It’s almost like the term ‘early diverging lineage’ doesn’t mean anything at all. Having done this exercise myself I’ve realized that tree-thinking is counterintuitive enough that viewpoints like this have to come out routinely to remind people not to fall into higher-lower essentialist thinking

Joseph W. Brown@josephwb.bsky.social · 2d ago

Early-diverging lineages provide little information about ancestors academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... From @phylieu.bsky.social @sinkingdiatom.bsky.social @omearabrian.bsky.social

A very nicely stated and demonstrated reiteration of some principles which we should all recognize, but often don't get enough attention, consistency, or precision in discussion. These lineages still deserve study - but we should be temperate about premises and conclusions.

Joseph W. Brown@josephwb.bsky.social · 2d ago

Early-diverging lineages provide little information about ancestors academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... From @phylieu.bsky.social @sinkingdiatom.bsky.social @omearabrian.bsky.social

My goodness, what an incredible moment. After Justin Verlander secured the final out of his career, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch came out of the dugout...to summon Verlander's daughter out to embrace her dad on the mound.

Fair enough. But this whole thing was started from this article which came out earlier this year. It may seem obvious, but people are still making this mistake. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What were the first animals? The fierce sponge–jelly battle that just won’t end

For almost two decades, scientists have debated whether sponges or comb jellies are the first animal lineage. Now some are calling for a more harmonious approach.

nature.com

I love and appreciate work to resolve hard parts of the tree and then use that to understand evolution. I just hate the "we need to know if (A,B,C) is (A,(B,C)) or (B,(A,C)) so we know if the ancestral trait was that of A or B" narrative that often appears around this.

Early-diverging lineages provide little information about ancestors academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... From @phylieu.bsky.social @sinkingdiatom.bsky.social @omearabrian.bsky.social

Early-diverging lineages provide little information about ancestors

Abstract. Large phylogenetic trees are often unbalanced near the root, with a species-depauperate lineage sister to a far more species-rich clade. The spec

academic.oup.com

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

We're hiring an Assistant or Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology in my department at the university of Houston @uh-ecoevo.bsky.social Come be my colleague careers.uh.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant or Associate Professor - Evolutionary Biology - Houston, Texas, United States

Department: Biology and Biochemistry Salary: Commensurate with experience Description: The Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston seeks to hire an evolutionary biolog...

careers.uh.edu

QTL mapping academic.oup.com/genetics/art... Whether you are new to QTL mapping or have years of experience, you’re sure to learn something new and interesting from Shizhong Xu’s Primer. Don’t fret over the equations; there is a terrific narrative here about the past and future of QTL mapping!

QTL mapping

Abstract. Most biologically relevant traits are quantitative, controlled by multiple genes, and can be influenced by the environment. The multiple genes, c

academic.oup.com

Fantastic Asst Professor positions open across multiple UC Berkeley departments @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social Plant/Algae/Microb aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05522 Plant/Env aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05382 Gen/Dev/Evo aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05481 Eco aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05489

Assistant Professor – Plant or Macroalgae-Associated Microbial Communities and Interactions - Plant and Microbial Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

I'm going to keep reposting this until the closing deadline! We start looking at applications on 10/16!! Also, if water resources isn't your thing, I know there are also positions in biology and geology this year.

CG Partridge@partridgecg.bsky.social · 2w ago

Come be my colleague at @gvsu-awri.bsky.social!! We are are hiring an Assistant Professor of Water Resources at AWRI. gvsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...

Plant Colleagues! Open job for Director of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center (PRC) at UT Austin. A great job for anyone addressing fundamental questions in evolution of plants and a commitment to herbarium administration and/or collections-based research. apply.interfolio.com/193263

The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas is hiring a TT Assistant Professor Position in Ecology. We have a wonderful group of colleagues. Join us! Apply here: tinyurl.com/yxk5marb

The Department of Communication at the University of Arkansas is hiring a new Assistant Professor in Communication and Democracy as part of a cluster hire in Democracy and the Public Good! uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UAF_Ex...

