Ary Shalizi
@unsequenced.bsky.social
Biologist, book nerd, parent, hype skeptic in no particular order.
Phenotypic screening for cell and chemical biology.
Also, random book reviews at link.
unsequenced.life
Phenotypic screening for cell and chemical biology.
Also, random book reviews at link.
unsequenced.life
Pinned
Ary Shalizi
@unsequenced.bsky.social
· May 23
My notes on this book ran a little long, so I turned it into a little essay. Taking a cue from "The Future, Now and Then" series by @davekarpf.bsky.social, what did biotechnologists of the 1980s think the future had in store?
(sadly, an Italian biotech with a racy name never materialized)
💙📚
🧪
(sadly, an Italian biotech with a racy name never materialized)
💙📚
🧪
In light of recent developments, I will be leaning into the fact that I am ALSO half Italian. They literally invented fascism!
Oh wait, my grandparents were Italian communists…
Oh wait, my grandparents were Italian communists…
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM
In light of recent developments, I will be leaning into the fact that I am ALSO half Italian. They literally invented fascism!
Oh wait, my grandparents were Italian communists…
Oh wait, my grandparents were Italian communists…
This is probably the most entertaining book I read this year.
Reviewed it here (along with some other titles) ⬇️
Reviewed it here (along with some other titles) ⬇️
November 29, 2025 at 12:19 AM
This is probably the most entertaining book I read this year.
Reviewed it here (along with some other titles) ⬇️
Reviewed it here (along with some other titles) ⬇️
Pre-ordered! I know what I’m reading for the remainder of the year…
(Okay, also Land of Stories since it’s eldest daughter’s favorite)
📚💙
(Okay, also Land of Stories since it’s eldest daughter’s favorite)
📚💙
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Pre-ordered! I know what I’m reading for the remainder of the year…
(Okay, also Land of Stories since it’s eldest daughter’s favorite)
📚💙
(Okay, also Land of Stories since it’s eldest daughter’s favorite)
📚💙
Counterpoint: No, they are not.
It’s a very cool technical achievement from a knowledge-for-knowledge’s sake perspective (remember that?), but having RNA that’s legible by short read sequencing doesn’t address any of the technical problems with mammoth de-extinction.
It’s a very cool technical achievement from a knowledge-for-knowledge’s sake perspective (remember that?), but having RNA that’s legible by short read sequencing doesn’t address any of the technical problems with mammoth de-extinction.
www.extremetech.com/science/scie...
So, with viable RNA scientists are one step closer to bringing back the Wooly Mammoth
So, with viable RNA scientists are one step closer to bringing back the Wooly Mammoth
Scientists Successfully Extract 40,000-Year-Old RNA From Woolly Mammoth
The ancient pachyderm was preserved in permafrost, providing the most intact RNA ever studied.
www.extremetech.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Counterpoint: No, they are not.
It’s a very cool technical achievement from a knowledge-for-knowledge’s sake perspective (remember that?), but having RNA that’s legible by short read sequencing doesn’t address any of the technical problems with mammoth de-extinction.
It’s a very cool technical achievement from a knowledge-for-knowledge’s sake perspective (remember that?), but having RNA that’s legible by short read sequencing doesn’t address any of the technical problems with mammoth de-extinction.
Yay, @ifbookspod.bsky.social did an episode on YNH!
Turns out YNH thinks a solution to fake news is getting scientists to write more science fiction. But scientists writing science fiction is a big part of why the broligarchy is what it is today. Vernor Vinge and Isaac Asimov spring to mind,
1/
Turns out YNH thinks a solution to fake news is getting scientists to write more science fiction. But scientists writing science fiction is a big part of why the broligarchy is what it is today. Vernor Vinge and Isaac Asimov spring to mind,
1/
"Sapiens" is so normal for the first 70,000 years of human history but then goes absolutely buckwild as soon as it gets to colonialism
November 20, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Yay, @ifbookspod.bsky.social did an episode on YNH!
Turns out YNH thinks a solution to fake news is getting scientists to write more science fiction. But scientists writing science fiction is a big part of why the broligarchy is what it is today. Vernor Vinge and Isaac Asimov spring to mind,
1/
Turns out YNH thinks a solution to fake news is getting scientists to write more science fiction. But scientists writing science fiction is a big part of why the broligarchy is what it is today. Vernor Vinge and Isaac Asimov spring to mind,
1/
For 2 years in grad school, I lived in a 2 family home in Brookline. An lovely older couple, the Gembecki's owned the place and lived in the upstairs apartment. They were very obviously in love, and rented the downstairs to me and 2 roommates because they thought I was a nice Jewish boy.
1/n
1/n
I think one of the major contributing factors to the young right wing is that they didn't grow up with WWII vets.
Its all cosplay and whataboutism to them. They didn't play with kids whose parents had camp tattoos, or learn from old men who still cried from PTSD. 1/?
