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Science Research Weekly

Science Research Weekly

By Mark R Williamson

A weekly overview of helpful scientific research topics and the successor of the podcast Statistics Weekly. Every week, I will cover 3 topic areas: Research Articles, Research Tools, and Research Funding. Science On.
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Episode 46: Good Friends and Bad Graphs

Science Research WeeklyDec 01, 2023

00:00
03:53
Episode 46: Good Friends and Bad Graphs
Dec 01, 202303:53
Episode 45: Thanks for All the Keystone Species
Nov 24, 202304:05
Episode 44: Composite Hands and Mitochondrial Medicine
Nov 17, 202306:41
Episode 43: Invasion of the Paleobionics!
Nov 10, 202307:16
Episode 42: Life, the Near Infrared, and Everything
Nov 03, 202306:35
Episode 41: Things are Heating Up
Oct 27, 202306:46
Episode 40: Brain Cell Atlas Shrugged

Episode 40: Brain Cell Atlas Shrugged

Get ready for polygenic risk score stumbling blocks, million-color-palette miniaturized DNA-based painting, the human brain cell atlas, rogue nanowaves, tiny particle accelerators, a Peanuts Halloween themed R release, the Power of Functional Programming in R, and a grant for developing models of oncoaging in cancer research. Science On.


References:


R Packages:

  • eglhmm: Extended Generalized Linear Hidden Markov Models
  • maplegend: Legends for Maps
  • ZIBR: A Zero-Inflated Beta Random Effect Model
  • qrlabelr: Generate Machine- And Human-Readable Plot Labels for Experiments
  • MicrobiomeSurv: Biomarker Validation for Microbiome-Based Survival Classification and Prediction
  • tinycodet: A Few Functions to Help in your Coding Etiquette
Oct 20, 202310:22
Episode 39: Bulking Up on Microbial Dark Matter Proteins
Oct 13, 202305:42
Episode 38: Dancing DNA in the Detection Field
Oct 06, 202307:49
Episode 37: Code with me, I’m from the Future
Sep 29, 202309:01
Episode 36: Bone Lost in Space
Sep 22, 202305:18
Episode 35: Wi-Fi Reading and Microflying

Episode 35: Wi-Fi Reading and Microflying

Get ready for atmospheric water harvesting, entering the lipidome, Wi-Fi reading through walls, electric-producing bacteria, shape-shifting microflyer origami robots, the return of the Journal of Statistical Software, top picks for posit::conf 2023, the TidyTuesday GitHub repository, and a grant to establish a Center for Exposome Research Coordination. Science On.


References:


R Packages:

  • DebiasInfer: Efficient Inference on High-Dimensional Linear Model with Missing Outcomes
  • biosampleR: Biodiversity Index Calculation and Bootstrap Confidence Interval Estimation
  • CohortAlgebra: Use of Interval Algebra to Create New Cohort(s) from Existing Cohorts
  • moodlequizR: Easily Create Fully Randomized 'Moodle' Test Questions
  • epiCleanr: A Tidy Solution for Epidemiological Data
Sep 15, 202311:26
Episode 34: Ribozyme Samurai
Sep 08, 202306:57
Episode 33: Microbe-Skewering Micro-Spikes
Sep 01, 202305:44
Episode 32: The Kirigami Engineers
Aug 25, 202307:23
Episode 31: Are You Not Entertained?

Episode 31: Are You Not Entertained?

Get ready the Dinosaur Coliseum, cancer-detecting bioengineer bacteria, embedding Unicode into SAS, a web-crawling Katana, and a Million Dollar Bike ride for rare disease research. Science On.


References:


R-packages:

  • graposas: Graphical Approach Optimal Sample Size
  • osmclass: Classify Open Street Map Features
  • bulkreadr: The Ultimate Tool for Reading Data in Bulk
  • handcodeR: Text Annotation App
  • unicol: The Colors of your University
Aug 18, 202308:01
Episode 30: A Bit of a (DNA) Stretch
Aug 11, 202305:19
Episode 29: Greengenes 2, This Time, It’s Personal
Aug 04, 202305:22
Episode 28: Fungal Enlightenment
Jul 28, 202303:53
Episode 27: Dog Bites Dinosaur
Jul 21, 202306:54
Episode 26: Living Cameras and Old Universes
Jul 14, 202309:51
Episode 25: Top Transposon, Maverick
Jul 07, 202307:40
Episode 24: My Chemical Sequence

Episode 24: My Chemical Sequence

Get ready for extinct avian genomes, stellar smashing, chemical needles in the haystack, the last Top 40 New CRAN Packages, and career awards at the scientific interface. Science On.


