Kurt Thorn
@kurtthorn.bsky.social
Chief Technology Officer at ArrePath. Using Chemistry ML, imaging, and computer vision to accelerate antibiotic discovery and design. Formerly Zymergen, Nikon Imaging Center at UCSF.
Bottom part of your rocket coming detached from the top part?
Problematic stage gap
Problematic stage gap
Compression tubing fittings leaking a little when you put them under pressure?
Problematic Swage gap
Problematic Swage gap
Adversary countries producing viral particles to destroy bacteria while you can't?
Problematic phage gap
Problematic phage gap
November 20, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Bottom part of your rocket coming detached from the top part?
Problematic stage gap
Problematic stage gap
First, assume a spherical robin…
A shot from the archive for #birdoftheday #round A well fed Robin in the garden - Birmingham UK - 25-01-21 #birds #ukbirding #uknature #ukwildlife #nature #ornithology #photography #birdphotography #canon #naturephotography
November 19, 2025 at 10:53 PM
First, assume a spherical robin…
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
This result is crazy. You finetune a teacher model to love owls. Then you have the teacher model generate a string of numbers, and finetune the student model on those numbers. The student model will then also love owls.
alignment.anthropic.com/2025/sublimi...
alignment.anthropic.com/2025/sublimi...
Subliminal Learning: Language Models Transmit Behavioral Traits via Hidden Signals in Data
alignment.anthropic.com
July 22, 2025 at 7:18 PM
This result is crazy. You finetune a teacher model to love owls. Then you have the teacher model generate a string of numbers, and finetune the student model on those numbers. The student model will then also love owls.
alignment.anthropic.com/2025/sublimi...
alignment.anthropic.com/2025/sublimi...
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Well it's time to check out what's happening on my social media feeds OH DEAR GOD NO
It needs to be emphasized that this paragraph is about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
November 18, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Well it's time to check out what's happening on my social media feeds OH DEAR GOD NO
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
people are actually very susceptible to just-so stories about human origins because listening to bullshit helped us survive on the savanna
November 18, 2025 at 1:48 AM
people are actually very susceptible to just-so stories about human origins because listening to bullshit helped us survive on the savanna
Some of the art posted on this account reminds me very strongly of a book or books I had as a child but cannot remember.
Odyssey does not exist #AIArt #midjourney
November 11, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Some of the art posted on this account reminds me very strongly of a book or books I had as a child but cannot remember.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
ryan is right. people HATE hearing this. but it is just a matter of simple incentives. if you want a more representative legislature — and if you want a legislature more resistant to corruption — then you need to jack up the salaries. serving as mayor of NYC should net you a cool 500K *at least*
people hate hearing this but it's 100% true, creating a huge pay gap between political leaders, their staffs, and other elites is a recipe for corruption. of course the flip side of that is taxes on the rich should be jacked way the hell up
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
November 7, 2025 at 3:42 PM
ryan is right. people HATE hearing this. but it is just a matter of simple incentives. if you want a more representative legislature — and if you want a legislature more resistant to corruption — then you need to jack up the salaries. serving as mayor of NYC should net you a cool 500K *at least*
Has Claude Code gotten cheaper recently? I spent a lot on it last month, and now I find myself doing fairly complex refactors with it and only spending like $3.
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Has Claude Code gotten cheaper recently? I spent a lot on it last month, and now I find myself doing fairly complex refactors with it and only spending like $3.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Every image this account posts would have sold me a paperback book in the 1980s. I would have been unable to resist these covers.
Lyra's Song does not exist #AIArt #midjourney
November 4, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Every image this account posts would have sold me a paperback book in the 1980s. I would have been unable to resist these covers.
I feel like this headline sums up everything wrong with American policy: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/h...
‘A Big Positive’: How One Company Plans to Profit From Medicaid Cuts
www.nytimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I feel like this headline sums up everything wrong with American policy: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/h...
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Oh my! the reviewer and editor comments 😜😂
October 31, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Oh my! the reviewer and editor comments 😜😂
When I was a kid, a family I knew went as Mark (Karl) and Lenin and Marx Groucho) and Lennon.
Went to a Halloween thing with friends and their kids and one couple went as Obi Wayne Kenobi and Garth Vader and well I approve.
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 PM
When I was a kid, a family I knew went as Mark (Karl) and Lenin and Marx Groucho) and Lennon.
I agree with this analysis and it aligns with how we’ve been working at ArrePath.
Night Thoughts on the Promise of Agentic AI in Drug Discovery medchemash.substack.com/p/night-thou...
Night Thoughts on the Promise of Agentic AI in Drug Discovery
It's here, and it's real
medchemash.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I agree with this analysis and it aligns with how we’ve been working at ArrePath.
I’ve been having pretty good luck using agents for data wrangling - downloading excel and sd files from supplementary material and having the agent help parse and clean the data by asking it questions about the data. Saves me writing a lot of boilerplate pandas code.
October 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I’ve been having pretty good luck using agents for data wrangling - downloading excel and sd files from supplementary material and having the agent help parse and clean the data by asking it questions about the data. Saves me writing a lot of boilerplate pandas code.
