I might like hats a tad too much... Spent longer than I care to admit staring at this tree, cataloguing ahem dubious decisions... But the most egregious... Stetson is a brand not a hat type! And I'm fairly sure they don't (usually) make bicorns/tricorns... 🤔 Now back to actual phylogenies.

📢📢REMINDER LinneSys applications closes TOMORROW Friday, March 27th at 23:59 GMT+1!!!📢📢 Apply now! systass.org/linnesys/ Do remember to join the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social as a member first! Also, we only fund taxonomy and systematics related projects!

Ooops, I spend so much time hassling @systassn.bsky.social members to renew their memberships and didn't realise I've been in arrears in another society for almost a year... Oh, the shame!

📢📢REMINDER LinneSys applications close this Friday, March 27th at 23:59 GMT+1!!!📢📢 Apply now! systass.org/linnesys/ Do remember to join the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social as a member first! Also, we only fund taxonomy and systematics related projects!

The deadline for this year's LinneSys approaches! You have until Fri, March 27th at 23:59 GMT+1 If you're looking for a small grant for systematics work, get your application in ASAP systass.org/linnesys/ Just become a member of the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social first!

So you are using IQ-TREE to estimate a tree for "deep time" phylogenetics using amino acid alignments. There is a lot of confusion about how to test model fit. Here are some suggestions.

I have zero interest in French football teams but invariably know when PSG wins. Why? Because the fans congregate at the nearby pub and make a racket... Tonight, in additon to the usual football crowd noises, there's drums 🙄

Looking for a small grant for systematics work? Check us out! systass.org/linnesys/ Deadline is MARCH 27 at 23:59 GMT+1 All you need is to be a member of the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social Caveat, legally, we cannot fund anyone in these countries: tinyurl.com/wemwtfrz

It's #WorldBookDay. I did a #book. It's about #frogs. Buy it. *You'll like it: tell your friends (*phrase stolen from Huey Morgan)

On world book day might you be tempted to preorder the paperback edition of The Tree of Life? Out in pb on April 23rd. www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So...

The omission of circular monstrosities is reason enough to add this to the ever growing list of 'new toys to try'.

If I ever drop off the map, this isn't a bad place to come looking. Weather permitting... ⛵ Do expect maniacal laughter, though. To this day, I don't know if my skipper was more afraid of rough weather or my undisguised glee in said weather... (Beaufort up to 6/7, I do have some sense...)

Hmm, now I remember why I had stopped using Duoling (besides the gamified everything...). The bloody owl won't leave me alone! 😖

The 2026 LinneSys call is open! Looking for a small grant for systematics work? Check us out! systass.org/linnesys/ All you need is to be a member of the @systassn.bsky.social or the @linneansociety.bsky.social Caveat, legally, we cannot fund anyone in a country listed here: tinyurl.com/wemwtfrz

New paper on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social: Are interphylum spiralian relationships resolvable? doi.org/10.64898/202... @maxjtelford.bsky.social and I tried answering this question with two independent phylogenomic datasets. (1/7) 🧪

If anyone spots a brain skittering about between Woburn Place and Gower St, please let me know. I seem to have misplaced mine post lecture.

As someone who used to be in charge of the spinnaker, I confess to some unhealthy curiosity of how the all-spinnaker rig would behave (wind angle constraints aside). Add to that, are they all symmetric, asymmetric, a combination? 🤔 I do doubt that a single bowman would suffice...

Lovely review by @adrianwoolfson.bsky.social of my book ‘The Tree of Life’ in the Wall Street Journal today. Free guest link if you’re interested. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Interested in the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social special issue on phylogenomic discordance? tinyurl.com/v2eces3s 🧪 One more summary added, just in time for some holiday travel chaos! ☃️ We'll return as more articles come live. Again, all and any oversimplications are entirely my fault!

Dang it! X-mas music has finally caught up with me. 🥴

Huh, apparently it's been nine years since I got these feathery 'office' mates. Yes, this was a taxidermy room. Yes, I used a marble topped 19th lab bench as a desk for over half a year. No, I was not the person that bubble/plastic wrapped the albatross(es).

Can't say I'm surprised these were my most used words here. I do wonder if I should be worried... 🤔 It is slightly less odd than randomly shouting 'paedomorphy' half and hour after blanking on it during a lecture... 🦎(imagine this is a salamander) From: anisota.net/harvest

I didn't have 'freeze at my desk' on my bingo card for today... Especially when the office was nice and toasty yesterday...

Our website is back!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Also, if you have yet to register for this Wednesday's Joy of Discovery lecture (online at 3PM GMT+0), do so here: tinyurl.com/bdu5xans Prof. Mike Benton, University of Bristol, will be giving a talk on the origin of feathers.

The online Joy of Discovery event is back! 🎉 This year the event is going to be a smidge different, with a single speaker. But what a speaker! Prof. Mike Benton, University of Bristol, will be giving us a talk on the origin of feathers. Join us NOV 26 AT 3PM GMT+0 REGISTER: tinyurl.com/bdu5xans

I give up... I send out an email with detailed instructions about 'how to do X' Just over 24hrs before deadline, bunch of emails asking 'how do I do X?' Read the MFing instructions! I'm going back to my trees, at least when they piss me off it's not their fault.

