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...

Not sure I like the look of these clouds...

Ah, the one time I want a delivery to be late, it is on track to arrive ahead of time... Guess I'll be starring at the box for the better part of a month 🛥️

Ooof, this hurts! ⛵ cdn.theoceanrace.com/images/m1825...

I'm disappointed it took me so long to notice something rather apt... So, I abbreviated Bos taurus to BOSTA (phylip format and all), which in my first language just so happens to mean cowpat... Not that anyone uses its literal meaning, we mostly use it as the mildest faeces-related swear word 😂

Fresh off the presses in @currentbiology.bsky.social : Is the deuterostome clade an artefact? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We (yours truly, Paschalis Natsidis, Laura Piovani and co-leads Paschalia Kapli and @maxjtelford.bsky.social) set out to try to answer this question. Why? (1/12)

Summary thread coming later today!

It's official! All thesis chapters are individually citable! (One still needs to go through peer-review though 😅) Dealing with systematic errors arising from missing data, this is fresh off the press: doi.org/10.1093/sysb... Psst, we also have a new comprehensive caecilian phylogeny! 1/4 🧵

Tons of reading + nice weather + no wind = working outside! Haven't done this in a while...

Dear predatory journals, conferences, etc., Please stop sending me 'invites' for forestry and silviculture things! Despite my last name, those ain't the trees I work with! (At least these 'invites' make more sense than the hepatology ones...) Sincerely, Someone with far too many email accounts!

OOH, sudden influx of new followers! 👋 Where did you lot come from?

Final days to register join us, the @linneansociety.bsky.social and our wonderful panelists for a discussion on how increasingly politicised media is affecting biodiversity conservation! Thursday, June 12 at 18:00 BST, Burlington House, London Register: tinyurl.com/e8e4p5zt

Tired of politicised media discourse? Unsure of how it is affecting boots on the ground science? Then join us and the @linneansociety.bsky.social at Burlington House NEXT THURSDAY JUNE 12 AT 6PM for an in-person evening debate on misinformation and conservation! Register! tinyurl.com/e8e4p5zt

Just over a week left to register to join us (@systassn.bsky.social and @linneansociety.bsky.social) for an in-person evening debate on the effects of misinformation on conservation efforts! When: Thurs, June 12 at 18:00 BST Where: Burlington House, London How: tinyurl.com/e8e4p5zt

Bando de míopes ressabiados, irra!

Amazing how saying you've owned an item for almost a quarter century immediately stymies any attempts at dissuasion. I don't care that I can get a new hat for less than it costs to reline my old one! That hat's given me a dozen winters of a dry and warm head! Humph! Now to await the repairs...

In a time of increasingly polarised discourse, join us (@systassn.bsky.social and @linneansociety.bsky.social) for an in-person evening debate on the effects of misinformation on conservation efforts! When: Thurs, June 12 at 18:00 BST Where: Burlington House, London How: tinyurl.com/e8e4p5zt

How is misinformation threatening efforts to preserve biodiversity? Join us (@linneansociety.bsky.social and @systassn.bsky.social) on Thursday, June 12th 6PM at Burlington House, London for a panel discussion on the effects of polarised mass communication on conservation. tinyurl.com/e8e4p5zt