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)

Psylla alni

Alder Sucker

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Psylla alni

Iteomyia salicisverruca

Willow leaf gall midge

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Iteomyia salicisverruca

Erythranthe dentata

Coastal Monkeyflower

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Erythranthe dentata

Scirpus microcarpus

Panicled Bulrush

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Scirpus microcarpus

Picipes melanopus

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Picipes melanopus

Gymnocarpium disjunctum

Pacific oak fern

2026-05-29

✓ ID confirmed

Gymnocarpium disjunctum

Lobaria anthraspis

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Lobaria anthraspis

Vallisneria spiralis

Tapegrass

2026-05-29

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Vallisneria spiralis

Zonotrichia leucophrys

White-crowned Sparrow

2026-05-28

✓ ID confirmed

Zonotrichia leucophrys

Caesia fossata

Channeled Basket Snail

2026-05-27

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Caesia fossata

Carex lyngbyei

Lyngbye's sedge

2026-05-27

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Carex lyngbyei

Sorbus scopulina

Greene's mountain ash

2026-05-27

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Sorbus scopulina

Ambigolimax parvipenis

Striped Garden Slug

2026-05-25

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ambigolimax parvipenis

Oryctolagus cuniculus

European Rabbit

2026-05-24

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Oryctolagus cuniculus

Scapanus townsendii

Townsend's Mole

2026-05-24

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Scapanus townsendii

Podosphaera leucotricha

Apple Powdery Mildew

2026-05-12

✓ ID confirmed

Podosphaera leucotricha

Eriophyes pyri

Pearleaf Blister Mite

2026-05-08

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Eriophyes pyri

Psyllobora vigintimaculata

Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle

2026-05-08

✓ ID confirmed

Psyllobora vigintimaculata

Banasa dimidiata

Green Burgundy Stink Bug

2026-05-07

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Banasa dimidiata

Chalcophora angulicollis

Western Sculptured Pine Borer

2026-05-02

✓ ID confirmed

Chalcophora angulicollis

Bookwyrm.social

Ryan recently finished reading:

Seattle's Commercial Aviation

Steve Ellis

Finished Oct. 13, 2025

★★★☆☆

Seattle's Commercial Aviation cover

The journals of William Fraser Tolmie, physician and fur trader

William Fraser Tolmie

Finished Oct. 13, 2025

★★★★☆

The journals of William Fraser Tolmie, physician and fur trader cover

Unfamiliar Fishes

Sarah Vowell

Finished Oct. 2, 2025

★★★☆☆

Unfamiliar Fishes cover

Quichotte

Salman Rushdie

Finished Sept. 16, 2025

★★☆☆☆

Quichotte cover

Abaddon's Gate

James S. A. Corey

Finished July 20, 2025

★★★☆☆

Abaddon's Gate cover

Caliban's War

James S. A. Corey

Finished June 27, 2025

★★★★☆

Caliban's War cover

Leviathan Wakes

James S. A. Corey

Finished June 15, 2025

★★★★☆

Leviathan Wakes cover

These were the Sioux

Mari Sandoz

Finished May 11, 2025

No rating

These were the Sioux cover

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Alexander Brown

Finished May 1, 2025

★★★★★

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee cover

The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout

Thomas P. Quinn

Finished April 18, 2025

★★★★★

The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout cover

...and is currently reading:

Natural Rivals

John Clayton

Natural Rivals cover

Tell the Truth

Billy Frank

Tell the Truth cover

I Sing the Salmon Home

Rena Priest

I Sing the Salmon Home cover

Blood Struggle

Charles F. Wilkinson

Blood Struggle cover

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Isaac Asimov

Asimov's Guide to the Bible cover