C. Brandon Ogbunu
@big_data_kane
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Scientist + Humanist + Pugilist. "I'm known to melt a wire or two." (c) Beanie Sigel
Joined July 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
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Atlanta: elderly African-American concierge sees me in the hotel lobby (dressed in jogging pants, a hoodie, baseball cap), greets me: "Let me guess! Cardiologist?"
Wrong, of course, but this is the type of predictive algorithm I can live with.
Also: only in Atlanta
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New for
@WIRED
on the college reopening "strategies."
"The analogy writes itself: Higher education has acted like a bunch of students who didn’t prepare for an exam, and it’s trying to squirm, lie, and make excuses to get out of it.”
I said what I said.
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"Antiracism in science must be about much more than challenging the bigoted greybeards of our past."
I said what I said.
New work for
@sciam
#BlackIntheIvory
#BlackLivesMatter
#BlackMindsMatter
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If the airline really can’t find my luggage, I’m going to give this department seminar in the Wu-Tang sweatsuit I wore to the airport
Pray they don’t find it
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Prof
@CarolynBertozzi
responded to my random e-mail when I was a 20 y/o undergrad, met with me for 15 minutes, and gave me some perspective that really changed my life.
(Too long for Twitter, maybe will detail later)
The point: What a generous, inspiring person and scientist.
BREAKING NEWS:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2022
#NobelPrize
in Chemistry to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.”
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@helenenothelen
"Faces hard reality."
Top 5 ever athlete loses to best current player in tennis.
It's called sports.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
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Giving a talk
@MIT
today, and the organizers asked me what song I want played as entry music. 😮
Let's normalize this ritual, please.
---
'Nas Is Like' (Nas, 1999) (Clean version)
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New work
@WIRED
“….scientists can no longer justify silence in the name of objectivity or use the escape tactic of “leaving politics out of science.”
Quashing Racist Pseudoscience Is Science’s Responsibility
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Damn.
‘Women Dominated Beer Brewing Until They Were Accused of Being Witches’
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Dr. JC Buckner (
@bog_buckmoth
) is too modest to share broadly, and so it is my privilege to be loud & and not-modest on her behalf (with her permission, of course):
She was recently awarded her first NSF grant as a professor!! And she only JUST started her job 😀🙌🏿👊🏿
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My voting site:
Black & brown faces everywhere, masked up, determined to vote.
A DJ spinning the happy jams.
Black teens wearing baseball caps directing traffic, giving out hand sanitizer.
Black sororities running an info table.
#Democracy
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Before I get upset, I remind myself that it was never designed to be fair.
But then I get upset because it was never designed to be fair.
BREAKING: U.S. magistrate rules Capitol riot suspect Eric Munchel to be released from jail pending trial, to be placed on home detention (except for work, etc.) supervised by a family friend, must not possess firearms, prohibited from traveling to DC except for legal reasons.
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I was up early, thinking, and decided to write a short appreciation of my fellow
@HowardU
Bison,
@chadwickboseman
.
'Chadwick Boseman embodied the glory in his characters'
Thank you to
@JenishaWatts
and
@TheUndefeated
for the opportunity.
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One year ago today, George Floyd was murdered.
Soon after, many aspects of society--including STEM-- underwent phases of a racial reckoning.
Today, we enter a new phase, defined by a question:
“What now?”
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Lab scientist here. This is wrong. (And corny, but let’s focus on the wrong part)
My 1st use of “lab” came from hip-hop, where it was slang for the recording studio. And this definition is the one I’ve always used: places where minds come together to experiment and create.
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"Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now."
(c) Miles Morales, 'Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse'
One of the most beautiful and revolutionary things about this movement is that it’s not “led” by celebrity figureheads. It’s amazing what can happen when everyone is a leader.
#BlackLivesMatter
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I'm moving.
"There and Back Again."
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I said what I said.
'Population genetics: Your (latest) racism problem is one of science & merit'
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Been listening to
@JadAbumrad
+
@Radiolab
for over 10yrs. Thank you for having me, and for all of your excellent work.
+Thank you to:
-
@storycollider
for producing the original show
-
@sse_evolution
@ASNAmNat
and
@systbiol
for sponsoring
-
@trayc7
for encouraging me to participate
Latest
@radiolab
ep is up!
