Our latest: The timescale of nematode evolution reveals late and convergent radiations of parasitism. Led by Liang Lü, with help from @djbirddanerd.bsky.social Mattia Giacomelli @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social Oleksandr Holovachov, Davide Pisani and myself www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The timescale of nematode evolution reveals late and convergent radiations of parasitism - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Establishing a universal evolutionary timescale of nematodes has been complicated by their patchy fossil record and analytical limitations. Combining genomic data from 156 nematode species with fossil...

nature.com

Thank you for all the people that joined us in this course! Best of luck with all your wonderful projects! And of course thank you to @physaliacourses.bsky.social for organizing it, and to @martaalvarez.bsky.social for sharing this opportunity with me ❤️! It was amazing!

Physalia-courses@ONLINE@physaliacourses.bsky.social · last mo.

Smiling faces after an exciting week of Big Data Phylogeny and Comparative Analyses! 🧬 A big thank you to @martaalvarez.bsky.social , @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social & everyone who joined us for this week of learning, discussions, and hands-on analyses

New week = New course Very happy to kick off the first edition of the course on Big Data Phylogeny and Comparative Methods with @martaalvarez.bsky.social & @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

#SMBE2026 S17: Unicellular organisms in major evolutionary transitions 🗓️ Wed Jul 1, 1:20pm 🔗 smbe2026.org/programme

The broader implication extends beyond flowering plants. Many famous "rocks vs. clocks" debates may not require choosing sides. The challenge is finding better ways to let fossils and molecules speak to each other. Link to our latest: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Integrated analysis of fossils and molecular divergence time estimates a latest Jurassic origin of angiosperms - Nature Plants

Using extensive fossil occurrence data and Bayesian Brownian Bridge modelling, this study derives data-driven calibration densities for molecular clocks and suggests a Late Jurassic origin of flowerin...

nature.com

Ruolin WU@ruolinwu.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The Jurassic Gap shrinks dramatically. Rather than fossils and molecular clocks being in fundamental conflict, they may have been talking past each other. When fossil evidence is incorporated more comprehensively, the two records tell a much more consistent story of flowering plant evolution.

🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

🧬 Big Data Phylogeny & Comparative Methods course (23–26 June , online) with @martaalvarez.bsky.social & @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social Learn to build and interpret phylogenetic trees, analyse trait evolution, and apply comparative genomics to real data www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

Big Data Phylogeny and Comparative Methods: From Theory to Practice

23-26 June 2026

physalia-courses.org

New paper out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: we apply linguistic tools to sperm whale vowels. The result: sperm whale vowels do not just look like human vowels. They also behave like them. We found several parallels. Like in Latin, whales have short and long vowels.

From Pisani et al: CAT-GTR is one of the most flexible models in the phylogenomic arsenal. Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models

Abstract. Significant advances have been made in resolving the tree of life, but many nodes remain debated. The last two decades saw the emergence of mixtu

academic.oup.com

Very nice and timely paper on phylogenomic model choice. Strong evidence that mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned approaches, with CAT-GTR showing robust performance across conditions. Highly relevant for difficult phylogenetic problems. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models

Abstract. Significant advances have been made in resolving the tree of life, but many nodes remain debated. The last two decades saw the emergence of mixtu

academic.oup.com

Pisani et al. (2026-04, Molecular Biology and Evolution)（オープンアクセス open access） 「ゲノム系統学的混合モデルは，均質モデルと分割モデルよりも優れている」 Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

🚨 Why can’t mammals regenerate limbs like frog tadpoles or salamanders? In our new paper in @science.org , we show that species-specific oxygen sensing acts as a gatekeeper for initiating limb regeneration 🐭🐸 🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #EvoDevo

Apply now to join us in December for our workshop "Rethinking Cell Differentiation and Development: A Unicellular Perspective". This will be an intimate meeting (30 people total) and we hope will be a great place to discuss this topic.

The Company of Biologists@biologists.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Apply for a funded early-career researcher place at our Workshop on Rethinking Cell Differentiation and Development: A Unicellular Perspective, organised by Elena Casacuberta & James Gahan @jgahan.bsky.social. Find out more www.biologists.com/workshops/de... #BiologistsWorkshops

Chromatin plays a central role in gene regulation, but chromatin systems are only known for a few model species. This study analyses chromatin regulatory landscapes in brown algal lineages to elucidate their structural organization and evolution 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Evolution of a distinct chromatin regulatory landscape in brown algae - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Chromatin plays a central role in gene regulation, but chromatin systems are only known for a few model species. This study analyses chromatin regulatory landscapes in brown algal lineages to elucidat...

nature.com

Becoming a parent is much more detrimental to women’s academic careers than it is to men’s Read the full story: go.nature.com/4v4rxmQ

🚨New course alert! Registrations are now open for the course: Big Data Phylogeny and Comparative Methods: From Theory to Practice with @martaalvarez.bsky.social & Maria Eleonora Rossi www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

Big Data Phylogeny and Comparative Methods: From Theory to Practice

22-25 June 2026

physalia-courses.org

📣 Call for Abstracts! Working on sex chromosomes? Join us at SMBE 2026 in Copenhagen (28 June–2 July). All taxa, systems, and approaches welcome! ⏰ Deadline: 3 Feb 2026 👉 smbe2026.org/abstracts/

Did you know sponges are among the oldest animals on Earth? They're over half a billion years old! New research has helped to narrow down when they first evolved - and it could reveal more about the first ever animals! Find out more about these marine marvels 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

We’ve finally discovered when sponges appeared on Earth | Natural History Museum

New research has revealed the hidden early history of the sponges.

nhm.ac.uk

Sponges are notoriously difficult to understand in evolutionary biology terms. I think this paper is a big step forward : www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history

Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.

science.org

Our work on the evolution of the regulatory genome of echinoderms is now out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Led by my former PhD Marta Magri, Danila Voronov & Saoirse Foley. Great collaboration of Arnone, Hinman & Maeso labs, started long time ago with our missed José Luis Gomez-Skarmeta: rdcu.be/eXX8l

Deep conservation of cis-regulatory elements and chromatin organization in echinoderms uncover ancestral regulatory features of animal genomes

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms...

rdcu.be

Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others

Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history

Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.

science.org

Early sponges lacked [mineralised] skeletons. New paper led by M. Eleonora Rossi. Great to have contributed alongside colleagues from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social , @nhm-london.bsky.social and @mncn-csic.bsky.social. Read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...