Our review on the evolutionary arms race between copepods and diatoms is now published in @aslo.org #ASLO_LO 🌊
We discuss the most common defense mechanisms found in diatoms, and how copepods have evolved to overcome them. Check it out #openaccess
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Somehow this paper has been largely ignored, but the basic idea has been presented by others as novel, or the idea gets misattributed to someone else. If you're interested in #diatom sex and its evolutionary importance, read and cite this paper.
www.jstor.org/stable/2460887
If you use GitHub (especially if you pay for it!!) consider doing this *immediately*
Settings -> Privacy -> Disallow GitHub to train their models on your code.
GitHub opted *everyone* into training. No matter if you pay for the service (like I do). WTH
github.com/settings/cop...
This is great.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/c... (free link)
"Notably, half of the whales attending were not related to the mother."
"The calf was rarely left untouched, and it was usually being touched by at least two whales simultaneously."
In our new pre-print, we established massive single-cell RNA-sequencing for diatoms to investigate key cell fate transitions. Notably, we discovered that the diploid-to-haploid transition is regulated by Myb TFs, a process that is actively ongoing across the Global Ocean! 🌊
Turner et al. introduce OrthoGarden, an automated and containerized de novo assembly-based phylogenomics pipeline aimed at recovering accurate and reproducible phylogenies from any combination of short reads and assemblies.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag053
#evobio #molbio #compbio
🔥🔥🔥
molecules were instrumental in defining the 10 classes, morphology indispensable for most of the rest
You can download a spreadsheet of the classification here. Useful for all sorts of reasons. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Our phylogenetic classification of >400 diatom genera is now published in Journal of Phycology.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Awesome Master’s degree level #Phycology job at UC Berkeley!
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05258?fbc...
Trying to imagine my time at UT without discussions of parsimony vs. likelihood.
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
No I cannot be on your important panel, sorry.
No I cannot review your exciting grant, sorry.
No I cannot review your groundbreaking paper, sorry.
No I cannot help you with your awesome outreach project, sorry.
Because all of this^ is invisible on my uni workload model and therefore worthless.
🤷♀️
This is a real timelapse video of the Moon transiting in front of the Earth.
It was captured by the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft in November 2022 while flying at it's furthest point from the Earth.
The video covers about 3.75 hours of real time. 🔭🧪
Our paper on the need for field studies to test ocean iron fertilization as a climate solution is out - please read it, share widely, and let me know what you think!
❤️
So good!
The Brown Lab at Mississippi State University seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Phylogenomics. Applicants should have sequencing data analysis experience, preferably in Python/R. Details at: https://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job/510010 #postdoc
I would not have a job.
Two live sets I listen to repeatedly this time of year. Had both of them on cassette in the 90s.
youtu.be/iavST2Uecm4?...
🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 Marine Scientist Position – Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), full-time, permanent Marine Scientist position based in Panama. Application review begins February 15, 2026 (open until filled). Early-career researchers are strongly encouraged to apply. www.stri.si.edu
Back in the day, I spent a lot of effort pointing out that many claims of lateral gene transfer between taxa were better explained by other phenomena, like gene loss, duplicaiton and deletion, convergence, bad informatics, etc 1/n
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
Conserved genetic markers reveal widespread diatom sexual reproduction in the global ocean www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊
The amoeba Difflugia bacillifera builds its shell from things that contain silica, and it is not particular about the source. These ones have incorporated whole shells from another testate amoeba (Euglypha), along with diatoms, algal cysts and chunks of rock. #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #peatlands
Cool!
