Mary Engels
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mengels.bsky.social
Mary Engels
@mengels.bsky.social
130 followers 730 following 110 posts
Scientist, educator, adventurer, thinker (sometimes too much)…. my opinions are my own.
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Reposted by Mary Engels
davidho.bsky.social
You need to read this story.
Cardiff couple invited man in for Christmas, he stayed for 45 years
An arrangement Rob and Dianne Parsons thought would last a few days ended up changing their lives.
www.bbc.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
mengels.bsky.social
Not news but helpful summary none the less.... well with a watch
December 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Mary Engels
royalsociety.org
#OnThisDay in 1872, the expedition of HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth, travelling nearly 70,00 nautical miles and cataloguing over 4000 unknown species over 4 years. This pioneering expedition, organised by the Royal Society, laid the foundations of oceanography.
December 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
davidakaye.bsky.social
this was just a few months ago
Rob Reiner: The 60 Minutes Interview
YouTube video by 60 Minutes
www.youtube.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:55 AM
mengels.bsky.social
What a loss to humanity... I aspire to be this kind of person. May his memory be continue to be a blessing for all who grieve this untimely end.
leahmcelrath.bsky.social Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 13d
A beautiful Rob Reiner memory thread:
smrodman.bsky.social Namdor @smrodman.bsky.social · 13d
I’m just going to tell the story. Back in 2000 I was volunteering for the Gore campaign when he came along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alfre Woodard and Dule Hill to a GOTV event here in MN. He ended up sitting down across from me stuffing his envelopes.
December 15, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Reposted by Mary Engels
andrew.heiss.phd
Some closing thoughts for my students this semester on LLMs and learning #rstats datavizf25.classes.andrewheiss.com/news/2025-12...
Will you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course in the future? No. Why won’t you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course? These tools are useful for coding (see this for my personal take on this). However, they’re only useful if you know what you’re doing first. If you skip the learning-the-process-of-writing-code step and just copy/paste output from ChatGPT, you will not learn. You cannot learn. You cannot improve. You will not understand the code. In that post, it warns that you cannot use it as a beginner: …to use Databot effectively and safely, you still need the skills of a data scientist: background and domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability. There is no LLM-based shortcut to those skills. You cannot LLM your way into domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, or coding ability. The only way to gain domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability is to struggle. To get errors. To google those errors. To look over the documentation. To copy/paste your own code and adapt it for different purposes. To explore messy datasets. To struggle to clean those datasets. To spend an hour looking for a missing comma. This isn’t a form of programming hazing, like “I had to walk to school uphill both ways in the snow and now you must too.” It’s the actual process of learning and growing and developing and improving. You’ve gotta struggle. This Tumblr post puts it well (it’s about art specifically, but it applies to coding and data analysis too): Contrary to popular belief the biggest beginner’s roadblock to art isn’t even technical skill it’s frustration tolerance, especially in the age of social media. It hurts and the frustration is endless but you must build the frustration tolerance equivalent to a roach’s capacity to survive a nuclear explosion. That’s how you build on the technical skill. Throw that “won’t even start because I’m afraid it won’t be perfect” shit out the window. Just do it. Just start. Good luck. (The original post has disappeared, but here’s a reblog.) It’s hard, but struggling is the only way to learn anything. You might not enjoy code as much as Williams does (or I do), but there’s still value in maintaining codings skills as you improve and learn more. You don’t want your skills to atrophy. As I discuss here, when I do use LLMs for coding-related tasks, I purposely throw as much friction into the process as possible: To avoid falling into over-reliance on LLM-assisted code help, I add as much friction into my workflow as possible. I only use GitHub Copilot and Claude in the browser, not through the chat sidebar in Positron or Visual Studio Code. I treat the code it generates like random answers from StackOverflow or blog posts and generally rewrite it completely. I disable the inline LLM-based auto complete in text editors. For routine tasks like generating {roxygen2} documentation scaffolding for functions, I use the {chores} package, which requires a bunch of pointing and clicking to use. Even though I use Positron, I purposely do not use either Positron Assistant or Databot. I have them disabled. So in the end, for pedagogical reasons, I don’t foresee me incorporating LLMs into this class. I’m pedagogically opposed to it. I’m facing all sorts of external pressure to do it, but I’m resisting. You’ve got to learn first.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
annaleen.bsky.social
Further evidence that widespread covid vaccination is better for everybody.
carlzimmer.com Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 22d
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 8, 2025 at 1:03 AM
mengels.bsky.social
Useful advice!!
stephenbheard.bsky.social Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 26d
🧪
stephenbheard.bsky.social Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 26d
Writing an Introduction is hard. There are a few ways Introductions often go astray - avoid these. "What your Introduction section isn't" -
December 2, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
nameshiv.bsky.social
a cancer nurse in a state I've never been to told messaged me and said that reading out Rice Truck aloud as it happened was the only day in her entire 14 year career on chemo ward that nobody cried and it's probably the best compliment I will ever get in my life
ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app L. D. Lewis, Sea Witch Apologist 🍂 @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app · Oct 24
What is the best compliment you ever received? Putting aside whether or not you believed it.
November 27, 2025 at 1:21 PM
mengels.bsky.social
Wonderful... Will have to explore a gift subscription with my kiddos!
bencollins.bsky.social Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Nov 26
This is true. It is the best email I got this year.
November 27, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
igrrrl.bsky.social
Things I currently think you should be considering in your proposals. Although this thread will be NIH-centric, my guess is that some of this applies to NSF, etc. Much is synthesized from public information. Much of this is what we've advised all along, just with, um, more emphasis.

