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Stephen Turner

@stephenturner.us

8.6K followers 420 following 2.3K posts

Associate Professor of Data Science & asst. Dean of Research at UVA School of Data Science, #Rstats enthusiast, dad, runner, guitar noise-maker. Views my own. Web: https://stephenturner.us/ Newsletter: https://blog.stephenturner.us

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · Aug 29

All models are wrong; some are useful.

All LLM outputs are hallucinations. Some are useful.

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Reposted by Stephen Turner

jess reia • 何杰茜 @jhereia.bsky.social · 1d

These are 2-year postdoctoral fellowships (August/2026). Annual salary is $65,000 + research funding of $5,000/year. We sponsor visas as needed. Standard UVA resources will be provided. Register for info sessions:
dtdlab.virginia.edu/event/dtd-la...

@uvadatascience.bsky.social

DTD Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Information Session - DTD Lab

Please join current DTD Lab faculty and postdoctoral research fellows to learn more about the Lab and open call for applications for the 2026-28 cohort.

dtdlab.virginia.edu

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Reposted by Stephen Turner

jess reia • 何杰茜 @jhereia.bsky.social · 1d

We are hiring! The DTD Lab invites applications for our 2026 postdoctoral cohort. Areas I'd love to supervise: gender/techno-authoritarianism, data visibility, urban governance, night studies, cultural practices, and all things related to tech policy. More info:
jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...

This is a screenshot of a webpage. It says:

Opportunities

University of Virginia’s Digital Technology for Democracy (DTD) Lab invites applications for 2-year postdoctoral fellowships. The fellowships will begin in August of 2026 and run through August 2028.

Application Deadline: December 15, 2025; notifications to made in March 2026.

Interested in learning more? Join us for a Zoom info session in October or November.

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 20h

Disruptive biosecurity: A new concept for preparedness and response to the emerging total biothreat landscape www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #biosecurity 🧬🖥️🧪

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22h

Governance strategies for biological AI: beyond the dual-use dilemma www.cell.com/trends/biote... 🧬🖥️🧪

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

New weekly recap blog post: AI x biosecurity, #Rstats updates (Blaze, RWeekly, R Consortium), genome engineering & conservation, AI & labor, RAG, Lost Science, AI in medicine, ggplot2, Quarto, DNA forensics in the genomic era doi.org/10.59350/5ph... 🧬🖥️🧪

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

The first interview by Carl Zimmer is a good one: "She Studied How Logging Affects Pollinators: Kim Ballare was a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service until her federal grant “got snatched away.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/s...

She Studied How Logging Affects Pollinators

www.nytimes.com

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

Efficient and accurate search in petabase-scale sequence repositories www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧬🖥️🧪
MetaGraph: metagraph.ethz.ch
Code: github.com/ratschlab/me...

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

Direct single-molecule detection and super-resolution imaging with a low-cost portable smartphone-based microscope www.nature.com/articles/s41... 📱🧪🔬

Direct single-molecule detection and super-resolution imaging with a low-cost portable smartphone-based microscope - Nature Communications

Loretan and colleagues present a low-cost smartphone-based microscope capable of detecting single-molecule fluorescence. This approach opens doors to personalised and widely distributed applications…

www.nature.com

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 1d

Nature Reviews Genetics: Forensic genetics in the omics era www.nature.com/articles/s41... free: rdcu.be/eKbQn) 🧬🖥️🧪

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 2d

Review: GenAI in Medicine www.nature.com/articles/s41... (read free: rdcu.be/eJ9Qm) 🧬🖥️🧪

Reposted by Stephen Turner

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 2d

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

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 2d

The book: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January - <b>"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers, and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting." --Christina Henry, bestselling a...

bookshop.org

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 2d

My wife has been emailing with @alixeharrow.bsky.social about keeping SROs out of our schools. Author of one of my favorite SFF books. I had no idea you lived in our neighborhood!

alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 2d

hi charlottesville! if you're voting in the city school board election this november, there are four candidates running for three seats. here's where they stand on the return of police to our schools:

keep police out of cville schools! 2025 school board candidate guide.
zyahna bryant [✓]: opposed school resource officers
lisa torres [✓]: voted against SROs
dashad cooper: supports SROs
emily dooley: voted for SROs as chair
VOTE NOV. 4 2025

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 2d

Survival by Design: The BWC’s Autopoietic Response at Fifty to a Disaggregated Biosecurity Ecosystem doi.org/10.1177/2326... 🧬🖥️🧪

Your password has been changed

doi.org

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 3d

My colleagues and I here at UVA are looking to hire a skilled #Rstats developer. You'll be working with me on the project. Here's the posting: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...

Epidemiologist / Research Data Scientist; Infectious Diseases and International Health in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America | Information Management, Services & Technology at Univers...

Apply for Epidemiologist / Research Data Scientist; Infectious Diseases and International Health job with University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America. Information Man...

jobs.virginia.edu

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 3d

It's a small grant, but a win is a win. Just got the notice of award to serve as a project coach for CSTE's Data Science Team Training program www.cste.org/page/dstt-we...

www.cste.org

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 3d

Multimodal AI agents for capturing and sharing laboratory practice www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧬🖥️🧪 github.com/MannLabs/pro...

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 3d

Apple Watch tells me I've got a 76/"High" sleep score after 4h50m. What's a "low" score look like?

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 4d

Want to be my boss? We're looking for an Associate Dean for Research here at the UVA School of Data Science apply.interfolio.com/168251 🧬🖥️🧪

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 4d

Science writing interest you? Join the team here at @uvadatascience.bsky.social see posting here: uva.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UVAJobs/job/...

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Reposted by Stephen Turner

Alex Crits-Christoph @acritschristoph.bsky.social · 4d

The full language is even worse, asking to ban gene drives and microbes as well. Would exclude work like this on modified mosquitoes: www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1...

I love the IUCN, but also, they have no political authority, this is just a suggestion. Not a good one though!

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 4d

De-extinction technology and its application to conservation: academic.oup.com/jhered/advan...

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 4d

Genome engineering in biodiversity conservation and restoration: www.nature.com/articles/s44... (free: rdcu.be/ewG5R)

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 4d

Would a ban on genetic engineering of wildlife hamper conservation? www.newscientist.com/article/2498... ... I'm biased, but I think "yes, in fact, it would". See also: 🧵

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