Nistara Randhawa, PhD
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nistara.bsky.social
Nistara Randhawa, PhD
@nistara.bsky.social
110 followers 190 following 12 posts
Data Science | Epidemiology | Wildlife Health & Conservation | Veterinary Science
University California, Davis
nistara.net
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Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
mongabay.com
Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs.

The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis tsukisome, were found attached to the shells of hermit crabs.
Sea anemones and hermit crabs form a mutualistic relationship in Japan
Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs. The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis…
news.mongabay.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
stephencollins.bsky.social
Every ad now
[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.] JANET: Ugh... LIZ: What's up? JANET: I am so bored of cooking peas! LIZ: Have you tried... AI peas? JANET: AI peas? LIZ: They're peas with AI! [Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI]. LIZ: Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas JANET: What LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines] Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas? [Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it] LIZ: Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine [Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas] LIZ: With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas! JANET: What LIZ: Shut up LIZ: Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow From opening the bag of peas to boiling the peas to eating the peas To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means. JANET: Is it really necessary to- LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]: THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET [Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan: AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas. [Ends]
November 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
ketanjoshi.co
Please take some time to read about the origin of the 1.5C target. It didn't originate from naivety or stupidity. Those who put it forward certainly didn't see it as "pointless" then, and would probably still not.

@climatehome.bsky.social

www.climatechangenews.com/2015/12/10/a...
Where did the number come from? Like most overnight successes, 1.5C’s rise to fame is built on years of careful groundwork. It has been a key demand of island states since at least 2008, when the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) wanted to know whether it should argue for more ambition in global climate talks. Podcast: Bangladeshi expert talks rich-poor tensions and 1.5C AOSIS commissioned work by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on the impacts of a 2C rise. The conclusion was straightforward. As Tuvalu’s former negotiator put it: “It was clear that a global temperature rise above 2 degrees would be disastrous for Tuvalu.” The island nation decided it would support a limit “well below” 1.5C. Despite being the fourth smallest country in the world, Tuvalu caused a “furore” at the Copenhagen talks in 2009 by calling for the 1.5C limit with other AOSIS and African nations. At the time, the lower limit was widely perceived as unrealistic, and Tuvalu was even blamed for causing a split between developing countries at the conference, as richer nations including China and India did not support the 1.5 degree target. According to one account of the final hours of the Copenhagen conference, Chinese delegates argued that the 1.5 limit should be removed from the text. President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives fought back, asking: “How can you ask my country to go extinct?”
November 18, 2024 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
joannacoleman.bsky.social
Painted woolly bats are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Ornamental trade is the top threat they face, and several lines of evidence point to steep declines in at least some populations.

We are doing everything we can to stop the trade.

act.biologicaldiversity.org/_M_d3tlOQ0G4...
Painted bats belong alive in the wild — not dead on walls.
Tell Amazon to stop selling painted woolly bats so their populations can again flourish in the wild — where they belong.
act.biologicaldiversity.org
October 31, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
afredston.bsky.social
POSTDOC JOB AD: I'm hiring a Bayesian ecologist to build a (IMO, extremely fun) model of humpback whale spatiotemporal dynamics in California

2-year position starting fall 2026. in-person in Santa Cruz; collab w with Mevin Hooten's lab at UT Austin.