References:


R Packages:

  • New CRAN packages that deserve to bask in the light of a new day:
  • flashlighttext: Flashlight Text R Interface
  • GRCRegression: Modified Poisson Regression of Grouped and Right-Censored Counts
  • otargen: Access Open Target Genetics
  • tree3d: 3D Tree Models
Jun 30, 202307:49
Episode 23: Sir Ankylosaurus, I Presume?
Jun 23, 202307:04
Episode 22: Of Vikings and Tokamaks
Jun 16, 202306:49
Episode 21: Eukaryote Fell Down and Broke Its Crown

Episode 21: Eukaryote Fell Down and Broke Its Crown

Get ready for air-quality environmental DNA, multiple British spinosaurids, a lost branch of the eukaryotic family tree, bioinks for space, GLM proselytizing, and Small Business Innovation Research grants. Science On.


References:

R Packages:

  • ami: Checks for Various Computing Environments
  • rtms: R Toolkit for Mass Spectrometry
  • gptzeror: Identify Text Written by Large Language Models using 'GPTZero'
Jun 09, 202307:50
Episode 20: Tintin and the Rare-Earth Elements
Jun 02, 202307:53
Episode 19: Small Things Considered

Episode 19: Small Things Considered

Get ready for non-natural amino acids, screwdriver-toothed mosasaurs, bubble-powered microbots, SAS Hackathon breakthroughs, Amazing Biochemistry Project Topics, and funding support from a little giraffe. Science On.


References:


R packages:

  • BIDistances: Bioinformatic Distances
  • cstidy: Helpful Functions for Cleaning Surveillance Data
  • ggautomap: Create Maps from a Column of Place Names
  • JUMP: Replicability Analysis of High-Throughput Experiments
May 26, 202308:32
Episode 18: DNA, DNA Everywhere
May 19, 202306:16
Episode 17: Regressing towards the Mean
May 12, 202306:56
Episode 16: Guardians of the Genome
May 05, 202308:31
Episode 15: Buzzing Across the Pond

Episode 15: Buzzing Across the Pond

Get ready for jetting black holes, cancer diagnosis with a strip of paper, the mysterious world of freshwater acoustics, frontiers in fungal biotechnology, transcribing/translating audio with Buzz, and NSF infrastructure grants. Science On.


References:


R-packages:

  • jmBIG: Joint Longitudinal and Survival Model for Big Data
  • mlmpower: Power Analysis and Data Simulation for Multilevel Models
  • gtranslate: Translate Between Different Languages
  • mldr.resampling: Resampling Algorithms for Multi-Label Datasets
  • geessbin: Modified Generalized Estimating Equations for Binary Outcome
  • survivalSL: Super Learner for Survival Prediction from Censored Data
Apr 28, 202307:56
Episode 14: Of Space Rats and Shiny Apps
Apr 21, 202305:11
Episode 13: Crazy Ants, Crazier Viruses
Apr 14, 202305:45
Episode 12: Snowstorms and Dolphins
Apr 07, 202306:20
Episode 11: Cue the Sci-Fi Dystopia Film Score

Episode 11: Cue the Sci-Fi Dystopia Film Score

Get ready for atomic nuclei views, artificial organelles, AI article generation, PyCon, Simpson's paradox, building your favorite technologies from scratch, and funding to maintain ENCODE. Science On.


References:


R Packages:

  • lenght: Allow Misspellings of Length Function
  • c2z: A Reference Manager
  • ecan: Ecological Analysis and Visualization
  • Vicus: Exploiting Local Structures to Improve Network-Based Analysis of Biological Data
Mar 31, 202311:17
Episode 10: Sticks and Cones May Break My Bones

Episode 10: Sticks and Cones May Break My Bones

Get ready for super microscopes, tardigrade blood stabilization, broken stick modeling, an R version codenamed ‘Already Tomorrow’, a ‘pinecone’ made of Python, and a pitch-style competition for infectious disease funding. Science On.


References:

R Packages:

  • crayons: Color Palettes from Crayon Boxes
  • baseq: Basic Sequence Processing Tool for Biological Data
  • reappraised: Statistical Tools for Assessing Publication Integrity of Groups of Trials
  • ridgregextra: Ridge Regression Parameter Estimation
Mar 24, 202310:23
Episode 9: Robot Parade!

Episode 9: Robot Parade!

Get ready for self-healing soft robots, modular NASA robots, Shiny recaps, Statistical Rethinking training, statistical kindergarten, and the NIH Pioneer Award Program. Science On.