Only wish this had been on the required reading list when I took molecular evolution as an undergrad... fairly sure that phylogenetics would have made a hell of a lot more sense (and I wouldn't have wasted time and money on MCATs, UKCATs and med schools applications...)

Reminder, registration for this year's Young Systematists' Forum (Friday, Nov 14th), closes tomorrow at 13:00 GMT+0. Register: tinyurl.com/5n8mu5z9

Interested in the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social special issue on phylogenomic discordance? tinyurl.com/v2eces3s 🧪 Three more summaries added below! We'll return when more articles come live. Again, all and any oversimplications are entirely my fault!

Nice, intelligent review of my book "The Tree of Life" in Nature Ecology and Evolution by @bethanyjallen.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So... Out in USA next Tuesday! www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...

I am happy to deal with a small number of stragglers but have to close the form at some point... Ok, not happy per se, but in 5 years I haven't not had a straggler... 😑

Anyone else's Windows Explorer freakishly slow since the last (forced!) update?

I've written a piece about great new article by @thibautbrunet.bsky.social, Chantal Combredet & Mylan Ansel. (www.cell.com/cell-reports... ) theconversation.com/how-the-firs...

📢📢📢 #YSF2025 ABSTRACT SUBMISSION CLOSES THIS SATURDAY OCT 25TH 11:59PM GMT+1 📢📢📢 If you are a student or early career researcher working on phylogenetics/taxonomy/systematics, join us online on Nov 14th for this year's (free!) Young Systematists' Forum! REGISTER: tinyurl.com/2w5n3e8

Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬 To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain). 🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy

Students (and recent graduates) working on anything phylogenetics, systematics or taxonomy-related, the abstract submission deadline for this year's (FREE ONLINE) Young Systematists' Forum approaches! Send us your abstracts by Saturday, OCTOBER 25 11:59PM GMT+1 tinyurl.com/2w5n3e8

Interested in the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social special issue on phylogenomic discordance? tinyurl.com/v2eces3s Two more summaries added below! We'll return to our regularly scheduled one paper summary a week next Wednesday. Again, all and any oversimplications are entirely my fault!

Don't forget to register for our in-person Founders' Lecture, next Friday OCT 24 6PM at Burlington House, London. Prof @emmateeling.bsky.social, UCD, will be talking to us on all things bat 🦇 This is a free event but it will help us gauge interest if you register. tinyurl.com/28u2u2z8

Quarterly reminder to not write posts during my commute/ before finishing my coffee... ☕ That should be 6PM Friday, OCT 24! Do join us ON THE 24TH for the @systassn.bsky.social Founders' Lecture. More details here: systass.org/founders-lec...

Please register or get your students to register! I do not want to unleash nagging mode!

Don't forget to register for our (free) upcoming Founder's Lecture on Friday, Oct 24 6PM at Burlington House, London. Prof @emmateeling.bsky.social, University College Dublin, will be talking to us about all things bats! 🦇 Registration: tinyurl.com/28u2u2z8 Details: systass.org/founders-lec...

Join us Nov 14th for #YSF2025, a completely free, online conference where postgraduate students (and other early career researchers) present their work on systematics, taxonomy and/or phylogenetics. Abstract submission closes Oct 25th! REGISTER: tinyurl.com/2fvmmthc systass.org/young-system...

If you're interested in understanding discordance in phylogenomic analyses, the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social's special issue 'Phylogenomic Discordance: Patterns, Processes, and Solutions' is for you! tinyurl.com/v2eces3s I'll be sharing a few articles a week until we're through the issue! (1/n)🧪

We are delighted to announce that this year's Founders' Lecture will be delivered by Prof. @emmateeling.bsky.social, University College Dublin! TITLE: Bats: Genomes, phylogenies, fossils and cures? WHEN: Friday, October 24th at 6PM WHERE: Burlington House, London JOIN US: tinyurl.com/28u2u2z8

Always nice to see an old friend. Now to find what shenanigans are afoot this time. 🤓

Last chance to join us next month for the #Biodiversity25 conference. A fantastic set of speakers, mix of talks & focused workshops, and the chance to meet others in the field of biodiversity genomics 🧬 In-person registration closes next Monday 29th September! Registration 🔗: bit.ly/4j3vAZ9

We are nearly ready to announce this year's Founders' Lecture speaker! In the meantime time check out @maxjtelford.bsky.social's 2024 lecture: 'Are we really more closely related to starfish than to earthworms?' www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSR5...

Oh look, they're at it again... www.theportugalnews.com/news/2025-09...

My review of the evidence (morphological, embryological and molecular) for the deuterostomes clade is now available. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Keep your eyes peeled, this year's edition of the Young Systematists' Forum approaches! When: Nov 14 2025 Where: Online! We will open registration and abstract submission soon! Stay up to date here: systass.org/young-system...