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Cher Chow 周馥溢

@cherfychow.bsky.social

1.7K followers 1.4K following 100 posts

PhD student at U of St Andrews, data manager at BioTIME. Reef functioning, biodiversity, community ecology. I try to love fish and corals equally. (she/her) cherchow.com macroscopelab.com biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · May 15

🚨New data paper/open data alert!🚨 BioTIME v2.0 is out now! We've expanded the database with improved spatial and taxonomic coverage, with a new R package! As always, free, public, and open acess :)

Paper:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Database:
biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk

BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series

Motivation Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The up...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Amanda Wong @amandawtwong.bsky.social · 19d

FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK FAT BEAR WEEK FAT B

Susan @sugarpop.bsky.social · 19d

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Fat Bear Week is starting early this year!
www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...

Fat Bear Week is here early, and the bears are fat and playful

The famous bears of Alaska's Katmai National Park are enjoying an abundance of salmon, and even some playtime, as they pack on pounds to prepare for the winter.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 18d

For those who aren't familiar, H1B visas aren't just used in the tech industry. They are also widely used by universities, hospitals, engineering firms, and other industries that rely on extensive training. Fees were previously under $5k -- still high, but doable, and many employers would pay them.

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · 18d

Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 18d

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪

This was Week 35:
- executive order on H-1B visas
- travesty of vaccine advisory council updates MMRV & COVID recs
- Texas A&M fires president
- California faculty file suit

& so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Week 35

Sept 15-19, 2025 - our way out of the woods

buttondown.com

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · Sep 5

Only a pre-print for now, but after 4 years of hard work I couldn't resist sharing this!

The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems

📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!

Global distribution of forest landscapes covered by airborne LiDAR

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · Aug 28

If you have published anything, please consider doing this. The window is closing and you should get your details registered now for a chance at a settlement. The form works wherever in the world you are based.

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · Aug 27

There are tons of graphic novels, academic papers, film and TV scripts, & prose novels/nonfiction on the LibGen list Anthropic used.

As settlement approaches, make it easy for the class action lawyers to contact you! Here’s how

Part 1: is your work in Libgen?

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 28

🙆🙆

Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 26

mushroom season is keeping me sane in this final phd push! Saffron milkcaps, chanterelles, and dryad's saddle!

Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 26

We worked with an Excel "form" at first, but its encoding created more problems. We recently switched to a platform that allowed us to do some pre-validation + if-then field requirements. tally.so/r/w7jGe2

Contribute data to BioTIME

Made with Tally, the simplest way to create forms.

tally.so

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 26

SQL was also a pain to deal with in terms of encoding. If the database will be small enough that you don't benefit that much from the querying power of SQL, I would just go for well-structured CSVs with a lot of linking keys/identifiers.

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 26

there are quite a few packages that make interacting with SQL easier through R like MariaDB and especially dbplyr for tidyverse like querying. I work with BioTIME and we struggled with SQL and R handle string recognition differently (e.g. giving different totals for distinct species).

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · Aug 15

Necessary tools from the bad old days (or: the smallest taste of why marriage equality matters.)

Legal documents same-sex
couples should have in case marriage equality is overturned
Revocable Living Trust
Last Will & Testament
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Durable Power of Attorney
Living Will
Hospital Visitation Authorization Form one for your partner & one for your Chosen Family
Agent for Disposition of Remains
Pet Care Directive
Tangible Personal Property Memorandum

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 8

thanks for replying so quickly!!

Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Jack A Brand @jack-brand.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨 Proceedings B is recruiting new Data Editors!
Join our editorial board to help ensure data/code transparency across biology.
🗓 Term: 3 yrs from Jan 2026
📩 Apply by 30 Sep 2025 with a 2-page CV + cover letter: [email protected]
🔗 Info: [email protected] /[email protected]

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 8

might be a silly question, but does Proc B compensate data editors or is this a voluntary term?

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 6

This is how I feel with the changes to hermatypic coral taxonomy!!!

Kelporama @kelporama.bsky.social · Aug 6

Even as a lover of frustrating taxonomy every time I look at an ostracod I'm like "I don't want to know any more. This is not my cross to bear."

Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Aug 5

6 years in Scotland and I only just found out about one of the most fossiliferous beaches in the UK! Lots of crinoids, solitary corals, and bryozans 🤩

Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · Jul 21

Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.

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Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · Jul 22

You know if you’re struggling and you need to time or space to get stuff some, it’s okay to say you’re having a health issue and leave it at that.

Mental health is health. You don’t need to say if it’s an appendectomy or a hip replacement or depression or BPD.

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Jul 22

latex default is pretty painful

Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · Jul 21

For every conversation, I'd like to add a footnote to "I'm doing great!"¹

¹ Notwithstanding the hellscape of authoritarian rule, genocide, federal goons roaming my city kidnapping innocent people and putting them into concentration camps, and livelihood threatened by nincompoops in charge.

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Jul 22

what do you have against old typesetting :o I'm personally not a fan of the sans serif Wileys or soulless Elsevier layout

Reposted by Cher Chow 周馥溢

Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Jul 21

I'm back home with my dad and have thoughts about being an Indigenous scientist and academic. I'm writing this in real time so it might get disrupted and will have typos.

I am fairly successful by academic standards. I have a tenure track job, wrote papers, have grant funding, mentor students.

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Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Jul 22

Scientists talking about open access publishing nitty gritty + research visibility sounds pretty supportive to me. It was a nice exchange, Dave.

Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Jul 22

Does anyone know of a blog/resource similar to Zuur & Ieno 2016 (besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....) that shows explicitly how model notation should be presented for zero-inflated GLMMs or GAMMs?

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Cher Chow 周馥溢 @cherfychow.bsky.social · Jul 21

reading (when i'm not finishing my PhD), cooking + baking, rock climbing, foraging, crochet, photography, and graphic design!