The R Data Scientist 04-11-2025
R ecosystem updates, ggplot2 visuals, map-making techniques, Shiny testing and more!
🛠️ R Ecosystem Updates
Bioconductor 3.22 Released (blog​.stephenturner​.us). Bioconductor 3.22 release introduces 59 new packages, updates across genomics, single-cell, spatial omics, core I/O, and workflows, plus new Seqinfo and GFF/CIGAR tooling
R 4.5.1 - Batteries Included (pacha​.dev). Windows R 4.5.1 installer bundling OpenBLAS and Rtools for faster, out-of-the-box package compilation and performance
Weekly Recap (Oct 31, 2025) (blog​.stephenturner​.us). Weekly roundup covering AI in science, Quarto, biodiversity, Nextflow, Via Scientific, rOpenSci, R updates, and Posit with workshops and papers
🔧 R Workflows & Techniques
Pledging My Time VII (quantixed​.org). Using R and rvest to scrape Frankfurt Marathon results; data wrangling, plotting finish times by age and gender
Mastering Apply: From Matrices to Multidimensional Neuroimaging Data (drmowinckels​.io). Multidimensional apply() techniques in R for matrices and 3D–5D neuroimaging data, with examples in fMRI analysis
Career-Adjacent Hobby Projects (NextChapter​.machlis​.com). Retired data nerd chases local election results with R, Quarto, targets, and interactive maps
Onto Amazon with some Island Tales storynotes (blog​.ouseful​.info). Workflow notes for turning Island Tales storynotes into Amazon print and Kindle formats using GOFC, Quarto, LaTeX, and ImageMagick
🎨 ggplot2 Visuals
Neon Ghosts with ggplot2 (drmowinckels​.io). Create randomized neon-glowing ghost illustrations in R using ggplot2 and helper shape generators
An Introduction to Writing Your Own ggplot2 Geoms (rworks​.dev). Explores creating custom ggplot2 extensions with recipes for geoms and stats in R using ggproto, make_constructor, and base R workflows
Little useless-useful R functions – Useless Pyramid of R needs (tomaztsql​.wordpress​.com). R-focused pyramid of needs using ggplot2 to depict Maslow-inspired tiers with customizable labels and colors
The Partisan Divide: Who Agrees More?m (stevenponce​.netlify​.app). Explores Pew 2024 data on eight cultural issues using R with tidyverse, ggtext, showtext, scales, glue, patchwork, and custom theming
Flint Lead Contamination: Government vs. Citizen Testing (2015) (stevenponce​.netlify​.app). Flint lead testing contrasts government MDEQ and Virginia Tech using R_TidyTuesday visuals
🗺️ Mapping with R
#30 Day Map Challenge: Points (haraldkliems​.netlify​.app). A quick, code-driven points map of Madison restaurants and cuisines using OpenStreetMap data via Overpass, osmdata, and tmap in R
Ridgelines (r​.iresmi​.net). Using R to render Swiss ridgelines from terrain data with elevatr, rnaturalearth, terra, ggplot2, and ggridges
Data centers (r​.iresmi​.net). Explores data center locations in France using OSM data with R (dplyr, purrr, sf, osmdata, glue, leaflet) and Overpass API
🧪 Shiny Testing & QA
Behavior-Driven Development in R Shiny: Setting Up Test Preconditions with Given Steps (jakubsobolewski​.com). R and Shiny BDD: Given steps for test preconditions, dependency injection, and composable setup patterns with shinytest2
Highlights from Shiny in Production (2025) (jumpingrivers​.com). Conferences on Shiny in Production 2025 cover asynchronous Shiny, Playwright testing, Litmus validation, UI design with Figma, gom sidelines, and OpenTelemetry tracing
Simplifying Interactions with Complex Widgets in shinytest2 Using JavaScript APIs (jakubsobolewski​.com). Using JavaScript widget APIs with shinytest2 to bypass set_inputs and create robust tests for complex widgets like selectize in Shiny (R)
đź“š Academic Research
Mastering an Accurate and Generalizable Simulation-Based Method to Obtain Bias-corrected Point Estimates and Sampling Variance for Any Effect Sizes (arxiv:stat). Introduces SAFE bootstrap, a single-fit simulation recipe delivering bias-corrected effect sizes and standard errors. Comes with R code, aiding meta-analysis, uncertainty quantification, and reproducible inference
Statistical Process Monitoring based on Functional Data Analysis (arxiv:stat). Review of functional-data-based statistical process monitoring with practical R tools. Covers multivariate profiles, robust outlier handling, partial observations, adaptive detection, and the CRAN funcharts package
✨ Before you go...
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Thanks a million, and have a great week! Alastair.
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