Josh Evans
@synbiojosh.bsky.social
PhD student in Petr Sulc's lab at ASU using computer simulations to study how DNA nanostructures self-assembly (@ other fun stuff)
Reposted by Josh Evans
I named my fists AUG and UGA because one starts it and the other finishes it.
I named my fists Master and Commander, because together they’re gonna send you to the far side of the world.
I named my fists Pride and Prejudice, because it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of two fists must be in want of whupping ass
December 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I named my fists AUG and UGA because one starts it and the other finishes it.
It's not imposter syndrome if you make no claim to have any business being there
December 1, 2025 at 2:52 PM
It's not imposter syndrome if you make no claim to have any business being there
At @materials-mrs.bsky.social Fall 2025 Conference in Boston, if anyone wants to say hi!
December 1, 2025 at 2:37 PM
At @materials-mrs.bsky.social Fall 2025 Conference in Boston, if anyone wants to say hi!
![[A graph of "Productivity when a major internet service goes down" over time]
[The productivity line starts at average. A point in time is labelled 'outage begins']
[After that, the line splits into two lines: one labelled "People whose work relies on the service". It goes down over time.]
[The second line is labelled "People whose work doesn't rely on the service". It jumps a little and stays roughly constant after.]
[The second line is illustrated by Cueball seated at a desk, using a laptop computer. A thought bubble says: "Aw man, the outage took down the Star Wars Legends wiki."]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:q6l6u4dgwcc2feidugn7g2xt/bafkreicojxjdkqb7escpuw2tr4dlhconhh4jxw5rshmllcehtdmdgiqml4@jpeg)
Reposted by Josh Evans
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
no-context code snippet today, from the line before an exception
```
# helppppp
```
```
# helppppp
```
July 30, 2025 at 9:56 PM
no-context code snippet today, from the line before an exception
```
# helppppp
```
```
# helppppp
```
Gonna write an elemental magic system where people can control different states of matter.
Controlling gasses is pretty neat! Sucks if you get stuck being able to control quark-gluon plasma or bose-einstein condensates
Controlling gasses is pretty neat! Sucks if you get stuck being able to control quark-gluon plasma or bose-einstein condensates
July 25, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Gonna write an elemental magic system where people can control different states of matter.
Controlling gasses is pretty neat! Sucks if you get stuck being able to control quark-gluon plasma or bose-einstein condensates
Controlling gasses is pretty neat! Sucks if you get stuck being able to control quark-gluon plasma or bose-einstein condensates
It's really funny that the best explanation of the core ideas of statistics and uncertainty I've ever encountered comes from an animated Netflix show for eight-year-olds
July 25, 2025 at 11:21 PM
It's really funny that the best explanation of the core ideas of statistics and uncertainty I've ever encountered comes from an animated Netflix show for eight-year-olds
love it when a line of my code that has a bug is preceeded by a line I wrote like ` # todo: verify that this behavior is correct!`
July 8, 2025 at 3:13 AM
love it when a line of my code that has a bug is preceeded by a line I wrote like ` # todo: verify that this behavior is correct!`
spent like 10 hours today on one of those problems that *seems* like it should be straightforward but *is not*
May 27, 2025 at 5:17 AM
spent like 10 hours today on one of those problems that *seems* like it should be straightforward but *is not*
![[Cueball sits at a table, eating a meal.]
Cueball: Can you pass the salt?
[Cueball pauses, a bite of food on his fork, silently.]
[Cueball still has fork in mid-air.]
Cueball: I said-
Off-screen person: I know! I'm developing a system to pass you arbitrary condiments.
Cueball: It's been 20 minutes!
Off-screen person: It'll save time in the long run!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:q6l6u4dgwcc2feidugn7g2xt/bafkreibksrm4dhhpktax54kqdzah4gu7s7tipyj32yutdzg43tr54bruzq@jpeg)
I've been working from home a lot this week (we've arrived at the time where the walk from the bus stop to office becomes.... difficult), which isn't a huge issue except that I'm not constantly looking at my Donald Knuth poster and I am beginning to forget his wisdom
![photo of Donald Knuth, next to white text on black background reading "Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
- [cursive] Donald Knuth -"
the image is labelled "AZ QUOTES"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:q6l6u4dgwcc2feidugn7g2xt/bafkreib6elkhqj6vk5cntwxvq37pp7rzxavzs3yhjjvl7t6nmgvz3ylmj4@jpeg)
May 22, 2025 at 3:50 AM
I've been working from home a lot this week (we've arrived at the time where the walk from the bus stop to office becomes.... difficult), which isn't a huge issue except that I'm not constantly looking at my Donald Knuth poster and I am beginning to forget his wisdom
Hey @science.org: LaTeX display appears to be broken on the webpage version of this paper
www.science.org/doi/full/10....?
www.science.org/doi/full/10....?
www.science.org
May 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Hey @science.org: LaTeX display appears to be broken on the webpage version of this paper
www.science.org/doi/full/10....?
www.science.org/doi/full/10....?
