Anya Auerbach
@aauerbach.bsky.social
PhD candidate at UMN EEB studying Madagascar’s bird radiations | Loves birds, diversification, biodiversity, teaching evolution, and (natural) history museums | Queer. Organizer. Still a NYer at heart.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
When I do career panels, people often ask me what about my PhD was most valuable for becoming an award-winning* science journalist.
Sure, I have a PhD in science
But I have a bachelor's in Philosophy and I use it every day of my life.
*not big awards, but still, I'm not terrible at my job.
Sure, I have a PhD in science
But I have a bachelor's in Philosophy and I use it every day of my life.
*not big awards, but still, I'm not terrible at my job.
So our campus just announced the six undergraduate programs being put on the chopping block.
One of them is Philosophy.
Philosophy.
Can we be a university without offering a Philosophy major?
One of them is Philosophy.
Philosophy.
Can we be a university without offering a Philosophy major?
December 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
When I do career panels, people often ask me what about my PhD was most valuable for becoming an award-winning* science journalist.
Sure, I have a PhD in science
But I have a bachelor's in Philosophy and I use it every day of my life.
*not big awards, but still, I'm not terrible at my job.
Sure, I have a PhD in science
But I have a bachelor's in Philosophy and I use it every day of my life.
*not big awards, but still, I'm not terrible at my job.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Wrote a bit about this on the Molecular Ecologist back in (eek) 2017: www.molecularecologist.com/2017/11/08/i...
December 4, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Wrote a bit about this on the Molecular Ecologist back in (eek) 2017: www.molecularecologist.com/2017/11/08/i...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Congratulations to UMMP Associate Research Scientist Miriam Zelditch on the release of the third edition of the indispensable "Geometric Morphometrics for Biologists" (a.k.a. the green book)! #FossilFriday
December 6, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Congratulations to UMMP Associate Research Scientist Miriam Zelditch on the release of the third edition of the indispensable "Geometric Morphometrics for Biologists" (a.k.a. the green book)! #FossilFriday
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Check out our review/perspective piece on phylogenetic diversification analysis, intended for the 75th anniversary of
@systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
@systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
December 5, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Check out our review/perspective piece on phylogenetic diversification analysis, intended for the 75th anniversary of
@systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
@systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Paleobiology students: Chanda's thread applies to you, too. Our field is highly interdisciplinary, so everyone arrives in grad school deficient in one area or another. You'll study evolutionary theory, ecology, geochemistry, geophysics, etc, & need mathematics far beyond your undergrad coursework
A note on learning physics ⚛️ for starting PhD students:
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
December 4, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Paleobiology students: Chanda's thread applies to you, too. Our field is highly interdisciplinary, so everyone arrives in grad school deficient in one area or another. You'll study evolutionary theory, ecology, geochemistry, geophysics, etc, & need mathematics far beyond your undergrad coursework
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Fuck this 🧪
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
As Cambridge Faces a Life Sciences Downturn, Startups Turn To a New Industry: Warfare | News | The Harvard Crimson
As biotech firms shed jobs and life sciences funding dries up, policymakers have started to see defense technology as a way to buttress the Massachusetts economy. Industry experts say Cambridge may be...
www.thecrimson.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Fuck this 🧪
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
I’m not gonna share the president’s revolting words but I do want to say that I have had so many wonderful Somali colleagues and students and friends here in Minnesota, and I love you and you belong here and if USCIS tries to come for you I will do everything in my power to stop them.
December 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I’m not gonna share the president’s revolting words but I do want to say that I have had so many wonderful Somali colleagues and students and friends here in Minnesota, and I love you and you belong here and if USCIS tries to come for you I will do everything in my power to stop them.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
She shouldn't have to keep doing this by herself. She is supposedly a member of a political party and every single one of her *colleagues* should be BLASTING the fascist in chief. ALL OF THEM. Where is the solidarity???
Congresswoman Omar calls Trump's comments about her 'creepy' after the US president launches into an anti-Somali tirade.
