T. Mason Linscott

Figure from a paper with three cubes: a) A cube with a rectangular cube connected labels "mouth" and "anus" b) A cube with double the edge length The tube inside spirals around. c) Another cube with all linear dimensions doubled, including straight tube. Caption: Fig. 1. (a) Idealized model of an animal. (b) Model from (a) increased in size while keeping the gut surface : gut volume ratio constant. (c) Model from (a) increased in size with identical effects on the surface : volume ratio for the whole body and for the gut.

This is the idealized model of an animal. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

🎢⚛️🧪

Conservation of regulatory elements with highly diverged sequences across large evolutionary distances Nature Genetics - Combining functional genomic data from mouse and chicken with a synteny-based strategy identifies positionally conserved cis-regulatory elements in the absence of direct sequence...

How to find Evolutionary Conserved Enhancers in 2025? 🐣-🐭
Check out our paper - fresh off the press!!!
We find widespread functional conservation of enhancers in absence of sequence homology
Including: a bioinformatic tool to map sequence-diverged enhancers!
rdcu.be/enVDN
github.com/tobiaszehnde...

Supreme Court refuses to hear Oak Flat case, clearing a roadblock for huge copper mine The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a request by Apache Stronghold to hear a case over a proposed copper mine at Oak Flat.

(4/4) More here: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
And here: apnews.com/article/supr...

Advice needed: A former student now in industry is asking about pros/cons of doing an industry-sponsored PhD, given the current climate and not getting in anywhere this cycle. I remember there was chatter about this a couple years ago but it's a good time to revive this chat. Please RT.

Become a snail detective – help scientists solve the colour mystery Why do periwinkles have such different colours? This is a mystery that scientists are now trying to solve, and to do so they are calling for help from the public in a citizen science project.

🐌✨ Become a snail detective! 🕵️🐚🔍

Join our WinkleWatcher Luisa Kumpitsch on shore 🌊 and help scientists crack the case of snail shell colors 🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣 with WinkleWatchers.
Who knew science could be this fun?

ℹ️ www.gu.se/en/news/beco...

#CitizenScience #MarineBiology

Zancolli, @marcrr.bsky.social @agneeshbarua.bsky.social et al. show that venom glands in marine predatory snails evolved via functional divergence from digestive organs, involving gene expression shifts and enhanced secretory machinery.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf095

#evobio #venom #mollusca

ohhh it is Not Good how many people think "just buy organic" is the answer to food safety infrastructure being dismantled in the U.S.

"The core strategy is to slow NIH spending to generate surpluses...then use surpluses as justification for slashing the budget...unspent [$] won’t be because NIH doesn’t have good science to spend on [but] because the administration has blocked spending" donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...

Shell formation is happening right here, right now!
If you look carefully, you can see the shape of the next chamber emerging faintly in the cytoplasm, a blueprint
From here it gradually calcifies
Behind the scenes of live observation research

#foraminifera #shell formation #biomineralization

XKCD comic about PhD timelines making a political statement about illegal student seizures and illegal imprisonment of foreign students.

xkcd.com/3081

A close-up of a brightly colored insect with shimmering green and gold body, large dark eyes, and newly emerged, crumpled wings patterned with blue, yellow, and white.

Some more Zammara smaragdina cicada from @casabentbill.bsky.social

#invertefest #bugsky #cicadas #nature

My painting TROUT WATER

🚨Today the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library services were cut by DOGE!

Inside me there are two wolves. One of them has a 15 genome edits the other 20 genome edits. Neither of them is a dire wolf.

I am thrilled to announce I'll be starting as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at New Mexico State University this Fall!

I can't wait to work with some amazing colleagues and students amidst the sky islands of the SW! Woooo more ecophysiology, evolution, and snails!

Blackfeet tribal members sue feds over Canada tariffs The lawsuit — filed one day before thousands of people participated in nationwide protests against the Trump Administration — is the latest example of tribes flexing their sovereign status to oppose n...

Blackfeet tribal members are suing the federal government, saying that Trump's tariffs on Canada violate the Constitution and tribal treaty rights. It's the latest example of tribes flexing their sovereign status to oppose new federal policy. montanafreepress.org/2025/04/07/b...

Interested in calculating complexity metrics for 3D surfaces? Please check out our new package 'habtools' and associated paper @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social !
- Paper: doi.org/10.1111/2041...
- R package: jmadinlab.github.io/habtools/

NSF GRFP Awards by the Year:
2021 - 2074
2022 - 2193
2023 - 2555
2024 - 2036
2025 - 1000

Again, these funding cuts will have drastic longterm effects on the scientific future of the US.......

@jeremymberg.bsky.social @altnih4science.bsky.social

The deadline for the @systbiol.bsky.social Early Career Travel Funds to attend the #Evolution2025 meetings is coming up! (Mar 31). Get your application in soon!!

General Public: Urge Congress to Save IMLS On March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing further cuts to the government agency that efficiently provides CRITICAL funding to museums and libraries in all 50 states.The Institut...

A recent Executive Order would gut the only federal agency dedicated to America’s museums. The Institute of Museum & Library Services makes up only 0.0046% of the federal budget. Take action now: www.congressweb.com/aam/95/

This is super cool! My alma mater was the top pick and by a wide margin.

Navajo Code Talkers get "DEI" label as military info disappears under Trump order Also vanishing: The Civil War regiment from "Glory," women pilots from WWII and a Medal of Honor winner.

Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order

Lungfish xkcd.com/3064

[New Paper] in Ecology reveals deep-sea snails in family Laubierinidae as obligate associates of crinoids (likely parasitic), including first-ever in situ observations of all 4 genera! This relationship was last seen in fossils >200 mil years old!

FREE READ: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

Concordance between genomes, fossils, and morphology? With * molluscs *??? Science is healing

Holy crap. When the Native groups are scrubbing the word Native from their websites, we are in fricking deep trouble. Also **** the UA BOR. That was a cowardly move and they should be ashamed.

Apply now for SVP’s Futures Award! 🦕

This award ($5,000 USD) is intended to support a summer research experience for current undergraduate students (incl. community colleges) who are Black, Indigenous, and/or members of other racial or ethnic minority groups!

Link: vertpaleo.org/svp-futures-...

Hey Derek! It has been great here at VT. All the limestone and snails around here have been a great treat. Hope you are doing well in Richmond!