Zoltán Sylvester
@zzsylvester.bsky.social
Research professor at UT Austin | geology | sedimentology | rivers | python | mountains | running | opinions are my own | he/him
zsylvester.github.io
zsylvester.github.io
Pinned
Zoltán Sylvester
@zzsylvester.bsky.social
· Sep 30
A thread about how two geologists went to a beach with a plywood board and a protractor to see how variable wind directions influence bedform orientation - and published a paper in Science that blew my mind. 🧪⚒️🧵 1/23
One of the best things that happened to me in 2025 was that we got a permit to visit The Wave in Arizona. Here are some photos from last Friday; needless to say, photos do not do justice to this place
January 2, 2026 at 4:27 AM
One of the best things that happened to me in 2025 was that we got a permit to visit The Wave in Arizona. Here are some photos from last Friday; needless to say, photos do not do justice to this place
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Back to my year in review...
In June it was back to #Iceland, first to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula with a dear friend. Light and wave conditions were dull, so photography wasn't great, but at the end I drove up to the Highlands & finally visited Hveravellir. Got some nice drone shots there.
In June it was back to #Iceland, first to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula with a dear friend. Light and wave conditions were dull, so photography wasn't great, but at the end I drove up to the Highlands & finally visited Hveravellir. Got some nice drone shots there.
December 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Back to my year in review...
In June it was back to #Iceland, first to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula with a dear friend. Light and wave conditions were dull, so photography wasn't great, but at the end I drove up to the Highlands & finally visited Hveravellir. Got some nice drone shots there.
In June it was back to #Iceland, first to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula with a dear friend. Light and wave conditions were dull, so photography wasn't great, but at the end I drove up to the Highlands & finally visited Hveravellir. Got some nice drone shots there.
TFW you have been trying to get a permit for The Wave for years, without success, and then you get not one but two permits for the same day
December 26, 2025 at 5:31 AM
TFW you have been trying to get a permit for The Wave for years, without success, and then you get not one but two permits for the same day
Will be giving one of the last talks today at #AGU25, focusing on how well simple curvature-based models work on meandering rivers with a range of sediment loads. It turns out these models are not so robust if the sediment load is high and the river is migrating with crazy-high rates
December 19, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Will be giving one of the last talks today at #AGU25, focusing on how well simple curvature-based models work on meandering rivers with a range of sediment loads. It turns out these models are not so robust if the sediment load is high and the river is migrating with crazy-high rates
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Photos from the Patapsco River in Maryland yesterday. Lucky to have the snow stick to the trees despite the high winds! #riversfromabove
December 15, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Photos from the Patapsco River in Maryland yesterday. Lucky to have the snow stick to the trees despite the high winds! #riversfromabove
Downstream fining on a point bar, Trinity River, Texas. Scale bar units: centimeters in first photo, millimeters in the rest 🧪⚒️
December 14, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Downstream fining on a point bar, Trinity River, Texas. Scale bar units: centimeters in first photo, millimeters in the rest 🧪⚒️
A couple of days ago we went to check out one of the most beautiful bends of the Trinity River in east Texas, a bend that is likely to be cut off in the near future 🧪⚒️
December 13, 2025 at 9:12 PM
A couple of days ago we went to check out one of the most beautiful bends of the Trinity River in east Texas, a bend that is likely to be cut off in the near future 🧪⚒️
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Possible desiccation cracks (mudcracks) in rock found by the Mars Curiosity Rover this week.
flic.kr/p/2rLi9Lh
flic.kr/p/2rLoXm3
flic.kr/p/2rL7ntV
flic.kr/p/2rLi9Lh
flic.kr/p/2rLoXm3
flic.kr/p/2rL7ntV
December 12, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Possible desiccation cracks (mudcracks) in rock found by the Mars Curiosity Rover this week.
flic.kr/p/2rLi9Lh
flic.kr/p/2rLoXm3
flic.kr/p/2rL7ntV
flic.kr/p/2rLi9Lh
flic.kr/p/2rLoXm3
flic.kr/p/2rL7ntV
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
While cleaning up I came across a large set of TIFF files. Zooming turned out to be worthwhile. Had to look up where it is. Here we go: a small part of the amazing Haast River, West Coast Region, New Zealand.
December 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
While cleaning up I came across a large set of TIFF files. Zooming turned out to be worthwhile. Had to look up where it is. Here we go: a small part of the amazing Haast River, West Coast Region, New Zealand.
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Didn’t know about this event but was wandering in the NOMA today to clear my mind and there it was: so for AGUans… Wednesday evening at New Orleans Museum of Art!
Which is close to my house 😀
Which is close to my house 😀
December 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Didn’t know about this event but was wandering in the NOMA today to clear my mind and there it was: so for AGUans… Wednesday evening at New Orleans Museum of Art!
Which is close to my house 😀
Which is close to my house 😀
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Fluorescent barite from the “Skunk Pocket” at Linwood Mine, Iowa. Not much seems to be known about this find except that it was a small one from around 2019.
Shown under longwave UV (365nm). Visible light comparison in comments. Person collection, photo my own.
#geology #uvphotography #barite
Shown under longwave UV (365nm). Visible light comparison in comments. Person collection, photo my own.
#geology #uvphotography #barite
December 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Fluorescent barite from the “Skunk Pocket” at Linwood Mine, Iowa. Not much seems to be known about this find except that it was a small one from around 2019.
Shown under longwave UV (365nm). Visible light comparison in comments. Person collection, photo my own.
