Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
@anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social
Botanist, taxonomist, phylogeneticist.
Pinned
Progress towards a monophyletic Ozothamnus (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae)
The Cassinia clade (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) is a predominantly shrubby group of ca. 100 species occurring in Australia and New Zealand. Most species are currently placed in the large genera Cassinia...
doi.org
We are making progress towards a natural classification of the Australian shrubby paper daisies, genera Cassinia and Ozothamnus.
doi.org/10.1002/tax....
doi.org/10.1002/tax....
Leaving aside the whole "future soldier" bit, which implies that they have a very different understanding of "lest we forget" than I do, why do so many people seem to think that poppies have two petals? Have they never seen a single poppy flower?
November 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Leaving aside the whole "future soldier" bit, which implies that they have a very different understanding of "lest we forget" than I do, why do so many people seem to think that poppies have two petals? Have they never seen a single poppy flower?
Reposted by Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
Computer vision species identification of lichens and bryophytes from biocrusts in Australian drylands
New in #AppsPlantSci by Lawler, @anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social, Cargill & Gueidan
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #lichen #bryophyte #biocrust #MachineLearning #ComputerVision
New in #AppsPlantSci by Lawler, @anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social, Cargill & Gueidan
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #lichen #bryophyte #biocrust #MachineLearning #ComputerVision
November 10, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Computer vision species identification of lichens and bryophytes from biocrusts in Australian drylands
New in #AppsPlantSci by Lawler, @anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social, Cargill & Gueidan
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #lichen #bryophyte #biocrust #MachineLearning #ComputerVision
New in #AppsPlantSci by Lawler, @anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social, Cargill & Gueidan
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #lichen #bryophyte #biocrust #MachineLearning #ComputerVision
Reposted by Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
Yes really — the “we asked this guy. He doesn’t actually know jack shit but he’s rich” model of reportage really needs to go
theres a whole category of newstertainment thats gotta go. and its "ask a really rich freak who is also evil and directly stealing from you what hes seen on the computer lately that has made him feel bad." the only -- ONLY -- story about this guy worth exploring is: he is getting rich spying on you
November 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Yes really — the “we asked this guy. He doesn’t actually know jack shit but he’s rich” model of reportage really needs to go
Unusually, the ASBS awards two Nancy Burbidge Medals in 2025. The first is awarded to Ian Telford, in honour of his lifetime contributions to Australasian botany. He scientifically described over 100 taxa and collected over 14,000 specimens. #asbs2025
November 4, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Unusually, the ASBS awards two Nancy Burbidge Medals in 2025. The first is awarded to Ian Telford, in honour of his lifetime contributions to Australasian botany. He scientifically described over 100 taxa and collected over 14,000 specimens. #asbs2025
The ancients who wasted enormous resources on religious monuments while their societies imploded were much more rational than we are. At least they had the excuse of not understanding stuff like salinisation, soil erosion, or why the rivers were drying up. We do understand, yet we do stuff like this
LLM crypto trading contest finds LLMs can’t trade crypto protos.com/llm-crypto-t...
LLM crypto trading contest finds LLMs can't trade crypto
Four out of the six large language models in the Alpha Arena crypto trading competition finished in the red.
protos.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The ancients who wasted enormous resources on religious monuments while their societies imploded were much more rational than we are. At least they had the excuse of not understanding stuff like salinisation, soil erosion, or why the rivers were drying up. We do understand, yet we do stuff like this
#asbs2025 continues with lightning talks. Tareg Shaldoom, who is also providing technical support for the meeting, begins with a talk about the Phebalium glandulosum complex in the citrus family. Several putative species revealed; common garden experiment to exclude ecological plasticity.
November 4, 2025 at 3:03 AM
#asbs2025 continues with lightning talks. Tareg Shaldoom, who is also providing technical support for the meeting, begins with a talk about the Phebalium glandulosum complex in the citrus family. Several putative species revealed; common garden experiment to exclude ecological plasticity.