ask me Qs or apply: recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF02003
Fredston Lab: Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ucsc.edu
October 22, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social
A speech about what drives me, how science and open source are bitter victories, unable to make improve the world if society does not embrace them for the better:
gael-varoquaux.info/personnal/a-...
A national recognition; but science and open source are bitter victories
I have recently been awarded France’s national order of merit, for my career, in science, in open source, and around AI. The speech that I gave carries messages important to me (French below;...
gael-varoquaux.info
October 10, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
andrew.heiss.phd
If you've ever wanted to learn how to make beautiful websites with #QuartoPub and #rstats , check out this workshop I'm giving in a couple weeks! It'll be a blast (and we're covering Quarto's brand new _brand dot yaml system!)
stathorizons.bsky.social Statistical Horizons @stathorizons.bsky.social · Sep 18
Learn to create and publish a professional, data-focused website in “Create an Online Presence with Quarto Websites” on October 16-17, with @andrew.heiss.phd‬! Discover how to use #Quarto to build a variety of websites like personal portfolios, research compendiums, and interactive dashboards.
Quarto Websites | Online Seminar | Code Horizons
This online course taught by Andrew Heiss, Ph.D., teaches you how to use Quarto to build a variety of data-focused websites.
codehorizons.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
chrisrshepherd.bsky.social
Here is a note we have just had published in Oryx Conservation News, in support of the proposal to list African hornbills in CITES Appendix II. Please share this far and wide!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Large-scale seizure offers glimpse into the hidden hornbill trade in West Africa | Oryx | Cambridge Core
Large-scale seizure offers glimpse into the hidden hornbill trade in West Africa
www.cambridge.org
October 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
rmcelreath.bsky.social
Was asked about collinearity again, so here's Vahove's 2019 post on why it isn't a problem that needs a solution. Design the model(s) to answer a formal question and free your mind janhove.github.io/posts/2019-0...
tl;dr Collinearity is a form of lack of information that is appropriately reflected in the output of your statistical model. When collinearity is associated with interpretational difficulties, these difficulties aren’t caused by the collinearity itself. Rather, they reveal that the model was poorly specified (in that it answers a question different to the one of interest), that the analyst overly focuses on significance rather than estimates and the uncertainty about them or that the analyst took a mental shortcut in interpreting the model that could’ve also led them astray in the absence of collinearity. If you do decide to “deal with” collinearity, make sure you can still answer the question of interest.
October 1, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
drmowinckels.io
Just published my new R article: 'Mapply: When You Need to Iterate Over Multiple Inputs'! 🚀 If `sapply` doesn't quite cut it for your multi-variable iterations, `mapply` is your friend. Learn to pair inputs beautifully. #RStats #Mapply
https://drmo.site/bhXeDb
A graphic showing the concept of mapply in R, with multiple input vectors being paired and processed by a function returning a single output vector.
October 2, 2025 at 1:02 PM
nistara.bsky.social
Been loving its cli_progress_along() function lately. Super helpful package!

#rstats #cli
rladiesmelb.bsky.social R-Ladies Melbourne @rladiesmelb.bsky.social · Sep 30
✨ Check out {cli} - an R package for beautiful command-line interfaces!

Use it to add headings, alerts, lists, progress bars & more, with built-in colors and themes. Perfect for making console output clear and stylish.

🔗 github.com/r-lib/cli

#rstats #RPackage #cli
GitHub - r-lib/cli: Tools for making beautiful & useful command line interfaces
Tools for making beautiful & useful command line interfaces - r-lib/cli
github.com
September 30, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
vincentab.bsky.social
{tinytable} 0.14.0 for #RStats makes it super easy to draw tables in html, tex, docx, typ, md & png.

There are only a few functions to learn, but don't be fooled! Small 📦s can still be powerful.

Check out the new gallery page for fun case studies.

vincentarelbundock.github.io/tinytable/vi...
a table about lemurs a table about students and schools a table about wines
September 29, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
vincentab.bsky.social
Whoa—my book is up for pre-order!

𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData

The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit

The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity.

tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8
September 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
onehealthinstitute.bsky.social
We've joined UC Davis Grand Challenges and UC Davis Health to partner with @cepi.net and @bostonu.bsky.social's BEACON project to integrate #AI with expert knowledge for ranking #viruses with the pandemic potential.

cepi.net/new-global-c...
New global collaboration uses experts and AI to spot the next pandemic | CEPI
Combining AI programmes and disease knowledge can help more accurately rank the viruses that have the potential to cause the next pandemic.
cepi.net
September 5, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
realbiomassspec.bsky.social
Specimen Inactivation Methods for Proteomics─Comparisons of Irradiation, Chemical, and Heat Treatments on Downstream Serum Analyses #JProteomeRes #MassSpec pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Specimen Inactivation Methods for Proteomics─Comparisons of Irradiation, Chemical, and Heat Treatments on Downstream Serum Analyses
Multiomic techniques, including proteomics, can provide novel insights for both pathogen detection and assessment of host responses to infection. Numerous studies have described the efficacy of heat i...
pubs.acs.org
September 19, 2025 at 6:06 PM
nistara.bsky.social
Congratulations on getting your first chapter out @brookegenovese.bsky.social!! What a special milestone and such great work!
brookegenovese.bsky.social Brooke @brookegenovese.bsky.social · Sep 19
The first chapter of my dissertation work is finally out in @acs.org JPR🥲 we looked the impacts of different specimen inactivation methods (TRIzol, irradiation, heat) on the greater serum proteome. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org
September 23, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
libbyheeren.bsky.social
People keep telling me they can't afford to attend #PositConf2025 next week, so I need to make a public service announcement: attending virtually is very affordable (or free!) & is amazing! Get registered & hangout with me on the Discord server!! #databs #rstats #python
Screenshot from https://posit.co/conf-pricing-2025/ showing the posit conf virtual ticket pricing. $99 for standard virtual ticket, $49 for Government and Non-profit employees, and Free for students, academics, and needs-based attendees. There are hand-drawn doodles by Libby that highlight each option and one note says "Plus, Virtual Day!"
September 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
andrew.heiss.phd
Just made this little diagram and it's so pretty! {ggdiagram} is really neat for these types of graphics #rstats