@big_data_kane
tells a beautiful story of liberating RNA (and himself) from years of police stops and scientific racism. Big shout out to
@storycollider
for letting us borrow this
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25 years ago, today (Oct 24, 1997), 'Gattaca' was released.
Me &
@DocEdge85
chose to commemorate the event w/ a technical perspective recently published in GENETICS
@GeneticsGSA
Here I'll just post several items related to the broader project.
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“There is power in knowing that we can take control of our own circumstances, that we can guide our futures"
My dear sister-in-evolution, my colleague, idol, and legend-in-the making: The incomparable
@marmmunoz
. Profiled in
@ScienceMagazine
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🚨New gig alert:
Now a contributing columnist at
@QuantaMagazine
. I'll write about the weird corners of genetics, evolution, mathematical biology, whatever.
In my 1st column, I take on...(*breathes deeply*) epistasis. (I wanted to start off simple and light! Lol)
The tiny biochemical agents that carry our genetic information — DNA, RNA and proteins — can interact in surprising ways. In a column for Quanta, the biologist C. Brandon Ogbunu (
@big_data_kane
) details how researchers are studying these interactions.
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Population genetics:
Wanna know what we're not going to do in 2021?
"Very fine people"/Both-siderism racism and racists.
Stupid, dumb, broken, racist, wrong ideas should be treated as such. And their authors should be held accountable.
Period.
That's the scientific way.
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a) I'm honored, and the 1,000 part is the best part. Let's make it 5,000. 10,000. 50,000.
b) Everyone I know personally on here is a kind & generous person
c) Being on this list w/ my grad advisor is meaningful. My goal: mentor a member of the next list
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It just hit me...I speak after Jane Goodall at this conference (
#2021BLC
) on Saturday.
😱😱😮😮
I think my Wifi is acting up...my signal is unstable all of a sudden. (LOL)
Looking forward to Jane Goodall
@JaneGoodallInst
and Yale's Brandon Ogbunu
@big_data_kane
speaking tomorrow at
#2021BLC
. So good to see such a phenomenal collection of colleagues and friends at this event.
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This.
To everyone who invited me for a seminar this semester....I’m honored. Thank you. Really.
But yeah, you’re going to get *at least* 10 minutes of me speaking my mind...on some things.
And yes, these things are relevant to my research program.
Not sorry in advance.
I can not give the same talk I was planning after witnessing this act of terrorism. I am re-writing it now. Forgive me for the last minute change in content.
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Aight, so hear me out:
*Some of us* have a hard time getting anyone to take our (even rigorous) theoretical work seriously.
So to see stoner babble like this in PNAS is a slap-in-the-face.
Keep that same energy when you see (better) exploratory ideas from one of *us*....IJS
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“The more uncomfortable truth is that academic science has never been a trade that selects for or supports the best scientific minds in the world.”
New for
@sciam
, regarding debates around the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
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when obvious shit feels like you won the lottery
All bad
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We beefing with RNA now? Good luck with that fam
Sen. Tom Cotton release this morning: "We will emerge stronger from this challenge, we will hold accountable those who inflicted it on the world." What does that mean?
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"Charcuterie is Lunchables for rich people"
- Something I just heard and can't unhear
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Just ordered an espresso machine.....y'all shoulda buried me when you had the chance, I'm about to grow wings and a bionic arm....it's about to be GAME OVER
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It's all love, but I gotta keep it 💯:
A) How many of us made early predictions or offered perspectives on COVID-19 that we were wrong about?
B) How many of us have openly admitted it, explained why we were wrong, what we’ve learned?
I'm saying.
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@IshmailSaboor
It's the "she is not security" part that always gets me
They all carry badges and are landlords, even when they don't, and aren't.
When it happens to me, I'm like: "who are you, exactly?"
(Of course, if you disobey, they call the authorities, and we know how *that* goes)
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Reviewer 1: Not enough modeling.
Reviewer 2: Too much modeling.
Reviewer 3: Modeling is just right.
Decision: Nope, go do more & less modeling.
Not even mad. This is becoming high art, and I enjoy it.
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Cool, so nobody is brave enough to say “recombination?”
