Joseph W. Brown
@josephwb.bsky.social
Comp. evol. biol., fake ornithologist, LFHCfs, Luddite, CSH
I get down methodically
Without regard to my soul
tinyurl.com/G00gleSch0lar
HHGG bot: @whalepetunias.bsky.social
pfp: Chickens exposed to natural beard hair on a mannequin
hdr: socks & sandals
I get down methodically
Without regard to my soul
tinyurl.com/G00gleSch0lar
HHGG bot: @whalepetunias.bsky.social
pfp: Chickens exposed to natural beard hair on a mannequin
hdr: socks & sandals
Pinned
Joseph W. Brown
@josephwb.bsky.social
· Dec 28
I made this over the break. Why would I do such a thing? Am I some sort of #phylogenetics dork? Well... yes, but that's not why. To fully explain I'll have to do one of those sewing-strings-wrapped-around-a-spool dealies. 1/ 🧪
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
One month later and those 30 billion base pairs are crammed into just about 14 chromosomes. HOT DANG! This seemed impossible 4-5 years ago.
Genome assembly fresh of the supercomputer, total size = 29,892,519,935 base pairs 🦎🧬
November 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
One month later and those 30 billion base pairs are crammed into just about 14 chromosomes. HOT DANG! This seemed impossible 4-5 years ago.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Big bluestem has been a lovely and complex system to work with for the majority of my PhD and will always have a piece of my heart! Very excited to share this work with the community.
Super proud of @alyssa-phillips.bsky.social 's paper, now out on biorxiv! She resolves the origin(s) of polyploid big blue-stem, a dominant species in the midwest tall-grass prairie. Her common garden analysis also informs on environmental adaptation and hints at the impacts of polyploidy.
The origins and adaptive consequences of polyploidy in a dominant prairie grass
Polyploidy is ubiquitous across North American prairies, which provide essential ecosystem services and rich soil for agriculture. Yet the mechanism driving polyploid abundance is unclear. Multiple hy...
www.biorxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Big bluestem has been a lovely and complex system to work with for the majority of my PhD and will always have a piece of my heart! Very excited to share this work with the community.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
November 26, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Haha someone mistyped "decade" as "year" :P
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Haha someone mistyped "decade" as "year" :P
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
There are so many that they form the base of a lot of food webs, including filter-feeding whale sharks who swallow them by the thousands.
Those that survive a few months will return to forage in the forests until they're about 3 yrs old & reach sexual maturity, ready to join Crab Spring Break.
Those that survive a few months will return to forage in the forests until they're about 3 yrs old & reach sexual maturity, ready to join Crab Spring Break.
November 26, 2025 at 1:32 AM
There are so many that they form the base of a lot of food webs, including filter-feeding whale sharks who swallow them by the thousands.
Those that survive a few months will return to forage in the forests until they're about 3 yrs old & reach sexual maturity, ready to join Crab Spring Break.
Those that survive a few months will return to forage in the forests until they're about 3 yrs old & reach sexual maturity, ready to join Crab Spring Break.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Hitting refresh on biorxiv for a paper to appear... realized my first biorxiv preprint was more than 12 years ago, and on arXiv two years before that! Preprinting sure seemed strange at the time, but it's become my favorite part of the process!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
arxiv.org/abs/1208.0634
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
arxiv.org/abs/1208.0634
Complex patterns of local adaptation in teosinte
Populations of widely distributed species often encounter and adapt to specific environmental conditions. However, comprehensive characterization of the genetic basis of adaptation is demanding, requi...
arxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Hitting refresh on biorxiv for a paper to appear... realized my first biorxiv preprint was more than 12 years ago, and on arXiv two years before that! Preprinting sure seemed strange at the time, but it's become my favorite part of the process!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
arxiv.org/abs/1208.0634
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
arxiv.org/abs/1208.0634
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
New preprint led by PhD student Kim Verity: Evolutionary tree balance predicts disease-free survival in the TRACERx non-small cell lung cancer cohort
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
Evolutionary tree balance predicts disease-free survival in the TRACERx non-small cell lung cancer cohort
Methods for quantifying and classifying modes of tumour evolution promise to enable more personalised prognostic forecasting and treatment optimisation. We recently developed an approach to quantifyin...
www.medrxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM
New preprint led by PhD student Kim Verity: Evolutionary tree balance predicts disease-free survival in the TRACERx non-small cell lung cancer cohort
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature
The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
🌿Excited to share our new study in New Phytologist! 🌿
Polyploidy is a major force in plant evolution, but is understudied in the tropics. We find that polyploidy evolved multiple times in Inga, a characteristic Neotropical tree radiation (1/n) 🧵.
Full paper🔗: tinyurl.com/msnffhs8
Polyploidy is a major force in plant evolution, but is understudied in the tropics. We find that polyploidy evolved multiple times in Inga, a characteristic Neotropical tree radiation (1/n) 🧵.
