Anna Frangou
@annamfra.bsky.social
science, strategy, and scicomms @math-mpicbg.bsky.social
some kind of biologist, surrounded by mathematicians
eyebrows raise with joy at the sight of any animal
some kind of biologist, surrounded by mathematicians
eyebrows raise with joy at the sight of any animal
biologists rediscovering mathematical techniques and giving something like linear algebra 18 different names, to create the fun and confusion mathematicians so love. a beautiful talk from @lpachter.bsky.social about many things, including what math and bio share @math-mpicbg.bsky.social
September 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
biologists rediscovering mathematical techniques and giving something like linear algebra 18 different names, to create the fun and confusion mathematicians so love. a beautiful talk from @lpachter.bsky.social about many things, including what math and bio share @math-mpicbg.bsky.social
@rmcelreath.bsky.social on science reform - a collective action problem: elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...
Which Kind of Science Reform
What hope is there for science reform, if we can't agree on what to reform? Right now, principles are more important than practices.
elevanth.org
September 9, 2025 at 8:30 AM
@rmcelreath.bsky.social on science reform - a collective action problem: elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...
Manu Prakash - a beautiful combination of working on the world's most pressing problems & looking at stuff because it's interesting with no idea what the outcome or use could be. Both are massively valuable & that both is and isn't the point. Make sure to play. www.quantamagazine.org/how-paradoxi...
How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science | Quanta Magazine
Manu Prakash works on the world’s most urgent problems and seemingly frivolous questions at the same time. They add up to a philosophy he calls “recreational biology.”
www.quantamagazine.org
July 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Manu Prakash - a beautiful combination of working on the world's most pressing problems & looking at stuff because it's interesting with no idea what the outcome or use could be. Both are massively valuable & that both is and isn't the point. Make sure to play. www.quantamagazine.org/how-paradoxi...
the freedommm
If you don’t have time to take a walk, then you don’t have time to do science. Charles Darwin would take two walks every day on his "thinking path", not as a break from science, but as a crucial part of it.
June 30, 2025 at 9:41 AM
the freedommm
We need a *framework* (what we’ve studied, all the core material that comes from reading, experimenting, etc), and we need *freedom* to digest, evaluate, consider, and connect ideas. We need both. Emphatically. Walking around/staring into nothing/doing handstands is not wasted time. It’s integral.
June 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
We need a *framework* (what we’ve studied, all the core material that comes from reading, experimenting, etc), and we need *freedom* to digest, evaluate, consider, and connect ideas. We need both. Emphatically. Walking around/staring into nothing/doing handstands is not wasted time. It’s integral.
environment matters. crunchy in a good way. @mpi-cbg.de
June 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
environment matters. crunchy in a good way. @mpi-cbg.de
A friend said years ago that he feels like a kid in a sandpit at work. He’s a medicinal chemist who somehow found his thing and work feels like play. It didn’t for me at that point and it really stuck with me. #tcteac made a few points about the scientific process and for me, this was one of them 🩵
June 17, 2025 at 5:51 AM
A friend said years ago that he feels like a kid in a sandpit at work. He’s a medicinal chemist who somehow found his thing and work feels like play. It didn’t for me at that point and it really stuck with me. #tcteac made a few points about the scientific process and for me, this was one of them 🩵
Intuition: one of the best topics in science and mathematics - what does it mean, where does it come from, when does it hit us? A new take on it from Yuval Ebstein, is it just belief? Maybe it’s belief with some subconscious understanding we can’t yet write down. #TCTeAC
June 11, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Intuition: one of the best topics in science and mathematics - what does it mean, where does it come from, when does it hit us? A new take on it from Yuval Ebstein, is it just belief? Maybe it’s belief with some subconscious understanding we can’t yet write down. #TCTeAC
Super interesting talk from Tzachi Pilpel about the competing ideas of deterministic, probabilistic, and now evolutionary cell fate determination during development ✨ #TCTeAC
June 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Super interesting talk from Tzachi Pilpel about the competing ideas of deterministic, probabilistic, and now evolutionary cell fate determination during development ✨ #TCTeAC
taking ideas from improv into science with @itaiyanai.bsky.social and Martin Lercher
the value of saying ‘yes, and’ instead of putting a block on someone’s thought. that &the belief that a good idea will arrive is 👌🏼
let’s make this kindness &willingness to sit in the wilderness more common #TCTeAC
the value of saying ‘yes, and’ instead of putting a block on someone’s thought. that &the belief that a good idea will arrive is 👌🏼
let’s make this kindness &willingness to sit in the wilderness more common #TCTeAC
June 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
taking ideas from improv into science with @itaiyanai.bsky.social and Martin Lercher
the value of saying ‘yes, and’ instead of putting a block on someone’s thought. that &the belief that a good idea will arrive is 👌🏼
let’s make this kindness &willingness to sit in the wilderness more common #TCTeAC
the value of saying ‘yes, and’ instead of putting a block on someone’s thought. that &the belief that a good idea will arrive is 👌🏼
let’s make this kindness &willingness to sit in the wilderness more common #TCTeAC
Maya Bar talking about the value of being stunningly naive in science and discovery. some beautiful examples from the audience of people’s uncomfortable moments in research.
