Latest Blog Posts

See categories and tags in the blog archive


  • Trust Science!

    Trust the science?

    Trust the scientists?

    Trust {the |}scien{ce|tists}!

    Ahh. That’s safe.

    Wait, what science? Or which scientists?


  • Pseudoquasivegetarianism

    2016 was a pivotal year for me.

    For the past four years, I had been traveling the world and studying coral reefs from every region. I was becoming an expert on their evolution and their interactions with various microbes. I knew these ecosystems had been in decline for decades, that climate change was a major threat, and that some people had claimed that eating meat and flying in airplanes were major contributors to climate change.


  • Big guys shout 'merde!' louder

    New preprint!

    Bacterial sepsis triggers stronger transcriptomic responses in larger primates

    I am happy to report that a paper I’ve been working on for a long time is finally available


  • Maybe it doesn't Matern

    Calling all bored and crazy Stan coders. I need a long term coding partner.

    I’ve been doing a lot of completely solo work for a couple years now, and you can guess the result. I have a couple of really awesome models that I am proud of, and yet they’re (1) not quite what I want, (2) probably way more complicated and messy than necessary, and (3) sitting there, waiting for me to figure out how to be a real modeler and justify them.


  • merdemicrobes

    When I started my first blog, I initially used this title for it. I had recently begun working in French Polynesia, was helping a French postdoc, and was interested in learning the language, and I thought, “‘Sea of Microbes’ in French, that’s nice.” I created the page and started working on the blog. And then that French postdoc saw the url: ‘merdemicrobes’.


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iNaturalist

Ryan's most recent taxonomic discoveries

(observations of taxa that he'd never before uploaded)

Verbena bracteata

Bigbract Verbena

2024-07-25

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Agropyron cristatum

Crested Wheatgrass

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Mirabilis linearis

Narrowleaf Four o'Clock

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Balsamorhiza sagittata

arrowleaf balsamroot

2024-07-24

ID confirmed

Castilleja linariifolia

Wyoming Paintbrush

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Heliomeris multiflora

showy goldeneye

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ceanothus fendleri

Fendler's ceanothus

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Packera neomexicana

New Mexico groundsel

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Pinus longaeva

Great Basin bristlecone pine

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Stephanomeria tenuifolia

narrow-leaved wirelettuce

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ericameria parryi

Parry's Goldenbush

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Packera multilobata

Lobeleaf Groundsel

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Symphoricarpos rotundifolius

Roundleaf Snowberry

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Frasera speciosa

monument plant

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ribes montigenum

mountain gooseberry

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Abies concolor

white fir

2024-07-24

ID confirmed

Festuca octoflora

sixweeks grass

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Eriogonum racemosum

Redroot Buckwheat

2024-07-24

ID confirmed

Dieteria canescens

Hoary Tansyaster

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Potentilla hippiana

Woolly Cinquefoil

2024-07-24

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!


Bookwyrm.social

Ryan recently finished reading:

Parent Effectiveness Training

Gordon Staff

Finished July 11, 2024

4 stars

Dutch

Pimsleur

Finished July 11, 2024

4 stars

El león, la bruja y el ropero

C. S. Lewis

Finished March 2, 2024

4 stars

Exhalation

Ted Chiang

Finished June 26, 2023

5 stars

East of Eden

John Steinbeck

Finished June 11, 2023

4 stars

Erased: the untold story of the Panama Canal

Marixa Lasso

Finished June 4, 2023

4 stars

Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

Finished Jan. 2, 2023

1 star

Unconquered People: Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Indians

Brent R. Weisman

Finished Dec. 28, 2022

4 stars

Florida

Lauren Groff

Finished Oct. 15, 2022

4 stars

A Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela

Finished Sept. 30, 2022

4 stars

...and is currently reading:

Le lion, la sorcière blanche et l'armoire magique

C. S. Lewis

The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri

Blood Struggle

Charles F. Wilkinson

The Once and Future King

T. H. White

Coral Whisperers

Irus Braverman

The Last Resort

Sarah Stodola

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Isaac Asimov