Fashion’s Most Disgusting Product www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Opinion | Fashion’s Most Disgusting Product (Gift Article)

A modicum of self-restraint is the new black.

nytimes.com

Not only their best album, but one of the best of all time.

R.E.M. on this Day@remonthisday.bsky.social · 3w ago

On this day 30 years ago, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, the tenth studio album by R.E.M., was released. It was produced by Scott Litt and R.E.M.

We were so fortunate to be able to recruit Dave Tank as the new director of the MSU Herbarium. Very excited to see what he will do with this amazing resource. natsci.msu.edu/news/2026/20...

Cool video about the nitroplast that’s also a testament to why basic science is important! youtu.be/g9B3gBhcwqM?...

This cell just changed biology

YouTube video by Grist

youtu.be

Are you a mathematical modeller in ecology and evolution looking for a job? My department has an opening! Please spread the word! lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Senior Lecturer in Computational Biology

Lund University welcomes applicants with different backgrounds and experiences. Gender equality, equal opportunities and diversity are fundamental principles in all parts of the University’s activit

lu.varbi.com

“Cool” new NSF postdoc position available in my lab at UConn, studying our unique Arctic phytoplankton collection and the interactive effects of temperature, light, and photoperiod. 3 years of funding, detailed job ad here: s.uconn.edu/q1o0itl62l.

On behalf of 108 colleagues and friends from 11 countries, thrilled to share the first paper from our 100 #Diatom Genomes Project (100DGP). Just out @plosbiology.org | @norwichmicro.bsky.social | @ueaenv.bsky.social | @jgi.doe.gov doi.org/10.1371/jour...

The 100 Diatom Genomes Project

This Community Page presents the 100 Diatom Genomes Project, which aims to sequence the genomes and transcriptomes of 100 diatom species across major lineages, life forms and ecological strategies. Th...

doi.org

Very important paper by @phylogenetrips.bsky.social "Genes and sites under adaptation at the phylogenetic scale also exhibit adaptation at the population-genetic scale" | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Genes and sites under adaptation at the phylogenetic scale also exhibit adaptation at the population-genetic scale | PNAS

Adaptation in protein-coding sequences can be detected from multiple sequence alignments across species or alternatively by leveraging polymorphism...

pnas.org

Paying attention to awkward silences has made me a better teacher and collaborator Real understanding begins when smooth, jargon-filled discussions break down, this researcher writes. #AcademicChatter https://bit.ly/4pU1CMl

Perhaps AI will be the grit that makes the pearl: making institutions articulate, for the first time in decades if not ever, what the hell they’re about and what an education is supposed to be for. (This from the MIT committee‘s report on AI)

🎥 Sakalli et al. present Phylo-Movies, a browser-based tool that decomposes topological differences between consecutive phylogenetic trees into interpretable rooted subtree prune-and-regraft moves and animates these transformations. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #societyjournal #compbio

Some info from Chuck Delwiche on Desmodesmus, our national alga.

National Alga

YouTube video by Charles Francis Delwiche

youtu.be

My new book, Phylogenetic Biology, is now published. Available online for free at dunnlab.org/phylogenetic... . Physical copies can be purchased at shop.lightningsource.com/b/085?params... or your favorite bookstore.

Tenure track professor in Rapid Marine Adaptation at the University of Vienna! Deadline: Sept. 15th jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T...

Our paper on how better amino acid substitution matrices trained on cleaned alignments improve gene tree inference, and on best practice for cleaning MSAs more broadly, is now out academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-.... New options in both IQTree and Muscle5. @phylowheeler.bsky.social

Improved gene tree inference from removing alignment errors both from focal genes and when training substitution models

Abstract. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is a key step in phylogenetic analysis and is prone to error. Unfortunately, algorithms that remove likely alig

academic.oup.com

Joanna Masel@joannamasel.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Sequence alignments are notoriously prone to error. Our latest preprint offers a new tool for filtering errors out, assesses it and other filtering tools, and recommends new best practice. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @phylowheeler.bsky.social 1/10