Really amazing!

A speeding clock could solve Darwin’s mystery of gaps in animal fossil records Scientists have long been confused about ‘missing’ animal fossils.

I’ve written something for The Conversation on a fascinating recent paper by @grahbudd.bsky.social and @richardpmann.bsky.social on problems with molecular clocks. academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...

theconversation.com/a-speeding-c...

Sponges, ctenophores, and the statistical significance of syntenies Abstract. Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cni

@rcply.bsky.social argues that phylogenetic inferences in sponge–ctenophore–bilaterian relationships based on shared chromosomal rearrangements suffer from insufficient statistical support.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf321

#evobio #molbio

Good luck for the future!

Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies Abstract. Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cni

Some more shenanigans on the Ctenophora Porifera debate from @rcply.bsky.social academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Cover of book titled The Tree of Life: solving science's greatest puzzle.

My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.

Available as book, on kindle and as audio.

I would be really grateful for reposts.

www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...

Have you seen this one? U 1125 at Krogsta.

My home town! :)

But it is at least striking and indisputable that it is precisely in Western Europe where we think mostly of the church and its influence that modern science emerged and so vigorously developed. Correlation is not causation but the counterfactual, that the church inhibited it would be hard to show.

The “church” considered broadly as an institution has existed for a long time and in many places and it is hard to draw completely comprehensive conclusions. Byzantium for example isn’t normally associated with significant scientific advances (but see people like Philoponus who influenced Galileo).

Of course the scientific revolution made immense advances. But these advances were in many cases built on or at least partly anticipated by earlier work. The idea of dividing human history into watertight “periods” such as the dark ages or scientific revolution has long been abandoned by historians.

Laskill - Wikipedia

In many cases it was the church structures themselves that enabled technological advance. One example is the development of blast furnaces and metallurgy by the Cistercians (see eg

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskill ) and arguably it was the Reformation that put a stop to such inventiveness.

The height of the power of the medieval papacy was between say 1100-1300 peaking with Innocent III at 1198-1216. But that corresponds to the “high Middle Ages” which saw great advances in all sorts of ways in Western Europe including in science and technology.

When do you think that period was?

Last time I visited you had to get the key from a shop down the road is that still true??

With the wonderful Purbeck effigy of Lawrence of Arabia!

Palaeontology: Straightening out early echinoderms Fossil material of echinoderms from the Cambrian of Morocco suggests a novel reconstruction of early echinoderm evolution and ties in with recent adva…

My dispatch on early echinoderms (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...

After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1

Evolutionary Tempo, Supertaxa, and Living Fossils Abstract. A relationship between the rate of molecular change and diversification has long been discussed, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Howev

Do diversification rates and molecular evolution covary? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s surprising how much falls into place if we assume they do doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Main findings: clades very imbalanced; large clades likely to have emerged at time of high tempo and then slowed; expected amount of molecular change on each branch equal (so no molecular clock in this model) and large diverse clades expected to be accompanied by small, conservative “living fossils”

Evolutionary Tempo, Supertaxa, and Living Fossils Abstract. A relationship between the rate of molecular change and diversification has long been discussed, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Howev

Our covariant model of evolution is now out in @systbiol.bsky.social. In it, rates of diversification and molecular and morphological evolution all covary governed by a “tempo” variable which itself also varies at a rate equal to its own value. @richardpmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

My book 'The Tree of Life' will be available in Spanish translation in October. Other languages coming too. (Uk version here... www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So...)

We are looking for new colleagues to come join us in Galway as group leaders (Junior and Senior). The Centre for Chromosome Biology is a great place and it is a good time to join. Please reach out if you want to chat about the opportunity!
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Viator’s Bridge of Izaak Walton fame at Milldale in the Peak District

Wildflowers

That’s what I always thought until I moved to Sweden where they fly around my summer house!

Cephalanthera longifolia (narrow-leaved helleborine) and Cypripedium calceolus (Lady’s slipper orchid) on Gräsö.

Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025) - Daily Nous Alasdair MacIntyre, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and Duke University, well-known for his work in moral and political philosophy, has died. Professor MacIntyre wrote...

Very sorry to hear of the death of Alisdair MacIntyre. ”After Virtue” was never more apposite. dailynous.com/2025/05/22/a...

Here is our attempt at summarizing the state of the evidence for the punctuated equilibrium hypothesis. The paper is part of a special issue of Paleobiology celebrating the 50th anniversary of the PE Hypothesis. Work led by Gene Hunt. @lhliow.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cnidarians and bilaterians to the exclusion of ctenophores...

New entry into the sponge/ctenophore debate.... Have the chromosome fusions separating ctenophores from all other animals been given too much weight? Beautifully clearly written paper covering complex arguments from @rcply.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...