Could a £50,000,000 experimental evolution experiment set us up to think differently about evolutionary biology? To enable a shift from a (largely) retrospective mindset to one of forecasting evolutionary changes?

My favorite myrmecological writer is Mark Deyrup, who reminds us even in his technical books that what we do is fun and we should talk about it like it is. (from The Ants of Florida)

Could we get reliable medium-term evolutionary forecasting for eukaryotes?  What type of physics-scale experiment could change how we think about predicting evolution? If you're at #SMBE2026, grab Richard Nichols or me to help us craft a potential @aria-research.bsky.social moonshot investment.

#SMBE2026 S23: Gene editing as a driver of evolution: advances, challenges, consequences and frontiers 🗓️ Wed Jul 1, 4:50pm 🔗 smbe2026.org/programme Talks by: Simon Lillico Richard Frankham Ben Novak Thomas Birley @yannickwurm.bsky.social

We've just funded ARIA's first Engineering Ecosystem Resilience projects! Some upcoming events: + June 19th @ Exeter: luma.com/769a2wq2 + LCAW Wednesday 24th: lnkd.in/eG8bs4t4 + LCAW Thursday 25th: Machines in the Wild luma.com/0szx6bcb

"The median time from sting to cardiac arrest is 15 minutes, but the maximum period is around three hours."

Ant folks 🐜🐜🐜, we are looking for colonies of Linepithema iniquum in Europe. They were reported from the Wales Botanic Garden a few years ago. Are you aware of any other indoor populations?

We just completed our first round of opportunity seed funding for the Engineering Ecosystem Resilience space. This is a new field for @aria-research.bsky.social , and one that set a new record for numbers of seed applications.

The coolest job

Call for Accelerated Adaptation concepts (3 pages) is open until March 6th 2pm.

This is hilarious :)

Apparently some paints contain chemicals attractive to ants, which leads the ants to create really intricate patterns as they cut away and carry off paint chips. From Reddit:

New #PhD on #bees (BeeHd?)! Despite the ad saying "UK Students only", a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!

Salle C 14:15 @popgroup2026.bsky.social I'm excited to help you understand how to engage with ARIA's current funding call (projects up to 500k, 3 pager, international ok, closing Feb 2nd), and help shape what will hopefully soon follow. #PGG59

The world is changing faster than nature can adapt. One in four species risks extinction within the next century. These losses are not just tragic; they threaten the foundations of our civilisation.

More ARIA Engineering Ecosystem Resilience news - two jobs and and two meetings: A. Hiring ASAP: We’re hiring a genes-to-ecosystems/conservation thinker for 6 months (London-based, up to £550/day). Apply quick, we'll start reviewing applications on Monday 10th. forms.monday.com/forms/d00798...

Big news: ARIA's Engineering Ecosystem Resilience (EER) opportunity space has begun funding, we're hiring, and we're sharing our (tentative) roadmap.

A September highlight for me is always the Centre for Ecology & Evolution's Autumn Mixer symposium - a fantastic event that pulls together great scientists from across London's diverse institutions. This Friday the 19th, Mojca Kristan is hosting it at LSHTM. www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/e...

Very cool

We’re looking to fund ~10 short discovery projects to dive into potential research directions for a programme within our Engineering Ecosystem Resilience opportunity space, led by @yannickwurm.bsky.social. Find out more + apply by 18 September: link.aria.org.uk/eer-preprogd...

We're funding ~ten 3-month projects within our Engineering Ecosystem Resilience space with up to £20k each. (Apply by September 18th)

@aria-research.bsky.social at #eseb2025 starting in 122/123 at 5pm. We'll have drinks too 🍻

I am delighted to share v1 of the Engineering Ecosystem Resilience Opportunity Space, built with Seth Barribeau, Alice Pettitt, Georgina Leadley, and others within + beyond ARIA. I am hopeful that judicious use of new technologies could help put humanity and nature onto a more mutualistic pathway.

We’re looking for our next CEO. With strong foundations in place, long-term backing secured, and a bold research portfolio underway, this is an exciting moment for our next leader to step in. Learn more: ariaresearch.substack.com/p/a-new-chap...

I'm incredibly excited to share that I'm joining ARIA as a Programme Director, alongside seven other brilliant minds from across science, engineering, and technology. ARIA’s mission is to push into entirely new scientific and technical frontiers—I'm thrilled to be part of it.

