I’m so glad someone covered this story. Brian is an amazing scholar and person who I’ve been blessed to be able to get to know, even a little. What happened to him is awful

Now with pages @systbiol.bsky.social ! "Social Environment and the Evolution of Delayed Reproduction in Birds" with @pseudacris.bsky.social and Rick Prum Some comparative support for the hypothesis that the evolution of complex social contexts restructure life histories doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

I’m looking for a post doc (up to five years) interested in phylogenetics and earth systems - please spread the word!

Great logo for the 1995 Evolution meeting in Montreal.

Narrator: It is almost unbelievable that the Director of the National Institutes of Health would would pass judgement about a grant including assuming it didn't have a control group. This is AFTER he and NIH had been found to have terminated grants in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner. 41/n

Below is the response to my question. The funny part of his response is that my research needed a control arm. My study actually did have a control arm (about 80% of the sample never reported discrimination). So the answer itself makes me even more confused.

In what world is it even helpful to treat this guy like he's not a vicious, churning, petty, malignant, Internet-rotted psychopath

I had to renegotiate my F99/K00 award twice in 6 months, and on both occasions I asked what specifically “DEI activities” means. I didn’t get clear answers, so I was hopeful the person that directive came from could specify (the NIH Director). I asked the on @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social podcast

“DEI activities” are any activities that refer to, or surface, information that causes members of current group in power any amount of discomfort due to their privilege. There is no definition, because they know it when they see it.

This post is about biologists' obligation to speak up for trans rights, in case I need to spell it out directly.

Government enforcement of an individual's gene-to-phenotype mapping on the basis of normative and essentialist arguments is eugenics. If you don't see how dangerous that is you know nothing about biology.

Reinstate the Fired Six at VSU! Six tenured & tenure track faculty members were abruptly fired at Virginia State University without cause or any semblance of due process. Sign this petition to demand their reinstatement & a public commitment from VSU to honor tenure & end arbitrary dismissals.

I'm not really big on awards in academia but my students got together and put in a successful nomination packet to give me an outstanding mentor award from my college and it's the most meaningful and humbling recognition I've received in my career. 🥹

As I work on making all my class digital content ADA accessible and machine readable in accordance with federal law (good)--even with decent agreements between Universities and Canvas--I am keenly aware all digital course materials will inevitably be slurped up through backdoors like this.

Coming to #evol2026 this summer? The SSB Early Career Travel Funds competition is now live! Apply by February 27 for this years’ Tri-Society meeting. More info: www.systbio.org/early-career...

Taxonomy and phylogeny are two sides of the same coin, but that doesn't mean they are always in agreement. I wrote a blog post on why the new Phylogeny Explorer in @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social is such a big deal in that regard, and what's in store next for us. eliotmiller.weebly.com/blog/birds-o...

Modeling trait heterogeneity and inferring causal links in the macroevolution of growth habit in eudicot angiosperms Neupane et al. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/W5JBKK...

if it's any consolation: your boss's plan was for YOU to get shot so he could invoke the insurrection act. Not the other way around. Hope that helps.

Alex Pretti… This is who Trump’s secret police killed today in Minnesota. He was a VA nurse.

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

NYT video analysis confirms victim’s gun was removed before he was shot. So he was unarmed. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html

Abolish and prosecute ice.

we can be certain that Bernie would have faced more resistance in implementing mild social democratic reforms than Trump has in upending the entire world order

Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley: "We're hearing people being stopped with no cause & being demanded to show paperwork to determine if they're here legally. We started hearing from our police officers the same complaints. Every one of these individuals is a person of color... it has to stop"

Being faculty in Minneapolis right now is a never-ending round of horrible what-ifs. The semester starts on Tuesday. I’m terrified for the safety of my students, colleagues, & myself. We’re trying to prioritize safety. But the fact is if people with guns show up on campus, what can we really do?

Of course not. 0.001 percent on quail 88.999 percent on cocaine.

The Star Tribune had an insane graphic about the presence of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. There are more immigration officers in the metro right now than local police officers.

Applications now open for the International Travel Stipends to attend #Evol2026! Funds cover registration, travel, food, and lodging. Apply by January 30: www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci... @evolmtg.bsky.social

THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context

Host a workshop or Symposium at Evolution 2026! Dealine is approaching (1/15). Reach out to your society asap. www.evolutionmeetings.org/host-a-works...

I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees! yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/ Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches. Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.

How the fuck does Larry Summers still have a job

I have a new essay coming out next week so stay tuned! since one of the ppl I critique in it is a hardcore "gamete truther", I figured I'd re-up this – discusses both the actual biology & the bonkers anti-trans talking point that's grown out of it (no paywall): juliaserano.medium.com/why-are-gend...

The Linscott Lab at NMSU is looking for new graduate students interested in ecophysiology, systematics, and trait evolution (often in molluscs)! Please reach out to contact me and see more at my lab website (linscottlab.com) and here: shorturl.at/DvUZa.

Very excited to see this come to fruition @jackstack.bsky.social !

There is a affordability crisis, but if you suffer from it you are obviously too dumb and blinded by selfishness to solve it. Only if you benefit from class imbalance can you be deemed mature enough for access to power. The sneering derision Bezos and his ilk hold for the rest of America.

Very excited to share my exploration of the phylogenetics of early ray-finned fishes, out today in the Anatomical Record! Really busy day but I’ll have more info shortly. anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ. It's a surreal--and troubling--read. drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...

Big news - I’ll be starting an #insect #systematics lab at University of Nebraska-Lincoln this coming academic year! I’m looking to #recruit #PhDstudents to work in #wasp systematics, especially gall systems, to begin Fall 2026. Please help me spread the word — more details on the flyer below!

The Dobzhansky Prize recognizes the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. The awardee will present the Dobzhansky Prize plenary at #Evol2026. Apply by December 1! shorturl.at/p70wY

The scoop: To get to Mesquite's adventure game, type "ZoL" into the log window. You will find yourself in an open field with a mailbox. 📬 (If that does nothing, then you'll need to turn on "Use Log Window for Command" under File>Defaults>.)

Hey Yaniv Brandvain is not on Bluesky but his most recent biostats ebook is live ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/. His stats resources have been so helpful to me as I develop my own stats course, so check it out. Github repo here: github.com/ybrandvain/b...

More on rate-scaling in phenotypic evolution, pointing toward biological explanations, from Brune Kinneberg & Voje. Lots of debate about this pattern, but comes down to how we define "noise" vs. "biology" as represented in models. Important philosophical discussion. academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events. Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... 1/14

The pattern on the back of this Nepenthes pitcher plant takes me back to playing MS-DOS games in the 90s.

Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students! caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...

I wrote this piece about 7th anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder. On the costs of speaking the truth in today's world. And how Jamal's memory still stalks Saudi Arabia--- and the Washington Post. open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...

DHS is proposing a rule that would end "duration of status" for J, F and other visa holders. This would decimate the international graduate student and postdoc population, which are a crucial part of the United States biomedical workforce. There's still time for you to comment on the proposed rule.

Ever wondered how to incorporate fossils as tips in a phylogenetic tree? Our new paper provides a comprehensive guide! #EarlyFossilFriday #FossilFriday #TipDating #Phylogeny #EvolutionaryBiology