OK, that was indeed interesting. BWA MEM3 is also very fast. MiniBWA is a median of 40% faster than BWA MEM3 and faster in 85% of genomes, with the smallest of genomes favoring BWA MEM3. Thanks for the suggestion. BWA MEM3 is great work as well.

The Mauritius kestrel has experienced a tough ride - Xuejing Wang will be presenting his MBE article on this topic at the SMBE meeting, drop by if you're interested in popgen. 📋 Open Symposium 10a 🗓️ July 2, 10:30 am Read the paper here 👉 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag070 #SMBE2026 #societyjournal

Genomic erosion across avian lineages in the context of their evolutionary history

Abstract. Loss of genetic diversity threatens species survival, yet its dynamics and impacts can vary widely across species depending on their evolutionary

doi.org

Just in time for #SMBE2026, our new preprint is out: using 130 genomes spanning ~200 years, fitness data and simulations, we show that conservation rescued the Mauritius kestrel from extinction, but not from genomic erosion. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #popgen #consgen #conservation

Stop by - I might try to link hatch rate in Mauritius parakeets 🦜 with HC Andersen' "den grimme ælling" 🐣 #SMBE2026

Hernán E. Morales@hernmoral.bsky.social · last mo.

Poster | Tuesday, Jun 30 • 6:00 pm | Room: 2nd floor: Arkaden 6 Audald Lloret-Villas Genomic determinants of reproductive success in a critically bottlenecked parrot #SMBE2026

Conservation rescued the Mauritius kestrel from extinction but not from genomic erosion https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.23.733933v1

It is finally time for #SMBE2026! Our team will be presenting 10 contributions (3 talks and 7 posters) spanning conservation genomics, temporal genomics, genomic erosion, AI, genome editing, and evolutionary forecasting. Here's where you can find us. See the 🧵 below for all the details.

The Workshop on Future Directions in Vertebrate Genomics Research is already running, presenting activities associated with the completion of Phase I of @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social #SMBE2026

We are only a few days away from #SMBE2026. Who is planning on coming to the climate haven of Copenhagen? Say 🙋🏾 and bring your swimsuits!

Struggling to find the tiny microchromosomes in draft bird genome assemblies? Our new #preprint introducing MicroFinder can help: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 below (1/n) @sangerinstitute.bsky.social

Scientists have developed a new tool that makes bird genomes faster and easier to assemble — including tiny pieces of DNA that are usually missed. 🐦‍⬛ The new tool, known as MicroFinder, could help improve research into bird evolution, biodiversity and conservation. 👇 http://bit.ly/4wG023C

New tool helps accurately assemble notoriously difficult bird genomes

MicroFinder can be used to assemble bird genomes much quicker and more accurately than ever before.

sanger.ac.uk

📣 New paper out in ProcB📣 ... and we're on the cover! (Perks of having a beautiful study species) Find it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Inbreeding depression in morphological and growth traits of wild barn owls (Tyto alba)

Abstract. Despite its detrimental effects, inbreeding depression in wild populations is relatively under-explored. Here, we use whole-genome sequence data

royalsocietypublishing.org

New study 🧬 Inbreeding depression is a concern in small populations, and evaluating its genomic proxies is important for #ConservationGenomics. In hihi, genome-wide homozygosity best predicts lifetime reproductive success, compared to genetic load and FROH. Publication: doi.org/10.1111/eva.... 1/3

Genome‐Wide Homozygosity Predicts Inbreeding Depression in the Hihi/Stitchbird (Notiomystis cincta) Better Than Realised Load

Population declines result in increasingly small populations, which often experience an increase in inbreeding. Inbreeding may be negatively associated with fitness traits like survival and reproduct...

doi.org

@rsbiello.bsky.social et al. present the first whole-genome analysis of Mediterranean fin whales, showing that although these form a distinct genetic cluster, they are not fully isolated from North Atlantic populations. 📷 Danny Kessler 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag084 #genome #evolution #popgen

A couple of (belted?) Galloway cows enjoying the first spring days in Utterslev Mose, the outskirts of Copenhagen.

Some botanical gardens happen to use poison dart frogs to keep insect plagues under control. Interestingly, such frogs are not poisonous in captivity, as they lack the alkaloids they would naturally get from their diet. This is a blurry Epipedobates anthonyi in the Botanisk Have in Copenhagen.

Big opportunities for researchers 🌍 We are investing nearly €400 million to help researchers share their work and collaborate with the best scientific teams across the EU. The 2026 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships are now open. More: link.europa.eu/PNxpxw

Just around the corner. Last few days to sign up for the free workshop on relatedness with @jolijnerven.bsky.social!