Here we go:
November 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
mengels.bsky.social
When the juicy bits are missing from Night Secrets by Kat Martin? Problematic page gap...
jackiecinmht.bsky.social Dr. Jaequellin @jackiecinmht.bsky.social · Nov 19
The sweater you’re knitting is supposed to be 10 stitches to an inch, but you’re only getting 7? Problematic gauge gap.
napaaqtuk.bsky.social Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Nov 19
Angry person yelling at chill person who is responding by being calm, which makes the angry person even more mad? Problematic rage gap.
November 19, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
fluvialbenthos.bsky.social
Are you working with #OpenData to advance #freshwater #biogeochemistry? Consider submitting an abstract to share your science in our special session at #2026SFS!

Organized by Ashif H Abir, Wil Wollheim, me, & Kelly Aho @kellyaho.bsky.social. Abstracts due 16 Jan 2026. www.sfsannualmeeting.org 💧🌎🧪
Abstracts due: 16 January 2026 Special Session: Advances in freshwater biogeochemistry using open data across networks of sites Conveners: Ashif Hasan Abir (UNH), Wil Wollheim (UNH), Erin Hotchkiss (VT), & Kelly Aho (BU) With the increasing amount of data from research networks, expanding analytical capabilities and open science policies, there is a paradigm shift from single-site to macro-scale analyses incorporating many ecosystems to tackle knowledge gaps in freshwater biogeochemistry at regional to global scales. We welcome submissions that leverage publicly available data (continuous sensor measurements, field sampling or combination of both) collected across different spatial and temporal scales from multiple sites to advance freshwater biogeochemistry. We are particularly interested in studies utilizing established sensor and measurement networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) networks, Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), and Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) for cross-scale studies. We welcome studies adopting interdisciplinary approaches that use standardized observations, coupled terrestrial and water measurements, high frequency sampling, process-based and/or machine learning models, or any combination of these approaches. Cross-scale studies addressing biogeochemical processes at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic systems such as riparian corridors, hyporheic zones, and different freshwater ecosystems are also encouraged. Throughout this session, we hope to stimulate innovative ideas, approaches and discussions to push our knowledge in freshwater biogeochemistry. To learn more, visit: www.sfsannualmeeting.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
mengels.bsky.social
@geophysichick.bsky.social Look look! AC/DC and @seislologist.bsky.social are playing the game too!!
seislologist.bsky.social Adam Pascale @seislologist.bsky.social · Nov 17
AC/DC played Melbourne again on Sunday night. There was a 12% higher peak in ground-pounding tunes compared to last Wednesday. The frequency "heat map" pattern was similar in timing and relative intensity, but slightly clearer this time. 🤘
November 17, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Mary Engels
seislologist.bsky.social
AC/DC played Melbourne again on Sunday night. There was a 12% higher peak in ground-pounding tunes compared to last Wednesday. The frequency "heat map" pattern was similar in timing and relative intensity, but slightly clearer this time. 🤘
November 17, 2025 at 3:26 AM
mengels.bsky.social
Wealth redistribution in action..
November 14, 2025 at 5:34 AM
mengels.bsky.social
No one is all one thing or another, but no one should lose their life to inaction and indecision. Governor Stott should make a call one way or another and stand by those decisions.
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Nov 13
NOTE: Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Tremane Wood on Thursday afternoon (Nov. 13).

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency on a 3-2 vote, but Gov. Kevin Stitt has not acted on it.

The U.S. Supreme Court also has not yet acted on Wood's stay of execution request.
November 13, 2025 at 6:38 AM
mengels.bsky.social
For my weather nerd and sailing friends out there. Very cool weather reconstruction..
wisc-satellite.bsky.social Scott Bachmeier @wisc-satellite.bsky.social · Nov 10
The 50th Anniversary of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: A New Perspective on an Old Storm: cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-bl...
November 11, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Mary Engels
jenee.bsky.social
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- [email protected] or dm me.

RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
mengels.bsky.social
Very fun! Add to the citizen science methods file..
November 9, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
christianonre.bsky.social
Podcast on Can seawater desalination be a win-win fix to our water cycle? youtu.be/gJ1LeMd6s5o for this article from 2020 doi.org/10.1016/j.wa...
@lut.fi
Can seawater desalination be a win-win fix to our water cycle?
YouTube video by Christian Breyer
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 12:28 PM
mengels.bsky.social
Nuanced read of the court dynamics at play around SNAP benefits...
November 8, 2025 at 1:20 PM
mengels.bsky.social
This! Get your vaccines everyone!
November 7, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Mary Engels
paulguinnessy.bsky.social
Always remember. 👇
bencollins.bsky.social Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Nov 5
There are more of us than there are of them.
November 5, 2025 at 2:49 AM