Ilhan Omar denounces Donald Trump for calling Somali immigrants ‘garbage’
Congresswoman Omar calls Trump's comments about her 'creepy' after the US president launches into an anti-Somali tirade.
bit.ly
December 3, 2025 at 12:34 AM
She shouldn't have to keep doing this by herself. She is supposedly a member of a political party and every single one of her *colleagues* should be BLASTING the fascist in chief. ALL OF THEM. Where is the solidarity???
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
In the year of our Lord two-thousand-twenty-five, there are still shockingly diagnosable, legit never-before-seen-by-scientists new bird species out there to be discovered
New species of tinamou, the slaty-masked tinamou (Tinamus resonans): mapress.com/zt/article/v... 🪶🧪 (📷Luis A. Morais)
December 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
In the year of our Lord two-thousand-twenty-five, there are still shockingly diagnosable, legit never-before-seen-by-scientists new bird species out there to be discovered
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Preprint!
Ever wondered why individuals within the same species migrate differently? Or what drives some animals to become partial migrants? Then, this paper is for you!
Our new paper synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape partial migration.
Link: doi.org/10.22541/au....
Ever wondered why individuals within the same species migrate differently? Or what drives some animals to become partial migrants? Then, this paper is for you!
Our new paper synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape partial migration.
Link: doi.org/10.22541/au....
Understanding partial migration: linking genetic, developmental, and environmental drivers
Partial migration, where some individuals in a population migrate while others remain resident, arises from the dynamic interplay of multiple non-exclusive eco-evolutionary mechanisms. These mechanism...
doi.org
December 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Preprint!
Ever wondered why individuals within the same species migrate differently? Or what drives some animals to become partial migrants? Then, this paper is for you!
Our new paper synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape partial migration.
Link: doi.org/10.22541/au....
Ever wondered why individuals within the same species migrate differently? Or what drives some animals to become partial migrants? Then, this paper is for you!
Our new paper synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape partial migration.
Link: doi.org/10.22541/au....
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Israel has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN report
Israel has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN report
Committee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes
Israel has “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture”, according to a new UN report covering the past two years, which also raised concerns about the impunity of Israeli security forces for war crimes.
The UN committee on torture expressed “deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Israel has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN report
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
The real Turing test is that AI will stop using em dashes if you ask; humans will make you pry their favorite punctuation out of their cold, dead hands.
when someone tells me not to use em dashes because AI uses em dashes
December 1, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The real Turing test is that AI will stop using em dashes if you ask; humans will make you pry their favorite punctuation out of their cold, dead hands.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
I have a new preprint demonstrating a genome-architecture-aware approach to inferring species trees and introgression landscapes from a small number of genomes. If you are interested in phylogenomics, birds, or hybridization, this is for you! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 1, 2025 at 7:35 PM
I have a new preprint demonstrating a genome-architecture-aware approach to inferring species trees and introgression landscapes from a small number of genomes. If you are interested in phylogenomics, birds, or hybridization, this is for you! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
“The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience so people around the world can experience the beauty of the Quilt and witness the love and stories stitched into each panel.”
Interactive AIDS Quilt
The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 48,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience People around the world can experie...
www.aidsmemorial.org
December 1, 2025 at 11:19 PM
“The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience so people around the world can experience the beauty of the Quilt and witness the love and stories stitched into each panel.”
The actual conversation here is about deliberate attacks on vulnerable trans folks like graduate instructors.
I need every faculty member reading this to go NOW, and start a conversation as a department about how you're going to protect queer, bipoc etc grad students, adjuncts etc. YOU need a plan!
I need every faculty member reading this to go NOW, and start a conversation as a department about how you're going to protect queer, bipoc etc grad students, adjuncts etc. YOU need a plan!
It's pretty telling which people are like "maybe the student had a point" and who immediately clocked it as a transparent attempt to get a trans grad student fired or worse.
Maybe listen to your trans colleagues on this one my dude, and sit this one out.
Maybe listen to your trans colleagues on this one my dude, and sit this one out.
December 1, 2025 at 7:01 PM
The actual conversation here is about deliberate attacks on vulnerable trans folks like graduate instructors.
I need every faculty member reading this to go NOW, and start a conversation as a department about how you're going to protect queer, bipoc etc grad students, adjuncts etc. YOU need a plan!
