Grace and David talk about fudging data, data illiteracy, misaligned incentives, and all the ways in which data is used and misused in science.Note: this will be our last episode.Goodhart's law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law)M

Episode 037: An Episode about Wild Things

Sep 2nd, 2023 2h 1m

Brutal heat wave makes Texas among the hottest places on Earth (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/brutal-heat-wave-makes-texas-hottest-places-earth-rcna91584)South Pacific Gyre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Gyre)El N

Episode 036: This Episode Is Two Months Late

May 17th, 2023 1h 6m

Pokémon Crystal Version - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Crystal_Version)Move Deleter - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagard

Episode 035: Pokémon and Singaporean cultural history

Mar 10th, 2023 1h 57m

Grace and David do surprise trades in Pokémon Violet, and somehow end up talking about cultural institutions in Singapore.Surprise Trade (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Surprise_Trade)Pokémon breeding (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.

Episode 034: ChatGPT and Natural History

Jan 28th, 2023 1h

We discuss ChatGPT, professional subreddits, natural history in Singapore, and more ChatGPT.ChatGPT is MBB or bust (https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/comments/104ryr5/chatgpt_is_mbb_or_bust/)r/KitchenConfidential (https://www.reddit.com/r/K

Episode 033: Migration Assistant

Sep 23rd, 2022 58m 19s

Grace and David talk about what happens when an operating system is so old, macOS doesn't know how to migrate from it. And some other stuff.macOS version history - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_version_history)Year 2038 probl

Episode 032: Teaching 101 courses

Mar 13th, 2022 45m 16s

David and Grace discuss the challenges of teaching introductory courses and developing students' writing skills.CS50x 2022 (https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/)Department of English Language and Literature (https://english.unm.edu/undergrad/core

Episode 031: Weird travels and mice

Feb 21st, 2022 37m 11s

David survived a lockdown while travelling and tells the tale. Random diversion to 3D-printed mice.Maastricht Formation - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Formation)Maastrichtian - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M

Episode 030: Travel? Travel!

Nov 17th, 2021 52m 50s

David plans to travel.Naturalis Biodiversity Center (https://www.naturalis.nl/en)List of oldest universities in continuous operation - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation)The Feather H

Episode 029: Stable Isotopes and Computer Systems

Oct 18th, 2021 49m 12s

Stable nuclide - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_nuclide)Stable isotope ratio - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_isotope_ratio)The Use of Stable Isotopes in the Study of Animal Migration (https://www.nature.com/

Episode 028: This episode has no theme

Sep 22nd, 2021 45m 14s

2021 Western North America heat wave - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave)Cenchrus - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenchrus)Red tortoise cake - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red

Episode 027: Camera Obscura

Aug 13th, 2021 40m 11s

David and Grace debate the relative merits of cameras of all shapes, sizes and ages, but only after discussing ways to cross borders with dead bodies.Note: In the middle of this episode, we had to go to Zoom audio because we lost one of the mi

Episode 026: Covid Vaccination Talk

Jul 26th, 2021 48m 32s

We talk about Covid vaccines, efficacy vs effectiveness, and how on earth to get vaccination rates up.COVID-19 vaccine - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine)Phases of clinical research - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.o

Episode 025: Maps and Models

Jun 16th, 2021 43m 57s

David took the opportunity of a soft lockdown to add 98,000-ish buildings' worth of height data to his bird-building collision data set, one building at a time.Lidar - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar)Archaeologists discover the

Episode 024: Protein Folding, Artificial Intelligence, and SkyNet

Jun 11th, 2021 1h 3m

In typical Monkey Mind fashion, David and Grace talk about vaccinations, then folding proteins, then using computers and gamers to fold proteins, then things computers can't do and things computers can't do yet, and things computers might never

Episode 023: On the Economics of Science

Jun 11th, 2021 1h 22m

David and Grace discuss the problem of finding money to pay for science, and unsurprisingly end up talking about economics.r/LinkedInLunatics (https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkedInLunatics/)Science funders gamble on grant lotteries (https://www.n

Episode 022: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part V

Jun 11th, 2021 1h 29m

Hi, it's Grace, weeks after the recording of this episode. I can't remember what we talked about but these are our show notes, so we must have talked about birds (surprise), urban geography, Freiburg, shipping containers, something about modell

Episode 021: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part IV

Apr 17th, 2021 1h 23m

Why comparing Covid-19 vaccine efficacy numbers can be misleading (https://www.vox.com/22311625/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-johnson-moderna-pfizer)Is this ship still stuck? (https://istheshipstillstuck.com/)In Suez Canal, Stuck Ship Is a Warnin

Episode 020: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part III

Apr 17th, 2021 2h 17m

Stevey's Blog Rants (https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom-of-nouns.html)Tidyverse (https://www.tidyverse.org/)Codewars Java Kata (requires sign in and some Java homework) (https://www.codewars.com/kata/reviews/54a83d1

Episode 019: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part II

Apr 17th, 2021 1h 51m

Izu Islands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izu_Islands)Cattle stranded on ship in Mediterranean must be destroyed, say vets (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/27/cattle-stranded-on-ship-in-mediterranean-must-be-destroyed-say-vets)Cal

Episode 018: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part I

Apr 17th, 2021 1h 13m

You should probably charge your MacBook using the ports on its right side (https://www.imore.com/heres-why-you-should-probably-charge-your-macbook-using-ports-its-right-side)Masuda method (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Masuda_method)

Episode 016: The One About Games Done Quick

Feb 13th, 2021 1h 24m

This was recorded over a month ago, I have had no time since to listen back and make show notes, and all I know is that we talked a lot about video games and Awesome Games Done Quick 2021.Pokémon Red and Blue/Mew glitch (https://strategywiki.o

Episode 017: Tries and Trees

Feb 13th, 2021 1h 6m

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESK5SaP-bc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESK5SaP-bc)Codewars: Achieve mastery through challenge (https://www.codewars.com/)CS50x 2021 (https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2021/)Trie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Episode 015: Flooding, Ponding, and Draining

Jan 16th, 2021 1h 4m

David and Grace talk about flooding, environmental effects and urban design.Wikipedia: La Niña (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ni%C3%B1a)David's tweet (https://twitter.com/g33k5p34k/status/1345318794583920645)Video shows car driving in an

Episode 014: Landscape of Death

Jan 1st, 2021 1h 54m

Here's the relevant quote from Orson Scott Card's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card) Speaker for the Dead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead):If we had to observe your university under the same limitations that b