Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 1d

I regret to inform you that my lab only wears long-sleeve denim jackets. Best of luck with your future endeavours.

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 2d

There's a reason why a negative binomial is used to model RNA-seq data rather than a mean value. The people computing IF don't understand this -- and many other things...

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 2d

I love the RNA journal, but not because of its impact factor!

1

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 2d

Fewer papermill pubs slipping through? Also, American date format, or normal?

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 2d

Shocker.

1

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 2d

In AoNZ at 18 you can:
-be tried as an adult
-serve the NZDF
-buy alcohol & cigarettes
-vote
-drive a class 2 truck
-work fulltime, including in a bar
But according to NZGovt CoC these are children 🙄

5

Reposted by Paul Gardner

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 4d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

51 490 1.7K

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 3d

Shockingly apt. Monday morning gift from @petermace.bsky.social

2 7

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 6d

There's a Dunedin-Ōtepoti based crime series?! Yes please! Thanks @vandasymon.bsky.social

2 2

Reposted by Paul Gardner

KnitMeAThneed @thneed.bsky.social · 7d

Sent this to a friend yesterday, who had never heard of it, so re-upping for other Ōtepoti Dunedin folk who are finding the whole voting thing a bit overwhelming.

Mark Baxter @tartanperil.bsky.social · 28d

#Dunedin peeps - my Leftie-progressive DCC-ORC Voters Guide is finally completed and live....
Please feel free to share far and wide if you find it helpful (because, with suspicious timing, I've been blocked from my usual platform it gets good distribution on 😢 ).
tinyurl.com/BaxtersLefti...

Baxter’s Leftie/Progressive

Baxter’s Leftie-Progressive DCC & ORC Election Guide 2025 V1.1 Last Updated: 11/09/2025 No idea which of the seemingly 100s of candidates lean to the Left or Right? Or who won’t flog off our asse...

tinyurl.com

1 5 8

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 7d

a person is holding a red and white cup in their hand .

ALT: a person is holding a red and white cup in their hand .

media.tenor.com

1

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 8d

Who says statisticians don't have fun?

1

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 8d

I just read Ihaka & Gentleman for the first time: doi.org/10.1080/1061...
It has only taken ~20 years of using R to get around to it. Not as bad as I thought it would be.
#impactfulpapersnz

doi.org

1 1 2

Reposted by Paul Gardner

Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷 @paullecomtephoto.nz · 8d

Was in Ōtautahi Christchurch when an epic NorWest sunset kicked off.

Hagley Park is the perfect place to frame it up.

#Nikon #NZ #GreatNZRoadie #Sunset

Glowing red underside of clouds moments after the sunset in ChCh's massive Hagley Park. Trees line the side of the park, the field is pitch black & the street illuminated behind the trees.

3 18 89

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 8d

Tertiary Education Union. They've been a bit quiet IMHO.

1

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 9d

#NZTEU? Where are you at?

1 1

Reposted by Paul Gardner

Wolfgang Huber @wkhuber.bsky.social · 9d

Do you like theoretical biology, mathematical&conceptual modelling and want to apply yourself to cutting-edge research at all levels of biology, from molecules to ecosystems?

Come to EMBL! Scope includes physics-based models, emergence, statistics, ML/AI
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

35 45

Reposted by Paul Gardner

Rob🎸 @robdickinson.bsky.social · 9d

In case anyone has forgotten what happened in Christchurch only 14 years ago

Debris from a collapsed building covers a bus in downtown Christchurch

Rescue workers climb the wreckage of the Pyne Gould Guiness Building in downtown Christchurch on February 22.

8 39 94

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 13d

But all the RNAs are real! I found a read in one experimental condition! They must be important.

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 13d

The horror of 5 story blocks with shared central green spaces, amenities, community and optimised natural light. Just terrible.

1 2

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 13d

Copenhagen will be very surprised to hear this!

1 2

Reposted by Paul Gardner

Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 13d

Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n

14 150 300

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 13d

One for the rowers. This is called being too ambitious in the 2025 World Rowing Virtual Series. 8x (1min+1m rest). 10m penalty for every metre difference from round 1. share.google/oTYXRmnAPdQ3...

A concept 2 monitor. Set to 8x 1min, with a 1min rest between. Minutes 1 to 6 read precisely 300m with a 1:40 split. Minutes 7 & 8 read just 139m & 130m. In short, the rower hit a wall and nearly died.

1

Reposted by Paul Gardner

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 15d

I screen out Frontiers emails so hadn't seen a colleague's invite to their editorial board. so the colleague emailed me directly to ask again (we're friendly w/ each other)

I don't like saying 'no' to service for good colleagues, but one must act on principle against bad publishers. here's my reply

email screenshot:
Dear XX, thanks for thinking of me. Unfortunately I need to decline — I am one of those people who feels that Frontiers and big-money-OA is corrupting the scientific enterprise beyond repair, so I don't submit, review, or edit for their journals. I feel the same for journals like Scientific Reports, Communications Psychology, MDPI journals, and the like. In my opinion the only way to improve scientific publishing is to vote with our feet and our grant dollars.

Sorry that I don't have a more positive response....!

best from NZ
Sam

1 7 40

Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 15d

Very impressive -- not many golks update their benchmarks for new releases or further control datasets.