Cmon. Admit it.
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"One of the greatest honors of my career....to be invited by my family, to deliver a talk to my family."
Thank you to
@sacnas
and the large number of people who were responsible for the nomination, for the invitation, for the execution, and for an amazing conference.
Come to the Main Stage to see
@big_data_kane
and
@ximenaccid1
's inspirational speeches.
#SACNAS2020
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Fully unhinged, nerding out and talking my talk on this one. Felt like a convo with a friend over a beer(s)
Thank you
@michaelgarfield
and
@sfiscience
Whether in
#evolution
,
#epidemiology
, word games,
#scicomm
, or
#socialjustice
, context is king.
@big_data_kane
(
@yale
) joins us this week on
#ComplexityPodcast
to talk about the role of the environment and nonlinear interactions across
#complexsystems
:
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Update:
Our paper on
#Gattaca
made the cover of the December 2022 issue of GENETICS (
@GeneticsGSA
).
(The fun & ironic part: if you asked me 25 years ago, there are many pubs I would have thought I'd make the cover of--e.g.,
@TheSource
--before I would a scientific journal.)
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25 years ago, today (Oct 24, 1997), 'Gattaca' was released.
Me &
@DocEdge85
chose to commemorate the event w/ a technical perspective recently published in GENETICS
@GeneticsGSA
Here I'll just post several items related to the broader project.
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And many of you said (or thought) that trigger warnings and preferred pronouns were what was wrong with the world.
You’re also responsible for this.
We told you what the problem was. Years and decades and centuries ago.
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"Honored" doesn't do it justice. I've never felt more pride.
Thank you to
@sacnas
for the tremendous opportunity.
Introducing our featured speaker lineup for
#SACNAS2020
! 💚
To celebrate our 7 incredible speakers, we're offering 25% OFF Advanced Registration for our virtual conference. Use code FEARLESS.
ACT ASAP! Discount is limited to 700 people & ends on 8/31 >>
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20 years ago today, the 1st draft of the completed human genome was published. I was asked to offer a reflection.
"...my education about the rules of biology over the past two decades has functioned a lot like my education about the rules of real life."
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I appreciate all the messages asking for my response.
For one, I already addressed this, almost a year ago (no, YOU go look for it).
Second, the stakes are higher.
No more playing nice. Might be time to press the Killmonger button this time.
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Zoom lecture hack...I’m batting 1.000 on talks when the footwear is extra crispy...Wakandan assassin-lite
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Yeah. There's nothing more American than inflating the value of white pathology and diminishing the value of Black life.
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I am thrilled to congratulate
@svscarpino
on his recent selection as an External Faculty Member at
@sfiscience
.
Of course, his work is great: He's a dynamic, creative thinker. But he's also one of the kindest, most generous people in the game
💯💯🔥🔥
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Look...I'm not sure I've had more fun writing a manuscript than I did this one--now a working paper with the great
@DocEdge85
The title: "GATTACA as a lens on contemporary Genetics: Marking 25 years into the film’s 'not-too-distant' future"
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Some people haven't been able to find it. Sorry. Here you go.
It's almost a year old. Yeah, I know. (I tried to tell y'all)
More soon....
- Killah Kane
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@TrimHalpert
@LupeFiasco
It doesn't need to be "solved" to be reviewed fairly. A fair review just requires a reasonably intelligent adult to sit and listen. Its not that challenging. And you don't have to like it. But the reasons we're reading? Embarrassing.
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Today (Wednesday, 9/15):
@yale_eeb
department virtual seminar features a special guest: Dr.
@KatherineJWu
of
@TheAtlantic
!
Title: “Science, Writing, and Science Writing: a Conversation with Dr. Katherine Wu.”
3:30pm EST.
Those interested can send me a message for a link
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Well damn
MacArthur Fellows
@nhannahjones
and Ta-Nehisi Coates join the
@HowardU
faculty to establish the Center for Journalism and Democracy:
#MacFellow
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"Taken together, our findings reveal that the pandemic provided a ‘stress test’ for the criminal legal system."
One of the most important works science that I've ever contributed to. Thank you to all who made it happen.
👇🏿 Thread below, tells the story.
