Desmond Morris, zoologist behind bestselling studies of human behaviour from The Naked Ape to Manwatching Calling man a ‘risen ape’ rather than a ‘fallen angel’, and declaring religion ‘a confidence trick’, he enraged Christians in the 1960s

Gosh, I didn't know when recording this that it would become one of the last reflections on Desmond Morris's work during his lifetime. He passed away the day after it aired. The Naked Ape changed the conversation. What a legacy to leave. www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...

Archive on 4 - The Evolution of The Naked Ape - BBC Sounds Ella Al-Shamahi revisits Desmond Morris’s controversial book The Naked Ape, six decades on

Can a book be scientifically flawed & still transform how we see ourselves? The Naked Ape is proof that connecting with your audience matters, even when it ruffles academic feathers. Loved joining @ellaalshamahi.bsky.social & fellow guests to unpack this on BBC Radio 4 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪

*High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations
*We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained
*EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy

journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

🔊 Looking for a Research Assistant in Bacterial Evolution to join my lab 🦠
🥼Main duties: Research (AMR + microbiome) + lab assistance.
⏲️ Post duration: 30 months
🗓️ Closing date for applications: 20th April 2026
💰 Salary: ~£35k

Details and how to apply: tinyurl.com/2a3v66y7

Please share!

Was in Oxford today examining a D Phil viva and I couldn't help but take a peek at the new @biology.ox.ac.uk building. Looking a bit fancier than the old Tinbergen building!

Little Changes an introduction to evolution Click on the image below, to read the story. Meet the Rinkidinks. They live together in one large happy family, carefree and untroubled by the rest of the world. Until …

Happy #DarwinDay 🧬🌿! To celebrate, why not share a story about #evolution with a #FutureScientist? My book, Little Changes, is a fun bedtime story for young readers to explore how small changes shape the living world.
littlestories.co.uk/little-chang...
#ScienceForKids #STEMBooks

(CODE M) Losing your head: how do bacterial viruses evolve into anti-competitor weapons? at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - (CODE M) Losing your head: how do bacterial viruses evolve into anti-competitor weapons? at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 PhD Studentship available! 🚨

We're hiring a UK student to start in Oct '26 via the BBSRC CODEM scheme. Full studentship plus £10k top-up PA. Study the mysterious ZOMBIE PHAGES 🧟 🦠 with our fabulous @mermanchester.bsky.social and @uommib.bsky.social communities!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The 2026 EMBO course in Computational and Experimental Microbiomics held in @uniofbath.bsky.social has been announced! Come and join us for this course to study host-microbe interactions and co-evolution.
⏰ When: 6-18 July 26
🚨 Registration: 11 May 26
🔗 meetings.embo.org/event/26-mic...

If you’re interested in:

• gene regulatory network evolution
• transcription factor promiscuity
• predictability of adaptation
• or why evolution so often repeats itself

give the paper a read and let me know your thoughts.

The same principles likely extend beyond bacteria.

Across life, regulatory novelty often arises by redeploying existing network components - not by inventing new ones.

Evolution tinkers with what is already there.

These findings help reframe crosstalk.

Rather than asking
“why is crosstalk tolerated?”

we should ask:
how does crosstalk shape evolvability?

Importantly, TF recruitment is not well predicted by:

✗ sequence similarity alone
✗ structural similarity alone
✗ DNA-binding domain similarity alone

Context matters more than identity.

In our system, evolution often proceeds in two steps:

1. mutations increase TF activity/expression
2. subsequent mutations refine binding towards new promoters

And which TF is rewired is predictable based on the path of least resistance: the most mutationally accessible route.

That third point is key.

Low-level, non-cognate binding (aka crosstalk) provides the raw material for innovation.

Selection doesn’t invent new interactions from scratch.
It amplifies ones that already exist weakly.

Why these TFs and not others?

Our work shows three properties matter most:

• ability to reach high activity
• ability to reach high expression
• some pre-existing low-level affinity for new targets

Only a small subset of transcription factors can take over the lost function.
And they do so in a clear hierarchy of accessibility:
some regulators are evolutionary “first responders”.

When the flagellar master regulator (FleQ) is deleted, bacteria repeatedly evolve motility back - but not randomly.
They follow highly predictable evolutionary routes.

Using experimental evolution in Pseudomonas fluorescens, we can watch regulatory rewiring happen in real time.

Delete a master regulator → apply selection → observe evolutionary rescue.

This “promiscuous” binding is usually viewed as noise and costly misregulation that cells have evolved to suppress (and that is true for locally adapted organisms!).

But what if those mistakes can also matter for evolution? And is it possible to define it's role?

Gene regulation is often described as neat and deterministic, with each transcription factor (TF) controlling its own specific targets.
Reality is messier: They make mistakes; They engage in crosstalk/promiscuous binding

Transcription Factor Promiscuity Drives Regulatory Rewiring and Evolvability in Gene Networks in Bacteria This special issue marking the University of Bath's 60th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on nearly a decade of research into the evolution of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from members...

New Perspective out in Advanced Science 🎉 in collaboration with @alanrice.ie for @uniofbath.bsky.social 60th anniversary special issue.
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
We review nearly a decade of work asking:
how do gene regulatory networks rewire during evolution?
🧫🧵

If you’re interested in antibiotic resistance evolution in Pseudomonas, come to @flanagella.bsky.social’s poster (number 11) 💊 #MicroEvo25

🔬 Interested in bacterial immune systems & AMR, or how antibiotics affect phage infectivity?

Three SWBio DTP PhD project opportunities linked to the MultiDefence consortium are now open (1/4)

#PhD #DoctoralTraining #ResearchCarrers #LifeSciences #phagesky #AMR #microsky #PhDPositions

The 2025 Curriculum Review is great news for STEM

✅ Depth over breadth
✅ Hands-on science
✅ Digital literacy
✅ Equity & progression.

My FREE Evolution Project brings these STEM priorities to life through engaging, hands-on learning.
www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/di...
#STEM #CurriculumReview

The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com

There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... The supervisory team also includes @anja1.bsky.social @phil-donoghue.bsky.social and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)

🙋🏻‍♀️

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

@yueyicai.bsky.social

Excited to share brilliant work @josie-e.bsky.social. She built a minimal type I-F CRISPR-Cas system where parts (like spacers) can be easily swapped. Against a panel of phages it gave full protection in most cases—though for some, immunity was stronger in low-nutrient growth. Check out her 🧵 below!

PhD opportunity, please share:

We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA.
All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...