Alistair McConnell
@mccrocodile.bsky.social
Marine movement ecology / spatial geography person @ St Andrews
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
“The Trump administration has made clear it wishes to gut NOAA’s research enterprise, which is at the center of climate research globally.”
www.wired.com/story/how-th...
www.wired.com/story/how-th...
Dismantling NOAA Threatens the World’s Ability to Monitor Carbon Dioxide Levels
The agency maintains the global backbone of measurements of CO2 and other gases, but these are at risk of being curtailed if the foreshadowed cuts to NOAA are realized.
www.wired.com
October 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
“The Trump administration has made clear it wishes to gut NOAA’s research enterprise, which is at the center of climate research globally.”
www.wired.com/story/how-th...
www.wired.com/story/how-th...
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
📢 Publication Alert
I am thrilled to share that a new article from my PhD thesis, Industrial Structure Rationalisation, Upgrading, and the Geography of Intercity Migration in China, has just been published in Population, Space and Place.
🔗 Read the article here: doi.org/10.1002/psp....
I am thrilled to share that a new article from my PhD thesis, Industrial Structure Rationalisation, Upgrading, and the Geography of Intercity Migration in China, has just been published in Population, Space and Place.
🔗 Read the article here: doi.org/10.1002/psp....
Industrial Structure Rationalisation, Upgrading, and the Geography of Intercity Migration in China
This study investigates the changing geographies of intercity migration in China and how various aspects of cities' industrial structure shape these patterns. Using microdata from the population cens...
doi.org
October 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
📢 Publication Alert
I am thrilled to share that a new article from my PhD thesis, Industrial Structure Rationalisation, Upgrading, and the Geography of Intercity Migration in China, has just been published in Population, Space and Place.
🔗 Read the article here: doi.org/10.1002/psp....
I am thrilled to share that a new article from my PhD thesis, Industrial Structure Rationalisation, Upgrading, and the Geography of Intercity Migration in China, has just been published in Population, Space and Place.
🔗 Read the article here: doi.org/10.1002/psp....
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Meet the “squidworm” 🦑🪱
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
October 2, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Meet the “squidworm” 🦑🪱
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
Discovered by WHOI biologist Larry Madin and colleagues, this 4-inch-long animal was just one of roughly 6,000 new species uncovered during the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long global effort involving more than 2,700 scientists to explore and document ocean life.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
As this thread spells out, it seems utterly incomprehensible that Tice, Candy, Oakeshott etc lavish praise on the Gulf states when to an outside observer, it’s everything they hate. Until you understand that all these people see is 1) no tax and 2) a subservient class of browns. Now it makes sense.
The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech
It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers
It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers
October 8, 2025 at 8:24 AM
As this thread spells out, it seems utterly incomprehensible that Tice, Candy, Oakeshott etc lavish praise on the Gulf states when to an outside observer, it’s everything they hate. Until you understand that all these people see is 1) no tax and 2) a subservient class of browns. Now it makes sense.
I am always astonished when i visit the youtube or other socials of @greshamcollege.bsky.social by a) how amazing their content is and b) how relatively few followers they have. Really some of the best lectures out there in every topic imaginable! Cant recommend enough that you all dive in tbh.
On this week:
The Shape of Hands: Symmetry, Chirality and Handedness with Prof Alain Goriely
👉 gres.hm/shape-hands
The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild with Prof Ronald Hutton
👉 https://gres.hm/god-pan
Lessons from Guantánamo Bay with Prof Clive Stafford Smith JD
👉 https://gres.hm/gitmo
The Shape of Hands: Symmetry, Chirality and Handedness with Prof Alain Goriely
👉 gres.hm/shape-hands
The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild with Prof Ronald Hutton
👉 https://gres.hm/god-pan
Lessons from Guantánamo Bay with Prof Clive Stafford Smith JD
👉 https://gres.hm/gitmo
September 15, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I am always astonished when i visit the youtube or other socials of @greshamcollege.bsky.social by a) how amazing their content is and b) how relatively few followers they have. Really some of the best lectures out there in every topic imaginable! Cant recommend enough that you all dive in tbh.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
The night of Electric Skies.
