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David Stansby

@dstansby.bsky.social
184 followers 270 following 25 posts

Research Software Engineer in bioimaging // I run the Human Organ Atlas (@humanorganatlas.bsky.social) // cyclist // walker

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Reposted by David Stansby
Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 25/09/2026
I honestly have never considered switching from Google Pixel phones until they sent me a "wanna celebrate destroying the lives of trans people" as a system update.
Android Pixel system update screen, showing Harry Potter customizations as a bullet point.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
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Jonty Wareing @jonty.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public". So I've been backing up all government code. For six years. Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised. github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
Deleted UK Government code repositories

Total deleted repositories: 1526
Organisations affected: 56

See RECENTLY_DELETED.md for the most recently deleted repositories.

Organisation	Deleted Repos	% Deleted
hmrc	195	9.8%
nhsdigital	169	33.8%
SkillsFundingAgency	154	22.7%
informatics-lab	154	100.0%
UKHomeOffice	101	7.5%
ministryofjustice	74	2.8%
ONSdigital	66	4.3%
moj-analytical-services	65	75.6%
ukwa	47	46.1%
dwp	46	6.7%
UKGovernmentBEIS	43	27.4%
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da share z0ne @dasharez0ne.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
BORN TO FROLIC, FORCED TO REPEATETLY TURN OFF AI - SHIRT'S AND TANK TOP'S AT dashare.zone - DASHARE.ZONE ADMIN
A BLACK TSHRIT "BORN TO FROLIC, FORCED TO REPEATEDLY TURN OFF AI" AVALIABLE AT dashare.zone - DASHARE.ZONE ADMIN
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Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Earlier this year UKRI launched a funding call to invest £40M in ONE AI lab. www.ukri.org/opportunity/... For some unknown reason they decided to fund TWO AI labs at the cost of £60M. An extra £20M. Just found. That's the equivalent of 7 more years of Jodrell Bank. www.ukri.org/news/ukri-la...
ukri.org
UKRI launches two AI research labs to stay ahead in global race
Two new labs will back British researchers to develop next generation artificial intelligence (AI) systems, helping secure the UK’s position as a global leader.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
omg
LinkedIn message I received: 

Subject: Thank you for getting me fired!

Hi Marisa,
I just wanted to let you know something very funny, I shared your "Hating Al is good, actually" article in my company Slack; and I'm now in the midst of a disciplinary process that is trying to strongarm me into accepting a mandate to use Al.
Thank you! I've needed to leave this place for some time now and this is just the push I needed! It was an excellent article and my god is it refreshing and relieving to know it's not just me; I have been drowning in slop-slob.
Cheers,
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 03/05/2026
Free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations doi.org/10.59350/5zt... 🧪
doi.org
Free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations
Phylopic, NIH Bioart, Bioicons, Scidraw, Open Science Art, Health Icons, Servier Medical Art, Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Noun Project, Segment Anything, Excalidraw, draw.io, Biographics
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The Human Organ Atlas @humanorganatlas.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
A few weeks go we published a paper explaining the Human Organ Atlas 🎉 Read all about it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The Human Organ Atlas
The Human Organ Atlas provides open access to 3D images of human anatomy spanning whole organs to cellular scale resolution.
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Minas Karamanis @minaskar.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Hey, I wrote a thing about AI in astrophysics ergosphere.blog/posts/the-ma...
ergosphere.blog
The machines are fine. I'm worried about us.
On AI agents, grunt work, and the part of science that isn't replaceable.
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Chris @chreeeeeees.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I simply do not believe that voters are incapable of understanding “1/6th of the worlds oil supply is blocked, we must use less of it” and if you do genuinely do believe that I don’t know what’s the point of engaging in politics
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
www.coyotemedia.org/the-olympics...
coyotemedia.org
The Olympics Has a New Sex Testing Policy. The Evidence Doesn’t Add Up
I’ve spent over 10 years obsessed with so-called “gender verification” tests. Proponents claim they have history and science on their side. They don’t.
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
The paper that sums up what I've been working on and running for the last three years was published this week 🎉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The Human Organ Atlas
The Human Organ Atlas provides open access to 3D images of human anatomy spanning whole organs to cellular scale resolution.
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy. This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis. 44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.
Crude oil prices, showing a very sharp increase in the last day, from around 65 to 101 dollars per barrel..
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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 05/03/2026
NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...
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Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Not the key point, but all the 'Andrew Mountbatten Windsor' coverage shows how quickly and easily the entire UK media complex can switch to someone's new name/title, even after using their old one for decades, when it's an incredibly pampered white male deviant. So, you know, it's not *that* hard...
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Clare Burrage @clareburrage.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Huge cuts to PPAN postdocs, but we can afford an adventure playground.
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Olivier ✡︎ @oliviermurlor.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Christ, this is fucking dystopian. How about free art classes, language courses, music lessons, sport sessions, further education modules or anything other than this. This is the antithesis of education it’s a campaign of national brain rot.
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
Dear Sir Paul,

