace of humanity, along with other extended books reviews. On quantum theory (it’s complicated!, according to Sean Carroll) and Kepler mission (by Jason Steffen). And a show at Cité des Sciences in La Villette about silence that I would love to attend.
A quick assessment of deepseek against its competitors. Mostly praising its open code. And another one on 23andMe losses and trouble, reflecting the one-shot strategy of the company that cannot sell its analysis more than once (despite repeatedly trying, as I can confirm from their frequent emails). And opening concerns about their data or rather our data. Since there is very little protection in the US for this kind of data, considered out of healthcare.
New challenges of large carnivores in Western Europe, with a rise of wolverines, success story for the Iberian lynx, talks of reintroducing wolves to Scotland (to cull red deer like those who roam Buachaille Mor), degrading setting in France with looser rules for shooting wolves.
Microplastics in the brain, unsurprisingly increasing the chances of clots and surprisingly easily moving into blood vessels and the brain. And, speakiMicroplastics in the brainng of plastic, recycling, at last? Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) mentioned as evaluating the life-cycle analysis of a new approach with superheated water. Exposing the elephant in the room, namely that there is very little true recycling going on and that part of the recycled plastic ends up as fuel, hence contributing to pollution. Costs and impact of turning used products into new material are mentioned (and staggering albeit not compared with the initial costs and impact.
And I remain perplexed by the Two-Eyed Seeing Indigenous perspective for neuroscience article. As I do not see the scientific component, besides directions to work with local communities.
Nature tidbits [23/05/2024]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags AI, AlphaFold, blue crabs, Cairo, Congress, Croatia, Deep Mind, Egypt, invasive species, Napoléon Bonaparte, Nature, open source, Philosophy of religions, proprietary code, Pula, pyramids, quantum computers, quantum entanglement, quantum internet, Ramses II, Tahir Square, US politics on August 12, 2024 by xi'an
When visiting Warwick last week, I read an issue of Nature in the plane and came across…
…a brand new and ambitious museum in Egypt for Egyptians (and others), incl. the repatriation of many artefacts, while hoping the tragedy of the unique Institute of Egypt, a research centre set up in 1798 by Bonaparte, being destroyed in 2011 by fire during the clashes between Tahrir Square protestors and military forces in Cairo, and finished by firemen flooding the place and its rare books, and remembering the sorry state of the surroundings of the Great Pyramids when I visited them almost twenty years ago,
…Nature editorial on its failing to publish AlphaFold3 code, with corporate knee-jerk newspeak,
…within an article on the “miracle” obesity drug(s), the sobering warning of half of the population turning obese by 2035…
…a Swiss experiment on paying researchers to spot errors in published papers, although I am unconvinced by the argument that paid readers would prove more reliable than benevolent ones,
…AI experts hired by the US Congress providing advice on federal AI legislation,
new achievements in developing quantum internet at the scale of a (so far small) city, a concept I had never met before (and which does not make total sense to me, incl. the appeal of quantum entanglement),
…support or lack thereof of harassed scientists within their institution (which would clearly be in the “lack” branch for my institution!),
…some “careers stories” of faith vs. science, that reports on a survey on how scientists with a religious affiliation experience their religion at work, or not, with some unconvincing arguments towards incorporating religion elements in scientific discussions,
…a (weekly) portrait of a biotechnologist cum fisherman fishing for blue crabs in Pula, Croatia—which we visited eleven years ago—, an invasive species that he encourages people to eat,
and much more stuff!
