Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social
Ph.D. ex-academic, self-published author of “A Heuristic Guide To Quantitative Imaging”. Lead, operations and technical sales at Coastal Microscopes.
“…malware that can use large language models to write custom code for each hacking attempt”
That’s basically a digital version of Stephen King’s flu from The Stand.
That’s basically a digital version of Stephen King’s flu from The Stand.
November 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
“…malware that can use large language models to write custom code for each hacking attempt”
That’s basically a digital version of Stephen King’s flu from The Stand.
That’s basically a digital version of Stephen King’s flu from The Stand.
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
I’ve thought a lot about this problem. Yes, AI garbage will soon be near impossible to distinguish from real microscope images.
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
I tried an even harder example on Gemini Pro image generation and this is quite scary/amazing. I asked for a microscopy image of around 20 HeLa cells, GFP tagged 20% nuclear, 10% membrane, +1 nuclear staining, + overlap. Image below and prompt in the following post.
November 23, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I’ve thought a lot about this problem. Yes, AI garbage will soon be near impossible to distinguish from real microscope images.
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
I’ve thought a lot about this problem. Yes, AI garbage will soon be near impossible to distinguish from real microscope images.
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
I tried an even harder example on Gemini Pro image generation and this is quite scary/amazing. I asked for a microscopy image of around 20 HeLa cells, GFP tagged 20% nuclear, 10% membrane, +1 nuclear staining, + overlap. Image below and prompt in the following post.
November 23, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I’ve thought a lot about this problem. Yes, AI garbage will soon be near impossible to distinguish from real microscope images.
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
You could probably still use a decon-like PSF model to flag raw image data that doesn’t follow known optical physics. $10 says they’re talking about it at JCB.
1/4
For people old enough to remember, a big inflection point for the NY Times happened when Sulzberger chose to go full USA hoo-rah after 9/11, at the expense of integrity & standards. The Judith Miller saga just capped off a long, sad slide. Willing coordination w neocon agitprop got pretty bad.
November 13, 2025 at 8:58 AM
For people old enough to remember, a big inflection point for the NY Times happened when Sulzberger chose to go full USA hoo-rah after 9/11, at the expense of integrity & standards. The Judith Miller saga just capped off a long, sad slide. Willing coordination w neocon agitprop got pretty bad.
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.
Available as book, on kindle and as audio.
I would be really grateful for reposts.
www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
Available as book, on kindle and as audio.
I would be really grateful for reposts.
www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
November 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.
Available as book, on kindle and as audio.
I would be really grateful for reposts.
www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
Available as book, on kindle and as audio.
I would be really grateful for reposts.
www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
Okay, it is still open enrollment and i am still trying to convince you to go and sign up for health insurance. I know it is expensive and scary. But you can do it. The thread embedded here is a tutorial on how to understand and make that decision. I will now write a quickie version.
It's open enrollment time so here's a convenient peg to hang a little tutorial about how to choose your health insurance.
Most of the advice you get is bad. Most of your instincts are bad. I however used to work for a health insurance company and I do arithmetic for a living so I can help.
Most of the advice you get is bad. Most of your instincts are bad. I however used to work for a health insurance company and I do arithmetic for a living so I can help.
Personally I think it's great that my company's HR sends out an official looking tool where they even ask you to pre-populate your healthcare providers and instead of being the actual insurance enrollment process it's just some bullshit checklist to try and convince me I actually don't want a PPO
November 9, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Okay, it is still open enrollment and i am still trying to convince you to go and sign up for health insurance. I know it is expensive and scary. But you can do it. The thread embedded here is a tutorial on how to understand and make that decision. I will now write a quickie version.
Our 12yo determined that her current favorite animal, the jerboa, go on our pumpkin this year. But talk about a cool Golgi pumpkin! Following convention, it looks like cis- is down.
November 8, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Our 12yo determined that her current favorite animal, the jerboa, go on our pumpkin this year. But talk about a cool Golgi pumpkin! Following convention, it looks like cis- is down.
Not looking to disrupt anyone’s day, but a whole new endomembrane system just dropped. What does that stuff do? No one knows yet!
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
November 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Not looking to disrupt anyone’s day, but a whole new endomembrane system just dropped. What does that stuff do? No one knows yet!
Does anyone know if Democritus actually wrote a book about chameleons? This might be kind of niche.
