1/ Deep-time phylogenetics is hard: overly simplistic substitution models can mislead tree estimation at the billion year timescale. Our new preprint introduces GTRspmix, a protein modeling framework designed to more realistically model site-to-site heterogeneity in amino acid replacement. 🧵

Less than a week until I talk about my book 'The Tree of Life' @linneansociety.bsky.social. 25th June, 6pm, tickets available here: members.linnean.org/events/69f21...

Now officially out in @elife.bsky.social! See how @maxjtelford.bsky.social and myself approached resolving spiralian relationships. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Ahah, another race to follow! ⛵ www.vendeearctique.org

Uuuh, email from predatory journal but with some effort put in! These guys had to at least check my GoogleScholar (or have AI check for them... most likely). No hepatology or sylviculture/forestry this time! Amazing!

Abstract submission (and early-bird!) deadline for the BioSyst.EU approaches! You have until Sunday, May 31st to send it in! Join us and our fellow European systematics associations in Uppsala, August 17-19, 2026 for the 4th BioSyst.EU meeting! Details: www.trippus.net/BioSyst2026 #BioSystEU2026

🚨🚨 Last 2 days to apply for our workshop! Get those applications in 📝✨

"New exhibition, #JurassicOceans, showcases the fearsome creatures that lurked below the surface & offers a stark warning about the impact of warming waters on marine ecosystems." - www.theguardian.com/environment/... @nhm-london.bsky.social @theguardian.com 🌊

I will be talking about The Tree of Life at the Linnean Society on 25th June. If you are interested you can find out a little more and sign up for a ticket at the link below. Hope to see some of you there! members.linnean.org/events/69f21...

So I didn't hallucinate the monstrosity (nope, not calling it a tree) making the rounds in the 'phylogenetics' feed? Although something definitely did some serious hallucinating... shudder

On this International Museum Day it seems fitting to dig up the most random scientific output I've ever been involved in! Please blame any shoddy/outdated practices on my bosses trying to get enough content to make a video (and this was almost 10 years ago 😉) www.facebook.com/reel/1721870...

Anyone else find going to their country of origin's consulate/embassy to be quite jarring? I've spent an hour in Portugal without leaving London this morning, and got treated to the usual delays, shoutiness and tired old jokes I've heard since I was a kid... nope, they're still not funny...

Based on the amount and type of noise coming from the pub, I think it's safe to assume PSG won their match👂 Pity my team is out already...

How can two countries' postal services be so ****? With USPS, I have a letter that's been swanning about Tampa for almost two weeks. (The destination is in Tampa...) And Royal Mail keeps ignoring the 're-schedule delivery' option. Why insist on delivering on a different day than requested?

Can we please stop treating animals as disposable? Pets aren't toys... (and not all animals make good pets!) And please, please don't just 'release' them into the wild... that's how we get invasives... 😖 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Tree of Life available as a paperback today. bit.ly/41Mq7jp Breezy, scholarly, whimsical, rigorous + companionable guide to our family history. TLS Erudite, highly informed, frequently amusing.. compelling + memorable. Science Enjoyable + ambitious. An exhilarating cartographic journey. WSJ

Join us and our fellow European systematics associations in Uppsala, Sweden for the 4th BioSyst.EU meeting! Dates: August 17-19, 2026 Abstract submission and early bird deadline: May 31st Registration deadline: July 17th Details: www.trippus.net/BioSyst2026 We hope to see there! #BioSystEU2026

Hey folks! Mollusc of the Year just opened up! I'm part of a working group from around the world studying the mysterious and beautiful galeommatoids, and one of our beasties is up for the MOTY! Help us out and VOTE EPHIPPODONTA!! @oceanspecies.bsky.social www.unitasmalacologica.org/ephippodonta...

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?