At #Botany2026, I was hoping to start recruiting for my lab group. If you are interested in polyploidy and population genetics, please reach out.
Jake Berv
@jakeberv.bsky.social
Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow | evolution | systematic biology | natural history | barbeque enthusiast
Our paper (also, my first first-author paper) is now available in MEE early view! In this study, we introduced a state-dependent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model we implemented in RevBayes to test adaptive hypotheses in macroevolution. (1/3) besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
An efficient Bayesian phylogenetic approach for joint inference of continuous and discrete trait evolution under a state‐dependent Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model
Macroevolutionary adaptation of a continuous trait to different discrete states across species can be modelled using a phylogenetic state-dependent Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) process. Existing infere...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
"The academic structure … makes planning for a family feel like an impossible luxury." In this Working Life, two postdocs share how, as women in academia, having children can feel impossible—and how talking about it makes them feel less alone. https://scim.ag/46uBWgD #InternationalDayOfFriendship
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Jurassic Park Dinosaur Encounter
ALT: Jurassic Park Dinosaur Encounter
static.klipy.com
Alan Elrod@aselrod.bsky.social · 7d agoFilm you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
This is Fenrir. He has not yet been successful in cuddling with the cat. But thinks if he goes slow enough she might not notice. 13/10 (IG: fenrirfanclub)
We only rate dogs. This is a very fast tater tot. Please stay out of the way as he clearly has places to be, and only send dogs. Thank you... 12/10 (IG: choppertp)
Two tenured, mid-career positions available in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan: Climate-Driven Hazards and Earth Surface Dynamics. Applications due Aug. 15th: lsa.umich.edu/earth/about-...
Job Postings | U-M LSA Earth and Environmental Sciences
lsa.umich.edu
This is what happens when you replace experts with techbros using AI. It’s insulting, embarrassing, and massively damaging to US reputation capital.
Alt USAID/ USAID Forever@altusaid.altgov.info · last wk.We can't even. "A senior US State Department official displayed a map of Africa that was completely wrong before high-level officials from African nations, including some whose countries had been mislabelled." open.substack.com/pub/emilysba...
The New York Times wouldn't let me write about the Age of Diarrhea so I had to do it myself.
Welcome to the Age of Diarrhea
The future is not knowing what ails you
stringinamaze.net
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · 2y agowelcome to the Age of Diarrhea
This is Sampson. He's about to get hit with a vicious draw 2. Has no idea. Poor fella. 12/10
Sol 1931: Front Right Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam), taken at 15:50:43.718 (local mean solar time)
Welcome to Super Seabird Sunday where we ask you to share photos, videos & artwork of seabirds. Here is my contribution of a Puffin holdings a bill full of Sandeels ready to feed a hungry youngster #SuperSeabirdSunday
Facing federal science budget cuts, biologist Daniel Blumstein resorted to uploading marmot videos to OnlyFans to raise funds for his marmot research. However, when he uploaded his driver’s license for verification, OnlyFans informed him that his appearance didn’t match the marmots in the videos.
‘OnlyMarms’: Marmots Are on OnlyFans to Raise Money for Research (Gift Article)
A team of scientists uploaded videos of the squirrel-like rodents in the wild on the adult-content site OnlyFans to raise money amid government budget cuts.
nytimes.com
Ingenuity | SuperCam | Sol 879 - From Simeon Schmauß (stim3on.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2pzv1ty
More on the Trump / Kratsios "Golden Age of Science" report, from @theverge.com
The tech-broification of American science has officially begun
Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ of American science starts with dismantling it, while funneling billions into AI.
theverge.com
UC Davis will no longer pay the difference so that GRFP recipients earn the same as other students. So mid-PhD students will lose nearly 25% of salary & new students will make less than their peers. Apply for the GRFP, it’s a wonderful help to your career. Just don’t come here if you get one.
A friend sent me an image of the Saturnian moon Daphnis that was clearly AI and I’m so flipping angry because these are REAL pics of Daphnis YOU DON’T HAVE TO AI SPACE IT IS ALREADY FUCKING AMAZING AHHH
Sol 1927: Left Mastcam-Z Camera, acquired at 10:44:01.739 (local mean solar time), image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Updated my applyingtoeeb.info site on applying to evolution and ecology grad school in the US to incorporate some of the latest immigration changes. Share with any REU or other students who might be considering grad school.
😯
KamilSJaron.bsky.social@kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 2w agoNew preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...
This is Chubbers. He is catching a wave. But more importantly, catching a vibe. 14/10 (IG: nataliepaigebentley)
OK here we go, as promised. Super detailed tutorials on how to duplicate the full pipeline (sans spatial). # install.packages("remotes") remotes::install_github("jakeberv/bifrost") jakeberv.com/bifrost/arti... Issues here: github.com/jakeberv/bif... Or, click the "Open in Colab" button.
Articles
jakeberv.com
Jake Berv@jakeberv.bsky.social · 2w agoHappy to share this 'capstone' project from my time as a postdoc @umich.edu, where we show that hierarchically nested bursts of body-shape evolution may underlie much of perching-bird diversification over ~50 million years. Free access link here: rdcu.be/fuxB1
Reminder there's a website that tracks, with citations, the words and phrases reportedly used in the US to identify grant proposals, etc for later review: uskeywords.org
I think it's so funny that the GSA meeting for C. elegans is just called "Worm Meeting". Like hello we are gathered today to discuss Worms
Proud to share our latest paper in out in Nature today on the origin of #snakes. We present Tametara mirim, an articulated 3D preserved stem snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. Tametara helped us re-tell the story of snake origins in a novel way... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Exceptional brain and ecological diversity in the earliest snakes - Nature
A well-preserved fossil snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil shows early ecological and brain shape disparity in the group.
nature.com