Eclipse time in London! Seen from the bridge over the Regent's Canal by Coal Drops Yard.

Nice ant. SZA at Glastonbury 2024

Is there an AI tool that can look over my shoulder all day, and remind me to get back to what I was doing when I get distracted? (like a coach!) I'd love to have this.

👇🏻👇🏻

I love it when a small tweak can make a huge impact - hopefully this holds true! "Linux kernel tweak could cut data center power usage by up to 30%" www.networkworld.com/article/3811...

Pesticides affect different #bee tissues in very different ways. This: → explains why neonic exposure affects such a broad diversity of bodily functions. → we cannot take the impacts of pesticide exposure one situation (or tissue) as a proxy for others. Great work by Alicja & Federico

Excited to share our latest research on #bumblebee #transcriptomics 🐝 🧬 We show that #neonicotinoid effects vary across tissues, highlighting their complex and harmful impacts on #pollinators doi.org/10.1016/j.sc... @flopezos.bsky.social @yannickwurm.bsky.social

We're delighted to host North-western Europe's premier meeting on ants, bees, wasps and termites on December 16th at QMUL. 🐜🐝🐜🐝🐜🐝🐜🐝🐜🐝🐜 Registration closes on the 8th: bit.ly/2024-iussi-q... Supported by QM's Centre for Biodiversity & Sustainability: bit.ly/QMUL-Biodive...

Will we ever stop celebrating #databases? Not likely! They offer high-quality #datasets to scientists worldwide. Perfect example: Reefgenomics(.Org)🪸 Published in 2016, this #BLASTfromthePast is still being updated with #coral #genomes today! We're proud to be a part! Links👇 #reef #marinescience

You’ve heard of blue-blooded, but that pales (literally) in comparison to white-blooded icefishes 🐟, the only #vertebrates without #hemoglobin! 🩸 Shin et al., (with help from #SequenceServer!) reveal that #gene loss may be to blame. Congrats to the authors! 🎉 Link👇 #genomics

The push to decentralize the Internet is gaining a lot of momentum since musk acquired Twitter and it looks like this 2nd trump presidency will do the same. I wish we didn't wait for these things.

Great GPT prompt: "Based on what you already know about me, draw a picture of what you think my life currently looks like" (it definitely got some things right!... and others very wrong!)

Getting his hands dirty! www.phoronix.com/news/Linus-2...

Autumn sunset is surreal

17/31 — windswept. #windswept #tree #fantasylandscape #highlands #windy #arbre #fantasyart

I wish I'd known about these a while back!

Whether you’re new to genome #annotation or a seasoned pro, SequenceServer cloud’s DNA visualizer simplifies the process to just copy, paste, click! 🧬Analyze BLAST hits, #plasmids & whole #genome features with informative visualizations! Check out our blog for more info (link 👇) Happy BLASTing!

My goal is to always be a bottom pie-chart kinda gal. Swiped from Dave Almquist on FB. #Invertebrates #TeamInvert

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Jobs! Please repost! - Biodiversity discovery PhD ~£23k stipend: by 19th. bit.ly/meiofauna - Bioinformatics Pipelines by 21st bit.ly/econextflow - Maker/builder/engineer (£30-45k) creating tech to help pollinators bit.ly/bhelpb - Molecular postdoc - email me 🐝🐜🦋🐞🐛🦟🪳🪰🪲💡

“Why is this legal?" A question I find myself asking every day. www.theguardian.com/guardian-liv...

The special buzz/feeling the day after submitting a good grant is the best 💨 Deadline stress evaporates. 💤 Better sleep. 🤞 Optimism that it'll be funded. 🎉 And maybe some free time to do some of the other things I love!

Fun with ChatGPT. cc @fertiglab.bsky.social

We have left X, as it has become incompatible with our Code of Conduct. Read more at open-bio.org/2023/11/20/l..., and please join us at any of the alternative sites suggested (including this one!). #OpenSource #bioinformatics #OpenScience 🧬🖥️

Happy 1700000000-second Day Unix! (I.e., it was that many seconds since 1970-01-01-00:00:00 on November 14 2023 22:13:20 GMT)

We had a camera trap running for a week last summer in Tuscany... lots of fun to see what roams at night. Now to settle a debate with his classmates, my (just barely turned) 7 year old wants to set up camera traps in our house at x-mas to figure out if Santa is real.What strategy should I take?