MPI for Evolutionary Biology

Warum sind Kinder keine halben Kopien ihrer Eltern? Wie beeinflusst die DNA unsere Fruchtbarkeit? Rajalekshmi Narayana Sarma beantwortet diese und weitere spannende Fragen übermorgen bei der Women Science Show.

📅05.03.2026
🕖19:00 Uhr
📍STUDIO Filmtheater Kiel

@uni-kiel.de
@mpi-evolbio.bsky.social

Our very own Rajalekshmi N. Sarma is on the line-up! 🎤 Women Science Show (Science Comes to Town) — Thu, 5 March 2026, 7.00 pm, STUDIO Filmtheater, Kiel. Six 10-minute talks from early-career women researchers. Free entry — bring friends & family 😊

🌓🌊🦟 Wed 4 March 2026, 19:00 (Eutin): Eutiner Landesbibliothek, Schlossplatz 4. Dr Tobias Kaiser (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology #KaiserLab) — “The Moon, the Sea & the Mosquito”: a journey through biological clocks. Hosted by SHUG. #chronobiology

Beyond Mendel: a new genetics agenda
Most traits aren’t “one gene–one trait”. A Genetics perspective calls for new experimental paradigms to capture polygenic effects in real environmental context—backed by large-scale automated phenotyping and new infrastructure.
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3866699/news...

Emil Mallmin and colleagues at MPI EvolBio show that simple ecological models can reproduce real-world species abundance patterns—and help identify when ecosystems are fragile vs. resilient. Read and find out more here: www.evolbio.mpg.de/3865637/news...

Julia Margaret Cameron (c. 1868) / Wikimedia Commons.

Today is Darwin’s Day 🧬 — a reminder that evolution isn’t just history but a living process. At the MPI for Evolutionary Biology we explore evolutionary change — how life adapts, diversifies, and evolves — using theory, experiments, and data from nature.
#DarwinsDay #Evolution #EvolBio

Today is the #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience ✨
To celebrate, we’re opening registration for our workshop "Women in Evolutionary Biology II" — keynotes, research, networking, and discussions on equality & inclusion in science.
📍 Plön (Germany) | 🔗 workshops.evolbio.mpg.de/event/144/ov...

No lone winners: P. fluorescens SBW25 forms air–liquid mats within days. Ancestors scaffold the surface; mutants spread. c-di-GMP (sessile↔motile) helps diverse types coexist. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3864353/news...

Why fungi may become human pathogens: A new study from Kiel University (CAU) and MPI-EvolBio shows that more efficient protein production and lipid metabolism help fungi adapt to the human body — a growing risk under climate change. Image © Dr. Marco Guerreiro
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3863722/why-...

Median time under review (time intervened from submission to acceptance) of articles indexed in PubMed with a female first author (n = 2,562,262), a male first author (n = 3,405,821), a female corresponding author (n = 975,010), a male corresponding author (n = 1,946,469), a female first author and a female corresponding author (n = 757,878), a male first author and a male corresponding author (n = 1,357,835), all-female authors (n = 650,280), and all-male authors (n = 2,146,799)

Female scientists have to wait longer for their articles to be reviewed than their male colleagues. An analysis of 36.5 million papers in the life sciences shows that for females it took 115 days to reach a decision, compared to 101 days for men journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... @plosbiology.org

Open access now: Insights from the Women in Evolutionary Biology Workshop (MPI-EvolBio, May 2024) in Evolution — 5 recurring equity themes + practical strategies. Next workshop already funded for 2026. doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Directors

Expressions of interest: Director at MPI EvolBio (f/m/d) — We invite expressions of interest from distinguished scientists in evolutionary biology with a bold, long-term research vision that complements our Institute. More information: www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Dire...

PNAS Commentary Highlights Significance of Institute Research on Jumbo Phage–Mediated Gene Transfer

A new #PNAS Commentary spotlights our #MPI-EvolBio work: jumbo phages can transfer large mobile genetic elements between bacteria, expanding how we think about gene exchange in microbial communities.
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3858689/pnas...

Why mate with more than one male? A new study in house mice shows: the payoff depends on the environment. Multiple paternity was linked to larger litters only under standard, less nutritious food. With high-quality food, litter size stayed high either way.
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856402/news...

A “Hulk” wall lizard is spreading from near Rome and changing the rules: wherever the green-and-black form appears, yellow and orange throat colour forms vanish. Data from 220 populations suggest a rapid collapse of diversity that lasted millions of years.
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3853774/news...