Re: Royal Society Code of Conduct

I am sure that many scientists have written to you about the specific question of Elon Musk’s Fellowship and whether, under the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct, his retaining that Fellowship is appropriate. I will not rehash these issues.  Instead, as a female scientist with extensive experience of activities aiming to increase equality, diversity and inclusion in the engineering and physical sciences sector, I am writing to you (in a personal capacity) to ask you to reconsider the statements you have recently made in this context to the UK press about the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct and how it is applied.  

A 2018 report  from the joint National Academies of the United States of America, concluded that “sexual harassment is common in academic science, engineering, and medicine” and that “greater than 50 percent of women faculty and staff and 20–50 percent of women students encounter or experience sexually harassing conduct in academia”.  This report described codes of conduct that make clear that sexual harassment is unethical and will not be tolerated as a “powerful incentive for change”. The authors also noted that sexual harassment can have significant and damaging effects on the integrity of research.  In my own praxis, I have found that clear and consistently-implemented codes of conduct that address these issues make female scientists and engineers safer, and allow them to focus more effectively on their research.  For codes of conduct to have such a positive effect, it is vital that sanctions for actions which transgress the code are meaningful and substantial.

I was hence aghast to realise that in an interview with the Financial Times  published on 9/1/26, you appear to have suggested that the Royal Society “should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective””.  Moreover, in a further interview with the Guardian  on 11/1/26 you suggested that the code “may need to be looked at again”, with the implication that your aim would be to remove the option of sanctions on Fellows for reasons not strictly related to faults or defects in their research. 

I suggest that changing the Royal Society’s code of conduct so that the likelihood of serious sanctions for sexual harassment is reduced, would directly endanger women who interact with the Royal Society at events or otherwise, and would provide a licence to harass to the already powerful people on whom the Society bestows fellowship.  The implications of your words - that under your leadership the only infringements of the code which are likely to receive the sanction of the Fellowship being removed are those related to research misconduct - already risk empowering harassers.  You stated, in the Financial Times interview, that “there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances”.  Given this awareness of the possibility of bad actors in our scientific community, it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that the Royal Society would not act to sanction these people if they harass more vulnerable scientists.

I am hence writing to request that you retract any suggestion that the Society’s Code of Conduct should be changed so that the only reason a Fellow might be sanctioned by the removal of their Fellowship is “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective” research.  This action is necessary to safeguard female scientists, a requirement placed on the Society by safeguarding legislation and UK statutory guidance. 

