iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

For those you encounter with a conspiracy mindset re: #COVID...we KNEW this family of viruses could cause a pandemic. 1) SARS/MERS preceded COVID 2) We actually have a list of the viral families with the highest pandemic potential (see attached) Source: @science.org www.science.org/cont...

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

I like how part of the word for spider in Chinese Hanzi is basically "insect" on the left and what looks like a dude running for an exit on the right. #spiders

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Oh look an actually relevant Guiness World Record. If this was widespread, it could help a lot with enigmatic rare diseases, mysterious ICU visits, and the like. That is, if we don't lose the pre-existing conditions clause first. 🫠 #genomeSequencing #biotechnology #health #rareDisease

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Nurse: wow, it's hard to find a vein for the IV. You're very dehydrated. Me: ...you gave me specific instructions not to eat or drink several hours before the procedure. Nurse:

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Capturing tiny jumping spider friend strains the limits of my phone's camera. #Salticidae #invertebrates #arachnid #photography

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Past me: oh, a bit of plant fell off let me just put it in a tiny pot. Current me: How did I get this many plants. #plantSky #succulents #repottingProcrastination

A scattering of many succulents and other plants amdist some new pots in a long-delayed repotting project.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Can't believe this is relevant for a second week in a row. #cloud #AWS #outage #maybeAzureThisTime?

A narrative of the AWS outage from October 21, 2025, repurposed for another outage happening now:

'AWS outage: a journey

7:00 - "Probably my WiFi"
7:30 - "Wait, EVERYTHING is down?"
7:45 - checks AWS status page (also on AWS).
8:00 - "So...day off?"
8:30 - Finance: "We're losing 10k/min."
8:45 - That one guy: "Told you, on-premise forever."
9:30 - "We're going multi-cloud after this."

Narrator: They won't.'

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Remember: ducks must be used in the drama party.

Amazon product image of a duck lamp acting as a phone holder with the caption "Smartphone Holder: Ducks must be used in the drama party"

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

The irony of these two juxtaposed headlines... #shutdown #USDA #food

A tale of two Reuters headlines: the top states that no food benefits will be available Nov 1 due to the government shutdown, while the bottom announces record corn harvests for this year.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

So there is a wellness brand that is LITERALLY called Unwell and I just have so many questions about who in marketing let this one slip through. Maybe someone turned a new leaf and decided they needed to start being honest?

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Being a scientist and catching up on books during maternity leave has resulted in baby's first read aloud book being... The Virus: a history of the concept by Sally Smith Hughes.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

5) Get uBlock Origin extension again. Google has removed uBlock Origin from the Chrome store, but you can go here to get it from the uBlock Origin website: ublockorigin.com

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

4) Restart your computer, then go to the mini_install.exe file you downloaded (called "Win_x64_1287751_mini_installer.exe" for me, when I downloaded it) and install that instead. This will launch Chromium - you'll know you have the right thing because now the logo is blue instead of multicolor.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

2.1) If you're feeling lazy, you can just use the following: commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-bro... I can confirm this version works with uBlock Origin - it's from May 2024, before they started removing support for the extension. You want to download the mini_installer.exe file.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

This is for Windows, because that's what I use. 1) Disable Google's automatic updating. Search "System Configuration" and under "Services" tab, uncheck anything that says "Google Updater" (it may be 2, or it may be 3 services). Hit apply and close.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

But the second post *DOES* bring up something really interesting - the author tried to get DeepSeek to solve a 10-disk Tower of Hanoi problem and found it resistant to doing so because it would be such a long chain of thought. Instead it looked for shortcuts.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

This isn't breaking news or anything but if you have a gas stove there is nothing stopping you from roasting corn on it. Except maybe a lack of corn but it's corn season!!!

