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barrettdavis.bsky.social
Barrett Davis
@barrettdavis.bsky.social
350 followers 150 following 190 posts
Biosensors and Computational Systems Bio • PhD Candidate • Proponent for cleaner air • Here for science and photography
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Barrett Davis @barrettdavis.bsky.social · Sep 27
No longer content just listening to them rattle around in the glovebox, I finally got a few rolls of film from back in December developed and scanned.

#Colorado #Roadtrip #Nature #Landscape #Scape #Mountains #BelieveInFilm
A landscape photo of snow covered mountains looking over a lake in the middle distance. Yellow brown scrub covers the foreground. An overcast sky adds to the contrast of the mountains. A slightly different angle of snow covered mountains looking over a lake in the middle distance. Yellow brown scrub covers the foreground. An overcast sky adds to the contrast of the mountains. A bridge cuts across cold, inky water surrounded by white snow cover and patches of dry yellow and black brush. The bridge from afar, with more mountainous bluffs visible in the distance. Light dappling through the cloud cover illuminates one bluff in gold agains the others.
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Sure, ice scraping's a pain and biking now requires gloves, but we're making the most of the season's first snowfall

#photography #winter #snow
A panoramic photo of a large (45 ft / 14 m diameter) metal sun sculpture casting cool blue light onto fresh fallen snow. Research buildings glow yellow-green in the background.
November 12, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
Static Electricity Helps Parasitic Nematodes Leap onto Insects www.scientificamerican.com/article/stat...
These Worms Use Static Electricity like a Sci-Fi Tractor Beam
For microscopic worms, physical laws we seldom notice take on life-or-death importance
www.scientificamerican.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:54 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
It’s my working theory that seniority is directly related to the size (or #) of screens an audience member loses themself in:

• trainees typing on phones
• profs reviewing drafts on ipads
• this guy, 26 min over, turning to read his own projected slides
anonopin.bsky.social Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 23d
At an academic conference, it is inevitable that the worst talk will be by a late career Professor who not only think the rules don't apply to them, but will have not even noticed the rules in the first place.
October 23, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
metaomicsnerd.bsky.social
For my #sciencejobs in #academia tenure track hopefuls:

UCSB Bioengineering is looking for a new assistant professor!

Go work near the beach! Get to know the department interim chair, who was my doctoral advisor! Do science with awesome colleagues!

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF03025
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering 2025-26
University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.ucsb.edu
October 22, 2025 at 9:35 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
No Kings protest in Greater Lafayette, Indiana on October 18th, 2025 #NoKings #Photography
A child holds a sign that reads "No Kings in America" on the way to the start of the march. An event organizer speaks into a megaphone. A US flag is visible in the background, as is the Lafayette courthouse and a protester holding a crossed out crown poster. Protestors march holding an "Indivisible" banner. Dozens of signs are held high, and some people are looking directly into camera. A zoomed out image of the protest as thousands of people walk onto the pedestrian bridge between West Lafayette and Lafayette.
October 18, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
sundermannaj.bsky.social
My new piece in @medpagetoday.com

We Can Stop Deadly Hospital Outbreaks - So Why Aren't We?

Genomic surveillance can prevent outbreaks from spreading, save lives, and costs.

So what’s holding it back from being implemented in hospitals?

#IDSky

www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...
Opinion | We Can Stop Deadly Hospital Outbreaks -- So Why Aren't We?
Genomic surveillance can help contain local and nationwide threats
www.medpagetoday.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
boghuma.bsky.social
Just published, a study describing a taste-based flu test yes, chewing gum that could tell you if you have influenza. The gum contains a sensor that detects the flu enzyme neuraminidase & releases a compound called thymol that changes taste when the virus is present.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
A Viral Neuraminidase-Specific Sensor for Taste-Based Detection of Influenza
Influenza has caused the deadliest pandemics in history, thereby prompting advances in our ability to ensure vigilance at all stages of future outbreaks. Quarantining patients early is crucial when it...
pubs.acs.org
October 8, 2025 at 5:29 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Another couple from this past summer. Taken about an hour and 580 m / 1900 ft in vertical elevation apart. Much easier juggling two cameras on the way down than up!
A color infrared view from atop a 1000 ft (300m) cliff looking over the waters of Lake Superior below. Pink watermelon trees contrast cobalt blue waters and charcoal bluffs in an almost two-toned final image. A row boat washed onto a sandy beach around twilight, with creamy sunset colors still reflected in background clouds and water. Sail boats dot the inlet behind the row boats' shallow depth of focus.
October 13, 2025 at 10:47 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
A welcome surprise to see this heron stalk into place while out crossing our pedestrian bridge #infrared #photography #nature
A color infrared photograph of a heron standing at the edge of a highlight-blown river sandbar in translucent steel blue waters. Super saturated watermelon trees contrast against the sand bar and a more muted polarized sky.
October 13, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social
My HPLC was definitely overlooked