Reposted by Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
November 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
#asbs2025 continues with a lecture by the 2024 recipient of the Nancy Burbidge Medal, Karen Wilson. (There was no conference in that year, so she is being honoured this year.) Karen is an expert in Casuarinaceae and Cyperaceae, among other groups.
November 3, 2025 at 10:45 PM
#asbs2025 continues with a lecture by the 2024 recipient of the Nancy Burbidge Medal, Karen Wilson. (There was no conference in that year, so she is being honoured this year.) Karen is an expert in Casuarinaceae and Cyperaceae, among other groups.
Even at this botanical conference, the disconnect re genAI is evident. On the one hand, overwhelming amounts of slop "art" and comments implying that AI is a magic wand you can wave at research questions. On the other, some colleagues plainly stating that genAI is GIGO, dangerous, and overhyped.
November 3, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Even at this botanical conference, the disconnect re genAI is evident. On the one hand, overwhelming amounts of slop "art" and comments implying that AI is a magic wand you can wave at research questions. On the other, some colleagues plainly stating that genAI is GIGO, dangerous, and overhyped.
My prediction is that in the long term, research publishing will be a lot about editors knowing which authors they can trust to do serious work. But this means it will become much more difficult for early career researchers to get established without relying on patronage.
Generative AI, yay.
Generative AI, yay.
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 2, 2025 at 9:17 AM
My prediction is that in the long term, research publishing will be a lot about editors knowing which authors they can trust to do serious work. But this means it will become much more difficult for early career researchers to get established without relying on patronage.
Generative AI, yay.
Generative AI, yay.
Reposted by Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Will be at a conference most of next week, and now I have to check if that holds in our field.
It may not. In contrast to many of the respondents to this post, we generally show photos of study organisms, maps, phylogenetic trees, STRUCTURE plots, etc., which LLMs can't do.
It may not. In contrast to many of the respondents to this post, we generally show photos of study organisms, maps, phylogenetic trees, STRUCTURE plots, etc., which LLMs can't do.
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
October 31, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Will be at a conference most of next week, and now I have to check if that holds in our field.
It may not. In contrast to many of the respondents to this post, we generally show photos of study organisms, maps, phylogenetic trees, STRUCTURE plots, etc., which LLMs can't do.
It may not. In contrast to many of the respondents to this post, we generally show photos of study organisms, maps, phylogenetic trees, STRUCTURE plots, etc., which LLMs can't do.
Not providing the option of "no and never ask me again" should be illegal and punishable by being catapulted into an active volcano.
October 31, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Not providing the option of "no and never ask me again" should be illegal and punishable by being catapulted into an active volcano.
Okay, so this writer uses an LLM to check his writing and seems extremely proud or surprised (?) that the LLM trained months ago isn't aware of recent events. The question arises: why not use standard office software to flag errors with red underlines? Long available, much less wasteful than LLMs.
October 30, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Okay, so this writer uses an LLM to check his writing and seems extremely proud or surprised (?) that the LLM trained months ago isn't aware of recent events. The question arises: why not use standard office software to flag errors with red underlines? Long available, much less wasteful than LLMs.
Ah, it is that piece again entirely based on pretending not to understand what 'emergence' means, only this time without a link, it seems?
I could write a piece arguing that we should reject the concept of gravity if I started it by pretending that physicists see gravity as magic.
I could write a piece arguing that we should reject the concept of gravity if I started it by pretending that physicists see gravity as magic.
Why the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts | Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social
If the list of things science can’t explain keeps shrinking…should we stop creating gods to fill the gaps?
If the list of things science can’t explain keeps shrinking…should we stop creating gods to fill the gaps?
October 30, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Ah, it is that piece again entirely based on pretending not to understand what 'emergence' means, only this time without a link, it seems?
I could write a piece arguing that we should reject the concept of gravity if I started it by pretending that physicists see gravity as magic.
I could write a piece arguing that we should reject the concept of gravity if I started it by pretending that physicists see gravity as magic.
