Ideabank

Topics I want to look into šŸ¤”

For additional ideas, generate a random Wikipedia pageā€¦

Psychology

Computer Science

  • Topic modelling - an overview of what it is, how it works, and how to apply it
  • Game Theory
    • Application of Game Theory - SHAP values in machine learning
  • NLP - go through Dan Jurafsky and James H. Martinā€™s textbook

Linguistics

Ancient History

  • Cassius Dio and his impact on Roman history
  • Series of (evil) emperors / rulers / dictators and their reigns:
    • Emperor Qin
    • Commodus
    • Caligula
    • Caracalla
      • SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome page 527 and on (Epilogue: The First Roman Millenium)
    • Nero
    • Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
    • Henry VI of England

Astronomy

  • Olbersā€™ Paradox
    • Why is the sky dark at night? Via Britannica: ā€œIf the universe is endless and uniformly populated with luminous stars, then every line of sight must eventually terminate at the surface of a star. Hence, contrary to observation, this argument implies that the night sky should everywhere be bright, with no dark spaces between the stars.ā€

Marine Science

  • Series of deep sea creatures
    • Giant Pacific Octopus
    • Colossal Squid
  • Extinction of the megalodon - proof that it is truly extinct

Philosophy

  • The Simulation Argument - are we living in a simulation?
    • Via Wikipedia: ā€œIn 2001, philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed the simulation argument, which suggests that if a civilization becomes capable of creating conscious simulations, it could generate so many simulated beings that a randomly chosen conscious entity would almost certainly be in a simulation. The argument presents a trilemma: either such simulations are not created due to technological limitations or self-destruction; or advanced civilizations choose not to create them; or we are almost certainly living in one. This assumes that consciousness is not uniquely tied to biological brains but can arise from any system that implements the right computational structures and processes.ā€

Paleontology

  • Tiktaalik and transition fossils
  • My intention is to create an expanding repository of dinosaur genera, e.g., Spinosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Archaeopteryx, etc., and map them under a broad phylogenetic category (e.g., Saurischia>Sauropoda/Sauropodomorpha, Ornithischia>Marginocephalia, Saurischia>Theropoda sort of thing). It helps me to think about dinosaurs in terms of those classification categories. And then within each .qmd writeup Iā€™ll do a more specific breakdown of each dinosaursā€™ classification (e.g., for Psittacosaurus it would be Ornithischia>Marginocephalia>Ceratopsia, or for Spinosaurus it would be Saurischia>Therapoda>Spinosauridae). Still figuring out which broad categories I want to use as the folder names but probably Ornithischia (containing subfolders Thyreophora, Ornithopoda, Marginocephalia) and Saurischia (containing subfolders Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda), and depending on the size or distinctness of the groups within the subgroups (e.g., Ceratopsia might warrant its own folder) Iā€™ll make more subgroups. I can do species specifications within the genera writeup (S. mirabilis vs S. aegyptiacus). Oh and probably I will have dinosauromorphs in a separate folder as well (but make the clarification that Dinosauromorpha includes Dinosauria; they are not separate lineages)
    • Prior to writing up each dino group, Iā€™ll establish the context of Dinosauria by writing:
      • A breakdown of where dinosaurs are located phylogenetically, and how they are further broken down within Dinosauria
      • Geologic Time Scale - a quick breakdown of the Mesosoic Era and what exactly demarcates the boundary btwn the Permian and Triassic (significance of Permo-Triassic extinction), what broadly is going on (in terms of species diversity, mainly) the each of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, the ā€œendā€ of dinosaurs at the end Cretaceous 66Ma. Also, what was going on in the Permian with regards to the evolution of archosaurs (but also synapsids). For the Permian, talk about Dimetrodon and Tiktaalik, gorgonopsians, dicynodonts, rhynchosaurs
    • Sauropods deserve a whole writeup imo. Mentioned them in the Saurischia writeup but kinda briefly; there is so much that can be said about them, specifically regarding their evolution from proto-sauropods in the Triassic to sauropods in the Jurassic-Cretaceous, and also how they got so large and how they were able to sustain their size (air sacs, breathing efficiencyā€¦). Brusatte wrote a good amount about this in his book so use that as a reference too.
    • Specific genera I will write up (note I am also going to include dinosauromorphs here):
      • Spinosaurus
      • Triceratops
      • Psittacosaurus
      • T. rex
      • Iguanodon
      • Hadrosaur
      • Pachycephalosaur
      • Haolong
      • Anchiornis
      • Caihong
      • Compsognathus
      • Allosaurus
      • Diplodocus
      • Dreadnaughtus
      • Brachiosaurus
      • Argentinosaurus
      • Yutyrannus
      • Marasuchus
      • Heterodontosaurus
      • Plateosaurs
      • Suchomimus
      • Baryonyx
      • Ceratosaurus
      • Carnosaurus
    • I also want to include:
      • marine reptiles - Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs, Plesiosaurs
      • pterosaurs - absolutely Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx
      • (although now that Iā€™m thinking about it, Iā€™ll probably make separate major sections for Dinosauria, Pterosauria, and whatever the marine reptiles category is)

Bioinformatics / Computational Biology