David Pollock

Estimates of molecular convergence reveal multiple genes with adaptive variation across teleost fish Abstract. Molecular convergence, where specific nonsynonymous changes in protein-coding genes lead to identical amino acid substitutions across multiple li

Just starting to read this paper on genome-wide convergence in fishes. Looks very worthwhile, and nice to see people using CSUBST. @agneeshbarua.bsky.social @msrivastava95.bsky.social Brice Beinsteiner Vincent Laudet @marcrr.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

How did those axis rearrangements make it past the reviewers?

So the grad student was just foresightful in recognizing that you should have already written this? Sounds like you need to apologize for not having done so. \s

The question I wouldn't want to answer is how many papers were also there at the beginning of 2025, or beginning of 2024...

Yes, I agree with you that it is often not done.

Asking editors to do a semblance of their job seems kind of extremist these days, but is it too late to save peer review?

today I learned things about magic ponies that I never knew before

"Artificial Regurgitation" works, AR

Close cousin to "There are 10 programs out there to do this analysis, so we'll run all 10 and take the average. That's the ticket."

Midgely is generally a great read

I think if Vaughn reflected more on this being a true psychological and mental health imperative, he might be more accepting of having to ignore that inbox until January.

amen

That toxic waste will then pollute the data sets used to train the next generation of AI models, leading to ‘model collapse’ as the AI tries and fails to model incoherent garbage, vomiting out yet more incoherent garbage in the process. Meanwhile repositories of scholarly information are destroyed.

Right, why should 2026 get the credit for something that was mostly done in 2025.

PhD position available at the University of Bern in Prof. Claudia Bank's lab. Application deadline: Jan 9, 2026. Ideal for candidates with a strong math and programming background. More info: https://banklab.github.io/positions/ #phd

This looks nice. Thinking of going back to grad school so I can sign up...

A Pioneering Genetic Catalog Reveals Hidden Biodiversity in Basque Estuary Sediments - environment coastal & offshore An international research team led by the technology center AZTI has created the first gene catalog of estuarine sediments along the Basque coast. This groundbreaking scientific resource provides an i...

The first of its kind! ecomagazine.com/news/coastal... @azti.bsky.social @lanzen.bsky.social #eDNA #Biodiversity #MarineEcology

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I am repeating myself, but I think this should be the standard treatment for ai slop like this. End of file and send to the abyss as soon as possible.

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Screenshot from GRC portal confirming microbial population biology meeting June 27, 2027 in Andover, New Hampshire.

It’s officially happening folks! The Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference is back in Andover, New Hampshire starting June 27th of 2027!
See you there!!

@wcratcliff.bsky.social @ksbakes.bsky.social @surtlab.bsky.social

#microsky #mevosky

Evolution of bioluminescence in Anthozoa with emphasis on Octocorallia Abstract. Bioluminescence is a widespread phenomenon that has evolved multiple times across the tree of life, converging among diverse fauna and habitat ty

Bioluminescence, phylogenetic analysis, ancestral reconstruction. This looks like a fun paper for my reading list. (credit to @evolutionsoup.bsky.social for bringing to my attention).
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Good advice to beginning graduate students (and others, maybe everybody):

"good writing is downstream of clear thinking and a strong understanding of the subject matter at hand."

--Jamelle Bouie @jamellebouie.net

This is an interesting distraction driven by @jessicacalarco.com. The comment below misses the point that human-support (and art) wage rises are a lagging effect. It seems that what needs to happen is to accelerate the effect to counteract inequality. UBI perhaps? Decrease educational costs?

Putting aside comment on anything else, this claim about tautological definitions is definitively wrong. Certain processes can lead to predictable equilibria, and observation of those equilibria, esp. if otherwise rare, is evidence for the process. Puddles are predictive of past rain.

If you can end with "this is a good world" you are doing something right.

also liked the idea of upping "to the moon and back again". Ha! Only to the moon? to the end of the universe and back again more like it!

Very sorry that you thought I was annoyed in any way. As a rule if I am actually annoyed at something I try not to write it in a forum like this, but please believe me when I say I was just playing with the concepts. I'll review why it came off as annoyed.

a) many from fields who thought they were v smart found biology difficult to conquer, let alone evolution
b) you snuck "measurable" in there, changes things
c) is length of universe really measurable? Why do units have to exist as things in themselves?
d) to the end of the universe, and back again

These two have made a difference. This prize will help them make even more of a difference.