Also (and related to the video): we need specialists and we need those who can connect all the dots.
#TCTeAC
Also (and related to the video): we need specialists and we need those who can connect all the dots.
#TCTeAC
June 10, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Maya Bar talking about the value of being stunningly naive in science and discovery. some beautiful examples from the audience of people’s uncomfortable moments in research.
Also (and related to the video): we need specialists and we need those who can connect all the dots.
#TCTeAC
Also (and related to the video): we need specialists and we need those who can connect all the dots.
#TCTeAC
supposed physical threats from @obradam.bsky.social if you go over time. pretty sure he tickles people. great talk from Ahmed Elewa on developmental biology, aka how to read a feather 🪶🩵 #TCTeAC
June 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM
supposed physical threats from @obradam.bsky.social if you go over time. pretty sure he tickles people. great talk from Ahmed Elewa on developmental biology, aka how to read a feather 🪶🩵 #TCTeAC
new cell states emerging during drought *recovery* (rather than during drought) in arabidopsis from @natanellae.bsky.social to engineer crops that are drought tolerant and resilient. #TCTeAC
June 10, 2025 at 12:22 PM
new cell states emerging during drought *recovery* (rather than during drought) in arabidopsis from @natanellae.bsky.social to engineer crops that are drought tolerant and resilient. #TCTeAC
do cells have brains? metaphorically, seems like it, somehow. cellular memory for stress with @itaiyanai.bsky.social
June 10, 2025 at 11:50 AM
do cells have brains? metaphorically, seems like it, somehow. cellular memory for stress with @itaiyanai.bsky.social
off to Prague for woodstock.bio woodstock.img.cas.cz. zero idea what to expect and very happy about it 😎😍 @mnileathlobhair.bsky.social #theconferencetoendallconferences
Woodstock.Bio2 + Night Science 2025 | Courses & Meetings
woodstock.img.cas.cz
June 10, 2025 at 5:33 AM
off to Prague for woodstock.bio woodstock.img.cas.cz. zero idea what to expect and very happy about it 😎😍 @mnileathlobhair.bsky.social #theconferencetoendallconferences
woooot @mnileathlobhair.bsky.social
Next week!! It's the Scientific Conference to End All Conferences! With walk-up songs, bold ideas, and a festival atmosphere, like-minded researchers band together to reshape scientific meetings. Who's ready?
www.the-scientist.com/a-scientific...
www.the-scientist.com/a-scientific...
June 3, 2025 at 7:25 AM
woooot @mnileathlobhair.bsky.social
Reposted by Anna Frangou
Math and linguistics have a lot to teach each other.
Where Does Meaning Live in a Sentence? Math Might Tell Us. | Quanta Magazine
The mathematician Tai-Danae Bradley is using category theory to try to understand both human and AI-generated language.
www.quantamagazine.org
April 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Math and linguistics have a lot to teach each other.
'There are no hierarchies. Let's deliberately keep our readings interdisciplinary. That's what challenges the mind. Cognitive mobility. Let's be intellectual nomads and refuse to settle down.' -- Elif Şafak
April 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
'There are no hierarchies. Let's deliberately keep our readings interdisciplinary. That's what challenges the mind. Cognitive mobility. Let's be intellectual nomads and refuse to settle down.' -- Elif Şafak
same as linguistic prototypes (a penguin is less birdy than a sparrow) or the meaning of any word (no word gives us an exact map to what we mean). but the neat concept (bird) gives us a place to start, and the messier reality (the range of things we call birds) becomes comprehensible through it.
D'Arcy Thompson described himself as 'no skilled mathematician'; yet, he evidently clearly grasped the essence of mathematical modelling in biology, as well as the root of some common misapprehensions about it (On Growth and Form, 1917)
April 9, 2025 at 5:46 AM
same as linguistic prototypes (a penguin is less birdy than a sparrow) or the meaning of any word (no word gives us an exact map to what we mean). but the neat concept (bird) gives us a place to start, and the messier reality (the range of things we call birds) becomes comprehensible through it.
'Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.' -- Rumi
Contrary to popular belief, what is important in science is as much its spirit as its product: it is as much the openmindedness, the primacy of criticism, the submission to the unforeseen, however upsetting, as the result, however new that may be. – Francois Jacob
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
'Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.' -- Rumi