A ghost in the machine? It appears when parts merge, a new logic takes hold, and a higher-level individual emerges. Life showed it in eukaryogenesis. Humans and AI could unwittingly stumble into something similar.

Next season’s harvest - already on a roll

Summer’s delight

What future does AI hold? With @paulbrainey.bsky.social, we hypothesize that human-AI coevolution is leading to the emergence of a new evolutionary unit of selection. Science fiction or looming fact? Read our paper and judge for yourself. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

In a just published OpEd, with @mkhochb.bsky.social‬, we draw upon Major Evolutionary Transitions thinking to outline future scenarios in which humans and AI might come to form new kinds of evolutionary units: humans as subsystems within an AI-coordinated whole. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... ‪

I am in awe at what @jeroenmeijer.bsky.social extracted from the @stevenquistad.bsky.social experiment. The molecular evolutionary dynamics of Theomophage, given evolutionary opportunity, are amazing: that this can be deduced from metagenomic data is... oh my 😮 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🦠 New paper led by James Horton (feat. J Cherry & @gretelwaugh.bsky.social) reveals GnT DNA motif can boost T→A mutation rates up to 1000×, & how tweaking nearby bases can fine-tune its potency. General across bacteria + potential in synbio. 📄 academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-ar… 🔗 James’s thread ⬇️

Makes sense that diverse microbial communities can be maintained on a recalcitrant substrate like cellulose, but on glucose, surely not? Surprisingly there is no difference 🤔 The first part is live 👇 but more to come (including answers). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

“If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed." Here's my story on the accelerating growth of systemic research fraud--aka paper mills. Gift link: nyti.ms/45rDirw

Publish in non-profit society journals. Am Nat makes the case www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10..... Fight erosion of scientific standards, distortion of researcher incentives, redirection of research funds to publishers. Predatory publishing threatens public trust in science.

this powerfully direct open-letter published in the BMJ, written by a team @ LSH&TM, shames us into recognition www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Predatory practices—journals, meetings etc—are spoiling the research landscape and erasing trust in science. But what can be done? Here Timmis et al inspect the phenomenon & propose a few measures to contain and even revert the damage enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Poignant memory: Bellagio, Rockefeller centre. Sitting beside fire. Rest earned. Julian decides we need drama. A real life whodunnit unfolds. Exceptionally reluctant actor was appointed protagonist. Turns out I could act. Successfully incriminated Jeff H Miller for sloppy repair.

@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social posted an update of elegant work on genomic islands. Captured via real-time expts, the GIs define a widespread class of MGE (eg VPI-1 de V. cholerae), encode a diverse cargo of genes & exploit jumbo phages for horizontal transfer 😎👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

AlphaEvolve edits its own genome @matejbalog.bsky.social. When Lamarckian AI becomes Darwinian, the pace of change 🚀. Humans and AI becoming a new kind of entity is foreseeable -> humans the equivalent of mitochondria in the eukaryotic cell. Fascinating & horrifying. Not science fiction.

Abstract submission for Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics 2025 is now open until 7 July 2025 at 23:59 BST. microb.io/MicroEvo25 #MicroEvo25

It so often happens: new work blasts away prior concepts. Turns out that building a wrinkly spreader mat is more challenging that we thought (and vastly more interesting) with dependency on ancestral types for a leg-up.

We are pleased to announce that registration for 3rd MGE Workshop is now live! If you are interested in giving a talk please register online through our website by Friday 16th May. We look forward to seeing you all in Southampton in June! www.ukmgeworkshop.org

Evolutionary dynamics of lineages and predicting adaptive mutations using colgen with @gdoulcier.bsky.social, Philippe Remigi and Daniel Rexin. Never thought we'd finish: data acquired years back was wandering the void. So glad we pulled it back 🙏 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Dear Pseudomonas aficionados: Please check this hands-on Cold Spring Harbor Asia Course on the sexiest science and technology of our favourite bug. All info in the QR code 👇

Bacterial operons may persist in eukaryotes (e.g. fungi) after horizontal gene transfer, according to Kogay et al. Operon-derived gene pairs suggest initial neutral retention and later functional integration or degeneration. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... #NewPaperAlert #genome #evolution #fungi

Amazingly cool!

Why constrain this magnificent diversity to the whims of plant breeders. Equal rights for helliborus (and bryophytes).

Our latest paper revisits Haldane 1957 on speed limits to adaptation, the paper that triggered neutral theory. We clarify and then significantly extend the theory, and apply the resulting model to @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social's data doi.org/10.1093/gene... 1/14

We have a 2-year postdoc position available in the Lind Lab at Umeå University, Sweden! Predicting and steering experimental evolution of antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Reposts appreciated. umu.varbi.com/en/?jobtoken...

A repost of a recent post, but this work by @andydfarr.bsky.social, @peteralind.bsky.social and Christina Vasileiou, warrants it! Assaying mutation rates at promoters requires a special set of circumstances. Maybe promoters are generally more mutation-prone, but undetected through lack of assay?

This is powerful and deeply moving. You don’t need to be a NZer to understand (but it helps)

this is wonderful on so many levels. i want one!

Mutation rates vary within genomes.., sure, but: @andydfarr.bsky.social describes a single transcription-dependent C->T mutation in the promoter of rpoS that is ~5,000 times > background. Are promoters places where shit happens, or facilitators of adaptive change? journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

This International Women’s Day, we want to highlight the ‘Women Microbiologists in Academia: Challenges and Opportunities’ being organised by Champion, @enasnewire.bsky.social‬ at #Microbio25 on 2 April. Find out more: microb.io/3Fi5ByU #IWD2025

Very clear-eyed assessment of how the US is failing our allies: thebulletin.org/2025/03/for-...

Let's talk about this Nature piece in more detail. I've rarely read something so anti-scientific anywhere short of the National Review. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Returning from 22nd Winter School in Mol Bio & Genetics in Istanbul. Organised each year by an exceptional team of knowledge-hungry undergrads. Everything 💯. Will def return to stunning Istanbul. Extra special thanks to Irmak & Iman (in pic) who ensured everything was perfect 🥹.

A recent paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... described the evolution of evolvability in 46 mutational steps. The refining hand of selection - working lineages - was key, but @michael-barnett.bsky.social used just 8 lineages 🫠. Can selection above the level of the individual really be so potent?