The Casual Hiker
@sfhiker.bsky.social
SF-based computational biologist, hiker, nerd. All things history/prehistory, science, tech, nature, and sustainability. Also SF and California politics.
A river otter chomping on a fish at Phoenix Lake today.
October 13, 2025 at 3:30 AM
A river otter chomping on a fish at Phoenix Lake today.
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
Juvenile bobcat encounter on Tennessee Valley Trail.
September 14, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Juvenile bobcat encounter on Tennessee Valley Trail.
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
In Turkey, when authoritarianism took hold, satire was one of the first casualties. Political comedy shows disappeared—now, airing one could land you in jail.
Dictatorships always follow the same playbook.
Dictatorships always follow the same playbook.
Why Colbert's cancellation marks a dangerous new stage for the culture at large
Colbert's cancellation is a dark warning
CBS's decision marks a dangerous new stage for the culture at large.
www.motherjones.com
July 18, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In Turkey, when authoritarianism took hold, satire was one of the first casualties. Political comedy shows disappeared—now, airing one could land you in jail.
Dictatorships always follow the same playbook.
Dictatorships always follow the same playbook.
Renewable energy is humming along despite the setbacks: “…people are now putting up a gigawatt’s worth of solar panels, the rough equivalent of the power generated by one coal-fired plant, every fifteen hours.” www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment
In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.
www.newyorker.com
July 10, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Renewable energy is humming along despite the setbacks: “…people are now putting up a gigawatt’s worth of solar panels, the rough equivalent of the power generated by one coal-fired plant, every fifteen hours.” www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
🔬API-first feature extraction for image-based profiling workflows
If you need to obtain interpretable features from your segmented microscopy images, but want to do it in a fully automated way, we know the struggle.
1/6
If you need to obtain interpretable features from your segmented microscopy images, but want to do it in a fully automated way, we know the struggle.
1/6
July 8, 2025 at 7:22 PM
🔬API-first feature extraction for image-based profiling workflows
If you need to obtain interpretable features from your segmented microscopy images, but want to do it in a fully automated way, we know the struggle.
1/6
If you need to obtain interpretable features from your segmented microscopy images, but want to do it in a fully automated way, we know the struggle.
1/6
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
For many years while I was running a scientific skepticism site/podcast I repeated the mantra "vaccines were so successful, we forgot their impact due to vanishing diseases."
Bringing a major pseudoscience conspiracist in charge of HHS is a sure way to remember their impact- in the most painful way.
Bringing a major pseudoscience conspiracist in charge of HHS is a sure way to remember their impact- in the most painful way.
"Measles cases reach 33-year high as RFK Jr. pursues anti-vaccine agenda" arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Measles cases reach 33-year high as RFK Jr. pursues anti-vaccine agenda
There have been at least 1,281 cases since the start of the year.
arstechnica.com
July 7, 2025 at 10:15 PM
For many years while I was running a scientific skepticism site/podcast I repeated the mantra "vaccines were so successful, we forgot their impact due to vanishing diseases."
Bringing a major pseudoscience conspiracist in charge of HHS is a sure way to remember their impact- in the most painful way.
Bringing a major pseudoscience conspiracist in charge of HHS is a sure way to remember their impact- in the most painful way.
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
Summary Table of the massive defunding of biomedical research in the United States
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
July 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Summary Table of the massive defunding of biomedical research in the United States
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
July 6, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
Textbooks: “Enhancers are just a bunch of TFBSs”
But how do they REALLY work?
New paper with many contributors here @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, @anshulkundaje.bsky.social, @anusri.bsky.social
A 🧵 (1/n)
Free access link: rdcu.be/erD22
But how do they REALLY work?
New paper with many contributors here @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, @anshulkundaje.bsky.social, @anusri.bsky.social
A 🧵 (1/n)
Free access link: rdcu.be/erD22
June 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Textbooks: “Enhancers are just a bunch of TFBSs”
But how do they REALLY work?
New paper with many contributors here @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, @anshulkundaje.bsky.social, @anusri.bsky.social
A 🧵 (1/n)
Free access link: rdcu.be/erD22
But how do they REALLY work?
New paper with many contributors here @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, @anshulkundaje.bsky.social, @anusri.bsky.social
A 🧵 (1/n)
Free access link: rdcu.be/erD22
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
'Even in a city renowned for its bleeding heart, there is a breaking point, a collective exasperation with those who weaponize our compassion to fuel a crisis that claims lives young and old, drawn to our streets by cheap drugs and lax enforcement'
thevoicesf.org/san-francisc...
thevoicesf.org/san-francisc...
San Francisco voters urge unity to tackle fentanyl - The Voice of San Francisco
Our justice system is facing unprecedented times of polarity. San Francisco watched as ICE protests in Los Angeles erupted into violence and Waymo burnings. Subsequently, our city faced its own violen...
thevoicesf.org
June 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM
'Even in a city renowned for its bleeding heart, there is a breaking point, a collective exasperation with those who weaponize our compassion to fuel a crisis that claims lives young and old, drawn to our streets by cheap drugs and lax enforcement'
thevoicesf.org/san-francisc...
thevoicesf.org/san-francisc...
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
"After court order, OpenAI is now preserving all ChatGPT user logs, including deleted chats, sensitive chats, etc."