Its all cosplay and whataboutism to them. They didn't play with kids whose parents had camp tattoos, or learn from old men who still cried from PTSD. 1/?
November 18, 2025 at 4:06 AM
For 2 years in grad school, I lived in a 2 family home in Brookline. An lovely older couple, the Gembecki's owned the place and lived in the upstairs apartment. They were very obviously in love, and rented the downstairs to me and 2 roommates because they thought I was a nice Jewish boy.
1/n
1/n
Reinforcing the point I made in my review of The Silmarillion, naming your startup after anything from Tolkien materially improves the odds of getting money from Peter Thiel, regardless of how bad the idea is.
(The original business plan was to use fission to convert CO2 to gasoline)
(The original business plan was to use fission to convert CO2 to gasoline)
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reinforcing the point I made in my review of The Silmarillion, naming your startup after anything from Tolkien materially improves the odds of getting money from Peter Thiel, regardless of how bad the idea is.
(The original business plan was to use fission to convert CO2 to gasoline)
(The original business plan was to use fission to convert CO2 to gasoline)
I would prefer if Netflix made a dinosaur documentary with the team behind “Cunk on Earth.”
The news that Netflix is making a dinosaur documentary series from the team behind Life on Our Planet has just reminded me how basically unwatchable Life on Our Planet was
November 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I would prefer if Netflix made a dinosaur documentary with the team behind “Cunk on Earth.”
Is this the same Valar Atomics that claimed they would use nuclear power to draw down atmospheric CO2 by the incredibly energy inefficient process of converting it into gasoline?
A Trump administration pilot program aims for three nuclear startups to reach a key milestone by July 4, 2026. Valar Atomics says it's the first to do so—but it had some help. www.wired.com/story/valar-...
Valar Atomics Says It's the First Nuclear Startup to Achieve Criticality
A Trump administration pilot program aims for three nuclear startups to reach a key milestone by July 4, 2026. Valar Atomics says it's the first to do so—but it had some help.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Is this the same Valar Atomics that claimed they would use nuclear power to draw down atmospheric CO2 by the incredibly energy inefficient process of converting it into gasoline?
From endorsement to UNdorsement, eh?
November 15, 2025 at 2:03 AM
From endorsement to UNdorsement, eh?
“Jeffrey Epstein invited Deepak Chopra to lunch with George Church” is a sentence too wild to contemplate. Would they split one of those mammoth meatballs?
(Chopra had other plans that day.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029203.txt.pdf
(Chopra had other plans that day.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029203.txt.pdf
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
“Jeffrey Epstein invited Deepak Chopra to lunch with George Church” is a sentence too wild to contemplate. Would they split one of those mammoth meatballs?
(Chopra had other plans that day.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029203.txt.pdf
(Chopra had other plans that day.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029203.txt.pdf
Going to try this approach next time I coach my daughter’s team.
"Everyone put down their objects, your infernal orange slices. Everyone come and look into my eyes — one by one, look into my eyes. After I make you cry we will scrub these cow bones and we will weep and sing. This is all I can offer you."
Marina Abramović is Your Kid’s New Soccer Coach and the Team is Down by Nine Goals at the Half
I face so much jealousy as Marina Abramović. Why are you jealous? Ask. Use your voices to ask and sing it as a question. Now get up. Really? Now si...
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Going to try this approach next time I coach my daughter’s team.
Tell me you’re too lazy to read, and think very little of your colleagues, without saying “I’m too lazy to read, and think very little of my colleagues.”
What do you do after you’re done jumping the shark?
Whatever it is, Nature Careers is all in.
Whatever it is, Nature Careers is all in.
November 12, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Tell me you’re too lazy to read, and think very little of your colleagues, without saying “I’m too lazy to read, and think very little of my colleagues.”
It's truly an evergreen idea...
This proposal is short and manages to get biology so, so wrong.
Keeping some cells and biometric data isn't "backing up" a person, any more than keeping a recipe, some tasting notes, and a slice in the freezer, is "backing up" a cake.
This proposal is short and manages to get biology so, so wrong.
Keeping some cells and biometric data isn't "backing up" a person, any more than keeping a recipe, some tasting notes, and a slice in the freezer, is "backing up" a cake.
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
It's truly an evergreen idea...
This proposal is short and manages to get biology so, so wrong.
Keeping some cells and biometric data isn't "backing up" a person, any more than keeping a recipe, some tasting notes, and a slice in the freezer, is "backing up" a cake.
This proposal is short and manages to get biology so, so wrong.
Keeping some cells and biometric data isn't "backing up" a person, any more than keeping a recipe, some tasting notes, and a slice in the freezer, is "backing up" a cake.
Curious about how scientists at Bay Area universities and biotech companies are using high-content imaging to better understand health and disease? Join me at the @revvity.bsky.social High-Content Imaging Symposium on 11/12 at The Hangar in South San Francisco.
Details at the link!
Details at the link!
