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)

Ligusticum scothicum

Scots Lovage

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ligusticum scothicum

Gammarus pulex

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Gammarus pulex

Gnorimosphaeroma oregonense

Oregon pillbug

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Gnorimosphaeroma oregonense

Lottia persona

Mask Limpet

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Lottia persona

Semibalanus balanoides

Northern Acorn Barnacle

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Semibalanus balanoides

Megaptera novaeangliae

Humpback Whale

2026-04-26

✓ ID confirmed

Megaptera novaeangliae

Odonthalia floccosa

sea brush

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Odonthalia floccosa

Ribes laxiflorum

Trailing Blackcurrant

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ribes laxiflorum

Macoma balthica

Baltic Macoma

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Macoma balthica

Neptunia gracilis

Native Sensitive Plant

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Neptunia gracilis

Fritillaria camschatcensis

Rice root

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Fritillaria camschatcensis

Cirsium kamtschaticum

Kamchatka thistle

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Cirsium kamtschaticum

Ribes triste

northern redcurrant

2026-04-26

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ribes triste

Orcinus orca

Orca

2026-04-25

✓ ID confirmed

Orcinus orca

Mopalia kennerleyi

Northern Hairy Chiton

2026-04-25

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Mopalia kennerleyi

Eudistylia vancouveri

Northern Feather Duster Worm

2026-04-25

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Eudistylia vancouveri

Didemnum vexillum

Carpet Sea Squirt

2026-04-25

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Didemnum vexillum

Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Bonaparte's Gull

2026-04-25

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Nelima paessleri

Aggregating Harvestman

2026-04-24

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Nelima paessleri

Lycopodium clavatum

stag's-horn clubmoss

2026-04-24

⚠ Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Lycopodium clavatum

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 Corey (German alias for James S. A. Corey)

Finished July 20, 2025

★★★☆☆

Abaddon's Gate cover

Caliban's War

James Corey (German alias for James S. A. Corey)

Finished June 27, 2025

★★★★☆

Caliban's War cover

Leviathan Wakes

James Corey (German alias for 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