The most spectacular and longest lightning storm I have ever seen! From Sunset to 2:30 AM on September 5th, the skies around Las Vegas were a constant strobe of lightning.
Unusual and rare colors as well!
#xelartz #xelpics #lightning
The most spectacular and longest lightning storm I have ever seen! From Sunset to 2:30 AM on September 5th, the skies around Las Vegas were a constant strobe of lightning.
Unusual and rare colors as well!
#xelartz #xelpics #lightning
September 10, 2025 at 3:34 AM
The night of Electric Skies.
The most spectacular and longest lightning storm I have ever seen! From Sunset to 2:30 AM on September 5th, the skies around Las Vegas were a constant strobe of lightning.
Unusual and rare colors as well!
#xelartz #xelpics #lightning
The most spectacular and longest lightning storm I have ever seen! From Sunset to 2:30 AM on September 5th, the skies around Las Vegas were a constant strobe of lightning.
Unusual and rare colors as well!
#xelartz #xelpics #lightning
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
More updates from the SAGES community!
July 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
More updates from the SAGES community!
June 22, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
#OPINION ✍️ Isolated mountaintops are hotbeds of evolutionary adaptation and great places to study how climate change affects ecosystems.
Hunting sky islands for genetic clues to climate resilience
OPINION: Isolated mountaintops are hotbeds of evolutionary adaptation and great places to study how climate change affects ecosystems
knowablemagazine.org
May 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
#OPINION ✍️ Isolated mountaintops are hotbeds of evolutionary adaptation and great places to study how climate change affects ecosystems.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Incredible number of remoras attached to this blue whale sighted off Baja California in March 2025
📷Michael Fishbach, Great Whale Conservancy
📷Michael Fishbach, Great Whale Conservancy
March 31, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Incredible number of remoras attached to this blue whale sighted off Baja California in March 2025
📷Michael Fishbach, Great Whale Conservancy
📷Michael Fishbach, Great Whale Conservancy
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Periodic reminder that you should not be doing community detection using modularity maximization, if you're a serious person.
skewed.de/lab/posts/mo...
skewed.de/lab/posts/mo...
Modularity maximization considered harmful – Tiago P. Peixoto
Inverse Complexity Lab
skewed.de
March 31, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Periodic reminder that you should not be doing community detection using modularity maximization, if you're a serious person.
skewed.de/lab/posts/mo...
skewed.de/lab/posts/mo...
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
The Dolphin Head Nebula (Sh2-308) is a faint bubble of ionized gas around a dying Wolf-Rayet star, 5,200 light-years away in Canis Major. This deep image was captured by pointing a camera at the sky for 23 hours over several nights.
Credit: IG @EkantV (link below)
🔭 #Space #Astronomy
Credit: IG @EkantV (link below)
🔭 #Space #Astronomy
March 18, 2025 at 11:56 AM
The Dolphin Head Nebula (Sh2-308) is a faint bubble of ionized gas around a dying Wolf-Rayet star, 5,200 light-years away in Canis Major. This deep image was captured by pointing a camera at the sky for 23 hours over several nights.
Credit: IG @EkantV (link below)
🔭 #Space #Astronomy
Credit: IG @EkantV (link below)
🔭 #Space #Astronomy
Great easily-readable article: more variables don't necessarily mean more insight. This paper nails the need to balance complexity and clarity.
New Opinion article by @danimontoya.bsky.social and colleagues: "Complexity and interpretability in global change ecology"
journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
@granjel.bsky.social @huangmj.bsky.social
journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
@granjel.bsky.social @huangmj.bsky.social
Complexity and interpretability in global change ecology
journals.plos.org
March 22, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Great easily-readable article: more variables don't necessarily mean more insight. This paper nails the need to balance complexity and clarity.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Nearly a third of the cod we tested had a different origin than the one reported.
