Milton Tan
@mtanichthys.bsky.social
Fish biodiversity, genomics. Illinois Natural History Survey Asst Research Scientist. Also aquarium fish hobbyist and plant parent. Profile pic: With a tamandua knifefish. He/him
Reposted by Milton Tan
The story of the Beaked whale skeleton in Storer Hall, home to the Evolution & Ecology department @ucdavis.bsky.social
www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/how...
www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/how...
How a Beaked Whale Made its Way to UC Davis
Long ago, on a faraway Aleutian island, a pair of rare beaked whales got stranded. One was saved by biologists and swam back to sea. The other perished, and its skeleton now hangs in the atrium of Sto...
www.ucdavis.edu
February 17, 2026 at 11:16 PM
The story of the Beaked whale skeleton in Storer Hall, home to the Evolution & Ecology department @ucdavis.bsky.social
www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/how...
www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/how...
Reposted by Milton Tan
A new killifish species is described from the Mitemele River in Equatorial Guinea. 🧪🌍🐟 #TeamFish
Description of Mesoaphyosemion izyarae (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new killifish species from southern Equatorial Guinea
| Zootaxa
www.mapress.com
February 18, 2026 at 1:14 AM
A new killifish species is described from the Mitemele River in Equatorial Guinea. 🧪🌍🐟 #TeamFish
Reposted by Milton Tan
Testing for trait lability at macroevolutionary scales: is life history evolution labile in grasses? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.13.705712v1
February 18, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Testing for trait lability at macroevolutionary scales: is life history evolution labile in grasses? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.13.705712v1
Reposted by Milton Tan
Happy Year of the (Red) Horse! 🐎
The redhorses (Moxostoma) are a group of some 20 native sucker species found in North America. While they're sometimes mistaken for invasive carp, redhorses are actually indicators of healthy ecosystems
The redhorses (Moxostoma) are a group of some 20 native sucker species found in North America. While they're sometimes mistaken for invasive carp, redhorses are actually indicators of healthy ecosystems
February 17, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Happy Year of the (Red) Horse! 🐎
The redhorses (Moxostoma) are a group of some 20 native sucker species found in North America. While they're sometimes mistaken for invasive carp, redhorses are actually indicators of healthy ecosystems
The redhorses (Moxostoma) are a group of some 20 native sucker species found in North America. While they're sometimes mistaken for invasive carp, redhorses are actually indicators of healthy ecosystems
Reposted by Milton Tan
RRrrrr, a scientist's best friend. A new package "tbea" has made estimating phylogenies even easier than before, crucial for testing hypotheses in evolutionary biology! Combining fossil, genetic & geological data, this study looked at S American Cynodontidea as an example 👇
tbea: tools for pre- and post-processing in Bayesian evolutionary analyses
Abstract. Estimating phylogenies in which branch lengths are expressed in units of absolute time is crucial for testing hypotheses in evolutionary biology.
doi.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
RRrrrr, a scientist's best friend. A new package "tbea" has made estimating phylogenies even easier than before, crucial for testing hypotheses in evolutionary biology! Combining fossil, genetic & geological data, this study looked at S American Cynodontidea as an example 👇
Reposted by Milton Tan
Lunar New Year 2026 marks the Year of the Fire Horse.
to all who celebrate, may we offer our (red)horses in its honor?
to all who celebrate, may we offer our (red)horses in its honor?
February 17, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Lunar New Year 2026 marks the Year of the Fire Horse.
to all who celebrate, may we offer our (red)horses in its honor?
to all who celebrate, may we offer our (red)horses in its honor?
Reposted by Milton Tan
For the record @drfishsg.bsky.social and I are BOTH big fans of Bowfin!
Photo from fieldwork collab 11 years (!!!) ago on restored wetlands in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Photo from fieldwork collab 11 years (!!!) ago on restored wetlands in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
February 16, 2026 at 7:51 PM
For the record @drfishsg.bsky.social and I are BOTH big fans of Bowfin!
Photo from fieldwork collab 11 years (!!!) ago on restored wetlands in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Photo from fieldwork collab 11 years (!!!) ago on restored wetlands in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Reposted by Milton Tan
honestly, if you're gonna call a fish a "bullhead", this buffalo sculpin makes much more sense than a catfish. LOL
Also i'm pretty sure that if the Klingon home planet has fish, they all look like variations of this 😻
Also i'm pretty sure that if the Klingon home planet has fish, they all look like variations of this 😻
February 17, 2026 at 9:45 PM
honestly, if you're gonna call a fish a "bullhead", this buffalo sculpin makes much more sense than a catfish. LOL
Also i'm pretty sure that if the Klingon home planet has fish, they all look like variations of this 😻
Also i'm pretty sure that if the Klingon home planet has fish, they all look like variations of this 😻
Reposted by Milton Tan
OrthoFisher (v1.1.2) has had a major quality and usability refresh since the initial release.
Net effect: smaller default outputs, clearer reporting, more robust execution, and better long-term maintainability. (1/5)
Net effect: smaller default outputs, clearer reporting, more robust execution, and better long-term maintainability. (1/5)
February 17, 2026 at 10:14 PM
OrthoFisher (v1.1.2) has had a major quality and usability refresh since the initial release.