New in
@Nature
! In the first year of the pandemic, we saw a large/abrupt spike in the percent of Black & nonwhite people incarcerated in state prisons
A key driver: pervasive differences in sentence length by race
@elizabhinton
@big_data_kane
@svscarpino
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It’s pretty simple: misrepresenting human genetic diversity in a modern study is an act of scientific misconduct.
(even if not malfeasance; intentions aren’t the point; I’m sure the offenders are nice people.)
This is a technical point as much as it is an ethical point.
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The former 3/5 human beings: defending democracy since (well before) 1863
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"Mutations that enhance evolvability may open doors to faster adaptation."
A comment in
@NatureComms
on a new study by
@WagnerEvolution
that identifies "evolvability-enhancing" mutations. I talk about the paper, and greater issues in the study of evolvability.
In this Comment, Ogbunugafor discusses the implications of the existence of mutations that facilitate access to efficient evolutionary solutions.
@big_data_kane
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On a spring day in 1994, I skipped school to buy 'Illmatic', a new album by 20-year-old
@Nas
. My life was forever changed.
30 years later, me +
@LupeFiasco
(In Nas' words: the artist who most reminds him of himself) wrote a reflection-appreciation of the all-time great album.
"The early ’90s had no hip-hop message boards. There was no social media. The legend of 'Illmatic' was built from street corner to street corner, person to person, party to party."
@big_data_kane
+
@LupeFiasco
on the 30th anniversary of
@Nas
' 'Illmatic'
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The leap from practicing scientist/PI to associate editor at a big journal has a "what the hell am I doing" factor almost as large as the leap from high school to college
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UVM Complex Systems (
@uvmcomplexity
) is not only a place where some of the most fascinating and important work in the world goes on, it is very special place to me personally. I would be nowhere without it.
I am thrilled be an inaugural member of its External Faculty
#Emergence
Please welcome UVM-faculty alumnus Brandon Ogbunu
@big_data_kane
to the VCSC External Faculty. His work focuses on genetics & computational biology. He is a marvelous science writer. He has mentored & inspired so many of us at UVM & we are all grateful to share in his wisdom.
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Slightly ahead of my model predictions (but within the margin of error): less than 24 hours after a confederate flag was flown in the Capitol during an attempted coup, "cancel culture" is the problem again.
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@surt_lab
Ironically, if I was denied access to research on these grounds, I wouldn't be a scientist today.
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Supreme gratitude to
@ChemistryMIT
& Matt Shoulders for hosting me
Special thanks to Tami Lieberman (
@conTaminatedsci
), Ed Boyden, D. Fox Harrell + many others for support
Let's go break (and make?) some proteins*
*(+ genes + networks + drugs + information +...)
We are excited to welcome C. Brandon Ogbunu (
@big_data_kane
), an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, to the department as an MLK Visiting Professor this fall!
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Professor Martha Munoz (
@marmmunoz
) is on "Award Tour." (c) A Tribe Called Quest
In 2021, she won:
✅The George A. Bartholomew Award from the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology
✅The Carl Gans Award
✅She is 1st to sweep the society’s top 2 awards. (!!!!!!)
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Please....no. I can’t.
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New
@WIRED
"The nonsense is so endless, so thorough, so diverse, and, through the audio format, more resounding than on any other platform. A hydra of bullshit that has had a net positive effect on my psyche."
'Clubhouse Cured My Imposter Syndrome'
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Top 10 campaign ad, all-time.
I’m about to go knock on doors-level fired up.
This NEW Biden-Harris ad featuring 14 Black mayors from across the country is straight fire!! 🔥🔥🔥
#BlackLivesMatter
#BidenHarris2020
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@baym
This table w/labels that say Mask A is "probably better" or "very likely better" than Mask B would be, ironically, more technical.
This is a type of "mathiness" error that drives me nuts: sometimes the more technical, "scientific" description doesn't have numbers at all.
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Here's the thing:
@TinaLasisi
's work is STELLAR.
I went to her defense. I've read the work. The *first-ness* is not *really* the thing to celebrate. Her *excellence* is.
Of course, these things are related: she *had to be* especially excellent *in order to be* first.
Last weekend I became the first Black student to graduate with a PhD in Anthropology from Penn State
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Information theory: A foundation for complexity science | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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@CT_Bergstrom
The notion that we (I'll throw myself in there) need an active pandemic to get "attention" is how we ended up in a pandemic.
The reality is worse for skeptics: the public health sector needs just as much attention in non-pandemic times. That's, like, the whole point.
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HAPPY DOOMSDAY!!
2 years ago, a legend went to the essence! Today, I wear the mask in his honor.
Daniel Dumile AKA MF DOOM, July 13, 1971 – October 31, 2020
#RESTINDOOM
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✅ Generous, kind, positive
✅ Brilliant, creative, dynamic
❌ A Los Angeles Lakers fan
✅ Now a tenured professor
I give you:
@lorin_crawford
A generational talent. I am lucky to call him a friend.
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People no longer trust each other. Why? And how can we fix it? An interactive guide to the game theory of trust:
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@NYCuratrix
I don’t feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for the awards.
Great people are the measure of accolades. Not the reverse.
If actual great people don’t win them, then the awards don’t mean shit.
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The Ogbunu Lab is hiring a "Swiss Army Quant" at the level of Research Assistant.
Let's build.
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*submits final proof*
*glances at the draft once more, admiring the work, ready to move on with life*
New typos:
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Review (
@WIRED
) of 'Calling Bullshit' by
@CT_Bergstrom
and
@jevinwest
:
It is "a modern classic that is troubling in some places, sobering in others, and enlightening from beginning to end."
This is my favorite non-fiction book of the year.
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"In a dark summer, when COVID-19 cases continue to climb around the country, maybe the NBA will remind us that the pandemic is conquerable when we follow the science"
New work for
@TheUndefeated
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@mbeisen
Lots here but (a) the chalk talk is more susceptible to derailing by bad actors (b) no one agrees on what its supposed to be/how its supposed to go (sorta the point, but not really)
Regulate audience behavior and standardize the format/set expectations, and they'd be fine
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Update: Still no luggage.
Oh…I’m also wearing a fanny pack.
This might be epic.
Put good (bad) airport luggage vibes out there for me.
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@baym
Bruh
I did a podcast recently where I explained it...felt like I was explaining "The Force"....in a good way Lol
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My momma smarter and more gangsta than I am by a lot so I’m not so sure about this one
Write your manuscript reviews like somebody’s mom is going to read them.
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This might be the greatest photo ever taken in the history of the universe
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1/5 Finally getting a chance to breathe after an incredible week at the Santa Fe Institute (
@sfiscience
).
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"The COVID-19 pandemic amplified long-standing racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system"
This is among the most important works of science that I have ever contributed to.
The great
@jkbren
w/ the detailed thread below👇🏿
NEW: Since Mar '20, the state prison population fell by at least 16%—the largest drop in US history
Yet at the same time, the relative number of incarcerated Black people sharply increased
We look at why led by
@elizabhinton
@big_data_kane
@svscarpino
🧵
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The James Watson saga has consumed the scientific community for several reasons, fostered debates, most of them having nothing to do with science 1/n
@WIREDScience
"In reflecting on scientific racism this way, being black and an academic descendent of James Watson leads me to a new, radical conclusion. Black scientists are in the best position to understand what is so broken about the ideas of Watson and his army."
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I'm a fan first, friend second, and am very, very, very excited about the arrival of the great Dr. Nyeema Harris (
@drnyc_awe
).
"Cutting-Edge Wildlife Ecologist Nyeema Harris to Join YSE Faculty"
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0/4: Recently, me & some good folk published a set of papers that examine properties of fitness landscapes that are somewhat relevant to predicting/controlling evolution (@ the protein level).
(Related concepts explored in a Nov
@QuantaMagazine
piece)
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#COVID19
lessons so far:
(A) wash hands et al
(B) that calculus thing is pretty dope and is, like, useful
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Extremely honored to welcome the great Dr. Janet Buckner (
@bog_buckmoth
) to give a virtual department seminar
@yale_eeb
on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, 3:30pm. Hosted by
@TJNear
#BlackInNHMs
#BlackInBiodiversity
(Contact me via DM if you are interested in attending)
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Folks are writing and posting preprints like they are live blogs.
Stop that
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