Full paper🔗: tinyurl.com/msnffhs8
November 25, 2025 at 1:11 PM
🌿Excited to share our new study in New Phytologist! 🌿
Polyploidy is a major force in plant evolution, but is understudied in the tropics. We find that polyploidy evolved multiple times in Inga, a characteristic Neotropical tree radiation (1/n) 🧵.
Full paper🔗: tinyurl.com/msnffhs8
Polyploidy is a major force in plant evolution, but is understudied in the tropics. We find that polyploidy evolved multiple times in Inga, a characteristic Neotropical tree radiation (1/n) 🧵.
Full paper🔗: tinyurl.com/msnffhs8
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
November 25, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Findings support the hypothesis that gene duplications, particularly in reproduction and development, contributed to termite eusociality academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Genomic Features Underlying the Origin of Sociality and the Diversification of Caste Systems in Termites
Abstract. Termite colonies consist of distinct castes whose developmental pathways fall into 2 types and vary among lineages. Understanding caste evolution
academic.oup.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Findings support the hypothesis that gene duplications, particularly in reproduction and development, contributed to termite eusociality academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
_Obviously_ teenagers illicitly sneaking off to Makeout Point.
Anyone know what’s going on with these ( maybe dead?) pairs of leafcutter bees in Australia?
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
_Obviously_ teenagers illicitly sneaking off to Makeout Point.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
PhD-position vacancy in Jan Hrcek's lab lab.hrcek.net, Czech Academy of Sciences: Exploring how rapid evolution in communities allows maintenance of genetic variation and species diversity. @erc.europa.eu 🪰 🧬 🌏 🧪Application deadline: January 7th 2026
November 25, 2025 at 12:42 PM
PhD-position vacancy in Jan Hrcek's lab lab.hrcek.net, Czech Academy of Sciences: Exploring how rapid evolution in communities allows maintenance of genetic variation and species diversity. @erc.europa.eu 🪰 🧬 🌏 🧪Application deadline: January 7th 2026
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
It had indeed been an error.
November 25, 2025 at 3:34 AM
It had indeed been an error.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
We have a new postdoc position available in the Promislow lab at the HNRCA at #Tufts in #Boston, to work on the #systemsbiology of #aging in #Drosophila. Come join us! For info on the position and to apply, see promislowlab.org/wp-content/u...
promislowlab.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:12 AM
We have a new postdoc position available in the Promislow lab at the HNRCA at #Tufts in #Boston, to work on the #systemsbiology of #aging in #Drosophila. Come join us! For info on the position and to apply, see promislowlab.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
@danielobrien.bsky.social You wrote the calculator joke, right? youtu.be/xk94il8L820?...
Trump vs. Higher Education: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 2:25 AM
@danielobrien.bsky.social You wrote the calculator joke, right? youtu.be/xk94il8L820?...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
I should wait until I get my photos* onto my computer but I’m too excited so here’s some I pulled onto my phone quickly
Black Skimmers are one of my favorite #birds in the entire world, I’ll never tire of them.
(*I took a mere 1800 wildlife photos today haha)
Black Skimmers are one of my favorite #birds in the entire world, I’ll never tire of them.
(*I took a mere 1800 wildlife photos today haha)
November 24, 2025 at 11:37 PM
I should wait until I get my photos* onto my computer but I’m too excited so here’s some I pulled onto my phone quickly
Black Skimmers are one of my favorite #birds in the entire world, I’ll never tire of them.
(*I took a mere 1800 wildlife photos today haha)
Black Skimmers are one of my favorite #birds in the entire world, I’ll never tire of them.
(*I took a mere 1800 wildlife photos today haha)
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Your network is your net worth
and my network is 500 Black Skimmers right now
and my network is 500 Black Skimmers right now
November 24, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Your network is your net worth
and my network is 500 Black Skimmers right now
and my network is 500 Black Skimmers right now
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Reacting to the presence of chatbots with assignment that ask students to look for mistakes in something they got a chatbot to spit out is not a sound approach to teaching your course material.
"GenAI allows seemingly limitless possibilities for assignments that
cultivate crucial literacies. For example, here’s the same old assignment caper that everyone and their AI dog has been suggesting for the past three years.”
#genai+writing
cultivate crucial literacies. For example, here’s the same old assignment caper that everyone and their AI dog has been suggesting for the past three years.”
#genai+writing
November 24, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reacting to the presence of chatbots with assignment that ask students to look for mistakes in something they got a chatbot to spit out is not a sound approach to teaching your course material.
You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room, Charlie Brown!
I would like to have seen Montana, Charlie Brown.
The line must be drawn here, Charlie Brown! This far, and no farther
November 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room, Charlie Brown!