#geology #uvphotography #barite
Shown under longwave UV (365nm). Visible light comparison in comments. Person collection, photo my own.
#geology #uvphotography #barite
A good introduction to power law distributions and their links to fractals, self-organized criticality, forest fires, networks, and earthquakes - although it would have been nice if they included more domain-expert perspectives and hinted at the limitations of these models youtu.be/HBluLfX2F_k?...
You've (Likely) Been Playing The Game of Life Wrong
YouTube video by Veritasium
youtu.be
December 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
A good introduction to power law distributions and their links to fractals, self-organized criticality, forest fires, networks, and earthquakes - although it would have been nice if they included more domain-expert perspectives and hinted at the limitations of these models youtu.be/HBluLfX2F_k?...
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
The Schelde (Scheldt river) east of Gent (Ghent), Belgium, once meandered widely and is now a relatively narrow river, a change that likely occurred in the Late Weichselian.
December 7, 2025 at 12:16 AM
The Schelde (Scheldt river) east of Gent (Ghent), Belgium, once meandered widely and is now a relatively narrow river, a change that likely occurred in the Late Weichselian.
Listening to this was a lot of fun. Disclaimer: I haven’t read Yuval Noah Harari’s book. And, after listening to this, I never will
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
December 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Listening to this was a lot of fun. Disclaimer: I haven’t read Yuval Noah Harari’s book. And, after listening to this, I never will
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
What the ACTUAL FUCK, Kīlauea?! Go check it out yourself in the livestream right now. 👇 ⚒️🧪 #volcano
www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...
www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...
December 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
What the ACTUAL FUCK, Kīlauea?! Go check it out yourself in the livestream right now. 👇 ⚒️🧪 #volcano
www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...
www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Truly the stupidest cult. Obsessed with a drug that doesn't work against an infectious disease that they don't even think is real.
In lieu of affordable universal health insurance, Texans will now be given better access to de-worming medication.
December 5, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Truly the stupidest cult. Obsessed with a drug that doesn't work against an infectious disease that they don't even think is real.
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Delighted that one of my Antarctic winter photos has won the 2025 Royal Society Photography Competition, Earth Science & Climatology category.
Captured during polar-night surveys of ocean conditions near Antarctic Peninsula glaciers.
royalsociety.org/journals/pub...
Captured during polar-night surveys of ocean conditions near Antarctic Peninsula glaciers.
royalsociety.org/journals/pub...
December 4, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Delighted that one of my Antarctic winter photos has won the 2025 Royal Society Photography Competition, Earth Science & Climatology category.
Captured during polar-night surveys of ocean conditions near Antarctic Peninsula glaciers.
royalsociety.org/journals/pub...
Captured during polar-night surveys of ocean conditions near Antarctic Peninsula glaciers.
royalsociety.org/journals/pub...
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
One of the first uses we put our myst/any-widget interface to was to expose vizarr in Curvenote articles - vizarr being a popular JS viewer for the OME Zarr format. (The vizarr being the work of @manzt.sh and others at hms-dbmi)
Some examples included 👇
opensci.dev/articles/019...
Some examples included 👇
opensci.dev/articles/019...
Visualizing OME Microscopy Data using Vizarr - opensci.dev
An any-widget bundle for visualizing OME Microscopy Data using Vizarr in Curvenote articles
opensci.dev
December 3, 2025 at 1:14 PM
One of the first uses we put our myst/any-widget interface to was to expose vizarr in Curvenote articles - vizarr being a popular JS viewer for the OME Zarr format. (The vizarr being the work of @manzt.sh and others at hms-dbmi)
Some examples included 👇
opensci.dev/articles/019...
Some examples included 👇
opensci.dev/articles/019...
Posting this because it might prevent some additional swearing from happening: if you are trying to log in to the AGU website, do not use Safari
December 2, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Posting this because it might prevent some additional swearing from happening: if you are trying to log in to the AGU website, do not use Safari
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Wherever you can, whenever you can: exploit this crack, wedge it apart, and lever it open, until the whole insane edifice disintegrates and the fleeing rats are crushed into ignominy.
newrepublic.com/article/2037...
newrepublic.com/article/2037...
There’s No Doubt About It: The Great MAGA Crack-Up Has Begun
Every single prominent member of the Trump administration has had a very, very bad week.
newrepublic.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Wherever you can, whenever you can: exploit this crack, wedge it apart, and lever it open, until the whole insane edifice disintegrates and the fleeing rats are crushed into ignominy.
newrepublic.com/article/2037...
newrepublic.com/article/2037...
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Moqui marbles - concretions from the Navajo Sandstone in Utah (images created from a photo taken in the field) 🧪⚒️
November 16, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Moqui marbles - concretions from the Navajo Sandstone in Utah (images created from a photo taken in the field) 🧪⚒️
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Dang, hard disagree. The best papers to write and read are works of art, not merely a list of data and statements.
Don’t let LLMs take this away too, for gods sake.
Don’t let LLMs take this away too, for gods sake.
I honestly think we would all be a lot more productive if papers were bullet points with plots.
November 14, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Dang, hard disagree. The best papers to write and read are works of art, not merely a list of data and statements.
Don’t let LLMs take this away too, for gods sake.
Don’t let LLMs take this away too, for gods sake.
Trying to decide which Matplotlib colormap is a good colormap for differentiating grains in an image
November 14, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Trying to decide which Matplotlib colormap is a good colormap for differentiating grains in an image
Reposted by Zoltán Sylvester
Tectonic plate puzzle anyone? 🌎
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)
November 11, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Tectonic plate puzzle anyone? 🌎
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)