@mweissensteiner.bsky.social
Bioinformatician and Researcher at the Institute of Avian Research | evolution | birds | genomics | structural variation | non-B DNA | repeats https://ifv-vogelwarte.de/en/institute/staff/dr-matthias-h-weissensteiner
and this is the slot machine logic at work
16.02.2026 03:37 — 👍 32 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
OTD 217 year ago, Charles #Darwin was born. Not only one of the most brilliant scientists and thinkers, but an inspiration on the power of knowledge and intellectual bravery. Values that are now more important to cherish than ever. Happy #DarwinDay!!!
12.02.2026 07:54 — 👍 40 🔁 10 💬 1 📌 0
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...
Common Tern Museum at the Bantersee
Common Tern Museum at the Bantersee
View of the ice-bound Waddensee
Profs Miriam Liedvogel & Prof Sandra Bouwhuis - brilliant leaders of the Institute of Avian Research (with some old German ornithological leaders in the background)
A richly rewarding two days reviewing @ifv-whv.bsky.social: thriving under the brilliant leadership of Sandra Bouwhuis & Miriam Liedvogel. An exciting programme of research into avian migration & life histories with many future stars. Outstanding @commonternproject.bsky.social museum by frozen sea!
05.02.2026 16:29 — 👍 30 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 0
IMAGE SHOWS GRAPHIC OF CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY PHYLOGENY EXPLORER TOOL.
MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...
27.01.2026 01:26 — 👍 410 🔁 168 💬 8 📌 31Delicious to me
21.01.2026 16:30 — 👍 3710 🔁 984 💬 148 📌 484
Pick up the nearest book. Open to page 42 and post your second sentence. Add #page42 and include this rule as a reply.
In a similar way, by discretizing time, we can use a binomial distribution to represent the number of events that occur over some period of time t.
Just a few days left to apply to the PhD position in our group. It focuses on selfish genes in #fungi and how they might affect the spread of giant #TEs called Starships.
17.12.2025 06:55 — 👍 11 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 0
AI makes everything worse, and science and all of us stupid.
Authored by AI, reviewed by AI, edited by AI, published by AI. Next? cited by AI.
Deadline soon (end of Nov) for this PhD position in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics in my group.
27.11.2025 11:31 — 👍 6 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
"Wissenschaftliche Ausbildung zielt nicht auf Effizienz ab, sondern darauf, die Fähigkeit zu entwickeln, Probleme und Fragestellungen selbst zu erkennen und zu lösen."
Dieser Satz! Dass diese Selbstverständlichkeit hier überhaupt betont werden muss, zeigt um was es geht.
There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
12.11.2025 22:49 — 👍 22 🔁 32 💬 0 📌 1👀👀👀👀
14.11.2025 14:47 — 👍 18 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0Big Congrats Justin! Fantastic effort!
06.11.2025 10:23 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
“When someone says we can’t miss the boat, I ask: where is the boat going? What exactly will this technology improve? That’s rarely discussed. Since when did we become Big Tech's free PR department?”
— says Nicky DRIES, Future of Work Lab at the Catholic University of Leuven
I personally have donated to Wikipedia before and will, even without the very good reason explained below, do so again.
27.10.2025 13:13 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"‘Am I redundant?’: how AI changed my career in bioinformatics"
www.nature.com/articles/d41... @nature.com
No.
Also pls tell me that guy isn't uploading patient data to the internet. JFC.
tl;dr "Consult a pro."
But really - teach people fundamentals. AI is the last thing you should consult.
Exciting news!
The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris.
This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics.
More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk
See you there !
Looks like a useful reference piece.
21.09.2025 13:41 — 👍 6 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
When we hypothesised female terns to have lower mercury levels than males due to egg laying, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social et al designed an elegant experiment to prove the effectiveness of this pathway. That proof just got published & the open access paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
18.09.2025 13:19 — 👍 34 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 0Yay! Congratulations Dave! And what a nice tradition! Did not know the book - will check it out!
16.09.2025 07:02 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Heads up: ignore samtools dot org, similarly minimap2 dot com and likely others. It's owned by a known phishing site and while the binaries they offer look valid currently (but note they may be serving us different binaries to others), that could change.
Ie: it's not us (Samtools team)! Be warned
Beyond fascinating!
(for people wanting to read the paper, here it is: www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
Congratulations Anna! What a fantastic PhD with tremendous amounts of work and exciting results! All the best for your future trajectory!
29.08.2025 07:01 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Oh well. I am making my claim and every author should.
28.08.2025 00:19 — 👍 1760 🔁 365 💬 35 📌 10
#EOU2025 #ornithology folks and friends liking #birds and #mammals, this is the position I just highlighted. Join us! Cool collection and very active continuous preparation of new specimens. Deadline soon...
Happy to chat with anyone curious today!
📌 I really enjoyed @pablosalmon.bsky.social’s talk at #EOU2025! 🐦
Exploring how #mitochondria may shape avian #migration — lessons from Eurasian #blackbirds with different strategies.
Great insights into the energetic basis of life-history strategies!
The @scilifelab.se ancient DNA unit is looking for an bioinformatician placed at Uppsala University. This is a great way to be part of diverse #aDNA research projects as a staff scientist with permanent (!!) employment:
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...