The ‘sustainable’ cod in your shopping basket may be no such thing – new study reveals mislabelling
Nearly a third of the cod we tested had a different origin than the one reported.
tcnv.link
March 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Nearly a third of the cod we tested had a different origin than the one reported.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
🚨 New paper on ArXiv:
“Uncertainty quantification and posterior sampling for network reconstruction”
TL;DR; We present an efficient method to sample the entire ensemble of possible network reconstructions that are compatible with an indirect observation, e.g. a dynamics.
Short thread: 1/N
“Uncertainty quantification and posterior sampling for network reconstruction”
TL;DR; We present an efficient method to sample the entire ensemble of possible network reconstructions that are compatible with an indirect observation, e.g. a dynamics.
Short thread: 1/N
March 12, 2025 at 11:57 AM
🚨 New paper on ArXiv:
“Uncertainty quantification and posterior sampling for network reconstruction”
TL;DR; We present an efficient method to sample the entire ensemble of possible network reconstructions that are compatible with an indirect observation, e.g. a dynamics.
Short thread: 1/N
“Uncertainty quantification and posterior sampling for network reconstruction”
TL;DR; We present an efficient method to sample the entire ensemble of possible network reconstructions that are compatible with an indirect observation, e.g. a dynamics.
Short thread: 1/N
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
An engineer once explained to me that an efficient system always has need available when a resource becomes free, and an effective system always has a resource available when a need arises. Mind was blown.
February 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
An engineer once explained to me that an efficient system always has need available when a resource becomes free, and an effective system always has a resource available when a need arises. Mind was blown.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Gorgeous kelp forest dive at Hopkins Marine Station yesterday! 🌊 Photos of giant kelp, a gorgeous iridescent red algae, and the seal that followed our dive! 🦭
February 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Gorgeous kelp forest dive at Hopkins Marine Station yesterday! 🌊 Photos of giant kelp, a gorgeous iridescent red algae, and the seal that followed our dive! 🦭
Absolutely love the Primer video series simulating various populations of blobs, neatly explaining evolution, ecology, stats and life!
February 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Absolutely love the Primer video series simulating various populations of blobs, neatly explaining evolution, ecology, stats and life!
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Word of the day is most definitely ‘hurkle-durkling’ (19th-century Scots): to linger in bed long after it’s time to get up.
December 30, 2024 at 10:08 AM
Word of the day is most definitely ‘hurkle-durkling’ (19th-century Scots): to linger in bed long after it’s time to get up.
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
I've just learnt (thanks to Elias Daniel) about this June 2024 case from Norway of a White-tailed eagle trying to kill (unsuccessfully) a Harbour porpoise vg.no/stories/297834 Eagles vs cetaceans, wow!! #animals #eagles #whales #marinemammals
- Aldri sett lignende - VG
Få med deg de siste oppdateringene fra VG og annet spennende innhold.
vg.no
November 2, 2024 at 2:56 PM
I've just learnt (thanks to Elias Daniel) about this June 2024 case from Norway of a White-tailed eagle trying to kill (unsuccessfully) a Harbour porpoise vg.no/stories/297834 Eagles vs cetaceans, wow!! #animals #eagles #whales #marinemammals
A mind blowing excerpt about the asteroid that probably wiped out the dinosaurs from The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen 🦖🤯
November 14, 2024 at 1:08 AM
A mind blowing excerpt about the asteroid that probably wiped out the dinosaurs from The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen 🦖🤯
Reposted by Alistair McConnell
Here is a regular reminder of my deconstructR package, which offers self-destructing plots in R (gravity plot, black hole plot, ...). You'll find the sources here: github.com/brandmaier/d... No need to thank me. And here is a gravity plot attached.
#rstats
#academicsky
#phdsky
#rstats
#academicsky
#phdsky
November 12, 2024 at 12:28 PM
Here is a regular reminder of my deconstructR package, which offers self-destructing plots in R (gravity plot, black hole plot, ...). You'll find the sources here: github.com/brandmaier/d... No need to thank me. And here is a gravity plot attached.
#rstats
#academicsky
#phdsky
#rstats
#academicsky
#phdsky
Hullo Bsky. Here’s a cool aurora pic from the other night.
October 20, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Hullo Bsky. Here’s a cool aurora pic from the other night.