Tim Feinstein

Tim Feinstein

@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Ph.D. ex-academic, self-published author of “A Heuristic Guide To Quantitative Imaging”. Lead, operations and technical sales at Coastal Microscopes.

2.1K followers1.5K following3.7K posts

Tim Feinstein reposted

Carl T. Bergstrom
@carlbergstrom.com

Friends in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, I'm taking a sabbatical from Sept. 2027 — June 2028, and my hope is to spend 2-6 weeks each in a good number of your cities. I would love your help with this.

Tim Feinstein reposted

David Ho
@davidho.bsky.social

If you’re a climate/energy person, I will take your portrait pro bono.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

After far too many years, I've got myself a new Guardian byline pic, very kindly taken pro bono by Nick Bowring. It was getting like The Picture of Dorian Gray in reverse. Embrace the ravages of time!

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

For the curious, the tech that Elizabeth Holmes and her ?? (Partner?) Billy Evans are working on is called optical biopsy, using hyperspectral detection. Everyone in the field, Elephas Bio in Wisconsin comes to mind first, is well aware how AI can streamline diagnosis.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

JFC.

Prof. Eliot Jacobson@climatecasino.net

Breaking News! Code UFB!!! It takes 2 weeks to confirm ocean sea surface temperatures and the long wait is finally over. The first day in recorded history with Nino 3.4 SST at or above 30.0°C is now officially on the record. October 7, 2026: 30.000°C. climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_dai...

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Violent crime. Cities are exceptionally, almost unimaginably less dangerous now. And it continues getting better. I grew up in a decent area of Pittsburgh, snd our street had at least one car theft a week. A guy once tried to steal my bike *while I was riding it*.

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

A kid once did steal my bike, and I tried to tell him I was pushing it because the brakes don’t work. But he was already going pretty fast down Negley hill. IYKYK.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Keep an eye on this one. Mink & ferrets are the definitive zoonotic crossover species, used to study respiratory diseases as close to the human model as possible. To keep this farm running seems wildly dangerous.

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: A bird flu outbreak has been raging uncontrolled on a Utah mink farm for two months. Flu experts fear it could spark a devastating human pandemic. But officials haven’t acted — instead prioritizing the financial interests of the fur trade.

propublica.orgBird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won’t Act.Federal officials brushed off the issue as Utah prioritized the fur industry’s interests. Little has been done to stop the spread of the virus and ensure it can’t spread to humans, a failure that expe...
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Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

And I got the title wrong. Boo me. But on the flip side, this book feels like it was written for me. I’ve walked that road! New data that contradicts expectations can scare you, and maybe it should! Most of the time it means you made a mistake. But if it holds up, then the fun starts…

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Fantastic intro to a valuable tool. If your lab has grown to have: * multiple instruments * a bunch of users * a standalone processing/analysis workstation …OMERO is an amazing resource for managing all that data. And it costs $0.

NFDI4BIOIMAGE@nfdi4bioimage.bsky.social

If you plan to implement OMERO as a solution for your entire lab, you may encounter some challenges or require assistance. Learn more about the platform, its architecture, and the steps you need to take to set it up for your group in this presentation by Michele Bortolomeazzi and Christian Schmidt.

Tim Feinstein reposted

Anita Devineni
@anitadevineni.bsky.social

We now are hiring TWO teaching track faculty! Apply by Nov 1!

Anita Devineni@anitadevineni.bsky.social

My department (Biology at Emory) is hiring for a teaching track position! These are stable, well-respected, long-term positions with a path to promotion and ppl often staying for decades. The dept is wonderfully supportive and filled with amazing humans (faculty + staff) apply.interfolio.com/191814

Tim Feinstein reposted

BWJones
@bwjones.bsky.social

Nooooooo! Do I know anyone who wants a Mig-21 or a Convair C-131 Samaritan that will pay the costs to remove them? It would be a tragedy to cut these planes up for recycling.

The Salt Lake Tribune@sltrib.com

Efforts to sell two planes in the building included hosting online auctions and an open house that nobody attended.

sltrib.comSalt Lake City’s Cold War-era fighter jet will be scrappedEfforts to sell two planes in the building included hosting online auctions and an open house that nobody attended.

Tim Feinstein reposted

EVILy Thomas 🦤🏳️‍🌈
@zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social

This website simulates the effects of colorblindness on color schemes; I've used it to pick palettes that can still be distinguished by brightness and saturation: davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/

davidmathlogic.comColoring for ColorblindnessThis interactive visual tool lets you see how accessible your color palettes are to viewers who are colorblind.
Jeff Wilson Mantilla@diapophysis.bsky.social

Just a reminder that certain colors cannot be discriminated by around 5% of the population. Especially in the run-up to the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social meeting, think about choosing colorblind-friendly colors for display. There are many resources for this, but colorbrewer2.org is great.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

I don’t know if you can re-start a hobby fiction writing habit as cold&buried as mine…eh, why let plausibility get in the way of a silly idea. And f*ck AI. Everyone should use the brain muscle to make stuff. Thought I’d start w a hundred terrible first lines. For your sins I’ll post the worst here.

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Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

I’ve heard that in old America, before the war, a great cave explorer or something called Bob Dylan said you got to know when to hold your tongue, know when to let it loose, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

I don’t know if you can re-start a hobby fiction writing habit as cold&buried as mine…eh, why let plausibility get in the way of a silly idea. And f*ck AI. Everyone should use the brain muscle to make stuff. Thought I’d start w a hundred terrible first lines. For your sins I’ll post the worst here.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Whoever might have said if you have time to think about what people think about while they’re falling, you done screwed up somewhere, probably died before they could say it.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Really thrilled to see the Shokat lab get this recognition. His structure-guided mutation assays opened up a completely new field in kinase studies.