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Wanna learn how to explore your genomic data to know how related your samples and populations are to each other? Come and join us and @jolijnerven.bsky.social on our next #AaRCademy workshop! April 16h at 14:00 CET!

New story on the Avian Hybrids blog! Phylogenomic analyses reveal an X-linked speciation supergene in placental mammals avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/p... Based on the Nature paper by Nicole Foley and her colleagues | Focusing on mammals, with a bit of #ornithology

Phylogenomic analyses reveal an X-linked speciation supergene in placental mammals

Could a similar genomic region exist in birds?

avianhybrids.wordpress.com

Great write up of our study showing that both extrinsic factors (e.g. habitat availability) and intrinsic traits (e.g. body mass and diet) play important roles in shaping patterns of genomic diversity in birds 🦜 🧬 🌏 #consgen #popgen

Jente Ottenburghs | Avian Hybrids@jenteo.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New story on the Avian Hybrids blog! What factors shape genomic diversity in birds? avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/w... Based on the Proceedings B paper by Anna Brüniche-Olsen, Kenneth Kellner and their colleagues | #ornithology

Are you a computational postdoc or even in the last year of your PhD and you want to set up your own lab? Want to work in one of the most multi-disciplinary and multi-national institutions in the world? Want to be a leader in understanding biology - molecules up? Apply below!

EMBL-EBI@ebi.embl.org · 5mo ago

We’re recruiting new Research Group Leaders! We offer: 🔬 Core funding 💻 Access to world-leading infrastructure 👩🏽‍🔬A network of world-leading scientists …and much more. Apply by 11 April: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j... #ResearchCareers #Bioinformatics @timcoorens.bsky.social @embl.org

Snakemake, you are too polite. The answer to "invalid syntax. Perhaps you forgot a comma?" is always YES 🤪

We have less than a week to go before the deadline for abstract submission and award applications for SMBE 2026 in Copenhagen. Check the conference website for details on the programme, symposia, and awards: smbe2026.org #SMBE2026

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution@official-smbe.bsky.social · 7mo ago

❗Just two weeks to go! Please remember to submit your abstract and award application for SMBE 2026 in Copenhagen by February 3. 📨 Abstract submission & Award applications smbe2026.org/abstracts 📋 Programme details smbe2026.org/programme #SMBE2026

Just a few more days to submit abstracts to #SMBE2026 in beautiful Copenhagen. 🗓️Deadline 3nd February We are organizing S01: Evolutionary-informed management of vulnerable populations in a rapidly changing world. Hope to see many of you there!

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution@official-smbe.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Organisers - @claudiafontsere.bsky.social | @hologenomics.bsky.social - @hernmoral.bsky.social | @hologenomics.bsky.social - Mirte Bosse | @vuamsterdam.bsky.social - Christina Hvilsom | @hologenomics.bsky.social Invited Speaker - Cock van Oosterhout | @ueaenv.bsky.social

One of the most pleasant surprises of the past 20 years was the transformation of Wikipedia into arguably the most reliable general information source freely accessible to the public. It’s not perfect — I’ve certainly seen errors — but it’s kind of shockingly good. One might consider a donation.

🦣🧬🦣🤯💥We are pleased to share our new paper about ancient RNA expression profiles from the Woolly Mammoth, now published in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... If you want to know more, read the 🧵 below:

"it was not a case of them stealing the King’s group’s data and then, voila, those data gave them the structure of DNA. Instead, they solved the structure through their own iterative approach and then used the King’s data — without permission — to confirm it."

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com · 9mo ago

On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What a course!🧬🦣 Thanks to this amazing team of instructors @claudiafontsere.bsky.social @jazminrm.bsky.social & @hernmoral.bsky.social for delivering such a great first edition of the #Museomics course. Thanks to everyone who has joined us this week and good luck with your data!💯

New Zealand’s invasive starlings on the cover of Molecular Ecology! 🐦🧬 This collaborative project unpacks the invasion history of starlings in Aotearoa New Zealand, combining population genomics with historical records of human-mediated translocations. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our monthly #EPIC seminars are back! 🎉 This month, Thomas Bøggild kicked things off with a fascinating talk on stopped recombination in new sex chromosomes, and @audald.bsky.social followed with great insights into recombination maps and imputation in #PopGen studies. See you next month!

Our Q&A article on inbreeding for conservation is out in BMC Biology! We discuss some important key concepts related to inbreeding in the light of new genomic tools and what it means for conservation when we want to improve species survival. #consgen bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Q&A: inbreeding and its implications for conservation - BMC Biology

Inbreeding depression plays a role in the decline, endangerment, and extinction of small populations, and thus inbreeding has received much attention in conservation biology. The term inbreeding is us...

bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com