What drives me nuts about stuff like this is that anybody with any sense of scale can immediately see that this would be a drop in the ocean compared to CO2 outputs. It is the equivalent of my field organising a conference to discuss if we can understand plant evolution by studying two leaves.
Are you an earth or environmental scientist with an interest in climate change mitigation? Join our upcoming scientific meeting looking at enhanced weathering as leading researchers discuss the scientific and societal challenges ahead:
royalsociety.org/science-even...
royalsociety.org/science-even...
October 30, 2025 at 8:39 PM
What drives me nuts about stuff like this is that anybody with any sense of scale can immediately see that this would be a drop in the ocean compared to CO2 outputs. It is the equivalent of my field organising a conference to discuss if we can understand plant evolution by studying two leaves.
Seriously, web interface designers should be forced to use their own... creations, at least for a few months. Trying to request open access publishing at the Springer Nature website just now made me want to throw the computer out of the window.
October 29, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Seriously, web interface designers should be forced to use their own... creations, at least for a few months. Trying to request open access publishing at the Springer Nature website just now made me want to throw the computer out of the window.
I am committing to spend ten trillion on the energy transition.
Wait, are you saying that I need to actually have money to make spending commitments? How strange.
Wait, are you saying that I need to actually have money to make spending commitments? How strange.
Sam Altman says OpenAI has committed to spend about $1.4T on infrastructure so far, equating to roughly 30GW of data center capacity (Ina Fried/Axios)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
October 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
I am committing to spend ten trillion on the energy transition.
Wait, are you saying that I need to actually have money to make spending commitments? How strange.
Wait, are you saying that I need to actually have money to make spending commitments? How strange.
Nothing matters anymore, including that the title of the alleged article, its subtitle, and the social media post announcing it are all the same copy-pasted text. Such dedication to the craft!
Trump’s move to pay the troops was probably illegal, and that probably doesn’t matter
Trump’s move to pay the troops was probably illegal, and that probably doesn’t matter
Trump’s move to pay the troops was probably illegal, and that probably doesn’t matter
www.independent.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Nothing matters anymore, including that the title of the alleged article, its subtitle, and the social media post announcing it are all the same copy-pasted text. Such dedication to the craft!
Reposted by Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn
Saw a headline about homeschooling popularity being on the rise, so it's time for the periodic reminder: You aren't smart enough to home school your child or children.
October 27, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Saw a headline about homeschooling popularity being on the rise, so it's time for the periodic reminder: You aren't smart enough to home school your child or children.
Based on a recent discussion about 'AI' with other scientists, here are the two things I'd really like everybody to understand.
First, from what I am reading, 'hallucinations' are part of how LLMs work, so they are never going away, so you cannot use them for anything that requires reliability.
First, from what I am reading, 'hallucinations' are part of how LLMs work, so they are never going away, so you cannot use them for anything that requires reliability.
October 26, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Based on a recent discussion about 'AI' with other scientists, here are the two things I'd really like everybody to understand.
First, from what I am reading, 'hallucinations' are part of how LLMs work, so they are never going away, so you cannot use them for anything that requires reliability.
First, from what I am reading, 'hallucinations' are part of how LLMs work, so they are never going away, so you cannot use them for anything that requires reliability.
This is also just not reflective of how people do things. In my discipline, yes, the first author is generally the postdoc or grad student who led the study, and the last author is generally the supervisor or whoever got the funding. But there are other fields that simply do alphabetical order.
🧪For those of us who do complex collaborations with multiple corresponding authors this is terrible . I suspect it will also hit female authors disproportionately as they tend to have more collaborations across fields…https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03281-4
Google Scholar tool gives extra credit to first and last authors
Researchers welcome the initiative, but say it doesn’t go far enough to capture the nuance of researcher productivity and impact.
www.nature.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:50 PM
This is also just not reflective of how people do things. In my discipline, yes, the first author is generally the postdoc or grad student who led the study, and the last author is generally the supervisor or whoever got the funding. But there are other fields that simply do alphabetical order.