Check out our short warbler hybrid paper out today, including a new unofficial common name. Carotenoid people will find some little tidbits of discussion about how these hybrids can help us understand regulation of yellow feathers.

Super excited to release this virtual field / lab experience called "VRmivora": davetoews.com/vrmivora/ It's free to download via SideQuest for a Meta VR headset: sidequestvr.com/app/44760/vr... Thanks to all involved, especially the Center for Immersive Experiences: immersive.psu.edu 🦉🧪

1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005 How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.

For decades, human genome editing has been limited to small, localized modifications. Today, in a new paper published in @science.org , researchers from Arc's Hsu lab show that bridge recombinase technology is capable of large-scale genomic rearrangements in human cells.

🐦🔬 Recruiting PhD students! 🌎🧬 I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma. Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation 👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org Please share!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good review / synthesis of the evolution of DNA sequencing technologies over the last 40-50 years? Looking for something to read as a lab group with folks who are newer to the field. TIA

Saw this and thought to myself "Oh no we got scooped!" Nope. This is the preprint of our manuscript. Fun collab with Laura Céspedes Arias.

#AOS2025 don't miss @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social's talk at 11:15am on Wednesday in the Genomics 2 session (Ballroom C). We're cooking up some cool stuff with @mbtoomey.bsky.social on warbler carotenoid processing enzymes! 🦉🧪

This looks like an amazing tool www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Yes our learning management system is ClassWorks, but to manage your roster you have to go to Socrates. But students register through Einstein+. And to enter grades you have to go to Gradify. Except if the student is graduating, then you have to use Gradly. Oh and classrooms are managed through Bluo

New paper published! How does a mid-size river impact gene flow and population structure, including when there is an adaptive sexual trait present on one bank but not the other? With Peri Bolton, Robb Brumfield (@limpkin.bsky.social), Jerry Wilkinson, and Mike Braun. doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration across Lepidoptera https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.26.661542v1

Nothing pairs better with red wine and lamb than getting tenure. Thanks @psubiodept.bsky.social (and all the colleagues, mentors and mentees along the way)!

For the past 10 yrs I have trained students and collected mark-recap data from non-breeding birds at #konza. Today we pulled up stakes… removed as much evidence this ever happened as possible. Bittersweet. Nature gave me this gift.

Timeline cleanse raccoon.

!!

Sketch, capture and layout phylogenies www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧬🖥️🧪 github.com/husonlab/phy...

Not really my announcement to make--I am but a lesser co-author--but IQ-TREE 3 has just been released! (Most credit to Minh Bui and @roblanfear.bsky.social and their labs) ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Interesting…

(getting my most bogus, indefensible claim out of the way) arguably,

Awesome study. Looking forward to digging in.

Our work (by Drew DeHaas) on an extremely simple yet efficient binary genotype format - designed to facilitate scalable bioinformatics tool development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

not my indifferent ass concluding with a call for further study

(in a whisper) bcftools

The administration is flailing around, trying to scare government employees into taking a legally dubious "buyout." And if they go through with it, they end American dominance in science.

Important thread for people understandably upset about the situation at NSF. Don't be too quick to assume bad motives. Open defiance could get everyone fired, and courts are likely to step in soon.

Trop Bio lab alumnus, Dr. Diego Ocampo, published the final chapter of his amazing dissertation on hybridization in #birds of #Neotropics. Through field experiments, we find that plumage traits distinct between populations are not used in species recognition. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

FYI - this page will be updated regularly new.nsf.gov/executive-or...

I don't work for NSF anymore, so take this with a huge grain of salt. It's just my wild speculation. But perhaps it's useful to someone. I'd bet that some of these solicitations will return. PRFBs - my guess is they'll be back, but w/o a track for Broadening Participation. bsky.app/profile/mdca...

Casual Neanderthal introgression bomb dropped on New Year's.

"We collected an enormous amount of data and ran one huge regression. Taken together, our results suggest..."

I am stoked to read this paper. I worked as a field tech on this study system after undergrad. I got to go up the Rio Changuinola before it was dammed. It was an awesome experience. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

One year on, we’ve heard little reaction to our paper conceiving #species as process-bound, historical, and without natural rank. Integrative #taxonomy and #phylogenetics should love the concept; #speciation biology might not, but it could. #evolbio #philbio #philsci #hpbio

Parents to toddlers all have goofy Spotify Wrappeds.

"A key goal in science is understanding the evolution of life. However, the origins of benthic zooplankton reproductive anatomy has been understudied. In this paper, we..."

Me, to my toddler, for the hundredth time: "Well he's mad because he wanted the mouse to fetch water by himself. He didn't want the mouse to use magic to make a broom do it and then lose control of the situation."

(research proposal) no questions per se but here’s my research vibe

where’s the echo chamber for silly geese

Phew! We will soon have something other than CYP2J19 to look for in red birds.

Geometriphylogenetics xkcd.com/3010

Published today, plumage color genomics! We trace the evolutionary history of a trait under sexual selection in a genus of dancing manakins. Co-led with H.C. Lim. #evobio #birds 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🧪 Our new paper explores the #genomics of recent contact between two #SolomonIslands #birds. We find that sections of the genome behave differently, with the female sex chromosome moving only from the invading into the endemic species. Check out our work in PLoS Genetics! tinyurl.com/yc5x7nfk

Still zero likes on this gem.

Soon to be getting a bit more active here and on Twitter again shortly. And not about politics.

I come from a long line of

Sights from this morning's birding.

I need everyone to see this photo of a Short-eared Owl from ebird: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/511646...

Last night: foxes in the yard. Living the dream.

More wildlife at home. Moving a ring-necked snake from the basement to the yard.

Not rare or even notable, but as someone who's lived in apartments for the last decade, it's quite nice to see a great-crested flycatcher in my new yard. I've got some nature!