References:

Other Articles:

  • LEXpander: Applying colexification networks to automated lexicon expansion
  • Surface changes observed on a Venusian volcano during the Magellan mission
  • Why is Pumas-QSP So Fast? Some Insights Into Differentiable Simulation Performance

R-packages:

  • pharmaverse: Navigate 'Pharmaverse'
  • toweranNA: A Method for Handling Missing Values in Prediction Applications
  • waspasR: Tool Kit to Implement a W.A.S.P.A.S. Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Solution
Mar 17, 202309:36
Episode 8: Flash Grants in the Pan

Episode 8: Flash Grants in the Pan

Get ready for technological tribology, tingible translational cell biology, flipping fossils, Volume 14/4 of the R Journal, ebook tips and tricks, and flash grants to fixate on.  Science On.

References:

R-packages:

  • BayesFluxR: Implementation of Bayesian Neural Networks
  • lorem: Generate Lorem Ipsum Text
  • HDRFA: High-Dimensional Robust Factor Analysis
  • guildai: Track Machine Learning Experiments
  • aihuman: Experimental Evaluation of Algorithm-Assisted Human Decision-Making
Mar 10, 202310:22
Episode 7: Life, the R-Universe, and Everything

Episode 7: Life, the R-Universe, and Everything

Get ready for an exploration of the R-Universe, simulated octopus tentacles, effects of Vitamin D and exercise on health, fossil wings and fins, statistical conferences to set your calendar by, and a very special 23rd birthday.  Science On.

References:

R-packages:

  • aihuman: Experimental Evaluation of Algorithm-Assisted Human Decision-Making
  • reactCheckbox: Checkbox Group Input for 'Shiny'
  • treediff: Testing Differences Between Families of Trees
  • rutledge: Real-Time PCR Data Sets by Rutledge et al. (2004)
Mar 03, 202311:07
Episode 6: Boss-Level Antibiotics

Episode 6: Boss-Level Antibiotics

Get ready for better arsenic detection, broad-spectrum antibiotics, model-breaking massive galaxies, Julia and Python working in harmony, a hard-to-pronounce R-package on Gaussian mixture models, and Department of Defense lung cancer grants aplenty.  Science On.

References:

R-packages:

  • dataMojo: Reshape Data Table
  • ggmapinset: Add Inset Panels to Maps
  • bubbleHeatmap: Produces 'bubbleHeatmap' Plots for Visualising Metabolomics Data
  • gmmsslm: Semi-Supervised Gaussian Mixture Model with a Missing-Data Mechanism
  • rWCVP: Generating Summaries, Reports and Plots from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants
Feb 24, 202305:16
Episode 5: A Bouquet of Space ROSEs
Feb 17, 202306:12
Episode 4: To Err in R is Human
Feb 10, 202305:21
Episode 3: The Ocean that Snuck up on Me
Feb 03, 202305:40
Episode 2: What Double Teeth You Have
Jan 27, 202307:49
Episode 1: An Explosive Beginning

Episode 1: An Explosive Beginning

Welcome to Science Research Weekly, the successor to my first podcast, Statistics Weekly.  This abbreviated trial run of an episode includes: a research article on microbes from a volcanic island, the largest stellar catalogue to date, Arduino project ideas for 2023, and NSF Research and Development grants.

References:

R packages:

  • ggplate: Create Layout Plots of Biological Culture Plates and Microplates
  • glmmrOptim: Approximate Optimal Experimental Designs Using Generalised Linear Mixed Models
  • shiny.benchmark: Benchmark the Performance of 'shiny' Applications
  • blindreview: Blind Review Using Forward Search Procedures
  • metabias: Meta-Analysis for Within-Study and/or Across-Study Biases
  • evoTS: Analyses of Evolutionary Time-Series
  • OssaNMA: Optimal Sample Size and Allocation with a Network Meta-Analysis
Jan 25, 202307:48
Science Research Weekly Trailer

Science Research Weekly Trailer

Welcome to Science Research Weekly.  This is the successor to my first podcast, Statistics Weekly.  Every week, I will cover 3 topic areas: Research Articles, Research Tools, and Research Funding.  Check out the accompanying blog at: https://scienceresearchweekly.wordpress.com/

Jan 24, 202300:60
Episode 40: The Close of 2022

Episode 40: The Close of 2022

Take the poll to weigh in on the future of Statistics Weekly.

Dec 30, 202201:01
Episode 39: Last Stat Before Christmas
Dec 23, 202204:58
Episode 38: Ho, Ho, Holiday Statistics Projects
Dec 16, 202206:28