(code here: gist.github.com/andrewheiss/... )
Diagram showing connections between several nodes (INGO issue contentiousness and Government preferences are connected and both lead to Enforcement of law, which—jointly with INGO preferences and resources—leads to INGO operational space)
September 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
jakubnowosad.com
🚀 New preprint! "Spatial Data Science Languages: Commonalities and Needs" 🌍

Exploring challenges & insights from #Rstats #Python & #JuliaLang for spatial data handling—geodetic coords, data cubes, and more!

arxiv.org/html/2503.16...

#SpatialDataScience #rspatial #geopython #juliageo
A screenshot of the paper A screenshot of the paper A screenshot of the paper A screenshot of the paper
April 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
ceej.online
chatgpt has fully broken-through to every facet of the corporate environment. I'm spending a not-insignificant amount of my time every week now explaining to people that just because chatgpt told you that something was possible doesn't mean that it a) is or b) even exists
March 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
noamross.net
Please get in touch if you are up for chatting with recent U.S. fed employees about career paths!
ropensci.org rOpenSci @ropensci.org · Mar 14
@rOpenSci and @openscapes plan to host a networking event for US scientists and others affected by recent layoffs.

We are looking for co-hosts who

- transitioned from government to other sectors
- are in fields adjacent to statistics/data science/research software engineering
- are willing to […]
Original post on hachyderm.io
hachyderm.io
March 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
erictopol.bsky.social
Maybe the crisis in seabirds with multi-organ failure from exposure to plastics will help raise awareness of their serious hazard and lead to action
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
March 12, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
nickhaddad.bsky.social
Our paper is out, and it is distressing.

Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century
Numerous declines have been documented across insect groups, and the potential consequences of insect losses are dire. Butterflies are the most surveyed insect taxa, yet analyses have been limited in ...
www.science.org
March 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
avehtari.bsky.social
New paper Säilynoja, Johnson, Martin, and Vehtari, "Recommendations for visual predictive checks in Bayesian workflow" teemusailynoja.github.io/visual-predi... (also arxiv.org/abs/2503.01509)
Abstract Introduction A key step in the Bayesian workflow for model building is the graphical assessment of model predictions, whether these are drawn from the prior or posterior predictive distribution. The goal of these assessments is to identify whether the model is a reasonable (and ideally accurate) representation of the domain knowledge and/or observed data. There are many commonly used visual predictive checks which can be misleading if their implicit assumptions do not match the reality. Thus, there is a need for more guidance for selecting, interpreting, and diagnosing appropriate visualizations. As a visual predictive check itself can be viewed as a model fit to data, assessing when this model fails to represent the data is important for drawing well-informed conclusions. Demonstration We present recommendations for appropriate visual predictive checks for observations that are: continuous, discrete, or a mixture of the two. We also discuss diagnostics to aid in the selection of visual methods. Specifically, in the detection of an incorrect assumption of continuously-distributed data: identifying when data is likely to be discrete or contain discrete components, detecting and estimating possible bounds in data, and a diagnostic of the goodness-of-fit to data for density plots made through kernel density estimates. Conclusion We offer recommendations and diagnostic tools to mitigate ad-hoc decision-making in visual predictive checks. These contributions aim to improve the robustness and interpretability of Bayesian model criticism practices.
March 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Nistara Randhawa, PhD
skiles.blue
I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 10:38 PM