There is no better feeling than "OH! I've been going about this all wrong! If I try it a different way it might work!"
April 1, 2025 at 11:33 PM
There is no better feeling than "OH! I've been going about this all wrong! If I try it a different way it might work!"
In my professional opinion (views do not represent ASU) it's bad to burn down the strongest scientific research institutions on Earth for no reason
We polled Nature readers to ask if they were thinking of leaving the US for jobs abroad. Three-quarters of them (who said they were US-based scientists) said yes. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving
More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 4:27 PM
In my professional opinion (views do not represent ASU) it's bad to burn down the strongest scientific research institutions on Earth for no reason
amazing things happening over in my git repo
March 26, 2025 at 7:16 AM
amazing things happening over in my git repo
It's weird how often ChatGPT includes emoji in generated code
March 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
It's weird how often ChatGPT includes emoji in generated code
Reposted by Josh Evans
I’m not sure it’s fair to draw a straight line from Animal Planet’s “mermaids are real, and scientists and the government are lying to you, harass them” to everything we see now.
But they sure didn’t help.
Fuck Discovery Communications.
(By @drandrewthaler.bsky.social , a decade ago)
But they sure didn’t help.
Fuck Discovery Communications.
(By @drandrewthaler.bsky.social , a decade ago)
The Politics of Fake Documentaries
This piece originally appeared on Zócalo Public Square.
slate.com
March 19, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I’m not sure it’s fair to draw a straight line from Animal Planet’s “mermaids are real, and scientists and the government are lying to you, harass them” to everything we see now.
But they sure didn’t help.
Fuck Discovery Communications.
(By @drandrewthaler.bsky.social , a decade ago)
But they sure didn’t help.
Fuck Discovery Communications.
(By @drandrewthaler.bsky.social , a decade ago)
I'm doing actual math to optimize the complexity of an algorithm, that's never a good sign
March 19, 2025 at 10:39 PM
I'm doing actual math to optimize the complexity of an algorithm, that's never a good sign
Reposted by Josh Evans
🧪 The NSF director is lying to you.
Let’s fact check 7 claims from yesterday’s letter to the community, while pointing out 3 critical omissions. 🧵
Let’s fact check 7 claims from yesterday’s letter to the community, while pointing out 3 critical omissions. 🧵
March 12, 2025 at 12:51 PM
🧪 The NSF director is lying to you.
Let’s fact check 7 claims from yesterday’s letter to the community, while pointing out 3 critical omissions. 🧵
Let’s fact check 7 claims from yesterday’s letter to the community, while pointing out 3 critical omissions. 🧵
every time some of my code ruins my life, I always find that the problem is right under a comment I had written saying "this code is going to ruin my life"
March 11, 2025 at 8:40 AM
every time some of my code ruins my life, I always find that the problem is right under a comment I had written saying "this code is going to ruin my life"
Reposted by Josh Evans
One of the funniest long-term trends in The Onion is their deeply impassioned, and surprisingly knowledgeable, gags about marine biology. @whysharksmatter.bsky.social
"Abortion was made legal underwater nearly 50 years ago in Salmon Roe v. Wave, yet there is still a stigma attached to what is no more serious a procedure than allowing a goby fish to clean the parasites from my gills."
theonion.com/if-fema...
theonion.com/if-fema...
If Females Could Get Pregnant, There’d Be An Abortion Clinic On Every Coral
Despite the tide of aquatic opinion flowing in favor of reproductive rights for all, marine society still gives male seahorses very little say over what happens to their own bodies. Instead, we are treated as passive baby-making machines. Meanwhile, if it were the female seahorses who could get pregnant, there’d probably be an abortion clinic […]
theonion.com
March 8, 2025 at 1:22 AM
One of the funniest long-term trends in The Onion is their deeply impassioned, and surprisingly knowledgeable, gags about marine biology. @whysharksmatter.bsky.social
Reposted by Josh Evans
I would like to start being wrong about things for a change
www.theverge.com/news/622990/...
www.theverge.com/news/622990/...
March 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I would like to start being wrong about things for a change
www.theverge.com/news/622990/...
www.theverge.com/news/622990/...
This is incredibly bad for American science. The Republican party is - through either malice or careless ineptitude - destroying the American scientific establishment. The story here isn't even the only one from today I could cite to support that statement.
ICYMI: Sen. Ted Cruz flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude method for identifying research he calls “woke.”
A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.”
The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude meth...
www.propublica.org
March 4, 2025 at 8:41 AM
This is incredibly bad for American science. The Republican party is - through either malice or careless ineptitude - destroying the American scientific establishment. The story here isn't even the only one from today I could cite to support that statement.