April Wright

Yaniv put a ton of work into these resources, and they're absolutely wonderful

Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology Large datasets of fossil occurrences, often downloaded from online community-maintained databases, are a vital resource for understanding broad-scale evolutionary patterns, such as how biodiversity h...

Just in time for #FossilFriday! Our paper is out today in Palaeontology @thepalass.bsky.social

Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!

Beware giving this site your unpublished data Users noticed the website had fake testimonials and a domain name registered seemingly overnight.

The dark truth behind FormatMyPaper.com

Anyone looking for an undergrad research assistant this coming summer? I have a truly phenomenal undergrad with expertise in genetic mapping, long read sequencing & bioinformatics who wants experience in another lab before grad school. She has been in our lab for 3 years & writing her first paper!

The Rose Field, by Philip Pullman

Phil, I’m ready to be heartbroken

Stop "...writing nature’s obituary—instead of its recovery."

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

Genome-wide phylogeny reshapes our understanding of the evolution of deep-sea dragonfishes, bristlemouths, viperfishes, and allies (Stomiiformes) - BMC Ecology and Evolution Background The evolutionary relationships within Stomiiformes, a diverse order of deep-sea fishes dominating the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones, remain contentious due to conflicting morphological...

New phylogeny and family-level classification of Stomiiformes (viperfishes, hatchetfishes, bristlemouths)

bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Nothing like trying to photograph a bald eagle in flight to remind you that maybe nature is best enjoyed in the moment

Deep learning for mass extinction detection on fossilized phylogenies: power, limitations, and lessons for simulation-based phylodynamic inference https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.20.683352v1

Foreigner by CJ Cherryh on a blonde wood desk

Finally got around to reading something be CJ Cherryh, after reading it recommended in a LeGuin interview. A bit wordier than I prefer, but if you like Anne Leckie, it’s up your alley. Ship comes out of hyperspace in the wrong place and must make peace with the residents of the only nearby planet

I startled him as he was basking, and he shimmied up this tree to peek at me. I helped him up into the canopy as an apology

Lil bud ascendant

The Ones Who Visit Omelas Without Doing a Ton of Research But Then on the Tour of Omelas They’re Like “Wait What the Fuck Did the Tour Guide Just Say”

Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades - Nature Ecology & Evolution The interplay between speciation and extinction rates shapes clade diversity dynamics. Using a novel phylogenetic model that includes living and fossil lineages, the authors estimate speciation and ex...

Check out this amazing paper by @ignacioq.bsky.social et al. on the rise and fall of clades using a new fossilized birth-death model and inegrating phylogenetic and fossil occurence data.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I think it might be predator density. Our place in Louisiana was wooded and exurban. But here it’s much denser, and there are fewer predatory reptiles

Yeah, dude. All hail our new leadership

You know, I don't recall seeing them in MN growing up. There are fewer here in VA than LA, but they get *big* here. Most I saw in Louisiana maxed out at a couple inches.

Big stick bug

Spotted from the car.

Didn’t realize there was a Charles Vess illustrated Earthsea cycle. Guess we’ve got spring plans.

JRR Tolkien’s fellowship of the ring, illustrated by Allen Lee

Having kids means you get to buy all the illustrated read-aloud editions you’ve ever wanted

Long suspected this may be true - some characters pulling double duty and resolving clades in different parts of the tree. Good to see it bear out in simulation.

Out now in Biology Letters, my latest paper tackles an apparently simple question: how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? TL;DR: in most cases between 100 and 500, more than a substantial portion of morphological datasets, but the story is more complex... doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

The relationship between microbial community succession, decay, and anatomical character loss in non‐biomineralized animals A fundamental assumption of hypothesis-driven decay experiments is that, during decay, the loss of anatomy follows a sequence broadly controlled by the intrinsic compositional properties of tissues. ...

Bacteria 🦠 🧫 play a crucial role in how animals become fossils!
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

World’s over, be naughty mid-day

Oh no, I forgot about you and nightshades. Never occurred to me that black pepper wasn’t one

Szechuan style friend green beans are good in Mac and Cheese

THREATS TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM | Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship Louisiana has recently seen an alarming increase in both direct and indirect censorship of university professors and students. Protecting academic freedom is central to protecting democracy. Find out ...

“Faculty across Louisiana report a pervasive climate of fear. Many now hesitate to teach, research, or speak freely — worried that offhand remarks might be taken out of context and weaponized against them.” www.la-cac.org/threats-to-a...

Rat snake - pantherophis obsoletus

A black rat snake on a wood bridge

Out on a run, makin’ a bud

“You didn’t agree, but you’re more than capable of toughing it out …”