Head's up SSE members: Virtual Evolution is next week! Join us for the SSE Presidential Symposium on May 21 for talks from SSE leaders and past presidents on sustaining research, supporting trainees, navigating funding uncertainty, and strengthening evolutionary biology. Pls RT!

Applications now open for the Graduate Research Excellence Grants! These provide evolutionary biology research funds for early and advanced Master’s and PhD students. Proposals due May 18. www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Simons Foundation has a new contest for Ecology and Evolution Graduate Fellowships! Due June 30th. Good luck everyone! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

My 9 year old has asked me to come present at her school science fair, after they asked kids to invite their parents if they did science. Here is her draft of my presentation. Let’s see if I can live up to it.

Scientists at the MBL are building and deploying innovative clam recruitment boxes across Massachusetts tidal flats. 🔗 Read the full story and see what they discovered: go.mbl.edu/clam

We’re hiring! Our department is recruiting for a tenure-track faculty position. We seek outstanding candidates working broadly in molecular microbiology, immunology, and host–pathogen interactions. Please share widely! @jnpruneda.bsky.social @rauchlab.bsky.social www.nature.com/naturecareer...

What's that old equation, 1 picture = 1,000 words? Great to have Megan Farmer's amazing drone shot atop my latest @npr.org story. Farmland, levee, wetland, river, all right there.

The Barrick & Lenski Labs in Dept of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology at Michigan State Univ seek a Research Assistant II to manage their research operations and participate in projects related to microbial evolution and synthetic biology. See details below. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Simons Graduate Fellowship Applications are open! If you're applying to Ph.D. programs in ecology and/or evolution this year, or if you're an incoming Ph.D. student who won't start your degree program until Fall 2026 or later, apply! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Last chance to register for our lovely conference, starting in Crete in three weeks! Deadline is TODAY. The registration form will remain active but if you miss the deadline then we cannot guarantee your place.

Screenshot from my Bluesky today.

In some embodiments, my brain comprises the belief that most of the words in a patent are completely redundant and unnecessary and I can’t believe I am having to wade through its logic, which, in some embodiments, is redundant and unnecessary.

If you live in Seattle and don’t know Ada’s technical books and coffee on 15th in capital hill, you need to go now—if only to know what you will be missing when they close in June. www.capitolhillseattle.com/2026/04/afte...

I literally came back on to repost this quote and found you did it first

Why do journalists keep repeating this line that scientists are all going to leave? They mention 95,000 science jobs lost in federal science alone, and then talk about countries hiring 10-12 people total! Why is this fake exodus a repeat headline and scientists loosing their careers en masse not?

🚨 STARFISH EMERGENCY 🚨 Is there anyone out here who has a boat & access to San Juan Islands of Washington??!! And is available this week. My friend who fights sea star wasting disease (SSWD), his project site has become ineligible and needs help finding another. DM me ASAP if can help!

If my grad student pulled this shit with me, they'd be out of the lab. Lies like that about methods to paper over your mistake are simply unacceptable. It did crap like this over and over.

Don't forget to register for this amazing webinar series!

Tell me what you think LLMs do well and I’ll tell you what you do not value.

Cool paper, turning evolutionary theory on its head - gene conversion overcomes the cost of asexual reproduction… Gene conversion empowers natural selection in a clonal fish species www.nature.com/articles/s41...

With @saramitri.bsky.social, @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social and L. Lehmann we’ve launched the UNIL Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution @unil.bsky.social🇨🇭 To kick things off, we’re offering short visiting fellowships for theorists in ecology & evolution. Apply & pls RP 😀 tinyurl.com/2wem36zz

What if cancer, already one of the deadliest diseases known to the animal kingdom, suddenly became contagious? Among certain species it has. Now, it’s happening in the Salish Sea. Read the full story Eli Voorhies at the link below. salish-current.org/2026/02/19/c...

2nd- or 3rd-year PhD student? Applications for @hhmi-science.bsky.social's #GilliamFellows Program open 9/1! Robust dissertation support, an incredible community of scientists, tailored professional development (for you *and* your faculty thesis advisor), & so much more. Bookmark bit.ly/4qQArRh!

Researchers in the US might be having feelings about writing grants atm-I know I am! We still need to write them. In this Evolution Exchange, I again chat with Sam Scheiner, who summarizes how to write a competitive proposal. His advice is gold, and helpful regardless of funder. Pls RT!

Today in @science.org: We are pleased to present our last work entitled: "Concurrent L1 retrotransposition events promote reciprocal translocations in human tumorigenesis" by Zumalave et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The impact is already hitting science agencies hard. The NIH—the world's largest public biomedical research funder—has had to rely on leftover stopgap funds. New grant awards have slowed to a trickle — exacerbating the effects of a record-long shutdown in October. (h/t @jeremymberg.bsky.social)

Study finds ChatGPT Health did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Applications are open for PREP Bio at the University of Oregon! A great opportunity for postbacs looking for additional research experience while preparing for graduate school. More here: cas.uoregon.edu/UO-PREP-Bio

Was it a coincidence that AMC was showing War Games today?

NIH reports on ESI support in FY2025 drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/02/22/n...

Alita Burmeister (@aburmeister.bsky.social) is looking to hire a postdoc (or potentially a PhD student) for projects on phage resistance and evolution. The position description is posted to the Eco-Evo Jobs wiki and also available on her lab's website (arburmeister.weebly.com).

Very beautiful story and thread

Thanks, Eli Voorhies, for writing up a piece about our work on transmissible cancers in clams and cockles in Puget Sound with James Dimond @wwu.edu , PSRF, and @suquamish.bsky.social salish-current.org/2026/02/19/c...

Great scientists (and great collaborators) over at Puget Sound Restoration Fund are spreading the word about a job posting for a Microalgae Production Lead or Technician at their conservation hatchery at NOAA’s Manchester Research Station on the Kitsap Peninsula. restorationfund.org/aboutus/join...

Methods Section Poll: A. 100% Passive voice (primers were used) B. 100% Active voice (we used primers C. Whatever, as long as it is clear (Inspired by team editing a manuscript that has a bit of both and arguing about whether it needs to be switched to consistently use one voice)

Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!

Holy shit: it's an RFP for the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Hello old friend www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Condolences to nearly everyone in ecology and evolution today on your grant rejection!

Has anyone had any success with arguing this? Last year the returns without review were a brick wall, but this year it looks like they at least have a suggested contact email in the rejection letters.

1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded. Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.

Of Barriers and Loops—How Evolution Limits Most Cancer Risks to Older Ages url: aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...

Finally out! We studied the retinas of the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark, and found that the retinas remain remarkably healthy in animals around 150 years old. What is the mechanism? It may be a highly efficient DNA repair system. Enjoy! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I love that one of the other sites is feeding me a lot of Bill Nye content today because tomorrow is NYE.

Federal funding cuts are having real consequences for biomedical research — including at PNRI. Long-term studies can’t simply be paused. Through Dec. 31, every gift is matched dollar-for-dollar. 👉https://bit.ly/4j1GTma #raredisease #T1D #supportscience #genetics

Check if your property is in the floodplain: skagitcounty.net/GIS/Document... Following evacuation orders and other guidance from local officials is critical.

The new Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE) Program page is posted. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have questions. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Honest question: When they say AI will “do science” what on earth are they actually talking about? Do they think LLMs will control armies of robots doing PCRs and running gels and doing cell culture and animal work and field work?

Today is #GivingTuesday. Funding cuts threaten the #raredisease + #type1diabetes research families rely on. Your gift helps protect lifesaving science. Give today: pnri.org/support/scie...