@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

albertcardona

@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz

How does the brain work? Someday, we'll figure it out.
Group Leader, MRC LMB, and Professor, University of Cambridge, UK.
#neuroscience #Drosophila #TrakEM2 #FijiSc #CATMAID #connectomics #connectome #vEM #iNaturalist #entomology
Born at 335 ppm.
Brains, signal processing, software and entomology: there will be bugs.

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jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

For the first time since 1992 (when I was 12) I’m completely disinterested by the UK General Election.

Sunak and the Tories will lose, Labour in uninspiring, the Lib Dems weedy, Greens weak and SNP weakened, and Reform simply grim. And Brexit is the elephant none of them will touch.

As I’m still a UK citizen I will vote, but it’s with less determination than ever before.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@jon

If I may: Greens are weak because people don't vote for them. Perhaps it's time to give them a strong chance – seems to be the only party still saying Brexit was a terrible mistake.

SusiArnott, to climate
@SusiArnott@mastodon.green avatar

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@SusiArnott

https://streetartutopia.com/2024/04/10/politicians-discussing-climate-change/


guygaechter, to Signal German
@guygaechter@chaos.social avatar

If you only read one article this year, it has to be THIS by @Mer__edith, the president of #signal :

"AI is a marketing term, not a technical term of art. [...]
This is also why it’s imperative that we recognize mass surveillance – and ultimately the surveillance business model – as the root of the large-scale tech we’re currently calling “AI”."

https://www.helmut-schmidt.de/aktuelles/detail/die-rede-der-zukunftspreistraegerin

#privacy #surveillance #ai #bigtech

via

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@guygaechter @Mer__edith

"Make no mistake – I am optimistic – but my optimism is an invitation to analysis and action, not a ticket to complacency."

Outstanding.

avsm, to random
@avsm@recoil.org avatar

Whoever the genius is loudly playing "things can only get better" while the PM is speaking live on every British TV channel, I applaud you

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@avsm Has to do with protesting Brexit, I am told. The last 5 years will go down in history as infamy.

steveroyle, to random
@steveroyle@biologists.social avatar

What's the rule? Three crashes of Word and it's time to go home? I'm on two.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@steveroyle

Why would anyone inflict MSWord on themselves. Puzzled here.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@steveroyle

In such cases, I write latex or markdown and then pandoc to DOCX, then copy-paste into the funding agency's tabulated template.

Because actual writing in MSWord is infuriating, particularly when aggravated by a straightjacket template that keeps complaining and moving text around.

albertcardona, to javascript Catalan
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

“Coding my handwriting”, by Amy Goodchild. On specifying each handwritten character as a vector path, rather than a font, and then rendering text in various shapes and colours. Beautiful. In .

https://www.amygoodchild.com/blog/cursive-handwriting-in-javascript

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Celebrating #WorldBeeDay with 3 observations at #Pembroke1347 this afternoon:

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #entomology #nativebees #bees #insects

A masked bee sits attentive on a green leaf, its body entirely black but for its white face and shoulders, and white marks on the legs.
A leaf-cutter bee forages nectar in a flower with pink, bell-like petals that form a cup over it.

LGBTQNation, to random
@LGBTQNation@flipboard.com avatar

New queer animals documentary freaks out far-right wingers - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/05/new-queer-animals-documentary-freaks-out-far-right-wingers/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into LGBTQ Nation @lgbtq

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@LGBTQNation @lgbtq

When I shared with my neighbours in the US that a large double-digit percent of giraffes are gay ... it was quite the moment.

Courtesy of wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals#Giraffes

NicoleCRust, to writing
@NicoleCRust@neuromatch.social avatar

First book revisions. Tips?

(Academic press) book pre-publication reviews are back. Really positive. YES!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎉​🎉​🎉​.

So now I'm moving onto final revisions. It feels good to slip back into that headspace again.

My big question for anyone who has sent a book off to the world: What was your strategy for those last steps? There's addressing the feedback, of course. But after that? It will never been perfect. But it has to be great. How do you know when to let it go?

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@NicoleCRust

Not having written any book, but having found many typos and wrong formulae in books, I'd say, make sure the draft is seen by many eyes to catch them all. It's not like you can publish an erratum; won't reach someone's bookshelf.

yoginho, to random
@yoginho@spore.social avatar

I like the rebellious spirit of this essay very much!

https://www.secretorum.life/p/against-computers-infinite-play

My own thoughts on the fake salvation narrative of the cult of techno-transcendentalism:

http://johannesjaeger.eu/blog/machine-metaphysics-and-the-cult-of-techno-transcendentalism

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@yoginho

"What Would a Computer Not Do?"

The one thing ChatGPT cannot do is shut up.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@yoginho

Terry Bisson's "They're made out of meat" seems apt: http://www.terrybisson.com/theyre-made-out-of-meat-2/

albertcardona, to pizza
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

How processed food companies muffle those who author studies that put them to shame:

"One large food company, for example, asked if he would be interested in giving a half-hour talk to its senior team, for a fee of £20,000. He said he would, but he’d pay his own expenses and give the money to a food charity.
When the contract came through, he changed his mind. Within it was a clause binding him not to disparage the firm in public statements, “throughout the universe and in perpetuity”."

