Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

I've had "What's up, Doc??" thrown at me winkingly so many hundreds of times that I no longer hear it

Widow's Bay DSA@gonebabygone.bsky.social · last wk.

I saw someone suggest Nolan made Odysseus more brooding because Americans don't have any cultural background with the trickster hero and that might be the "Charlie Brown had hoes" of cultural anthropology

The anatomy of an AI-supported academic article is becoming more apparent. I desk reviewed ~70 manuscripts this week for our journal. Reckon 20ish had significant AI assistance. On top of hundreds of others recently I'm starting to see patterns. Are other editors are seeing the same or similar? 1/

I’m looking to hire one or two postdocs - possible projects include pop gen theory, methods development, and human evolutionary inference. Please share, and email if you are interested. More info: evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...

It’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.

Dan Vergano@danvergano.bsky.social · 2mo ago

White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final approval of research grants These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...

I am beyond excited to announce that I will be joining the Dept. of Biosciences at Rice as an Assistant Professor this summer! I’m incredibly grateful to my mentors and colleagues for their guidance and encouragement throughout this journey. More soon—I’ll be recruiting students and postdocs!

Hi Genetics/Comp-Bio community 👋 Interested in mentoring a comp-bio research student in East Africa over the summer? Do you have any experience in bioinformatics, biostats, genome/RNA-seq analyses, ML, or metagenomics? We'd love to have you as a mentor in our new program! 🧵 (1/n)

I am excited to share my first paper, our new preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... with @arbelharpak.bsky.social and @docedge.bsky.social. Family GWAS provides direct genetic effect estimates and is increasingly important. But how much can we trust these estimates? (1/15)

Re-upping this: applications we get by next week will get full consideration

Doc Edge@docedge.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Please repost: My department at USC is hiring for a teaching-track faculty position. We are looking for someone principally to teach statistics for biologists, but there will be opportunities for other courses in statistics & algorithms applied to biology usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

Super excited to see this out! Fantastic collaboration with Luke O'Connor and trainees Amber Shen and Xinran Wang. Thread with details will come soon, but linear ARG provide a HIGHLY efficient representation of genotype data that can be treated as a linear operator www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Absolutely fascinating how nearly every teacher and professor I know is now overhauling their pedagogy to put everything on old-fashioned paper, while (and in large part because) massive investments in AI like this roll in. I have no idea what will come of this. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/u...

U.S.C. Will Infuse A.I. Across University With $200 Million Donation

nytimes.com

Last weekend I received the Troland Research Award from the @nationalacademies.org. I’m so grateful to the communities who made this work possible. It's strange to receive this award at a time when much of the work being recognized is not eligible for federal funding. My remarks 👇 and a 🧵>>

NAS 163rd Annual Meeting - Awards Ceremony

YouTube video by National Academy of Sciences

youtube.com

Congratulations to @jrossibarra.bsky.social on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences! We'll be popping some corn in his honor www.ucdavis.edu/news/nationa...

National Academy of Sciences Elects UC Davis Maize Geneticist Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra

The National Academy of Sciences has elected Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at University of California, Davis, as a member. His election was announced April...

ucdavis.edu

Over the moon for @jrossibarra.bsky.social ! A great scientist, colleague, and friend. Still terrible puns though.

Please repost: My department at USC is hiring for a teaching-track faculty position. We are looking for someone principally to teach statistics for biologists, but there will be opportunities for other courses in statistics & algorithms applied to biology usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

This is so unbelievably pathetic

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo ago

RFK Jr: "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'" Trump: "Right"

Great postdoc opportunity!

Jazlyn Mooney@jazlynmooney.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I am hiring a popgen postdoc! Looking for a creative scientist to join us at USC to investigate recessive variation and complex traits in model or non-model species. The project is funded by a multi-year NIH grant, contract can be renewed. Job add & details 👇🏽 usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

I am hiring a popgen postdoc! Looking for a creative scientist to join us at USC to investigate recessive variation and complex traits in model or non-model species. The project is funded by a multi-year NIH grant, contract can be renewed. Job add & details 👇🏽 usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

Genome-wide genealogies reveal deep admixtures forming modern humans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.17.719197v1

For an update on our preprint about the mysterious signature SBS5, see: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... New analyses throughout, but see Figure 5 in particular.

Molly Przeworski@mollyprz.bsky.social · 11mo ago

In these dark times, it comes as a rare pleasure to highlight @natanaels.bsky.social ‬ & @marcdemanuel.bsky.social's work on germline and somatic mutations in humans. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Thrilled to have been able to review 'The Paradox of the Organism: Adaptation and Internal Conflict', a volume edited by @arvidagren.bsky.social & Manus Patten. "...the reality that complex organisms function at all feels like pure magic, with the powers of molecular evolution behind the curtain."

Nature@nature.com · 4mo ago

Book review 📚 Dawkin’s paradox: dissecting the body’s battle to keep selfish genes in check go.nature.com/4uZ4rxD

General, orders-of-magnitude faster whole-genome analysis with genotype representation graphs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.10.717786v1

Delighted to share our latest research from the 23andMe Research Team, just published in @nature.com ! We looked at data from >27,000 participants to uncover how human genetics influences weight loss efficacy and side effects of GLP-1 medications like semaglutide. A short thread 🧵👇

I’m so glad someone covered this story. Brian is an amazing scholar and person who I’ve been blessed to be able to get to know, even a little. What happened to him is awful

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“We’ve lost out on the ability to continue to improve this work to make it more effective, and to explore how to apply it to other areas…There are a lot of different ways that genetics has been used to justify prejudice and…that human-made social categories interface with biological categories“🧪

Brian Donovan had persuaded high school teachers and education researchers that prejudice might be ended by changing how genetics is taught. www.statnews.com/2026/04/07/b...

A star scientist showed that better genetics lessons could reduce racism. It was the death knell for his career

Brian Donovan had persuaded high school teachers and education researchers that prejudice might be ended by changing how genetics is taught.

statnews.com

Brian and I were grad students together. He's a mensch, and the goons who torpedoed his funding and his livelihood are contemptible.

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“We’ve lost out on the ability to continue to improve this work to make it more effective, and to explore how to apply it to other areas…There are a lot of different ways that genetics has been used to justify prejudice and…that human-made social categories interface with biological categories“🧪

“We’ve lost out on the ability to continue to improve this work to make it more effective, and to explore how to apply it to other areas…There are a lot of different ways that genetics has been used to justify prejudice and…that human-made social categories interface with biological categories“🧪

A star scientist showed that better genetics lessons could reduce racism. It was the death knell for his career

Brian Donovan had persuaded high school teachers and education researchers that prejudice might be ended by changing how genetics is taught.

statnews.com

We're already losing a generation of scientists because of the things this administration has done. Grad students not admitted, faculty jobs not available. It's a crisis we won't see the cost of for 10 years but we'll feel it

Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This isn’t a “could face” situation. It’s a “are facing” situation. And brain drain will continue to happen as long as we undermine science in the US. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/b...

Why do schizophrenia GWAS signals look so flat across the genome? In our recent preprint, we explored why psychiatric disorders — and, more broadly, brain-related traits involving the central nervous system — appear to have unusual genetic architectures. 🧵1/n

The boss

Indivisible ❌👑@indivisible.org · 4mo ago

Bruce Springsteen: This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. Well, they picked the wrong city.