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Someone said I work too hard and need more self-care #startups

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

The view on the outskirts of Vienna airport.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Today in food...novelties? horrors?: the 'brizza', a Bavarian-style "pizza" made from pretzel that you can order at Frankfurt airport. Default toppings are chopped bacon and raw red onion. And no that's not white sauce, it's just sour cream. Please nobody tell the Italians. #food #travel

The bacon, red onion, and sour cream 'brizza', a German take on pizza.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Spider buddy!!!!! Member of Salticidae, probably genus Phidippus. #spiders #arachnids #SFbay

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

I know bladder cancer is a serious, terrible disease. But at the same time this J&J slide popped up and I thought: "Would you like a bladder pretzel?" #drugDev #pharma #ImSorry

Data slide on J&J new drug delivery advice for bladder cancer, which happens to look like a pretzel.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Lastly, I found one bug buddy! A yellow-spotted millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana). They can exude hydrogen cyanide as a defense mechanism.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Checker lilies (Fritillaria affinis) are still in bloom.

Checker lilies, named after the checker pattern on the leaf petals, naturally bloom in a downward droop.

The inside of a checker lily flower. Note the checker pattern on the inside as well!

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

...but here is one last Giant Wakerobin flower!

Flower of a giant Wakerobin, light pink to white instead of dark red.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

We are mostly past the season of blooms for the Giant Wakerobin (Trillium chloropetalum) and trout lilies (Erythronium sp.)

The leaves of a trout lily (Erythronium sp), with characteristic dark splotches.

Trout lily leaves and a the three-leaf Giant Wakerobin, with a single fruit growing in the center.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Milkmaids (Cardamine californica) are also still blooming.

Paired, 4-petaled white flowers of Cardamine californica.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Solomon's Plume/False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum) is also in bloom, and incredibly fragrant! Though the plant is edible, beware it's poisonous lookalikes and don't eat it unless you're sure!

The small, clustered flowers of Solomon's Plume stop it's purple stalk and broad, smooth leaves.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Western starflower (Lysimachia latifolia) is in bloom, abundant along the trail edge and below eucalyptus trees.

The small pink flower of the western starflower among eucalyptus leaves and bark.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Attendees of #ACSspring2025 may remember that they had plastic tracking tags on our lanyards...some people were horrified. I was fascinated. I don't know a lot about this tech so brought it home to the software dev.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

#phageBiologist here, at #ACSSpring2025 and I've found another phage biologist by accident. M13 BABY EYYYYYY

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

I saw some posts earlier criticizing the nomination of Dr. Susan Monarez to lead #CDC. I don't know her personally, but below is a post from Dr. Tom Ingelsby of Johns Hopkins Univesity, who is a biosecurity expert and infectious disease doc, endorsing her. www.linkedin.com/posts/tom-in...

LinkedIn post from biosecurity expert and infectious disease physician Dr. Tom Ingelsby, endorsing Dr. Susan Monarez as Trump's pick to lead the CDC.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Me, scanning through the #ACSSpring2025 abstracts: "This one looks super relevant, definitely adding to my itinerary!" *click* >> It's the poster I'm presenting tonight, in place of one of our science leads who couldn't attend.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Okay so #ACSSpring2025 expo hall has a dog adoption booth. It's adorbs. #chemSky

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Potted my bioluminescent Firefly petunias from Light Bio today! They're engineered to glow thanks to the addition of luciferase.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

In case you're wondering if the work of the CDC *really* matters globally, here's a microscopy image from CDC being used in a health PSA in Taiwan. #CDC #publicHealth @altcdc.altgov.info

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Fooling around with camera settings on the Samsung S22 while on the Taiwan HSR... #travel #Taiwan

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Tech in Taiwan that needs to catch on in the US: bagels PRE-FILLED nearly with cream cheese. (Pictures: blueberry cheese bagel)

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

For anyone who has has longed to be awoken at 3 am with a gentle nudge from something INSIDE your guts: I can highly recommend pregnancy.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Idk if I'm going insane but when I click on the link, I get redirected to "Selena Yang"

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I dedicate today's productivity to the researchers at Gilead, Roche, and elsewhere who worked on oseltamivir. HOLY MACARONI does it work wonders.

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Natalie, PhD @current-hypothesis.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Hey being super sick suddenly ain't so bad.

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