Oxford Biology is growing 📢 We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in: 🌱 Plant Sciences 🦉 Animal Behaviour 🔬 Molecular Cell Biology 3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology. Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7 Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

I did two different bits of science-ing today. Two different things. In one day. I feel 41 again.

Current status.

Deadline for the EvoDemoS conference 2 wks away! Join us at @PembrokeOxford @UniofOxford to discuss the breath and depth of demographic theory and applications in Sept evodemo2025.weebly.com Please retweet @biology.ox.ac.uk @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social @mpidr.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org

If you like the look of lovely green #Sheffield and our wonderful Peak District on #springwatch #bbcspringwatch, why not come and study for an MSc #Biodiversity & #Conservation @sheffielduni.bsky.social? Happy to consider unconventional academic backgrounds www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Great (free) opportunity coming up this Tuesday for researchers who are interested in finding out more about outreach with children…

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme is now open with a call deadline on 10 September 2025. Come to Sheffield. It's nice and (sometimes) sunny.

This is deranged. We’re dragging *heat pumps* into the culture wars now? ——————- footnote: True to my centrist dad form, I am a heat pump owner.

This couldn’t be further from where UK HE is heading. Looks great, TBH.

While waiting for my coffee to brew, I asked chatGPT to write a postmodernist critique of IPMs. It's magnificent.

The next call for the MSCA postdoctoral fellowships scheme opens soon. Come work with me if you're interested in anything related to biodemography and population ecology. And if you're not, consider coming to work with one of my many fine colleagues instead.

The problem with having had a short stint in finance many years ago, is that in moments like this, I revert to reading about things like “Treasury basis trades” to understand how my personal finances will ultimately get screwed over again, which if you think about it, is not a very good use of time.

I’m considering placing reciprocal tariffs on my inbox. £2 for each message from that guy who emails me once a month to see if I want to buy his reagents. £10 for every email from an MDPI journal.

I first thought it was Dominic Cumming’s sticking his head through one of those face in the hole boards

It’s important to take pleasure in the small things in life, which is why I like to check the Tesla share price once or twice a day at the moment.

Today’s vibes.

The sad thing is that email and admin have taken over academic life so much that many of us have to squeeze in the poisoning of minds on evenings and weekends.

🤗

I'll give you my em dash when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

I’ve quit telling people that I disagree with them. Instead, I now say, “I’m gonna have to agree with myself on this one.” It’s self-positive, non-confrontational, and just weird enough to end the conversation.

‘Rapid unscheduled disassembly’ is a pretty good description of my 2025 plans.

Hello world! We are BES Macro, the British Ecological Society Macroecology and Macroevolution Special Interest Group. We're probably going to be pretty quiet on here, but if you tag us in things of interest to our members, we'll gladly re-post!

My visit to Boulby Underground Laboratory! 1.1km underground, learning about dark matter detectors like the ‘Button 30’ detector I’m standing next to here. It weighs over 50 tonnes and was built piece by piece in this ultra low radiation environment. Huge thanks to all for this amazing day! 😃😊

I do not understand the purpose of Meta’s AI profiles. What problem do they solve? Who are they for? Am I old now? Where did I leave my glasses?

Started a Theoretical Ecology starter pack. For from complete. Respond if you want to be added or removed. go.bsky.app/PwpvZLb

Why is British productivity so low? It’s a real mystery.

BES breakfast #2

a boring point I would make on blocklists is that journalists will often need to follow questionable people, because it can be part of our jobs, so you may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater by subscribing to any list that's based on "everyone who follows X or Y"

Enjoyed this. Probably a bit too much.

I am looking for a PhD student to work with me and @dzchilds.bsky.social on biodiversity indicators www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I've got 5-6 months money for a Postdoc ecological modeller, linking mathematical (translated via statistical) models to insect lab popn. time-series data; starts Jan 2025. Must be UK-based (not cost/time effective for applicants to get such a short-term visa 😔). Please contact me if interested! 🌍🧪

Threading 🧵 1/2

New preprint up! We sequenced hundreds of samples from across one of Earth's oldest living organisms - the Pando aspen clone - to understand how mutations accumulate and spread in long-lived clonal organisms. Our results were…surprising. 1/30

Wren Diagram

Sighing

A small story for you, Bluesky, in my occasional series of Things that Happen in London. So my daughter (just turned 17) and two friends were on a late train the other night. Also present: an exceedingly drunk lady returning from Taylor Swift, snoozing in the opposite seat. /1

The repeated evidence of UK politics is that British voters will say that they want immigration lower, some of them will even vote for it, but absolutely none of them will thank you for doing it.

Right. Been for a run to wake up. Now for the good bit of the night.

Absolutely magnificent. After spending the day doing All The Other Things, I drove into work this evening to finish my marking and got a ticket for parking in the completely empty, university-owned car park outside my building (which you can only access with a university access card).

Nothing says “I work at a university“ more than the presence of a Programme Approval Sub-Committee event in one’s calendar.

I forgot I was a middle-aged man and had a massive falafel wrap for lunch. Now, all I can think about is "places at the university where I could take a nap." We're not set up well for it, TBH.

Are you a non-UK student looking for a PhD in evolutionary genetics? Our lab in Edinburgh is seeking applicants to investigate landscapes of recombination in wild mammals and birds 🦄🐦. More info in link 👇please get in touch ASAP. (Image: Tilly Scott) docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Job opportunity in microbiomes at Liverpool. Initially short term but likely to be extended. Jo Fothergill and myself www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DEL318/p...

Let's have some appreciation for my aunt's wifi

Are you interested in understanding plasticity and GxE in multivariate traits across complex environments? If so, please check out my new EcoEvoRxiv preprint where I propose "covariance reaction norm" models for detecting and quantifying these processes. ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...