Yours sincerely,

Professor Rachel A. Oliver.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
So many reasons I could not cut it in politics, but one is I would just laugh inappropriately too much. Imagine, you’re at a meeting of senior leaders and the CEO comes out with this crap.
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Arfon Smith @arfon.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
We've shipped a major update to the JOSS submission scope requirements, affecting what is eligible for submission and what information we require from authors. You can read more about the changes and our motivations here: blog.joss.theoj.org/2026/01/prep... #joss #opensource #openscience
blog.joss.theoj.org
Preparing JOSS for a generative AI future: From code to human creativity and design | Journal of Open Source Software Blog
Blog for the Journal of Open Source Software • <a href='https://joss.theoj.org'>https://joss.theoj.org</a>
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innes mck @innes.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
"international law must be followed" is european for "thoughts and prayers"
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Spray paint a plane and they'll detain you without trial and call you a terrorist. Kidnap a foreign head of state - and Keir Starmer will make it clear we've played no part in it but will wait for the scheduled press conference in a few hours before potentially condemning it
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Goodbye, Monkey Cage - not as infinite as I imagined
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
This article suggests the possibility of training AI on pre-existing proposals and their review reports, scores and related decisions. I.e. training them on a system which is known to preferentially award larger amounts of money to white men. What could possibly go wrong?
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Joel Lüthi @joelluethi.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
We had an amazing OME-NGFF hackathon last week, Wednesday to Friday, following the inspiring OME-NGFF symposium. What a fantastic week! It’s hard to describe how motivating it is to be surrounded by so many talented, curious & friendly people who care deeply about open, FAIR bioimaging data. 1/14 🧵
Hackathon participants group picture
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Hey Labour Remember the majority of voters who believe in treating people decently and not stealing from those who've endured months and years of hardship fleeing war and persecution to seek a place of safety? We're still over here 👋
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Today I'm announcing a new digital textbook 📖🖥️, "An Introduction to OME-Zarr for Big Bioimaging Data". ome-zarr-book.readthedocs.io
ome-zarr-book.readthedocs.io
An Introduction to OME-Zarr for Big Bioimaging Data
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Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
As LLMs manufacture a form of scholarship, presentation doesn’t mean what it used to. D&S's Ranjit Singh looks at how this threatens the open-access research repository arXiv, how its founder is fighting to sustain its credibility, & what researchers can do to help. datasociety.net/points/on-ar...
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Crick BioImage Analysis Symposium @cbias.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
A month to go! Will you be at #CBIAS2025? The program is almost ready, and we look forward to welcoming you in London to discuss all things #BioImageAnalysis, from tool development, to biomedical applications and community building. Register now! 🔗⬇️ www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/cri...
crick.ac.uk
Crick BioImage Analysis Symposium 2025
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Over at `ome-zarr-models` we're working on implementing support for the new coordinate systems too - here's an example of a transformation graph from multiple tiled images that can be transformed into a common "world" coordinate system. 🟥 ➡️ 🌎
A coordinate transformation graph. Each coordinate system is denoted by a circle, and arrows between systems denote coordinate transformations. Four images named tile_0, tile_1, tile_2, tile_3 have transformations to a "physical" system, and then to a common "world" system.
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
My first paper as a journal editor! 🎉😊
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
For a long time I've been wondering what RSEs can do to help uphold and support the basic human rights of Palestinians 🇵🇸 - today I've launched gitlab.com/rsesforpales... to collect and discuss actions we can take as a community.
gitlab.com
RSEsForPalestine / RSEsForPalestine · GitLab
GitLab.com
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mal @malorienilson.com · 30/08/2025
Just a heads up to anyone using Firefox:
Text reads: Mozilla, in its finite wisdom, embedded LLM bots into recent versions of Firefox for the vitally-important purpose of... naming tab groups. Now, some users are noticing CPU and power usage spikes caused by a background process called Inference.

Ugh. Reminder again for Firefox users to visit your about:config page, search for the browser.ml.chat.enabled key, and set that to false:

Displayed is a screenshot of Firefox showing the config search bar with the listed search. The word "false" is circled in red.