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery
The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality.
www.nature.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:02 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Taken along the US-Canadian border. Fun fact: so long as you go over in a barrel, import restrictions don't apply here.

#IR #LongExposure #WaterfallWednesday #Minnesota
A long exposure color infrared photo of a waterfall. Wispy white water cascades over wet black rocks. Pink leaves poke out of the bottom of frame while carmine trees stand above the falls. A blue sky is just in the top of frame.
October 9, 2025 at 1:44 AM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Super luminous blues and Wood effected yellows, give a child-like, sugar-high-saturated preview to autumn

#photography #bluetue #infrared
A color infrared photograph of a city block corner, in shades of blue and yellow
October 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
astroshashank.bsky.social
And as a bonus, here's a false-color composite of the same. Blue is mapped to all of visible, green is infrared beyond 850nm, and red is the methane band at 889nm.

🔭 #astrophotography #saturn
An azure planet on a stark black background with neon orange-pink rings seen nearly edge-on.
October 6, 2025 at 10:16 AM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Shots you text your parents like "Relax! Nobody got hurt." Taken for effect along the rim of Goosenecks State Park.

#Utah #Photography #Relax #BlueSkyArtShow
A shot of a person holding onto the side of a boulder in hiking boots. A roughly 300 m (1000 ft) drop in the background gives the impression there's a very steep fall. In reality, it is a very rocky, 2 m (6 ft) drop.
October 4, 2025 at 6:45 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
My heart goes out to all the life science imaging folks feeling left out with their microtomes and tomographic techniques
xkcd.com Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Oct 3
Measure Twice, Cut Once

xkcd.com/3149/
Comic. “Measure [Twice], cut [Once]” -Carpenty Proverb. [Scatter plot with number of measurements on y axis and number of cuts on x axis. Points in a descending line on graph: surveyor, surgeon, good carpenter, careless carpenter, really bad carpenter, serial killer]
October 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Taking in some new sights while visiting Notre Dame's campus last week with my infrared camera in tow
A high-contrast color infrared photo of a light brick building with a cross atop it. The bottom half of the image is blotted out with inky black shadow. Bright reflections off the building stand out against a dark sky and crimson grassy patch. A color infrared photo of a small building atop a beach and across a lake. The building is framed by leafy silhouettes, giving the impression it's being stumbled upon through a wooded path. A color infrared photo of a church or some similarly large building ornamented with crosses. The building is framed by crimson trees and set against a steel blue sky. A blue and yellow color infrared panorama of Notre Dame's campus, as seen across a lake. A power plant is visible on the left in opposition to the campus proper on the right. The image has a dark, two-toned appearance.
October 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
It's hard to believe some people still call it the "Sears Tower"... because it's not. That's on S. Wacker, which is about another mile west and regrettably out of frame.

#Chicago #Photography #BelieveInFilm
A photograph of the Chicago skyline as seen from the North end of the city along the lakefront trail at Fullerton Beach. People relax in pairs along a green lawn at the very bottom of the shot, as the city rises in the background into a cloudless sun. Taken in the late afternoon.
September 28, 2025 at 11:54 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Another favorite from this past winter’s road trip out west, taken along an unplanned detour up the side of Colorado’s Blanca Peak

#TheRoad #BlueSkyArtShow
#IR #Landscape #Mountains
A color infrared panorama of a road disappearing off a mountain horizon into a thicket of carmine colored juniper scrub and a great sandy basin in the middle ground, before rising into Kit Carson in the background. Puffy white clouds and blue skies give an air of normalcy to the otherwise otherworldly aerochrome adjacent colors.
September 27, 2025 at 11:27 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
No longer content just listening to them rattle around in the glovebox, I finally got a few rolls of film from back in December developed and scanned.

