Rohan Williams
@briefutopia.bsky.social
Academic computational biologist, microbial ecology, metagenomics and multi-omics, unashamed scientific generalist, biotech cofounder, Australian lives/work in Singapore
Here are a few headlines! abcnews.com/Technology/w... www.reuters.com/business/ene... time.com/article/2026... www.eenews.net/articles/ais...
UN calculates nation-sized environmental footprints for AI and data centers
According to a United Nations University report, the environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world’s largest countries
abcnews.com
I will obviously do a proper thread later of the big new UN report into AI environmental impacts but here is the link if anyone wants to have a look unu.edu/inweh/collec...
The Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints
AI’s rapid growth drives huge energy, water, and land use, raising environmental and equity challenges across its global infrastructure.
unu.edu
Very pleased to see my 'What could a human right to participate in science be?' in Royal Society Open Science (open access) This paper certainly would not exist had it not been for the gentle persuasion and strong support of @michelamassimi.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
What could a human right to participate in science be?
Abstract. At first sight, the idea of a human right to participate in science may seem absurd. Many assume science must be the preserve only of those with
royalsocietypublishing.org
Very complicated individual…but did change the course of genomics and synthetic biology through sheer force of will
Tae Seok Moon@taeseokmoon.bsky.social · 3mo agoI came back to the United States, hearing about a very sad news: Craig Venter passed away today. He is a pioneer, successfully sequenced the first Human genome, and tried to create Synthetic Cells. We lost a giant in Science. RIP. @jcvi.org
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m... an excellent piece on "delusions of total control from the skies" in warfare
The delusion of easy victory from the air may have seduced the US into another war
Air superiority is supposed to deliver a quick triumph. But history has shown that promise to be written on the wind
theguardian.com
random photos of Saint Peters NSW before redevelopment around Appleby and Hutchison..this must be at Tortuga Studios ?...part 1/n #stpeters2044
we live in the ruins of a greater civilization
Really can't make this stuff up I did not have a fast-tracked FCC application for an actual megaconstellation (1 million satellites) justified as "taking the first step towards becoming a Kardashev Il-level civilization" on my 2026 bingo card What are we doing friends
Despite more than half the world living in urban areas, little is known about the soil microbes that support cities’ precious and precarious green spaces. Could they create healthier cities? Read the article in the latest issue of The Biologist: thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-fe...
I've long respected Peer Bork's work as top- tier in the field and always hoped to get to chat with him at a conference someday. Very sad to see this.
Steven Salzberg@stevensalzberg.bsky.social · 7mo agovery sad news. Peer Bork was one of the leaders of our field, a wonderful scientist, and he's much too young to be gone. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...
You can use fossil gas permitting documents to help track data centre development in the US. This is maybe a lil clue that they're not all running on beautiful clean energy www.404media.co/researchers-... @404media.co
Researchers Are Hunting America for Hidden Datacenters
The nonprofit research group Epoch AI is tracking the physical imprint of the technology that’s changing the world.
404media.co
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3US... despatches from a bygone world...I had a brilliant and inspired science teacher (Glen McCaffrey) who showed us this short film series in Year 8...small things that can be hugely influential on life's trajectory
The Search for Solutions, Trial & Error - Human-Powered Record & More (1979) | 16mm Film Scan
YouTube video by 16mm Time Machine
youtube.com
The SCALE of destruction is really hard to fathom. This, obviously, is just one example. It will take a *generation* or more to recover and much will be lost irrevocably. We are watching the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · 7mo ago“The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else.”
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... Australia, a society where obnoxious behaviours are infinitely justifiable in the name of 'having a good time'...
For most families, New Year’s Eve is a time to come together. For mine, it’s time for a water-bomb war | Patrick Marlborough
For close to 50 years we’ve waged an ever-escalating battle against one other – and our home town
theguardian.com
www.timeout.com/singapore/ne... very sorry to see this excellent restaurant close its doors...particularly for weekend dim sum. With Kinokuniya on the floor below, it made for a near-perfect Saturday or Sunday...
East Ocean Teochew Restaurant at Orchard to close on December 28 after more than three decades
The management cites the lack of successors as the reason for this closure.
timeout.com
Tanjong Pagar docks, looking south from the SAM cafe. On the right you can see the eastern end of Sentosa, and in the between the gantry cranes, either the western end of Batam or Lumba Besar or possibly Bulan. An unusually clear day for the parts...
www.nature.com/articles/d41... an excellent piece by @rochmyaningsih.bsky.social in @nature.com this week about the massive impact of the (under- and mis-reported) recent SEA tropical cyclones...'the world has mostly overlooked this emergency'
The Indian Ocean disaster is a climate tragedy — and needs more attention
A region unused to tropical cyclones has had three in a week. The world needs to ask why this happened, not look away.
nature.com
Carl Gibson-Hill, as seen at the National Library of Singapore
most people don't want politics that hurt other people. we just want a long overcoat like david bowie and affordable housing
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
404media.co
And here is a link to the wildlabs.net post about the microgrant. wildlabs.net/funding-oppo...
NEW! eDNA Collaborative 2025 Microgrant | WILDLABS
Funding for low-cost DIY Fluorometers by DIYNAFLUOR
wildlabs.net
I read and write, I explore and I question, I design and script and analyse, I interpret and communicate. I do this to train my mind in the hopes of one day generating new knowledge. New knowledge that might even be useful, and that no algorithm can yet be trained on.
Terry McGlynn@hormiga.bsky.social · 10mo agoY'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook. How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't? scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
arxiv.org/abs/2510.05195 a wonderful outreach book just posted on on #arXiv by the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA). These personal narratives are hugely important for young people to see their way forward, esp. w/o the presence of immediate role models.
Inspiring stories from women in astronomy in Africa
In preparation for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly (GA) 2024, the first GA held in Africa, the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA) embarked on a visionary project...
arxiv.org
Introducing AutoOpenRaman, an automated, inexpensive microscope setup for Raman spectroscopy! We recapitulated many features of expensive commercial systems using economical hardware and open-source software 🧵 [1/8] research.arcadiascience.com/pub/resource...
AutoOpenRaman: Low-cost, automated Raman spectroscopy
We developed AutoOpenRaman, an automated, inexpensive microscope for Raman spectroscopy. We recapitulated many features of expensive commercial Raman spectroscopy systems using economical hardware and...
research.arcadiascience.com
Non-Conventional Yeasts as a Source of Genetic Diversity and Biotechnological Potential | Annual Reviews - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Non-Conventional Yeasts as a Source of Genetic Diversity and Biotechnological Potential | Annual Reviews
Most of our current knowledge about yeast is based on the workhorse Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, can this yeast represent the vast array of natural yeast life-forms? This review discusses signif...
annualreviews.org
aka a 'bullshit artist'...to evoke an old Australian phrase...
Kat Tenbarge@kattenbarge.bsky.social · 12mo agoThe people dominating our political landscape, culture, and economy are just so stupid and full of shit it's almost impossible to describe
really sorry to see the #theprojector #singapore shutting down...great films, spaces and vibes...the pop-up at Riverside Point was my favourite. Blade Runner at the Pasir Panjang Power Station was unforgettable. Thanks to everyone involved, esp. the volunteers, and good luck for future ventures
GengHui (Jinghui) 景晖@tangenghui.bsky.social · 12mo agoThe Projector at Golden Mile Tower shuts down on Aug. 19 after 11 years - Mothership.SG - News from Singapore, Asia and around the world mothership.sg/2025/08/proj...