2025 High-Content Imaging Symposium
Join our 2025 High-Content Imaging Symposium, showcasing our latest innovations in high-content imaging and analysis!
www.eventbrite.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Curious about how scientists at Bay Area universities and biotech companies are using high-content imaging to better understand health and disease? Join me at the @revvity.bsky.social High-Content Imaging Symposium on 11/12 at The Hangar in South San Francisco.
Details at the link!
Details at the link!
Reposted by Ary Shalizi
It really feels like there were obvious, relatable ways to drum up support for continuing the shutdown.
Once they were in the shutdown though they could have made it about anything. Put clips of ICE abducting children on endless loop and say “do we keep funding a govt that does *that*?” Then you might get federal workers clamoring not for concessions but a strike.
Again, requires believing in things.
Again, requires believing in things.
This was a doomed exercise from the outset. They picked a fight to give the GOP something they thought they would want anyway, and have now been embarrassed into capitulating on even that. Beyond pathetic.
November 10, 2025 at 3:28 AM
It really feels like there were obvious, relatable ways to drum up support for continuing the shutdown.
I remember seeing Watson talk as a postbac at the NIH. I’ll never forget him saying how “stupid” the triplet code was, compared to the hypothetical codes other people proposed, and that it was deciphered by l “inelegant, brute-force methods.”
Marshall Nirenberg was sitting in the front row.
Marshall Nirenberg was sitting in the front row.
Text I received from a former labmate last night. Roughly sums up the vibe among molecular biologists I know.
November 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I remember seeing Watson talk as a postbac at the NIH. I’ll never forget him saying how “stupid” the triplet code was, compared to the hypothetical codes other people proposed, and that it was deciphered by l “inelegant, brute-force methods.”
Marshall Nirenberg was sitting in the front row.
Marshall Nirenberg was sitting in the front row.
Text I received from a former labmate last night. Roughly sums up the vibe among molecular biologists I know.
November 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Text I received from a former labmate last night. Roughly sums up the vibe among molecular biologists I know.
Wife once asked our 10yo if she would be interested in taking an improv class:
Daughter: “No thanks.”
Mom: “Well, do you know what improv is?”
Daughter, narrowing her eyes for emphasis: “Yes AND, I don’t want to take the class.”
Daughter: “No thanks.”
Mom: “Well, do you know what improv is?”
Daughter, narrowing her eyes for emphasis: “Yes AND, I don’t want to take the class.”
Asked my 2 year old if she’d be interested in taking soccer or a dance class or maybe an art class. She thought about it and said “No. Maybe a stuffie class? Or a chocolate chip class?”
November 2, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Wife once asked our 10yo if she would be interested in taking an improv class:
Daughter: “No thanks.”
Mom: “Well, do you know what improv is?”
Daughter, narrowing her eyes for emphasis: “Yes AND, I don’t want to take the class.”
Daughter: “No thanks.”
Mom: “Well, do you know what improv is?”
Daughter, narrowing her eyes for emphasis: “Yes AND, I don’t want to take the class.”
I initially read the title as “Don of the Dead”, and mentally swapped in a cadaverous Richard Dawkins in the thumbnail…
"We're forty strong, the last holdfast of humanity against the gathering administrative flood. Forty full-timers and adjuncts combined, music professors, theater professors, dance professors."
Dean of the Dead
The wind howls outside the arts building, drowning out the sound of the approaching deans. We don’t know exactly where they are. The Porcupine and ...
buff.ly
October 31, 2025 at 5:01 AM
I initially read the title as “Don of the Dead”, and mentally swapped in a cadaverous Richard Dawkins in the thumbnail…
As a scientist, I am immensely pleased that my 8yo says “dad, I have a hypothesis about the next Kpop Demon Hunters movie”, and not “dad, I have a theory about the next Kpop Demon Hunters movie.”
October 31, 2025 at 3:39 AM
As a scientist, I am immensely pleased that my 8yo says “dad, I have a hypothesis about the next Kpop Demon Hunters movie”, and not “dad, I have a theory about the next Kpop Demon Hunters movie.”
I feel like Dinesh missed an opportunity to clap back with, “you’re right, Indians did make nothing. You’re welcome.”
October 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I feel like Dinesh missed an opportunity to clap back with, “you’re right, Indians did make nothing. You’re welcome.”
Is she 35 yet?
AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.
October 16, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Is she 35 yet?
So, this Overton Window I keep hearing about, is it on a ratcheting track or something?
Because for my entire adult life, it only seems to have moved in one direction.
Because for my entire adult life, it only seems to have moved in one direction.
Q: Politico reported on a group chat of young Republicans. Does this just reflect some bad apples?
HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.
HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.
October 15, 2025 at 7:16 PM
So, this Overton Window I keep hearing about, is it on a ratcheting track or something?
Because for my entire adult life, it only seems to have moved in one direction.
Because for my entire adult life, it only seems to have moved in one direction.