I need every faculty member reading this to go NOW, and start a conversation as a department about how you're going to protect queer, bipoc etc grad students, adjuncts etc. YOU need a plan!
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
every trans person i see post about the OU suspension knows that the suspended target is trans & a grad student, & has an innate awareness that this is about purging trans employees. every cis person i see thinks the target is a rando professor & that this is about giving conservatives good grades
December 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
every trans person i see post about the OU suspension knows that the suspended target is trans & a grad student, & has an innate awareness that this is about purging trans employees. every cis person i see thinks the target is a rando professor & that this is about giving conservatives good grades
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
This semester I ran a class where we read recent papers in phylogenetics / systematics. I'd prepare an intro for each with background, then we'd dig in. I'd write a blog post after each as well. All the papers, slides and posts are now available at brianomeara.info/posts/phylop...
🧪 #AcademicSky
🧪 #AcademicSky
December 1, 2025 at 1:43 PM
This semester I ran a class where we read recent papers in phylogenetics / systematics. I'd prepare an intro for each with background, then we'd dig in. I'd write a blog post after each as well. All the papers, slides and posts are now available at brianomeara.info/posts/phylop...
🧪 #AcademicSky
🧪 #AcademicSky
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
If you saw my post yesterday, I specifically noted how vulnerable the graduate student instructors were. And here we are.
That “essay” was drivel. It was not even worthy of a middle school diary entry. I would have failed it too.
That “essay” was drivel. It was not even worthy of a middle school diary entry. I would have failed it too.
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
December 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
If you saw my post yesterday, I specifically noted how vulnerable the graduate student instructors were. And here we are.
That “essay” was drivel. It was not even worthy of a middle school diary entry. I would have failed it too.
That “essay” was drivel. It was not even worthy of a middle school diary entry. I would have failed it too.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Who is supporting these settlements? It’s generally not faculty or even long-time university administrators, it’s university boards and interim administrators who they’ve installed after admins with more of a fighting instinct have been forced out. There’s a playbook here.
@mbkplus.bsky.social and I will have more thoughts on the podcast, but it's no coincidence that the two most draconian settlements were signed by *interim* university presidents.
Here’s the text of the Northwestern settlement with the DoJ, which includes a $75 million financial component / payoff (cc @profmarkovic.bsky.social):
November 29, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Who is supporting these settlements? It’s generally not faculty or even long-time university administrators, it’s university boards and interim administrators who they’ve installed after admins with more of a fighting instinct have been forced out. There’s a playbook here.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
I understand why faculty in Texas are unwilling to risk trying to exercise wildcat labor power in the face of an anti-labor state. In Illinois faculty have lots of power to use if they’re willing to be brave. Students will, I expect, stand with you. But you are going to have to be the leaders.
November 29, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I understand why faculty in Texas are unwilling to risk trying to exercise wildcat labor power in the face of an anti-labor state. In Illinois faculty have lots of power to use if they’re willing to be brave. Students will, I expect, stand with you. But you are going to have to be the leaders.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
I donated.
Please donate if you can.
Please share the link so others can support as well.
Please donate if you can.
Please share the link so others can support as well.
Every year around this time, I ask folks to consider doing something in support of Native people. This year, please join me in supporting the Native Organizers Alliance as they build grassroots power, defend Native voting rights, and equip our people for collective struggle through skill-building.
Donate - Native Organizers Alliance
Supporting organizing and advocacy initiatives for Indigenous justice.
nativeorganizing.org
November 27, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I donated.
Please donate if you can.
Please share the link so others can support as well.
Please donate if you can.
Please share the link so others can support as well.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
I was at a Friendsgiving with mostly folks from the Plant Bio department, but apparently I was the only one who wanted to do a #Plantsgiving tally. I don’t know what all was in everyone else’s dishes, so just the things I brought:
November 28, 2025 at 4:43 AM
I was at a Friendsgiving with mostly folks from the Plant Bio department, but apparently I was the only one who wanted to do a #Plantsgiving tally. I don’t know what all was in everyone else’s dishes, so just the things I brought:
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics
A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio