Alistair Bailey
@ab604.uk
Developing micromixers for Hydrogen Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry Proteomics. Occasional immunopeptidomics researcher at the University of Southampton. https://ab604.uk/ #rstats 🤖 My proteomics literature bot: @protpapers.bsky.social
It was supposed to be an afternoon project. Two months later I finally finshed making a Raspberry Pi Sunrise Timelapse Bsky bot: @southamptonsunrise.bsky.social and wrote up what I did.
Sunrise Timelapse Bot – ab604.uk
Making a Raspberry Pi Zero bot that posts video timelapse of sunrise each day to Bluesky with LLM generated text. Featuring a lot of vibe coding with Claude.
ab604.uk
August 7, 2025 at 6:57 AM
It was supposed to be an afternoon project. Two months later I finally finshed making a Raspberry Pi Sunrise Timelapse Bsky bot: @southamptonsunrise.bsky.social and wrote up what I did.
Sunrise Timelapse Bot – ab604.uk
Making a Raspberry Pi Zero bot that posts video timelapse of sunrise each day to Bluesky with LLM generated text. Featuring a lot of vibe coding with Claude.
ab604.uk
August 6, 2025 at 6:48 PM
It was supposed to be an afternoon project. Two months later I finally finshed making a Raspberry Pi Sunrise Timelapse Bsky bot: @southamptonsunrise.bsky.social and wrote up what I did.
I decided to replace my ageing Sonos Connect with a Raspberry Pi based music streamer. And quitting Spotify for Tidal. It ended up being a bit trickier than expected, but it's a huge improvement in sound quality.
I wrote a summary of what's involved.
I wrote a summary of what's involved.
Building a Raspberry Pi based music streamer – ab604.uk
Replacing my old Sonos Connect in my Hi-Fi set-up with a Raspberry Pi running Mopidy Music Server and an external DAC
ab604.uk
April 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I decided to replace my ageing Sonos Connect with a Raspberry Pi based music streamer. And quitting Spotify for Tidal. It ended up being a bit trickier than expected, but it's a huge improvement in sound quality.
I wrote a summary of what's involved.
I wrote a summary of what's involved.
Trying to write a new section for our (stalled) lung neoantigens paper and finding these two articles by @dingdingpeng.the100.ci very helpful. The marginal effects opening paragraph always makes me laugh.
www.the100.ci/2024/12/01/w...
www.the100.ci/2022/05/27/%...
www.the100.ci/2024/12/01/w...
www.the100.ci/2022/05/27/%...
Writing about technical topics in an accessible manner
A wise man – I’m quite sure it was Brian Wansink – once pointed out that it is impossible to both read and write a lot. So, maybe reading a post about how to write just steals time from the more urgen...
www.the100.ci
April 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Trying to write a new section for our (stalled) lung neoantigens paper and finding these two articles by @dingdingpeng.the100.ci very helpful. The marginal effects opening paragraph always makes me laugh.
www.the100.ci/2024/12/01/w...
www.the100.ci/2022/05/27/%...
www.the100.ci/2024/12/01/w...
www.the100.ci/2022/05/27/%...
#30DayChartChallenge Day 6: Florence Nightingale.
A hexagonal density plot England of measles vaccination coverage for 5 year olds. There was one measles related death in England in 2024.
Vaccines work.
A hexagonal density plot England of measles vaccination coverage for 5 year olds. There was one measles related death in England in 2024.
Vaccines work.
April 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
#30DayChartChallenge Day 6: Florence Nightingale.
A hexagonal density plot England of measles vaccination coverage for 5 year olds. There was one measles related death in England in 2024.
Vaccines work.
A hexagonal density plot England of measles vaccination coverage for 5 year olds. There was one measles related death in England in 2024.
Vaccines work.
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
I know it's a rough time to be talking science, but in case anyone wants some distraction, I wrote about the Tan et al (2024) analysis of heritability and polygenic indices for complex human behavior. Title: Is Tan et al The End of Social Science Genomics?
Is Tan et al. The End of Social Science Genomics?
What happens when everything is unconfounded?
open.substack.com
April 4, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I know it's a rough time to be talking science, but in case anyone wants some distraction, I wrote about the Tan et al (2024) analysis of heritability and polygenic indices for complex human behavior. Title: Is Tan et al The End of Social Science Genomics?
For #30DayChartChallenge Big or Small, I couldn't resist re-creating the FT Alphaville chart on US tariffs: on.ft.com/4cddkuC. See the article for their interactive version.
All the tariffs are big, but some are bigger than others!
Code and country data is in my repo: github.com/ab604/charts...
All the tariffs are big, but some are bigger than others!
Code and country data is in my repo: github.com/ab604/charts...
April 4, 2025 at 1:31 PM
For #30DayChartChallenge Big or Small, I couldn't resist re-creating the FT Alphaville chart on US tariffs: on.ft.com/4cddkuC. See the article for their interactive version.
All the tariffs are big, but some are bigger than others!
Code and country data is in my repo: github.com/ab604/charts...
All the tariffs are big, but some are bigger than others!
Code and country data is in my repo: github.com/ab604/charts...
For #30DayChartChallenge Circles, I chose the Moon.
I made a webpage that updates each day with an image of the moon phase as it appears from Southampton in the UK.
Today it is a waxing crescent moon, 19% of the way through it's cycle.
The wepage is at ab604.github.io/moon-phase/
I made a webpage that updates each day with an image of the moon phase as it appears from Southampton in the UK.
Today it is a waxing crescent moon, 19% of the way through it's cycle.
The wepage is at ab604.github.io/moon-phase/
April 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
For #30DayChartChallenge Circles, I chose the Moon.
I made a webpage that updates each day with an image of the moon phase as it appears from Southampton in the UK.
Today it is a waxing crescent moon, 19% of the way through it's cycle.
The wepage is at ab604.github.io/moon-phase/
I made a webpage that updates each day with an image of the moon phase as it appears from Southampton in the UK.
Today it is a waxing crescent moon, 19% of the way through it's cycle.
The wepage is at ab604.github.io/moon-phase/
For slopes #30DayChartChallenge I've made a simpler version of the Our World in Data graphic about cervical cancer and the Human papillomavirus: ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...
Good news, vaccines work and prevent cancer!
Source article DOI is 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02178-4
Good news, vaccines work and prevent cancer!
Source article DOI is 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02178-4
April 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
For slopes #30DayChartChallenge I've made a simpler version of the Our World in Data graphic about cervical cancer and the Human papillomavirus: ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...
Good news, vaccines work and prevent cancer!
Source article DOI is 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02178-4
Good news, vaccines work and prevent cancer!
Source article DOI is 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02178-4
Trying the #30DayChartChallenge for the first time. I'm going to focus on my research interests, so here's plots of UK lung cancer diagnoses between 2000 and 2021 showing how most people who get lung cancer are smokers, and how England has the largest proportion of cases.
April 1, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Trying the #30DayChartChallenge for the first time. I'm going to focus on my research interests, so here's plots of UK lung cancer diagnoses between 2000 and 2021 showing how most people who get lung cancer are smokers, and how England has the largest proportion of cases.
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
Overdiagnosis of mental disorders is making headlines again, this time thanks to Wes Streeting. But it is true?
(thread)
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
(thread)
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions
Health secretary says too many people are being ‘written off’ and that is driving ministers’ changes to welfare
www.theguardian.com
March 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Overdiagnosis of mental disorders is making headlines again, this time thanks to Wes Streeting. But it is true?
(thread)
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
(thread)
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
New post!
"To never risk a bad holiday or a crap meal is to experience a kind of living death. Without risk there is no learning, no growth, no surprise, no delight, no adventure, no anecdote for the dinner table, just the bland homogenous tyranny of ‘good’."
"To never risk a bad holiday or a crap meal is to experience a kind of living death. Without risk there is no learning, no growth, no surprise, no delight, no adventure, no anecdote for the dinner table, just the bland homogenous tyranny of ‘good’."
The war on curiosity
Behind the drive to AI lies a profound anxiety about our big messy world.
martinrobbins.substack.com
March 4, 2025 at 11:59 AM
New post!
"To never risk a bad holiday or a crap meal is to experience a kind of living death. Without risk there is no learning, no growth, no surprise, no delight, no adventure, no anecdote for the dinner table, just the bland homogenous tyranny of ‘good’."
"To never risk a bad holiday or a crap meal is to experience a kind of living death. Without risk there is no learning, no growth, no surprise, no delight, no adventure, no anecdote for the dinner table, just the bland homogenous tyranny of ‘good’."
And I like the light on the sea at this time of day.
March 1, 2025 at 8:58 PM
And I like the light on the sea at this time of day.
Beautiful sunset at Bournemouth this evening.
March 1, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Beautiful sunset at Bournemouth this evening.
TIL that there is a legal alternative to SciHub for accessing academic articles: unpaywall.org . It's a browser extension for Firefox or Chrome and I wrote a short post: ab604.uk/blog/2025-02...
Unpaywall: Legal alternative to Sci-Hub – ab604.uk
Browser extension to find legal versions of paywalled academic articles
ab604.uk
February 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM
TIL that there is a legal alternative to SciHub for accessing academic articles: unpaywall.org . It's a browser extension for Firefox or Chrome and I wrote a short post: ab604.uk/blog/2025-02...
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
New post just out:
"Technology vs Democracy"
On the origins of Muskworld's ideology, which it's so much more dangerous than merely stupidity or corruption, and what might stop it.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"Technology vs Democracy"
On the origins of Muskworld's ideology, which it's so much more dangerous than merely stupidity or corruption, and what might stop it.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
Technology vs Democracy
The origins and ideology of Muskworld
open.substack.com
February 12, 2025 at 8:21 AM
New post just out:
"Technology vs Democracy"
On the origins of Muskworld's ideology, which it's so much more dangerous than merely stupidity or corruption, and what might stop it.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"Technology vs Democracy"
On the origins of Muskworld's ideology, which it's so much more dangerous than merely stupidity or corruption, and what might stop it.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
I wrote up a quick summary of a new short timescale HDX-MS paper by Michele Stofella et al. doi.org/10.1021/acs.... on my blog: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #HDX-MS #proteomics
Summary of Stofella et al. 2025 – ab604.uk
Recalibrating Protection Factors Using Millisecond Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry
ab604.uk
January 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I wrote up a quick summary of a new short timescale HDX-MS paper by Michele Stofella et al. doi.org/10.1021/acs.... on my blog: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #HDX-MS #proteomics
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
There's nothing novel in my blog post, but after chatting to a couple of students this morning who are 3 months into their PhDs, I thought I may as well write up a few of my old man's opinions on doing/thriving/surviving research: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #AcademicChatter
Old man advice to new PhD students – ab604.uk
Opinions on the practicalities of doing a PhD after 11 years as a Post-Doc
ab604.uk
January 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
There's nothing novel in my blog post, but after chatting to a couple of students this morning who are 3 months into their PhDs, I thought I may as well write up a few of my old man's opinions on doing/thriving/surviving research: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #AcademicChatter
There's nothing novel in my blog post, but after chatting to a couple of students this morning who are 3 months into their PhDs, I thought I may as well write up a few of my old man's opinions on doing/thriving/surviving research: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #AcademicChatter
Old man advice to new PhD students – ab604.uk
Opinions on the practicalities of doing a PhD after 11 years as a Post-Doc
ab604.uk
January 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
There's nothing novel in my blog post, but after chatting to a couple of students this morning who are 3 months into their PhDs, I thought I may as well write up a few of my old man's opinions on doing/thriving/surviving research: ab604.uk/blog/2025-01... #AcademicChatter
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
Me in this week's Spectator. The misery of hope, and the despair of knowing things could be better.
https://buff.ly/3ZaTcTX
https://buff.ly/3ZaTcTX
December 1, 2024 at 7:37 PM
Me in this week's Spectator. The misery of hope, and the despair of knowing things could be better.
https://buff.ly/3ZaTcTX
https://buff.ly/3ZaTcTX
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
How does Approximate Bayesian Computation *ABC) work? @rabaath.bsky.social has a classic nice simple intro the ABC using the problem of infering the number of socks in a sample of laundry. There's a movie and a page with all the code. www.sumsar.net/blog/2015/07...
Tiny Data, Approximate Bayesian Computation and the Socks of Karl Broman: The Movie
This is a screencast of my
UseR! 2015 presentation: Tiny Data, Approximate Bayesian Computation and the Socks of Karl Broman. Based on
the original blog post it is a quick’n’dirty …
www.sumsar.net
November 27, 2024 at 2:45 PM
How does Approximate Bayesian Computation *ABC) work? @rabaath.bsky.social has a classic nice simple intro the ABC using the problem of infering the number of socks in a sample of laundry. There's a movie and a page with all the code. www.sumsar.net/blog/2015/07...
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
My new post takes a look at the topic of “immunity debt”
What does this term mean, and why has it been so controversial?
What explains the weird reemergence of seasonal pathogens since the pandemic?
Is Covid-19 damaging immune systems?
Let’s find out! 💥
#MedSky #IDSky #PedSky 🧪
What does this term mean, and why has it been so controversial?
What explains the weird reemergence of seasonal pathogens since the pandemic?
Is Covid-19 damaging immune systems?
Let’s find out! 💥
#MedSky #IDSky #PedSky 🧪
What is "immunity debt"?
A new study sheds further light on this seemingly controversial issue
open.substack.com
November 29, 2024 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
🚨Largest ever 🚨 survey of UK teenagers on violence. 5 facts you need to know 👇
November 20, 2024 at 7:40 PM
🚨Largest ever 🚨 survey of UK teenagers on violence. 5 facts you need to know 👇
Reposted by Alistair Bailey
I'm pro-assisted dying in principle, but I'm not sure about the proposed law (FREE TO READ!)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-law-or-...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-law-or-...
I'm pro-assisted dying in principle, but I'm not sure about the proposed law
Is no law better than a bad law?
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
November 19, 2024 at 8:47 AM
I'm pro-assisted dying in principle, but I'm not sure about the proposed law (FREE TO READ!)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-law-or-...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-law-or-...