Interactive Visualizations and Explanations

• Understanding UMAP – Gorgeous interactive explanation of UMAP dimensionality reduction. Play with parameters in real-time!
• Seeing Theory – Beautiful, interactive visualizations of probability and statistics. Best stats visualization site ever.
• The Evolution of Trust – Interactive game theory explanation relevant to evolutionary biology.
• Complexity Explorables – Interactive explorations of complex systems and biological models.
• Distill.pub – Machine learning concepts explained with incredible interactive visualizations.
• R2D3: Visual Intro to Machine Learning – Stunning scrollytelling explanation of ML concepts.
• Explorable Explanations – Collection of interactive, playful explanations of complex topics.

Fun (and not so useful) R Packages

• genzplyr – dplyr but make it Gen Z. Use yeet() instead of select(), vibe_check() for validation. No cap fr fr.
• cowsay – Make animals say things in your R console. Essential for debugging (obviously).
• praise – Get random praise when your code works. We all need this.
• fortune – Random R fortunes and quotes from the R community.
• BRRR – Make your R script say “BRRR” like Gucci Mane when it finishes.
• CatterPlots – Scatter plots with cats. Because data visualization needs more cats.
• ggcats – Add cat images to your ggplot2 plots as points.

Gamified Learning

• Phylo – Puzzle game where you do real multiple sequence alignments. Citizen science gaming!
• Eterna – Design RNA molecules through puzzle-solving. Your solutions get synthesized in real labs!
• Foldit – Protein folding puzzle game. Players have contributed to real scientific discoveries.
• Rosalind – Learn bioinformatics through programming challenges. Level up your skills RPG-style.
• Regex Golf – Master regular expressions (essential for bioinformatics) through addictive challenges.
• Vim Adventures – Learn Vim commands through a Zelda-like game. Useful for command-line bioinformatics.

Quirky Educational Content

• StatQuest – Josh Starmer’s incredibly catchy stats songs. “BAM!” You’ll never forget PCA again.
• PhD Comics – Grad school life comics. Too real for bioinformatics students.
• XKCD – Randall Munroe’s nerdy comics. Search for bioinformatics, statistics, and data science ones.
• Lior Pachter’s Blog – Sometimes spicy, always entertaining takes on computational biology.

Fun Visualization Tools

• Nextstrain – Real-time tracking of pathogen evolution. Watch viruses evolve live.
• Sequence Bunny – Turn DNA sequences into adorable bunnies. Each sequence makes a unique bunny!
• DNA Chisel – Optimize DNA sequences with fun constraint options.
• Proteopedia – Wikipedia for protein structures, but 3D and interactive.
• MolView – Quick and easy molecule visualization in your browser.

Creative Data Science

• Dear Data – Hand-drawn data visualizations project. Inspiration for presenting bioinformatics data artistically.
• Data is Ugly Subreddit – Learn what NOT to do with your plots. Hilariously bad visualizations.
• Data is Beautiful Subreddit – Gorgeous data visualizations for inspiration.
• Flowing Data – Nathan Yau’s creative and fun approach to data visualization.

Meme-Worthy Resources

• Bioinformatics Memes – r/bioinformatics for the culture. Commiserate over installation issues.
• Computational Biology Memes – Instagram account with relatable computational biology humor.
• Science Side of Tumblr – Chaotic good science explanations and memes.
• I Fucking Love Science – Popular science with personality.

Interactive Tools and Playgrounds

• Genetic Algorithm Walkers – Watch creatures evolve to walk using genetic algorithms. Mesmerizing!
• The Coding Train – Daniel Shiffman’s creative coding tutorials. Many biological simulations!
• Observable – Interactive JavaScript notebooks for data visualization. Great for web-based bioinfo viz.
• Streamlit Gallery – Collection of interactive data science apps. Many genomics examples!

Unconventional Learning

• Papers We Love – Community celebrating computer science and bioinformatics papers with meetups.
• Two Minute Papers – AI and computational research explained in 2 minutes. Includes computational biology.
• 3Blue1Brown – Beautiful mathematical animations. Linear algebra and calculus for bioinformatics.
• Primer – Evolution and natural selection explained through cute blob simulations.

Easter Eggs and Fun Commands

• curl wttr.in – Weather in your terminal. Because bioinformaticians live in terminals.
• curl parrot.live – Party parrot in your terminal for when your pipeline finally finishes!
• cowsay + lolcat – Combine cowsay with rainbow colors. Peak terminal aesthetics.
• hollywood – Make your terminal look like a Hollywood hacker movie.
• cmatrix – Matrix-style falling characters in terminal. Feel like a bioinformatics hacker.

Additional resources

You might be interested in…

• Top ML and AI resources
• Useful resources for bioinformatics
• Top resources to learn biostatistics
• Learn to code as a biologist