I once went snorkeling in the Caribbean as pelicans dove around me to eat fish. It was very cool.
Last night I watched over 100 pelicans feed just off the coast after sunset. Here's one of them. 17 frames taken from a sequence of 44 over 2.5 seconds. Incredible dinosaurs!!! 🪶
October 30, 2025 at 2:10 PM
I once went snorkeling in the Caribbean as pelicans dove around me to eat fish. It was very cool.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
I am the very model of an ancient trunkless leg of stone,
My shattered visage lies half buried with a sandy sneering frown,
The sculptor carved my arrogance upon these broken lifeless things,
My name is Ozymandias, the self-describèd King of Kings!
My shattered visage lies half buried with a sandy sneering frown,
The sculptor carved my arrogance upon these broken lifeless things,
My name is Ozymandias, the self-describèd King of Kings!
October 30, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I am the very model of an ancient trunkless leg of stone,
My shattered visage lies half buried with a sandy sneering frown,
The sculptor carved my arrogance upon these broken lifeless things,
My name is Ozymandias, the self-describèd King of Kings!
My shattered visage lies half buried with a sandy sneering frown,
The sculptor carved my arrogance upon these broken lifeless things,
My name is Ozymandias, the self-describèd King of Kings!
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
We are introducing a very early research preview of Letta Code.
Letta Code is our solution to the terminal-based coding assistant, but with state and learning built in.
No more compactions. Just specialist agents that learn your code with every commit.
Letta Code is our solution to the terminal-based coding assistant, but with state and learning built in.
No more compactions. Just specialist agents that learn your code with every commit.
October 28, 2025 at 7:32 PM
We are introducing a very early research preview of Letta Code.
Letta Code is our solution to the terminal-based coding assistant, but with state and learning built in.
No more compactions. Just specialist agents that learn your code with every commit.
Letta Code is our solution to the terminal-based coding assistant, but with state and learning built in.
No more compactions. Just specialist agents that learn your code with every commit.
A sad consequence of this is that much academic software is unmaintained, so many useful tools require, for example, obsolete python versions to use.
in my post-academic era i have become extremely scathing of the way academia considers papers to the primary outcome of intellectual work, and refuses to give credit to academics who write software or build other tooling. in industry we very rarely read your papers; but we always use your software
October 28, 2025 at 1:52 PM
A sad consequence of this is that much academic software is unmaintained, so many useful tools require, for example, obsolete python versions to use.
The irony in this is that the guardrails do absolutely nothing when bad actors are elected (see the current administration).
a defining feature of our inherited progressive ideology is a fear of power, and a reflexive need to "put guardrails" on the government doing anything
except now what the guardrails are "protecting" us from is housing, green energy, transit
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-crisis-o...
except now what the guardrails are "protecting" us from is housing, green energy, transit
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-crisis-o...
October 27, 2025 at 10:39 PM
The irony in this is that the guardrails do absolutely nothing when bad actors are elected (see the current administration).
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
A new, nerdy paper. We figured out (some) of the rules underlying cell-permeability of probes and designed ligands that light up, grab, and move proteins around. Awesome @hhmijanelia.bsky.social x @uwmadison.bsky.social x @stjuderesearch.bsky.social collaboration! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:43 PM
A new, nerdy paper. We figured out (some) of the rules underlying cell-permeability of probes and designed ligands that light up, grab, and move proteins around. Awesome @hhmijanelia.bsky.social x @uwmadison.bsky.social x @stjuderesearch.bsky.social collaboration! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
This is beautiful
"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
October 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
This is beautiful
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
I really think that we need to talk more about the fact that Republicans have basically quietly abolished the House of Representatives
October 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I really think that we need to talk more about the fact that Republicans have basically quietly abolished the House of Representatives
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'
10/10 response, no notes
10/10 response, no notes
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'
10/10 response, no notes
10/10 response, no notes
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Achira is growing! We’re looking for talented software engineers, ML research engineers, and AI/ML scientists to join our team in building foundation simulation models to power the future of drug discovery.
Apply at achira.ai
Apply at achira.ai
Achira
Building foundation simulation models for drug discovery
achira.ai
October 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Achira is growing! We’re looking for talented software engineers, ML research engineers, and AI/ML scientists to join our team in building foundation simulation models to power the future of drug discovery.
Apply at achira.ai
Apply at achira.ai
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
if disney does a theatrical release of the original star wars films for the 50th anniversary and offers them on physical media i will forgive them for every terrible decision they've made with star wars
just discovered that there was a leak from someone involved in the restoration team revealing that Disney is, indeed, restoring the theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy! complete with screenshots!
From the StarWarsLeaks community on Reddit: Star Wars Theatrical OT Leaked Restoration Screenshots
Explore this post and more from the StarWarsLeaks community
www.reddit.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:53 AM
if disney does a theatrical release of the original star wars films for the 50th anniversary and offers them on physical media i will forgive them for every terrible decision they've made with star wars