I've slowly been reformatting notes from my population and conservation genetics course at Montana State University into a web book—a rough draft is now live here: elinck.org/popgen_conge...

My moment of fame: www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

Mega-rare Christmas miracle bird shows up in Vancouver! A presumed female Taiga Flycatcher found by @ethanmoon.bsky.social is a first for Canada! This bird's typical winter range is a tropical band from central India to eastern China and south to peninsular Malaysia. Birds never cease to surprise.

One of the most incredible shots I've ever gotten, in Yellowstone. This coyote walked over a ridge in the blowing snow and posed for me, with a small grin on its face, the snowfalkes like stars in the background. The desolation and beauty of life and nature is grounding, and so good for the soul.

I am very excited to share our new paper with my amazing co-authors and mentors @dmacguig.bsky.social @fishgenomes.bsky.social @tjnear.bsky.social . We investigate a secondary contact zone in #darters. track.smtpsendmail.com/9032119/c?p=...

“All evolutionary biologists know that variation itself is life’s only irreducible essence”—Gould Evolutionary biology is the study of how complicated and diverse life can be; the field has its jerks, but a good evolutionary biologist learns pretty fast that life doesn’t like boundaries or binaries

The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality. And trans lives are grounded in reality. We see y'all. No matter what. www.popsci.com/science/tran...

I taught a first year biology class the other day structured around @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social paper: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37156506/ I had a student come up to me and say he had written a whole paper in high school about how chromosomes define sex, and after my class he thinks he was wrong :)

Don't give up. Fascism works by trying to convince you that there isn't any hope. But I've seen how easy it is to change someone's mind just by trying. Be loud and fight back for the people who can't

My heart goes out to all transgender, nonbinary, and intersex folks just trying to be their authentic selves, today and all days. Let's all stand up for freedom, privacy between patients and doctors, and human rights.

New paper out. If you like colorful birds, hybridization, and phylogenetics, read on! 🧵https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003501

Save the date: the next Speciation Gordon Research Conference will be January 24-29, 2027 at Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco, Lucca (Barga), Italy.

taxonomy 101: whales are not fish taxonomy 201: whales are hoofed animals taxonomy 301: whales are fish

🎉 Congratulations to @evanthompson.bsky.social and @kiransoma.bsky.social for being newly named Distinguished University Scholars, one of UBC’s highest honours for faculty excellence. 👏 @ubcphilosophy.bsky.social @psych.ubc.ca Discover more about their work and contributions ⬇️

I have a new preprint demonstrating a genome-architecture-aware approach to inferring species trees and introgression landscapes from a small number of genomes. If you are interested in phylogenomics, birds, or hybridization, this is for you! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.

@nature.com, you can just choose not to publish this AI slop instead of offending the Autistic community … what does this even mean with the lady’s legs penetrating a platform? Nothing about it makes sense.

A lot of people think JIT compilers, or the compilation process in general, magically makes programming languages faster. "Just add a compiler", nope that's voodoo. So why are "traditional compiled languages" like C and Fortran faster? #JuliaLang youtube.com/shorts/Z1_vZ...

Julia v1.12.2 is up! 🎈 #julialang

Is anyone else having this issue today?: My access to the #NSERC Research Portal is slow to the point of unusability.

Today in ornithological news: Canada gains a duck museum! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I'm recruiting a new master's student for fall 2026 in my lab at Northern Michigan University @bionmu.bsky.social ! Students with interests in evolution of freshwater fish are encouraged to apply. Please see our lab website lizmandeville.github.io and the attached advertisement for more information.

Team fish - we need your help! We are trying to build a database of all the fish chromosome-scale genomes where sex chromosomes have been identified. Have you build one or some? Do you know someone who has? Can you post the link in the comments? Please spread the word and repost! Thank you!

In other fun ornithological news: Vancouver has a new Professional Women's Hockey League team, named the Goldeneyes! And yes, they are named after Common Goldeneyes, a favourite of our local wintering birds. 😀 www.thepwhl.com/en/teams/van...

I mean, the title says it all: Genetic confirmation of an “uncommon mourningthroat” (Geothlypis philadelphia  ×  G. trichas): A rare but persistent hybrid warbler. Fun stuff with @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social and Kurt Gielow, OA in @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social! 🦉 🧪 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#UBC Botany is hiring an Assistant Professor in Non-Seed Plant Diversity - come work with us in beautiful #Vancouver, BC! Please repost! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31140

#TransgenderDayOfRemembrance at #UBC

On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, let’s remember those we’ve lost, pledge to work towards a world with more justice, safety, and freedom, and celebrate and protect the diversity of people around us. To learn more and see what is happening today at #UBC: events.ubc.ca/tdor/

Trans people deserve safety, dignity, and joy. Today we remember those we’ve lost and recommit to fighting for those who are here. Stand up, speak out, and show your support. Trans rights are human rights — say it, mean it, and back it with action. #transgenderDayOfRemembrance

Today is #LGBTQinSTEMDay 🌈 ESA proudly joins the STEM community in celebrating the unique contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals. The Pride Flag will fly across ESA sites as a reminder of how far we’ve come, and how much more there is to do. #SpaceForAll

Going to be a big month for warbler science! First out of the gates is @lannhiphung.bsky.social, with song & genomics of Nashville warblers. Eastern and western subspecies: non-overlapping and super distinct. Keep an eye on your life list 😉 🦉🧪@journal-evo.bsky.social academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A

How are Pacific NW mountain birds responding to climate change? I got up at 4:00 am for a month to find out. but first the backstory, or "how I spent seven years telling everyone this project wasn't possible" new paper here: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Attended a solemn and thoughtful Remembrance Day ceremony at UBC. Grateful to all those who have given so much.

What do you get when you cross a red-tailed hawk with a turkey vulture? 🪶

Autumn colours #thelittlethings

When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)

Amy Angert and I are recruiting a #postdoc to participate in a collaborative NSF-funded study of demographic responses to climate across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower. Please repost! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224...

New and improved! (as of today, now with page numbers and an issue number ;) "Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers" Led by Dr. Libby Natola: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Almost PhDone! I'll be giving my PhD exit seminar in the morning (Thursday), and defending on Friday.

1. On Tuesday Night, Democrats won elections nationwide in a stunning rebuke of anti-transgender politics. From Virginia to New Jersey to New York and beyond, anti-trans candidates fell left and right after spending tons of time and money campaigning on hate. Subscribe to support our journalism.

Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.

Julia keeps it rational. 1//3 + 1//6 == 1//2 Exact math. No floating-point drama. #JuliaLang #lovingJulia #sillyposts

This fellowship offers a great deal of research freedom + leadership experience. Salary = $77,000/year + benefits and $7,000/year in research funds - expertise in bioinformatics will be desirable for one of the two positions

Applications are currently being accepted for UBC's ✨️ Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship ✨️ (two positions!!), due Jan. 15 Please share far and wide 🚀 (See thread)

The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...

Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry. But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out! doi.org/10.1126/scie... 🧵1/6

Pleased to see published today: the Molecular Ecology special issue on "Genomics of Speciation"; many interesting papers: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1365294x... Included in this issue is our paper on "The Distribution and Dispersal of Large Haploblocks in a Superspecies": doi.org/10.1111/mec....

We need more blue jay postings tonight 🇨🇦 #bluejays #birding #birds 🪶