UCSF@ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social

UCSF’s Kevan Shokat, PhD, just won the $1M Stephenson Global Prize for research in pancreatic cancer. He cracked KRAS, a cancer driver long considered “undruggable.” Drugs built on his work now treat lung and pancreatic cancer. https://ow.ly/UYuY50ZRSXg

Tim Feinstein reposted

Elizabeth Anne, PhD
@lacksauthority.bsky.social

do I have any followers that are cetacean experts? I got a few shots today of a dolphin (looks bottlenose to me) that is either extremely well-fed or pregnant and would love some more informed opinions

Tim Feinstein reposted

Sanho Tree
@sanho.bsky.social

Happy Stanislav Petrov day! He saved the world from nuclear annihilation on this day in 1983. My freshman year in college would have been so much worse without his courage.🧵

Sanho Tree@sanho.bsky.social

I drank a toast to Stanislav Petrov.

npr.orgStanislav Petrov, 'The Man Who Saved The World,' Dies At 77Petrov was on overnight duty in 1983 when computers indicated the U.S. had launched a nuclear strike against his country. He had only a few nerve-jangling minutes to act.

Tim Feinstein reposted

Vaughn Cooper
@vscooper.micropopbio.org

FYI to everyone submitting this October NIH cycle You need to re-certify your ScienCV AFTER Sept 26 (tomorrow) for your application or it may not be accepted. Great timing!

Tim Feinstein reposted

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Here’s an interesting question: how old do you have to be to remember why gas stations all have a window-cleaning squeegee by the pump? It’s not (just) road dirt. I’m approaching 50, and I remember some seasons you had to squeege off the bugs from your windshield even after short trips.

TG42Birder🇵🇸@tg42birder.bsky.social

As our burning of fossil fuels rapidly warms the planet, insects are disappearing & this is impacting birds, pollinators & food webs. The decline is global, in protected & non-protected areas, & in remote areas totally free from pesticide. 😮😮😮 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insectsA new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides
Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

Here’s an interesting question: how old do you have to be to remember why gas stations all have a window-cleaning squeegee by the pump? It’s not (just) road dirt. I’m approaching 50, and I remember some seasons you had to squeege off the bugs from your windshield even after short trips.

TG42Birder🇵🇸@tg42birder.bsky.social

As our burning of fossil fuels rapidly warms the planet, insects are disappearing & this is impacting birds, pollinators & food webs. The decline is global, in protected & non-protected areas, & in remote areas totally free from pesticide. 😮😮😮 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insectsA new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides
Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

I’ve driven cross-country a lot, starting in the mid-90s, and I can think of family trips before that. From memory we *always* cleaned the windshield in the 80s to early 90s. I still did some before 2000. After ~2000, I can’t remember *needing* to clean off bugs after a drive, at all. Anyone else?

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

If you remember these, you probably used corded phones and had a favorite dial-up internet provider. Sure, car bras were faddish and kind of dorky. But they had a purpose! That bug goo would eat the paint if you didn’t clean the car every week. The little hood spoilers kept yr windshield clean.

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

My 9/11 developed like an apocalyptic movie does. I’m in grad school doing some early TA work on the department copier, and the admins are talking about some plane accident at the WTC. Then I drive across CT to main campus hearing Steve Inskeep on NPR slowly lose his sh*t as the story devrlops.

Tim Feinstein reposted

Laurel Oldach
@laureloldach.bsky.social

If you were at this #acsfall2026 session, I’d be interested in learning more for potential C&EN coverage. L_oldach@acs.org, or Signal (in bio)

Chemjobber@chemjobber.bsky.social

apparently a speaker said "Watson, Crick and Franklin" and the AI-driven transcription edited the "Franklin" out; iirc President Hernandez confirmed this happened from the podium #chemchat

Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

So, why are laptop makers pushing masochist machines with inadequate RAM? Because AI data centers bought all the RAM. As a result you can’t afford memory because AI ate it, and your laptop won’t run because all the little perma-installed AIs eat all the memory.

Gizmodo@gizmodo.com

Laptop Makers Are Desperate to Sell You PCs With 8GB of RAM. Avoid at All Costs https://gizmodo.com/laptop-makers-are-desperate-to-sell-you-pcs-with-8gb-of-ram-avoid-at-all-costs-2000798472

gizmodo.comLaptop Makers Are Desperate to Sell You PCs With 8GB of RAM. Avoid at All CostsI've tried two versions of the Dell XPS 13 with more and less memory. You can guess what happened next.
Tim Feinstein
@timnfeinstein.bsky.social

What is the klutziest thing you’ve ever done in your life? Socially, dear god. Do you want alphabetically, or in order of importance? Physically, trying to gravel-boot-ski down a scree slope on some over-tall mountain, overcooking it, going ass over teakettle, and rushing far off to get stitches.

Dan Silverman@dmsilverman.bsky.social

Here‘s one I’d like to see the internet’s full range of responses to: What is the klutziest thing you’ve ever done in your life?

Tim Feinstein reposted

Damian Dudka
@damiandudka.bsky.social

My lab just opened at Lehigh University - we study the origins, mechanisms, and impacts of the rapid evolution of the chromosome segregation machinery. I'm looking for 2 team members (postdoc and lab tech) who are passionate about evolution and cell division! See the opportunities at dudkalab.me.

dudkalab.meDudka Lab — HomeThe Dudka Lab at Lehigh University studies how rapid evolution of chromosome segregation machinery impacts health, fertility, and disease.