November 8, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Does anyone know if Democritus actually wrote a book about chameleons? This might be kind of niche.
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
Required reading for cell biologists to get a sense of basic statistical principles!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Ten essential tips for robust statistics in cell biology - Nature Cell Biology
Statistical thinking is a core part of solid, trustworthy biology. However, many studies still include insufficient sample sizes, have poor experimental design or select an incorrect statistical metho...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Required reading for cell biologists to get a sense of basic statistical principles!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
My new ImageJ / Fiji toolkit is out 🔥! The goal is to make image handling & visualization easy, with an intuitive interface! Install it on Fiji with the "Image Viewer" update site
#microscopy #ImageJ #FluorescenceFriday #microscopyMonday
imagej.net/plugins/imag...
#microscopy #ImageJ #FluorescenceFriday #microscopyMonday
imagej.net/plugins/imag...
November 4, 2025 at 10:40 PM
My new ImageJ / Fiji toolkit is out 🔥! The goal is to make image handling & visualization easy, with an intuitive interface! Install it on Fiji with the "Image Viewer" update site
#microscopy #ImageJ #FluorescenceFriday #microscopyMonday
imagej.net/plugins/imag...
#microscopy #ImageJ #FluorescenceFriday #microscopyMonday
imagej.net/plugins/imag...
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
Registration closes Friday at noon! Are you in South-Western Ontario and interested in fluorescence microscopy? If so, we are offering a 2-day course on designing, implementing and analysing microscopy experiments. Visit our website for more information: micrographiauwo.ca/cc2025/ #microscopy
October 29, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Registration closes Friday at noon! Are you in South-Western Ontario and interested in fluorescence microscopy? If so, we are offering a 2-day course on designing, implementing and analysing microscopy experiments. Visit our website for more information: micrographiauwo.ca/cc2025/ #microscopy
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
As a supervising attorney, I am here to tell young lawyers that AI is absolutely a threat to your career. I do not mean that it will replace you. I mean that if you use it, you increase the risk that another attorney will replace you when you are fired. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Two federal judges say use of AI led to errors in US court rulings
Two federal judges admitted in response to an inquiry by U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that members of their staff used artificial intelligence to help prepare recent court orders that Grassley called "error-ridden."
www.reuters.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
As a supervising attorney, I am here to tell young lawyers that AI is absolutely a threat to your career. I do not mean that it will replace you. I mean that if you use it, you increase the risk that another attorney will replace you when you are fired. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
There’s an irony in how the mouse trap was pretty much Pareto optimized with the spring board design in 1898. I’ve tried the alternatives, setting aside awful things like glue strips. If you build a better one the world will beat a path to your door out of sheer surprise.
October 22, 2025 at 12:05 AM
There’s an irony in how the mouse trap was pretty much Pareto optimized with the spring board design in 1898. I’ve tried the alternatives, setting aside awful things like glue strips. If you build a better one the world will beat a path to your door out of sheer surprise.
I saw this weird atmospheric phenomenon in Pittsburgh the other day. Rainbows usually happen opposite the sun, making a ring about 40 degrees around where your shadow. But here the sun’s just out of frame to the left, and you see this persistent rainbow bit just next to it. Any ideas?
October 21, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I saw this weird atmospheric phenomenon in Pittsburgh the other day. Rainbows usually happen opposite the sun, making a ring about 40 degrees around where your shadow. But here the sun’s just out of frame to the left, and you see this persistent rainbow bit just next to it. Any ideas?
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
'The device helped 81 per cent of trial participants suffering from advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to achieve clinically meaningful improvements in their vision, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.'
www.ft.com/content/c2e8...
www.ft.com/content/c2e8...
Scientists invent eye implant that helps blind patients see again
Device helps restore vision to people suffering from advanced macular degeneration
www.ft.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
'The device helped 81 per cent of trial participants suffering from advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to achieve clinically meaningful improvements in their vision, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.'
www.ft.com/content/c2e8...
www.ft.com/content/c2e8...
If I ever stop getting that unique thrill over a science story that starts this way, feel free to bury me.
🚨Our paper is out! 🥳
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion.
Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
it all started years ago with a failed experiment
🧵👇 1/9
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion.
Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
it all started years ago with a failed experiment
🧵👇 1/9
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for genetic code expansion - Nature
Bacterial ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters can be utilized and engineered to transport non-canonical amino acids into Escherichia coli for highly efficient synthesis of proteins with novel func...
www.nature.com
October 17, 2025 at 11:23 AM
If I ever stop getting that unique thrill over a science story that starts this way, feel free to bury me.
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
In short:
What began as a confusing cleavage artifact became a strategy for programmable import of synthetic building blocks and efficient GCE.
It’s a whole new layer of control over ncAA encoding.
Curiosity turned a failed experiment into a new principle! Very proud of the whole team’s work 🙌 9/9
What began as a confusing cleavage artifact became a strategy for programmable import of synthetic building blocks and efficient GCE.
It’s a whole new layer of control over ncAA encoding.
Curiosity turned a failed experiment into a new principle! Very proud of the whole team’s work 🙌 9/9
October 16, 2025 at 2:06 PM
In short:
What began as a confusing cleavage artifact became a strategy for programmable import of synthetic building blocks and efficient GCE.
It’s a whole new layer of control over ncAA encoding.
Curiosity turned a failed experiment into a new principle! Very proud of the whole team’s work 🙌 9/9
What began as a confusing cleavage artifact became a strategy for programmable import of synthetic building blocks and efficient GCE.
It’s a whole new layer of control over ncAA encoding.
Curiosity turned a failed experiment into a new principle! Very proud of the whole team’s work 🙌 9/9
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
We hire!
The CytoMorpho Lab is looking for an engineer with a background in cell and molecular biology to join our team in Paris. This is a 18-month contract position, but we're open to exploring long-term opportunities.
More details here:
cytomorpholab.com/index.php/jo...
The CytoMorpho Lab is looking for an engineer with a background in cell and molecular biology to join our team in Paris. This is a 18-month contract position, but we're open to exploring long-term opportunities.
More details here:
cytomorpholab.com/index.php/jo...
October 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM
We hire!
The CytoMorpho Lab is looking for an engineer with a background in cell and molecular biology to join our team in Paris. This is a 18-month contract position, but we're open to exploring long-term opportunities.
More details here:
cytomorpholab.com/index.php/jo...
The CytoMorpho Lab is looking for an engineer with a background in cell and molecular biology to join our team in Paris. This is a 18-month contract position, but we're open to exploring long-term opportunities.
More details here:
cytomorpholab.com/index.php/jo...
The avalanche was on
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
rm -rf ~/
rm -rf ~/
"The chancellor approved it"
October 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The avalanche was on
Reposted by Tim Feinstein
15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵
October 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵
For how much birria stew my family has eaten in the last few days, I still have a shocking amount of birria stew.
12yo takes it in tacos. I try to argue that cuts down on the total birria she can remove in a sitting, but resistance is strong.
12yo takes it in tacos. I try to argue that cuts down on the total birria she can remove in a sitting, but resistance is strong.
October 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
For how much birria stew my family has eaten in the last few days, I still have a shocking amount of birria stew.
12yo takes it in tacos. I try to argue that cuts down on the total birria she can remove in a sitting, but resistance is strong.
12yo takes it in tacos. I try to argue that cuts down on the total birria she can remove in a sitting, but resistance is strong.
As Roman leaders knew well, the best way to ensure the loyalty of forces you command is to not pay them.
A new White House memo says that furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay.
This is clearly against the law, which guarantees furloughed federal employees back pay for the duration of a government shutdown.
This is clearly against the law, which guarantees furloughed federal employees back pay for the duration of a government shutdown.
October 7, 2025 at 4:52 PM
As Roman leaders knew well, the best way to ensure the loyalty of forces you command is to not pay them.
Listening to this discussion touch on film negatives and authenticity…it hit me that Westerns blots have always been ground zero for fake images, and AI really democratizes access to that.
I wonder whether a film cassette could return as the gold standard when auditability&integrity are paramount.
I wonder whether a film cassette could return as the gold standard when auditability&integrity are paramount.
There’s a new photography podcast! It’s a bit chaotic 😂. open.spotify.com/show/5vPZToh...
Episode 0 - And so it begins...
open.spotify.com
October 4, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Listening to this discussion touch on film negatives and authenticity…it hit me that Westerns blots have always been ground zero for fake images, and AI really democratizes access to that.
I wonder whether a film cassette could return as the gold standard when auditability&integrity are paramount.
I wonder whether a film cassette could return as the gold standard when auditability&integrity are paramount.