Why doesn’t innovation spread until everyone is innovative?
A new Current Biology study shows how female choice keeps behavioural diversity alive — innovative and less innovative animals pair up more often than chance.
Read more 👇
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3852928/why-...

New milestone for wall lizards: 10 chromosome-level reference genomes released by MPI EvolBio, Wellcome Sanger Institute & collaborators — now >50% of described Podarcis species have high-quality references. A backbone resource for evo & pop genomics. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3851900/ten-...

Minerva Ornament in Weihnachtsbaum

Eingangshalle des MPI EvolBio mit Weihnachtsbaum

As the year comes to a close, we are thankful for shared curiosity and inspiring discoveries.
We wish everyone restful holidays and a great start to the year ahead — filled with new questions, fresh ideas, and exciting insights.

🎓 IMPRS EvolBio opens its 2026 PhD call! Up to 10 doctoral positions in evolutionary biology at MPI-EB — work in an international, cutting-edge research environment where others go on vacation. Start: Sept 2026 | Deadline: Jan 11, 2026 👉
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3848518/impr... #PhD #EvolutionaryBiology

Big congratulations to Dr Nikhil Sharma on receiving the Kiel Life Science Postdoc Award 2025! His outstanding work in theoretical biology and evolutionary graph theory makes us proud. Well deserved! 👏 #KLS #MPIEvolBio
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3847270/kiel...

(Photo: Christian Urban, Kiel University)

Early face positional programs are like "zip codes", marking the position of structures like the whiskers, nostrils and palate in the mouse embryo face.

How does each face get its unique shape?
A new study maps facial development at an unprecedented resolution, identifies early “positional programs” expressed by undifferentiated cells, and sheds light on their role in human facial shape variability.
🔗 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3846176/news...

Warum sind Kinder keine halben Kopien ihrer Eltern? Wie beeinflusst die DNA unsere Fruchtbarkeit? Rajalekshmi Narayana Sarma beantwortet diese und weitere spannende Fragen am Freitag um 21:00 Uhr im Frederik-Paulsen-Hörsaal bei der #NightOfTheProfs der @uni-kiel.de.
@mpi-evolbio.bsky.social

🎉 Congrats to Prof. John Baines, associated member of the MPI for Evolutionary Biology, on being named a Highly Cited Researcher 2025 by Clarivate!
Proud to see his work among the global top 1% of most cited research.
www.uksh.de/Das+UKSH/Neu...
(Photo-credits: UKSH)

Rajalekshmi N. Sarma (MPI EvolBio) will be speaking at Kiel University’s Night of the Profs this Friday!
Catch her Science Show talk at 21:00 in the Frederik-Paulsen Lecture Hall.
Free admission — bring your friends and family!
More info: uni-kiel.de/de/veranstaltungen/night-of-the-profs
(CAU Kiel)

Big cheers from MPI for Evolutionary Biology! 🎉
Our alumna Dr. Christin Nyhoegen wins the KlarText Prize 2025 for her piece “Penicillin and a Small Dose of Mathematics.”
She shows how math helps improve antibiotic treatments and prevent resistance. 👏
#KlarTextPreis #MPIEvolBio #ScienceCommunication

Bacteria can borrow viruses to spread defence genes! 🦠🔬
Researchers at @MPI_EvolBio found that “jumbo phages” can carry bacterial mobile DNA, allowing the bacteria to hijack viral machinery for their own protection.
👉 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3840277/news...

WE ARE HIRING!
Please spread widely!

#Postdoc in #Evolutionary #Genomics
-> www.mpg.de/25524526/

#Postdoc in #Molecular #Biology & #Cell #Signalling
-> www.mpg.de/25524509/

@mpi-evolbio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de

#ScienceJobs #EvoBio #MolBio #Ecology #Chronobiology #Marine #EntoSky #Biodiversity

We know since Darwin´s book on the topic of sexual selection that the issue is more complex with respect to the sexual phenotype of individuals. The scientific background is provided in the introduction to the study and explained in its full context in the reference cited above.

Why are kids not half copies of their parents? How does our DNA control our fertility? Rajalekshmi Narayana Sarma from the @uni-kiel.de answers these and other exciting questions in her talk on 26.09 at 18:00 in the Pumpe.
Free admission
@mpi-evolbio.bsky.social
#ScienceDay
#KielRegion

The study shows that male and female phenotypic variances are overlapping when one measures them and that different body parts can have different overlaps. Accordingly, a categorization based on gamete types does not reflect the reality of individuals.