Text continues: If yours says true then double-click it until it reads false.
Doing that turns off the Al chatbot features in Firefox, but also the stupid new LLM tab-naming feature that's rolling out.
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Will Jennings @willjennings.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
The BBC News website has pages & pages of coverage related to farmers protesting inheritance tax, including events where only a few hundred turn out. In London yesterday 100,000 people marched for trans rights, and nothing. Imagine if it was 100,000 anti immigrant activists, they'd cover that.
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napari @napari.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2025
🚀 Big news! The napari hub has been reimplemented and is now community-run! :tada: It's still the go-to place for finding and sharing napari plugins, but the website is now snappier and lighter-weight. Check it out 👉 www.napari-hub.org
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
"Gender neutral toilets are available on floor 1 and 15 of our London office." I am somehow reminded of the bit in "Hidden Figures" where the brilliant Black mathematician is forced to run across campus on her break to get to a bathroom she is allowed to use...
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Zia Weise @ziaweise.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Drought conditions in Europe in the first half of April. Getting worse [Source: joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/european-and...
Map of Europe showing worsening drought across central, eastern and parts of northern Europe, the UK and the Benelux, plus increasingly severe conditions in southeastern Europe
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LunaLuvgood2020 @lunaluvgood2020.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
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Emily Hunt @emily.space · 16/04/2025
The UK supreme court just single-handedly overturned most trans rights in the UK today. Very disturbingly, the ruling also opens a clear pathway for TERFs to completely push trans people out of public life. This one ruling pushes trans rights in the UK back at least 25 years. It's horrible
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Higher Education Policy Institute @hepi-news.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
New Post: OfS free-speech absolutism allows abuse, harassment, and bullying www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/04/09/o...
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scientific-python.org @scientific-python.org · 04/04/2025
Hello world! 👋 🔥 The Scientific Python community is building tools to power our ecosystem and support contributors and maintainers! 🚀 Discover our projects and learn how you can get involved by following us on GitHub: 🔗 github.com/scientific-python
github.com
Scientific Python
Community developed, community owned. Scientific Python has 43 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · 25/03/2025
Year-end scramble getting you down? ⏳ Applications for lots of our Antarctic #jobs are closing in the next week. They include vehicles manager at Halley, and Radio Operator and IT Engineer at Rothera Research Station. These are jobs unlike any other, in one of the most beautiful places on Earth ⬇️
Seriously remote work, in Antarctica. The photo is of Halley Research Station, stretching into the distance on a flat white polar landscape, with the label 'Today's Office'
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Chelsea G. Summers @chelseagsummers.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
So on March 9, a French scientist, on a visa to attend a conference in Houston, was denied entry to the US and subsequently expelled because his phone had messages decrying scientific policies put forward by the Trump administration: www.lemonde.fr/internationa...
lemonde.fr
Etats-Unis : un chercheur français refoulé pour avoir exprimé « une opinion personnelle sur la politique menée par l’administration Trump »
Le ministre de la recherche français a dit sa « préoccupation », mercredi, après cette décision des autorités américaines. Le chercheur du CNRS aurait subi un contrôle aléatoire à son arrivée, avant q...
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Joel Lüthi @joelluethi.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
🚀 We’re very excited to share our latest preprint on OME-Zarr! 🚀 Our report on the 2024 OME-NGFF Workflows Hackathon is a deep dive into the status of OME-Zarr and the great work that happened last November at the BioVisionCenter in Zurich. 🔗 Read the preprint: osf.io/preprints/bi... 🧵 (1/15)
osf.io
OSF
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 03/03/2025
While all of this is happening to our scientific agencies, the current extent of sea ice globally remains at record low levels... More visuals at zacklabe.com/global-sea-i...
Line graph time series of 2025's daily global sea ice extent in red shading compared to each year from 1979 to 2024 using shades of purple to white for each line. There is substantial interannual and daily variability. Seasonal cycles are visible. Note: the poles are affected by very different Earth system processes/seasonality. I am using 5-day running mean data.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
What drives me crazy about the anti-DEI rhetoric is everyone wants to be judged on merit. But you can't be judged on merit if you can't even get in the door because you don't fit some prejudiced definition of who is capable and who isn't
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David Stansby @dstansby.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Well it was bound to happen, but @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social have finally stopped championing equitable oppurtunities - DEI page was online last week but now it's been wiped: web.archive.org/web/20250212...
web.archive.org
Building a more just, inclusive and equitable future
Learn about CZI’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and how we’re investing in advancing racial equity
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Susan Gasser @susanmgasser.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
It’s sickening how weak-kneed every foundation in US is. Where are your principles?
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