On pizza, I entirely second Chris van Tulleken's statement: “Pizza has become emblematic of junk food ... but proper homemade pizza is very healthy.” The hilarious bit is that making pizza at home is easy peasy: just make baguette dough (takes you 5 minutes to mix, a couple hours to raise https://albert.rierol.net/recipes.html#Fast%20baguettes%20for%20everyday%20bread ), then roll flat and top with whatever you like or happen to have at home.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/may/19/academic-and-doctor-chris-van-tulleken-ultra-processed-products-are-food-that-lies-to-us

stevesilberman, to random
@stevesilberman@newsie.social avatar

Neurodivergent alert! Johns Hopkins students invent a QUIETER leaf blower. [via @vladaknowlton.bsky.social] https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/05/14/quieter-leaf-blower/

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@stevesilberman

A set of last-year undergraduate students could figure out how to muffle the sound of a leafblower, but the billion-dollar companies that manufacture them could not be bothered for decades.

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Another unusual insect: Tenthredo baetica (ssp. dominiquei), with only 118 observations world wide, of which 29 for this particular subspecies. It's a wasp – sort of: a sawfly.

The rear limbs are rather large, and I wonder why. For carrying prey?

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/216752296

Wikipedia points out an interesting reversal: in the Tenthredo genus, the larvae eat plants while the adults prey on other insects. Whereas many typical wasps do the opposite: the adults sip nectar but hunt insects to feed their young. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenthredo One wonders then what is this adult doing on a flower, engaging in motion patterns characteristic of foraging on nectar and pollen.

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #Symphyta #sawflies #wasplove #entomology #insects

ricci, to random
@ricci@discuss.systems avatar

Really nice day to be at Sugarhouse Park

The edge of a stream. The stream is running very high, with low hanging branches trailing in the water.
A wide shot of grassy space with a few trees, and people and a playground visible in the distance

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@ricci

Great photo of the trees. Reminds me of the movie "Perfect Days" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Days

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

An unusual fly: red-belted hoverfly, Brachypalpoides lentus – a sawfly mimic. The larva is yet to be described. About 20 observations in the whole UK; 172 globally.

From Hyde Park, London (June 2023). Standing right next to Peter Pan's statue.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/166374417

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Surprise observation this afternoon: Homotropus sp. An ichneumonid wasp, about 5-6 mm long.

There are only 8 observations world wide.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/216551306

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #entomology #insects #wasplove

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@Gontijo

Indeed there's an aphid under the wasp but as far as I saw the wasp ignored it, only stood there momentarily.

TomaszSusul, to Bread
@TomaszSusul@mastodon.social avatar

Another attempt to mobilise you for !
This is a bread I bake from time to time, the recipe is quite simple but it takes time because it's a cold fermentation, which means the dough needs to be left in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

I know Tomas @tf is baking ... anyone else?

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@TomaszSusul @tf

Lots of us bake. For me, it’s a daily ritual: arrive home from the afternoon schoolrun, mix flour, yeast, water, salt and olive oil swiftly, let it sit warm for 2 or 3 hours, roll the baguettes and bake them for breakfast the next day. Costs me less time than getting to the bakery and back, and I always get the bread I want, varied in its flours, texture and taste. All it takes is planning and patience.

There’s also the tag – imported from other corners of the internet.

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"Bitwise Binary Search: Elegant and Fast"
https://orlp.net/blog/bitwise-binary-search/

"Binary search is notoriously difficult to get correct. A 1988 study [1] found that out of an informal sample of twenty computer science textbooks, only five contained a correct binary search algorithm."

[1] "Textbook errors in binary searching", Pattis 1998 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/52965.53012

OmaymaS, to ai
@OmaymaS@dair-community.social avatar

"What do you mean by progress when you talk about AI?" and progress for whom?

I asked the techno-optimist guy at an AI Hype Manel!

  • Does progress mean getting bigger or better models?

  • What about the impact on environment, water resources, destruction of communities, mining raw materials in Africa?

He first didn't get my Q. Then he said he believed in the "utilitarian view" & developing intelligence is very important.

Just parroting the AI hype people!

#AI #AIethics #GenAI #AIhype

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@OmaymaS

An AI hype guy was telling me today how AI replaces thousands of apps. I asked him (it's always a he) how many applications did he use in his laptop: 6. Seem unfazed. I asked then what applications he found useful, and after some discussion, it came down to drawing up posters, websites, and the like, for advertising, overcoming his lack of skills in the art department. I.e., spam, without an expectation of engaging with the recipients. Broadcasting. Indeed chat bots and generative AI are a boon to the spam industry.

It's hard to speak to the convinced. Guess when ChatGPT starts charging lots per subscription they'll rethink their starry-eyed stance.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@OmaymaS

Indeed. And on that, any gains in efficiency of ANNs implementation or GPU tech are squandered by ever growing neural networks. The scale currently is horrendous; the electricity and water usage is outlandish. One wonders, was the choice of clean water or "AI", what would the fanboys choose then. At the moment they choose "AI" for themselves and water shortages for others.

tdverstynen, to random
@tdverstynen@neuromatch.social avatar

There are two paths to success in modern academic science.

  1. Be the gatekeeper for access to funds/resources and dictate conditions favorable to your public image.

  2. Do good science with as few resources as possible and get lucky.

Can you guess which is more common?

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@tdverstynen

I guess we could discuss what "success" means, and what "get lucky" means.

The first choice reads horrible, as in, as formulated, only an individual not actually interested in science but on the accolades would do that.

The second choice is, to me, academic research as usual. It's amazing how much a laptop, experience, ingenuity, and a network of friends and collaborators can accomplish, even without a budget. And the journey and the nurturing personal relationships are the reward; the end goal is always yet another metaphorical lush valley, jungle, or sea floor to explore.

Gabriel_aughey, to random
@Gabriel_aughey@drosophila.social avatar

Journal that charges £9000 for publishing an article gives advice for how to spot predatory publishers...🤔 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01437-2

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@Gabriel_aughey

"Not like that."

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