#Colorado #Roadtrip #Nature #Landscape #Scape #Mountains #BelieveInFilm
A landscape photo of snow covered mountains looking over a lake in the middle distance. Yellow brown scrub covers the foreground. An overcast sky adds to the contrast of the mountains. A slightly different angle of snow covered mountains looking over a lake in the middle distance. Yellow brown scrub covers the foreground. An overcast sky adds to the contrast of the mountains. A bridge cuts across cold, inky water surrounded by white snow cover and patches of dry yellow and black brush. The bridge from afar, with more mountainous bluffs visible in the distance. Light dappling through the cloud cover illuminates one bluff in gold agains the others.
September 27, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Reposted by Barrett Davis
ritastrack.bsky.social
Nature Biomedical Engineering is hiring again! This time we're hoping to add an editor with machine learning expertise to the team (although we are open to those with other relevant expertise!) Deadline is Oct 20. Please RT! springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Letting off steam

#ir #infrared #photography #nature
A color infrared photo of a wooded field. A tall conifer in the foreground is set in silhouette, as is the field below. Just on the horizon, a red band of sunset lighting delimits the shadowy field from an aqua sky. A tree further in the background is illuminated bright red. Wispy clouds overhead give the illusion that the red tree is smoking or letting off steam.
September 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Two water-loving dogs and their owner, trying his best. A story in four parts.

#street #photography #dogs #fountain
A white dog with black ears and black spot over one eye stands up in a fountain with only his head and paws visible on the lip. A man standing in the fountain tries wrangling his black and white dog up and out of the same fountain. The dog looks to the camera. The man braces against a second white dog jumping into the fountain as the black and white dog stands at his side looking on. With an air of acceptance, the man looks on at his two dogs, both now standing in the fountain, while the spotted dog barks at camera and the white dog sticks its tongue out at the man.
September 22, 2025 at 2:42 AM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
I usually avoid UV photography (vs UVIF) because I feel like it washes the world out in a cancerous coal-and-cigarette haze.

Still, coming around to appreciate an industrial aspect to it with a bit of IR leak and a channel swap.

#uv #uvp #photography #pano #photowalk
A color UV photograph of a round, shiny, chrome food truck. Windows are rendered opaque black and the white reflective "STOP" on a nearby sign is rendered almost transparent. Green trees turn a crunchy autumnal brown. An oncoming train cuts through dense atmospheric haze. Windows in a nearby carpark are blacked out, and white street lamp bulbs take on a yellow haze. A sickly cool tone washes against vegetal browns. A construction crew leans against a railing, silhouetted in an overcast afternoon sky. Cranes and traffic light arms give a sense of depth. A panoramic photo of a fountain encircled by ramped walkways to a pedestrian bridge. A county capitol building is seen framed by trees on the other side of the bridge, the building mirroring the fountain's jet. Green and yellow-tinged trees are rendered black and orange, as if stained by smoke.
September 21, 2025 at 5:03 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
In a study out this week, Zhang et al. find poor clearing of PSD-95 and other neuronal proteins drives an overabundance of dendritic spines, a hallmark of Fragile X.

Centrally activating autophagy to counter this improved cognition in mouse models.

#NeuroSky #SciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Autophagy controls the hippocampal postsynaptic organization and affects cognition in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome - Molecular Psychiatry
Molecular Psychiatry - Autophagy controls the hippocampal postsynaptic organization and affects cognition in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome
www.nature.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:17 PM
barrettdavis.bsky.social
Dipping into memories with this sea-side photo I took alongside wonderful people I hope to see again someday

#BlueSkyArtShow #Summer #Photography #Beach #Kayaking #Greece
A color photo of children paddling a kayak in aqua-teal waters under bright skies while their parents look on from a rocky beach.
September 7, 2025 at 2:55 AM