Latest Blog Posts

See categories and tags in the blog archive


  • Ooh, Shiny!

    I finally returned to The Cnidae Gritty because I found a groove with Shiny app development again!

    Since my postdoc in France, I’ve been wanting to improve a barebones photo annotation script that I created there.

    ...read more


  • Trust Science!

    Trust the science?

    Trust the scientists?

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

    Ahh. That’s safe.

    Wait, what science? Or which scientists?

    ...read more


  • 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.

    ...read more


  • 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

    ...read more


  • 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.

    ...read more


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iNaturalist

Ryan's most recent taxonomic discoveries

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

Hydrangea serrata

Mountain Hydrangea

2025-07-11

Knautia macedonica

Macedonian scabious

2025-07-11

Tradescantia virginiana

Virginia spiderwort

2025-07-11

Bergenia crassifolia

Elephant's-ears

2025-07-11

Lysimachia punctata

Dotted Loosestrife

2025-07-11

Hydrangea macrophylla

mophead hydrangea

2025-07-11

Solidago elongata

west coast Canada goldenrod

2025-07-11

Vinca major

greater periwinkle

2025-07-11

Sempervivum tectorum

Houseleek

2025-07-11

Hypoestes phyllostachya

Polka Dot Plant

2025-07-11

Heuchera sanguinea

coralbells

2025-07-11

Daphne odora

Winter daphne

2025-07-11

Hosta sieboldii

Small-leaved Plantain Lily

2025-07-11

Phellinus igniarius

Willow Bracket

2025-07-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Brasenia schreberi

Watershield

2025-07-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Lithobates catesbeianus

American Bullfrog

2025-07-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Vicia villosa

hairy vetch

2025-07-10

ID confirmed

Apamea devastator

Glassy Cutworm Moth

2025-07-09

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Malus domestica

apple

2025-07-06

Syringa vulgaris

common lilac

2025-07-06


Bookwyrm.social

Ryan recently finished reading:

Caliban's War

James S.A. Corey

Finished June 27, 2025

4 stars

Leviathan Wakes

James S.A. Corey

Finished June 15, 2025

4 stars

These were the Sioux

Mari Sandoz

Finished May 11, 2025

No rating

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Alexander Brown

Finished May 1, 2025

5 stars

The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout

Thomas P. Quinn

Finished April 18, 2025

5 stars

Le lion, la sorcière blanche et l'armoire magique

C. S. Lewis

Finished March 28, 2025

No rating

Logging in Grays Harbor

Brian Woodwick

Finished March 12, 2025

4 stars

Treaty Justice

Charles Wilkinson

Finished Jan. 25, 2025

5 stars

The Once and Future King

T. H. White

Finished Dec. 29, 2024

5 stars

The Last Resort

Sarah Stodola

Finished Dec. 5, 2024

4 stars

...and is currently reading:

I Sing the Salmon Home

Rena Priest

The journals of William Fraser Tolmie, physician and fur trader

William Fraser Tolmie

Quichotte

Salman Rushdie

The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri

Blood Struggle

Charles F. Wilkinson

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Isaac Asimov