Don't forget to apply to our position in Evolutionary Genetics at U of South Carolina! In my experience it is a fantastic place to start a new lab, with friendly and supportive colleagues and many junior faculty in EEB! Review starts in 1 week (Oct 1)!

It's the scientific community's duty to fight misinformation, bioessentialism, and eugenics That's why we're launching Beyond X&Y, an educational campaign combating the rise of unscientific political propaganda used to attack trans and intersex people Subscribe to our newsletter at beyondxandy.org

Pitt is an absolutely amazing place for microbiology, particularly evolutionary microbiology. And they’re hiring!

📣 Our department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Cell and Molecular Biology to join the @weillinstitute.bsky.social PLS spread the word! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30607

Happy equinox, hippies 🌚🌞

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ?? here she is at her burrow entrance.

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?" I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.

Yet again, machine learning — even gussied up via the transformer architecture — encodes and reinforces societal biases. This study reveals that LLM-based peer review relies heavily on author institution in its decisions. arxiv.org/abs/2509.15122

Currently, the strongest study we have that examined this is by Ahlqvist et al (2024), a study of 2.5 MILLION children...its a prospectively controlled study and adjusted for confounders (environment, genetic). It showed no association between acetaminophen in pregnancy & autism

A Brown House Snake (Boaedon fuliginosus). I had a lot of fun working with this species when I was a young warthog back in the 80's, so it was awesome to see one in the wild. Harmless consumers of small vertebrates. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. #herps #snakes #NaturePhotography 🌿

Teaching a grad-level seminar on a topic that I wanted to learn more and write about in a grant is my best professor productivity hack yet.

Do you know someone who has contributed to strengthening the evolutionary biology community by promoting inclusion and diversity? Nominate them for the IDEA award! More info: www.systbio.org/idea-award.h... You may self-nominate!!!

What's happening to Colbert and Kimmel is diabolical, absolutely. But censorship to this degree has been happening. People simply ignored it bc it happened to Black and Brown people first. Melissa Harris Perry, Tiffany Cross, Joy Reid, Don Lemon. Marc Lamont Hill. Karen Attiah just this week.

This is a very real concern...

We are looking for a postdoc for to use historical plant distribution data to investigate effects of urbanisation on plant species. Do you have a PhD in plant ecology, strong data handling and analysis skills, and a curious mindset? Respond by 26 September: nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

New Editor's Choice article: "Island biogeography and competition drive rapid venom complexity evolution across rattlesnakes" by Hirst et al. doi.org/10.1093/evol... @hirsticane.bsky.social @RamsesRosales11.bsky.social @marcabeer.bsky.social @jason-strickland.bsky.social @reptilerhett.bsky.social

IT'S OFFICIAL: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. The collaborative will issue their own vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts.

UTEP seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Arid Land Herpetology, specializing in the ecology of desert amphibians and reptiles. Applications are open immediately until filled. More info: https://www.utep.edu/science/eligreenbaum/index.html #job

Informative article on the state of the NSF GRFP this year. Here's hoping they're able to get the solicitation out soon! Here's last year's, though no telling how it could change: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!

Someone's pet cat with the native wild red squirrel it just killed. Most cat owners have no idea of, or don't want to know, how much wildlife is slaughtered annually by domestic or feral cats. But it runs to 10s, possibly 100s, of BILLIONS of animals per year, and is a serious driver of extinction.

I'm excited to share with you all a conference I'm planning Oct. 10-12: Dialectical Biology Today: Legacies of Richard Lewontin. It will be hybrid in Toronto and on zoom, so please join us however you can! Register for zoom link here: ihpst.utoronto.ca/events/diale...

New paper out today with @biodiversityguy.bsky.social and @lizardlab.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

academic.oup.com/evolut/artic... #ornithology #evosky

The School of Planning, Policy, and Environmental Studies at San José State University is hiring an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. We welcome applicants from all fields of environmental studies who apply an environmental justice lens to their work. jobs.sjsu.edu/sj/en-us/job...

I’m setting up a Discord server for young herpetologists, derived from an idea at #SEH2025. The goal is to create a space for quick help, collaboration, and networking. If you’d like to give input or get involved, let me know! #herpetology

A 10 hr British Airways flight without one version of Pride & Prejudice to watch? I want my money back!

The Dept. of BioSciences at #RiceUniversity, in Houston, Texas, invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Evolutionary Biology, with a preferred focus on organismal responses to environmental change. Please RT! Apply: apply.interfolio.com/173889

Unreal. "Forwarding these names, a well-known practice from the McCarthy Era, may well subject a number of faculty, staff, or students to widespread surveillance—a breathtaking breach of trust, ethics, and justice." - Judith Butler, whose name was among the 160 shared with the Trump administration

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

A perfect day in Interlaken 🇨🇭 🦎 🍫

Biology Department xkcd.com/3140/

Proposals are due Monday at 5pm Eastern for the Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 US in funding for PhD students. www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Watch for the solicitation, still to be posted... #GRFP #science #STEM

If PhD students regularly adopt these tools to study for quals or lit reviews for papers/dissertation chapters, we'll be well and truly screwed

At the European Congress of Herpetology in Bonn and several presenters from Asia were denied visas to enter and had to present virtually or not at all… Science, international collaboration, and innovation suffer when govts isolate scientific communities from vital global discourse. 🧪

I've never been more confident about anything else in my life as I am that every CEO of America's seven biggest companies are collectively delusional about where they're spending trillions in combined capital.

Sharing these 10 Rules for Teachers and Students by Sister Corita Kent and John Cage for anyone out there looking for unsolicited advice on how to happily go all-in on your creative projects. Have fun ! ohnotype.co/blog/10-rule...

My guy wrote an op-ed and it's really good. Send it to your advancement officer, your dean, your grandmother, your neighbor. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/02/o...

Our department (Berkeley PMB) is hiring an asst. prof. in Plant Resilience to Climate Change! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05049

A comprehensive survey of scientists across ecology, evolution, and marine science has revealed significant disruptions to federal research programs following executive branch actions that began January 20, 2025. www.firsthandaccounts.org/home

Apple is sneaking AI into everything. Turn off enhanced visual search on your photos:

Would a rose by any other gene smell so sweet?

Every few months the "good lab hands" thing comes up and it misses a key point: you can learn to have good hands. Training matters. Good hands aren't some magic gift from the PCR gods, you have to develop them through directed repetitive practice, like any other skill

Snakes in Ancient Greek art at the Getty Villa 🐍

I can

Lazarus #lizard - Podarcis muralis (Shot in Cincinnati 8-28-25) 🦎 #photography #wildlifephotography #wildlife #animal #nature #urbanwildlife #herps #reptile #walllizard

Shit is crazy but I love my job. The lab is labbing ! 🤓🐍🦎