Ruibao's first paper from the lab is out in @nature.com . www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Collab with @multicellgenome.bsky.social & @jennahed.bsky.social. How did cells stick together and form the first animals? The protist Ministeria suggests cellular aggregation had a role. @iuqcb.bsky.social

A unicellular relative links aggregative multicellularity to animal origins - Nature

Aggregative multicellularity was key to the evolution of the multicellular animal genetic toolkit.

nature.com

In my lab's latest, we experimentally test the decades-old idea that plants switch from bee to hummingbird pollinators in tropical mountains because bee activity declines in cool cloud forest conditions nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Pollinator efficiency, rather than bee decline, explains a shift to hummingbird pollination in tropical montane forests

Hummingbird pollination is a hallmark of American plant diversity and has long been thought to evolve in tropical mountains due to declining bee activity. Using sister species of Costus specialized o...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Very happy to announce a big new paper from the lab, led by grad students @smishra677.bsky.social and Laia Pomar-Pallarès (in collaboration with @roblanfear.bsky.social). We introduce a new way to study introgression, with accompanying software (DAFT) 1/n 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks for having me - I had a great time meeting so many of you!!

@psu-entomology.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Fantastic seminar today from @kdarragh.bsky.social today! Dr Darragh shared about ancient and repeated origins of novel biosynthesis pathways in butterflies 🦋

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama! Three positions, each including salary & a research budget. Applications due April, 15th. DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us! stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

Looking forward to #Dros26 this week. My lab is recruiting and I would be delighted to chat with anyone interested in grad school/postdoc positions in evolutionary cell biology and developmental genetics. Please reach out if interested!

💡Online now - the Spotlight "Ancient enzyme diversification underpins octocoral chemical diversity" from @kdarragh.bsky.social. #TerpeneSynthase #Diterpenes #BiosyntheticPathway #Octocorals #Evolution Read it here 👉 authors.elsevier.com/a/1mURq3S6Gf...

I had a lot of fun writing this spotlight on a recent PNAS paper by @immo-burkhardt.bsky.social showing the diversification of terpene synthesis early in octocoral evolution - very cool study!! authors.elsevier.com/a/1mURq3S6Gf...

What a way to start the year!! Really enjoyed the usual friendly atmosphere at PopGroup and all the research shared. Many thanks to the organisers @popgroup2026.bsky.social If anyone is interested in joining my group or coming to Sweden please get in touch 🧬❄️

Always inspiring to start the year at @popgroup2026.bsky.social ! If you were there and want to learn more about pangenomes, there’s still time to register for our meeting in Edinburgh in June, co-organised with @charlottewright.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social royalsociety.org/science-even...

So excited to read this!!

Nicholas Bellono@nbellono.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Wendy Valencia-Montoya and team uncover thermal infrared as one of the most ancient pollination signals uniting plants and animals. From the field to single proteins. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#NSF funding is crucial for uncovering and developing new engineered solutions to our probleme based on plant and animal biology. #saveNSF www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How Inventors Find Inspiration in Evolution

Soft batteries and water-walking robots are among the many creations made possible by studying animals and plants.

nytimes.com

Hi Folks ! Just a few more days to register for the POPGROUP meeting (deadline = this Monday 10/11/2025). Join us in the beautiful city of #Lille just across the Channel for three exciting days of science and more ! www.hautsdefrancetourism.com/destinations... --> populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk

Things to do in Lille | Hauts-de-France Tourism – Official Website

From the top of the town hall’s belfry, the whole of Lille is laid before you. Visit la Grand Place, the Vieille Bourse. Stroll along the sloping cobbled

hautsdefrancetourism.com

POPGROUP59@popgroup2026.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Exciting news! The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris. This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk See you there !

My lab at Indiana University is searching for a *postdoc* and *technician* to contribute to our work studying the evolution of social behavior using fruit flies as a model system. Details below, feel free to email me with any questions! More info on our research: saltzlab.com

Darragh lab ready for Halloween! @zar-rebholz.bsky.social

Just a few days left to apply to our TT position in Plant Physiology in the Dept. of Biology @UMassAmherst! Join a great group of plant scientists (and physiologists 😉) AND fall in love with small town New England! Please repost. careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u...

The Hopkins Lab (hopkins-lab.com) at the University of Florida is looking to recruit a postdoc to work on the genetics of organ function and evolution across Drosophila and beyond. Please visit tinyurl.com/vcsjpmzz or email me for more info. And please RT or send to anyone who might be interested!

If you are a plant biologist interested in collaborating on an evolutionary floral scent/plant volatile project please reach out! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation

simonsfoundation.org

Very happy to announce that the next POPGROUP meeting will take place in Lille on 7-9 January ! Follow ‪@popgroup2026.bsky.social for all updates. 📢 Please share widely ! 📢‬

POPGROUP59@popgroup2026.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Exciting news! The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris. This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk See you there !

Exciting news! The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris. This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk See you there !

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

Considering submitting to Evolution? The EELS program offers free, light-touch English language editing for prospective authors. Learn more: www.evolutionsociety.org/publications...

Come here me talk at #Evol2025 about butterfly chemical evolution today (Saturday) at 3pm in room Athens AB (Parallel Evolution I). Stay for Zarley Rebholz on chemical convergence between plants and ladybirds!

I am delighted to be starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at the University of Florida in January 2026. The lab is broadly interested in the functional, developmental, and evolutionary genetics of cell types and organs across flies and beyond 🪰🧬

The @labschulz.bsky.social worked out how to make HNDB, a species-specific perfume compound of the orchid bee Euglossa dilemma - and here they are collecting their freshly synthesized compound of choice!! Now published in Synlett: www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejo... #natprod

Orchid bees love HNDB! We developed a short g-scale synthesis of this compound, 2-hydroxy-6-nona-1,3-dienylbenzaldehyde, published in Synlett: www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejo... 🧪 #secmet #natprod

“This grant means freedom… I can take more risks.” Join us in congratulating the 2025 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award recipients, @aiinglim.bsky.social, Pavitra Muralidhar & Kavita Rangan 👏 1/2🧵

What happens to floral scent when it is no longer needed? At the genetic level, are genes lost or down-regulated? Fun new open access paper in MBE! #evosky #PlantScience

Kathy Darragh@kdarragh.bsky.social · last yr.

Convergent floral scent loss following transition to hummingbird pollination in spiral gingers (Costus). I had so much fun on this project with @kathleenmkay.bsky.social and Santiago Ramirez and am thrilled to see it published now in @MolBioEvol! academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Convergent floral scent loss following transition to hummingbird pollination in spiral gingers (Costus). I had so much fun on this project with @kathleenmkay.bsky.social and Santiago Ramirez and am thrilled to see it published now in @MolBioEvol! academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Hey if anyone is considering backing up any datasets for some reason today, the Open Science Framework has free storage up to 5G/private repository, and up to 50G/public repository. (The OSF is run by a 501c3 (Center for Open Science), so if you do this you might also consider making a donation.)

The OSF is available for preservation of datasets that need saving. osf.io Contact support@osf.io if you need assistance

Deborah Blum@deborahb.bsky.social · 2y ago

From a journalist friend: Just spreading the word. The CDC is purging data, so people should archive their favorite CDC datasets today, namely ones around race/ethnic diversity, LGBTQ, and reproductive health. Also health data involving climate. The youth risk behavior survey has already gone down.