A real pleasure to meet George Clarke and hear about his experiences growing up on a council estate. We both know the positive impact social housing can have on families’ lives. That’s why I’m determined to continue delivering more council homes as we build a fairer London for everyone.

Letter in Times today

I think we should be talking about this more www.brusselstimes.com/1916422/us-t...

Our new 416pp #FliesofBritainandIreland covering over 1300 species & with over 1500 photos is now being printed - due mid Feb 2026. You can still pre-order until 31 Jan bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social

toucan mimicry is cool

Two-way native-invasive introgression and structural variants in invasive moth species. Admixture and exchange of adaptive alleles can facilitate adaptation, but this is also true for pests. Amazing work by @henrylnorth.bsky.social, @chrisjiggins.bsky.social and others, with a lot to think about.

Eight years ago, the US govt's malaria program took over the fight against the disease in northern Cameroon, one of the worst-affected places in the world, and went at it with all guns blazing. In March, it shut down overnight. I traveled there to see what came next. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...

Quote: "Using a decade-long time series of 975 genomes from hybridizing native and invasive Helicoverpa moths in Brazil, we demonstrate rapid, bidirectional adaptive introgression of pesticide resistance genes." #bioinvasions

"hybridisation has combined H. armigera adaptation to soy with H. zea Cry1Ac resistance, with global consequences for food security. Thus, the collision of genomes can drive rapid anthropogenic adaptation via combinatorial evolution."

We actually predicted this rather scary scenario in the grant proposal written BEFORE it happened. And then documented the evidence as the Bt resistance allele spread in Brazil during the grant.

One dramatic advance in evolutionary biology over the past 20 years has been the empirically lead shift in thought, away from rigid species boundaries towards introgression being very common, much of it adaptive. The ramifications are still rippling out (e.g. in ConBio). Below is a nice addition:

The collision of two genomes threatens global food security https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.25.696198v1

Excited about our new preprint showing bidirectional adaptive introgression between invasive and native crop pests over ecological timescales www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1

Day 21 of #InsectAdvent Christmas is a time of over-eating. But we're not the biggest feasters. Hermetia illucens (Black-Soldier fly) larvae are capable of eating up to 2x its own body mass in food per day - the best bio recyclers consuming our waste @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

This is an exciting opportunity to work in Helsinki, and in collaboration with us in Cambridge… on moth colouration. Could focus on the role of Ivory long non coding RNA in regulating melanisation…

Moving out of my office after 19 years.

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

My main PhD work @monteirolab.bsky.social is now in @natecoevo.nature.com! We found a Hox gene promoter that helps butterflies🦋adjust their wing eyespots in response to seasonal temperatures🍃🍂, shedding light on the evolutionary origin of phenotypic plasticity. 1/9 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧬 Now published in Bioinformatics Advances: “Advances and challenges in understanding evolution through genome comparison.” Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbaf223

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91. Gift link: nyti.ms/48FOuUn

Exciting news! The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris. This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk See you there !

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in @uniexecec.bsky.social - Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... - RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... Pls share!

If you are from the US and interested in applying for a PhD with me (or anyone else @camzoology.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social), your deadline for the gates scholarship is October 15! (You’ll need to write a research proposal, so contact PIs now) www.gatescambridge.org/programme/th...

I have gotten a bit behind at sharing the lab’s latest work - this paper is now published - check it out! www.cell.com/cell-reports... Long story short: insulin is the major determinant of female fat storage, with a relatively minor effect on males.

I'll start reviewing applications in a little over 3 weeks for this PhD position. You could be doing fieldwork here! (or focus only on dry lab work if that floats your boat)

Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...

To celebrate the genomes for 1,000 (!) species of Lepidoptera in Europe, Project Psyche has released a preprint outlining our ambitions to jointly sequence & leverage genomes of all 11,000 species in Europe to propel science, conservation & society. This was a joy to write together as a community!

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a scientific illustrator most famous for her 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium'. In this book filled with beautifully illustrated plates she explored the then poorly understood concept of insect metamorphosis.

How do populations maintain an evolutionary memory? I am happy to share that our work with Dmitri Petrov @petrovadmitri.bsky.social, Paul Schmidt, and colleagues on dominance reversal and stabilization of insecticide resistance in changing environments over time is now published at Nature EE.

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

This is how you protect your democracy. The US is a demonstration of what happens when you don't. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

How many chromosomes can an animal have? In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact. www.cell.com/current-biol...

SINGER, our ARG inference method, is finally published and freely available online: doi.org/10.1038/s415... It was a long journey – 16 months from initial submission to acceptance. Is it just me, or has peer review gotten more arduous lately? 4+ rounds of review isn't so unusual these days...

Lots of great talks at #BSFCon in Cambridge.

Looking for a PhD? I am advertising two industry sponsored PhD projects. One on black soldier fly genetics with #betabugs and another on searching insect biodiversity for novel enzymes #Syngenta. Get in touch if you are interested!! bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/available-ic...

A lively and light hearted moth vs butterfly discussion on The Infinite Monkey Cage with @janehillyork.bsky.social, @chrisjiggins.bsky.social, Katy Brand, @profbriancox.bsky.social & Robin Ince. Are you team butterfly or team moth 🦋💡? Listen to the episode in full: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Hugh Bonneville started his live ITV London News interview on Downton Abbey by talking about Gaza.

This is quite extraordinary!

Congratulations to Dr. Kayla King who was awarded the 2025 Francis Crick Medal & Lecture by the Royal Society for contributions to the fields of evolutionary biology & genetics of infectious disease. @zoology.ubc.ca @ubcmicroimmuno.bsky.social @kayla-king.bsky.social @royalsociety.org bit.ly/4lGJrWB

#OnThisDay in 1858, a seminal journal article comprised of papers by Alfred Russel Wallace FRS and Charles Darwin FRS on the theory of evolution by natural selection was published by the Linnean Society, the first public announcement of the theory of evolution. bit.ly/3k8fq4u

Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

On my way to #ESEB2025 ! I’ll share some new results showing bi-directional introgression of structural variants, which cause resistance to different insecticides, between native and invasive agricultural pests 🐛 Monday 10:30am, S05 rooms 120-121

Francesco Cicconardi talk on single cell transcriptomes of Heliconiini butterfly brains @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 SYMPOSIUM 17.2

What an incredible talk on temperature adaptation in butterflies by Dr. Nicola Nadeau! Her presentation was on "The genetics of thermal adaption in tropical butterflies" 🦋 #ESEB2025

Excited to soon start my new role as Academy of Finland Research Fellow 🦋🐛I’ll later be advertising a PhD position on tiger moth colour and genomics, and will be speaking at #ESEB2025 this week if you want an idea of what’s going on!

📢We’re delighted to announce that the Vice Chancellor has appointed @markjfbrown.bsky.social as Director of the University @zoologymuseum.bsky.social and Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Congratulations Mark! We look forward to welcoming you in Jan 2026. Read more: bit.ly/3UVHmey

The Infinite Monkey Cage Moths v Butterflies - Katy Brand, @janehillyork.bsky.social‬ and @chrisjiggins.bsky.social‬ Thursday 11:00 BBC Radio 4 @profbriancox.bsky.social and @robinince.bsky.social adjudicate a fluttery face off! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

@heliconians @chrisjiggins.bsky.social BUTTERFLY MADE UP BY AI! Why oh why? When you are dealing with the most diverse butterfly fauna on the planet: the neotropics! The scientific article mentioned is about Melinaea and Mechanitis (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Ithomiini). doi.org/10.1073/pnas...