Matthew Hahn

So excited to share this manuscript led by the inimitable Cara Brand, who discovered that Topoisomerase II evolution causes hybrid female lethality in Drosophila.

Congrats to Cara, @nickbr0wn.bsky.social, Anirban, and
@buszczaklab.bsky.social!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Epigenomic alterations define lethal CIMP-positive ependymomas of infancy - Nature Although genetically bland, the posterior fossa group A subgroup of ependymomas, found often in infants and associated with poor prognosis, exhibit widespread epigenetic alterations, namely a CpG isla...

TIL that some childhood cancers (especially neurological ones) lack obvious driver mutations and are likely caused by misregulation of epigenetic marks. 🤯

e.g. www.nature.com/articles/nat...

The Guerrero Lab at NC State University seeks a postdoc in computational evolutionary genetics. Ideal candidates have quantitative skills. Apply by March 10, 2026, via rfguerre@ncsu.edu. More info: rguerrer.org #postdoc

We (as a society) are good and truly f*cked

I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point.

I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion

People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it

My favorite is Chuck Langley's review. A typical quote:

"The book is shallow and untrue to the
science of evolutionary biology. It is a
nuisance to the knowledgeable reader
and misleading to the layman."

BioScience Vol. 27 No. 10 1977

I can't tell if you agree or disagree with the piece

Calibrating and documenting host-switching and evolution of incompatibility loci for two closely related Wolbachia clades https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.13.705778v1

Not sure (I didn't look at data, either), but they say it multiple places!

not just paralogs, either, right? Seems to work for allelic variation

(Amazing, regardless!)

Yes, definitely! Just let me know when

get the kid in the brown hoodie a scholarship

🤠

Künstliche Intelligenz in der Begutachtung Hauptausschuss der DFG ermöglicht unter Rahmenbedingungen künftig die Nutzung von KI in der Begutachtung

Relatedly, @mweissensteiner.bsky.social recently told me that the German science foundation (DFG) has changed its policy to allow AI review:

www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...

(only in German, sorry)

I personally haven't seen an AI-written paper yet, but I know they're coming

That's a great paper. If anything, the reviews they got were *more specific* than the ones I got...

it's crazy. Just don't agree to do the review

Künstliche Intelligenz in der Begutachtung Hauptausschuss der DFG ermöglicht unter Rahmenbedingungen künftig die Nutzung von KI in der Begutachtung

Relatedly, @mweissensteiner.bsky.social recently told me that the German science foundation (DFG) has changed its policy to allow AI review:

www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...

(only in German, sorry)

No specifics--just a template of criticisms one might give for any paper. And weird sounding language (especially relative to the first round of review for the same reviewer)

A reviewer just very clearly used AI to write a review. What do I do (as an author)?

his appreciation evolved over time, apparently

"Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance. A broken field of black basaltic lava, thrown into the most rugged waves, and crossed by great fissures, is everywhere covered by stunted, sun-burnt brushwood, which shows little signs of life. The dry and parched surface, being heated by the noon-day sun, gave to the air a close and sultry feeling, like that from a stove: we fancied even that the bushes smelt unpleasantly. Although I diligently tried to collect as many plants as possible, I succeeded in getting very few; and such wretched-looking little weeds would have better become an arctic than an equatorial Flora."

In celebration of #DarwinDay, here are his decidedly mixed first impressions after landing on the Galápagos (17 Sept 1835; from 'the Voyage' Chap X):

"Nothing could be less inviting..."

Describing endosymbiont–host interactions within the parasitism–mutualism continuum Bacteria that live inside the cells of arthropod hosts (“endosymbionts”) are gaining increasing interest as targets for pest control and for reducing the ability of arthropod vectors to transmit anim....

Reading and really liking this #openaccess paper by Ary Hoffman and @brandonscooper.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Describing endosymbiont–host interactions within the parasitism–mutualism continuum

Check out our paper on the neo-sex chromosomes in mountain pine beetle! We assembled THREE neo-Ys that are quite distinct and their corresponding neo-Xs .

Ice-covered window

Chilly is relative: this is my view outside right now

(that’s ice)

Looks a lot warmer outside!

Breakfast in Poznan, Poland

❗⏰ Please remember that the deadline for submitting your applications for abstracts and awards for SMBE 2026 ends today.

Join us in Copenhagen from June 28 to July 2 for a fantastic meeting!

#SMBE2026

sweet--thanks!

Random q: Does anyone know if it's still possible to access the titles and abstracts from the Evolution 2025 meeting?

Asking for someone who forgot to save his own text...