Lauren Weinstein (@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org)
After court order, OpenAI is now preserving all ChatGPT user logs, including deleted chats, sensitive chats, etc.
mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
June 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
"After court order, OpenAI is now preserving all ChatGPT user logs, including deleted chats, sensitive chats, etc."
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
Terminal Genome Viewer (tgv), written in Rust github.com/zeqianli/tgv
May 27, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Terminal Genome Viewer (tgv), written in Rust github.com/zeqianli/tgv
Having missed last week's $10K treasure hunt, I decided to hunt for another treasure myself this weekend: the Tiburon Mariposa Lily, which grows only in Tiburon and nowhere else in the world. ONLY in the Ring Mountain Preserve in Tiburon. So I headed there yesterday to try my luck. 1/n
May 19, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Having missed last week's $10K treasure hunt, I decided to hunt for another treasure myself this weekend: the Tiburon Mariposa Lily, which grows only in Tiburon and nowhere else in the world. ONLY in the Ring Mountain Preserve in Tiburon. So I headed there yesterday to try my luck. 1/n
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
16 resources for re-analyzing public expression data 🧵 👇
1. rnama.com/docs/search... RNA meta Analysis has ~26,700 studies (5,717 RNA-Seq and 20,955 Microarray)
1. rnama.com/docs/search... RNA meta Analysis has ~26,700 studies (5,717 RNA-Seq and 20,955 Microarray)
Combine and Search the World's Gene Expression Data
Improve gene expression accuracy through meta-analysis then search over 26,000 studies for correlated signatures.
rnama.com
May 14, 2025 at 1:45 PM
16 resources for re-analyzing public expression data 🧵 👇
1. rnama.com/docs/search... RNA meta Analysis has ~26,700 studies (5,717 RNA-Seq and 20,955 Microarray)
1. rnama.com/docs/search... RNA meta Analysis has ~26,700 studies (5,717 RNA-Seq and 20,955 Microarray)
The Methuselah tree. A majestic redwood, estimated nearly 1900 years old. Its diameter at base is about 4.25m. [Near El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve]
May 10, 2025 at 7:39 PM
The Methuselah tree. A majestic redwood, estimated nearly 1900 years old. Its diameter at base is about 4.25m. [Near El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve]
What to do when you encounter a mountain lion?
May 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
What to do when you encounter a mountain lion?
Resolution Trail, El Corte de Madera Preserve: the trail was named after an Australian Douglas DC9 that crashed here in 1953. Some debris still can be seen along the trail. 1/n
May 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Resolution Trail, El Corte de Madera Preserve: the trail was named after an Australian Douglas DC9 that crashed here in 1953. Some debris still can be seen along the trail. 1/n
Was this event really the beginning of the Internet Age? A commemorative plate from Alpine Inn, a beer garden near Palo Alto.
May 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Was this event really the beginning of the Internet Age? A commemorative plate from Alpine Inn, a beer garden near Palo Alto.
The Rangehouse: the old US Naval Magnetic Silencing Range in the Marina. The facility was used to calibrate naval vessels' magnetic signatures to avoid detection by mines etc.
May 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
The Rangehouse: the old US Naval Magnetic Silencing Range in the Marina. The facility was used to calibrate naval vessels' magnetic signatures to avoid detection by mines etc.
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
And in a very serendipitous, very SF moment, Daniel Lurie spotted a whale out in the Bay during the panel.
“Look, greatest city in the world.” 🐋
“Look, greatest city in the world.” 🐋
April 25, 2025 at 10:11 PM
And in a very serendipitous, very SF moment, Daniel Lurie spotted a whale out in the Bay during the panel.
“Look, greatest city in the world.” 🐋
“Look, greatest city in the world.” 🐋
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
Last historic theater in downtown Berkeley to be torn down: 'Could never ever be duplicated'
Last historic theater in downtown Berkeley to be torn down: 'Could never ever be duplicated'
(KRON) -- Despite a final attempt by neighbors, a historic theater in downtown Berkeley will come down. Berkeley City councilmembers voted Tuesday night to uphold their approval of a project to tear down the United Artists Theater and turn it into housing. People packed into a special city council meeting in a last effort to [...]
www.kron4.com
April 23, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Last historic theater in downtown Berkeley to be torn down: 'Could never ever be duplicated'
After 15 years of hiking in the Bay, I still find new and amazing trails. The weather was perfect for Old St Hillary's Wildflower Preserve yesterday. Made me feel truly blessed to live in the Bay. 🧵
April 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
After 15 years of hiking in the Bay, I still find new and amazing trails. The weather was perfect for Old St Hillary's Wildflower Preserve yesterday. Made me feel truly blessed to live in the Bay. 🧵
Reposted by The Casual Hiker
She’s heeeere. 👀 R-Evolution, the 45-foot-tall, 32,000-pound steel sculpture that first debuted at Burning Man in 2015, is now calling San Francisco home for the next six months.
🎥: Eric Thurber
🎥: Eric Thurber
April 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
She’s heeeere. 👀 R-Evolution, the 45-foot-tall, 32,000-pound steel sculpture that first debuted at Burning Man in 2015, is now calling San Francisco home for the next six months.
🎥: Eric Thurber
🎥: Eric Thurber