Richard Mann

Thank you, Shane! There will eventually be a video I think, though if you’ve read the paper there won’t be too many surprises!

Inaugural Lecture: Professor Richard Mann, School of Mathematics Join us on 24 March for the upcoming Inaugural Lecture of Richard Mann, Professor of Mathematical Ecology and Evolution in the School of Mathematics.

Inviting anyone who is interested to come to my inaugural lecture, 'Why the Cambrian Explosion happened', on March 24 at the University of Leeds eps.leeds.ac.uk/faculty-engi...

I wonder how the value of the smallest undiscovered number changes over time

The curious life of a clever slime mold In its quest to feed, avoid nasty substances and just generally live its life, the brainless, one-celled Physarum polycephalum performs some impressive tricks of learning and memory

From Knowable Magazine: The curious life of a clever slime mold | Knowable Magazine knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

This #FossilFriday I am delighted to share a postdoctoral position that we @deeptimeecology.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social are advertising on early animal evolution in the #Ediacaran.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...

www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds...

It’s actually a really good paper but the music doesn’t speak to me

I assume you’re familiar with this one

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...

I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.

I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...

Too Many Numbers? Abstract. A somewhat personal account of the development and acceptance of numerical taxonomic methods during the early years of the journal Systematic Zoo

I'm really enjoying this memoir on the history of numerical methods in phylogenetics by F. James Rohlf: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

Yeah; Meh; Eeh; Urgh

Call is out for Champalimaud International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme 2026! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

CITP Seminar: Scientific Barriers to Evidence-Based Tech Policy | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Twenty years after Facebook spread across college campuses, its effects on society remain heavily studied and poorly understood. Little consensus exists over whether it promotes or degrades mental hea...

I recently gave a seminar at CITP on the barriers to evidence based tech policy. It’s online to watch now!

H/t @princetoncitp.bsky.social

spia.princeton.edu/events/citp-...

PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social

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...

Want to do a PhD linking palaeontology, ecological modelling and polar ecosystems? Look no further than this NERC GW4+ DLTP funded project with @rowanwhittlebas.bsky.social at @bas.ac.uk & @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and others (inc me).

www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...

Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A Non-Terminating Game of Beggar-My-Neighbor We demonstrate the existence of a non-terminating game of Beggar-My-Neighbor discovered by lead author Brayden Casella. We detail the method for constructing this game and identify a cyclical struc...

Infinite games of Beggar-My-Neighbour: now out in The American Mathematical Monthly. Congratulations again to Brayden Casella who discovered the infinite game and knocked one off the Wikipedia lost of unsolved maths problems.
doi.org/10.1080/0002...

Robustness is better assessed with a few thoughtful models than with billions of regressions | PNAS Robustness is better assessed with a few thoughtful models than with billions of regressions

Great piece on the absurdity of brute force multiverse analyses.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

📢 OUT NOW: Global Tipping Points Report 2025 📢

Professor Viktoria Spaiser contributes to a new report providing a temperature check on the status of dangerous Earth system #TippingPoints and opportunities in #PositiveTippingPoints across sectors.

#GTPR2025 #COP30

‘New reality’ as world reaches first climate tipping point Researchers in Leeds have joined experts from across the world in warning that Earth is reaching the first of many climate tipping points that will cause catastrophic harm without urgent action.

The second Global Tipping Points Report has been launched today. Please see our press release here: www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
Find the full report here: global-tipping-points.org @gsiexeter.bsky.social #TippingPoints #COP30

I'm super excited to announce that ISBA @isba-bayesian.bsky.social has voted to start a new section on Bayesian Social Sciences! It will be a great way to further collaborations with many disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

bss-isba.github.io

Our co-produced #PolicyBrief following our event "Accelerating #SocialChange in Response to the #Climate and #EcologicalCrisis", is out now, see here: cdp.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

Mobilising climate action with moral appeals in a smartphone-based 8-week field experiment - npj Climate Action npj Climate Action - Mobilising climate action with moral appeals in a smartphone-based 8-week field experiment

People do care! Exposure to moral appeals (moral implications of fossil fuels etc.) can reduce people's carbon footprints, while also increasing climate-related civic and political action, though it may backfire among individuals with strong egoistic values. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The z-curve guy dropping AI slop post peer review in the wake of the @richarddmorey.bsky.social paper is peak garbage Metascience.

replicationindex.com/2025/08/08/r...

Just a standard reminder that statistics is a stand-alone discipline because it’s really hard and it is very easy to get catastrophically wrong. (This example is p-curves, beloved of the reproducibility/scientific fraud warriors, absolutely indefensible in practice)

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...

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...

Global networks advance wildlife research Kenyan students have demonstrated how Artificial Intelligence can enhance the study of endangered animals.

It has been a pleasure to host two students from Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Kenya www.leeds.ac.uk/news-global/...