Net effect: smaller default outputs, clearer reporting, more robust execution, and better long-term maintainability. (1/5)
Net effect: smaller default outputs, clearer reporting, more robust execution, and better long-term maintainability. (1/5)
Reposted by Milton Tan
Manuelli, L., Clément, G., Herbin, M. et al. A dual respiratory and auditory function for the coelacanth lung. Commun Biol (2026). 🐟🧪
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
A dual respiratory and auditory function for the coelacanth lung - Communications Biology
Synchrotron imaging of fossil and extant coelacanths reveals that the lung of extinct species likely served both respiratory and auditory functions, transmitting sound pressure to the inner ear via a ...
www.nature.com
February 17, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Manuelli, L., Clément, G., Herbin, M. et al. A dual respiratory and auditory function for the coelacanth lung. Commun Biol (2026). 🐟🧪
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Reposted by Milton Tan
hey #rstats -- is there a way to see how many dependencies etc that adding a dependency to your package brings in?
I'm trying to keep a package I'm writing small and lean but also powerful. All without importing the kitchen sink and taking hours to install.
I'm trying to keep a package I'm writing small and lean but also powerful. All without importing the kitchen sink and taking hours to install.
February 17, 2026 at 11:47 PM
hey #rstats -- is there a way to see how many dependencies etc that adding a dependency to your package brings in?
I'm trying to keep a package I'm writing small and lean but also powerful. All without importing the kitchen sink and taking hours to install.
I'm trying to keep a package I'm writing small and lean but also powerful. All without importing the kitchen sink and taking hours to install.
Reposted by Milton Tan
Check out our new #OpenAccess paper in @commsbio.nature.com redescribing bewhiskered Jurassic shark Bavariscyllium, led by Sebastian Stumpf. Although relationships hard to pin down, its catshark-esque form shows sharks explored varied body shapes from the start. 🦈〰️
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
February 17, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Check out our new #OpenAccess paper in @commsbio.nature.com redescribing bewhiskered Jurassic shark Bavariscyllium, led by Sebastian Stumpf. Although relationships hard to pin down, its catshark-esque form shows sharks explored varied body shapes from the start. 🦈〰️
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Milton Tan
TriMouNet: An Algorithm for Inferring Level-1 Phylogenetic Networks from Multi-Locus Gene Tree Distributions. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.14.705539v1
February 18, 2026 at 12:57 AM
TriMouNet: An Algorithm for Inferring Level-1 Phylogenetic Networks from Multi-Locus Gene Tree Distributions. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.14.705539v1
Reposted by Milton Tan
Great news for anyone using ARGs in non-model species:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
February 17, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Great news for anyone using ARGs in non-model species:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Milton Tan
I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Dr. Jenny Gray as the new CEO of @montereybayaquarium.org. I’ve gotten to know Jenny over the years through her work with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the IUCN. She is a fantastic person. bit.ly/4kEsDRe
February 18, 2026 at 1:05 AM
I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Dr. Jenny Gray as the new CEO of @montereybayaquarium.org. I’ve gotten to know Jenny over the years through her work with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the IUCN. She is a fantastic person. bit.ly/4kEsDRe
Reposted by Milton Tan
"Palaeontology is a science and these days you need some maths and computer skills and the more the better...[which] will be of far, far more use to you at university and beyond in a career than learning the names of dinosaur species or the exact age of a given formation."
I've decided to revise and update one of my most important and popular blogposts "How do I become a paleontologist?".
I still get asked this every few weeks so having a new version of this post to share is so useful to put people on track.
archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/h...
I still get asked this every few weeks so having a new version of this post to share is so useful to put people on track.
archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/h...
How do I become a paleontologist?
This is a revised and updated version of an old post of mine that’s now nearly 10 years old, so it seemed sensible to give it a polish and re-release it into the wild. So, what do you do to become …
archosaurmusings.wordpress.com
February 17, 2026 at 5:48 PM
"Palaeontology is a science and these days you need some maths and computer skills and the more the better...[which] will be of far, far more use to you at university and beyond in a career than learning the names of dinosaur species or the exact age of a given formation."
Reposted by Milton Tan
Maths and biology conspired to make something beautiful: the world’s largest floating leaf (genus Victoria), spanning up to 3 m across. We decoded this enigma with mathematical modelling to show the lattice is an economy of material– the most structurally efficient way to cover a large surface area.
February 17, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Maths and biology conspired to make something beautiful: the world’s largest floating leaf (genus Victoria), spanning up to 3 m across. We decoded this enigma with mathematical modelling to show the lattice is an economy of material– the most structurally efficient way to cover a large surface area.
Reposted by Milton Tan
Emerling, @freddelsuc.bsky.social et al. investigated candidate genes related to dentition, gustation, and mastication in nine convergent myrmecophagous mammalian lineages, finding that convergent evolution of myrmecophagy was a protracted process.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
#evobio #molbio
Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals
Abstract. Adaptation to ant and/or termite consumption (myrmecophagy) in mammals constitutes a textbook example of convergent evolution, being independentl
doi.org
February 17, 2026 at 10:56 AM
Emerling, @freddelsuc.bsky.social et al. investigated candidate genes related to dentition, gustation, and mastication in nine convergent myrmecophagous mammalian lineages, finding that convergent evolution of myrmecophagy was a protracted process.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
#evobio #molbio
Reposted by Milton Tan
Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared
Google Scholar Is Doomed
Academia built entire careers on a free Google service with zero guarantees. What could go wrong?
hannahshelley.neocities.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared
Reposted by Milton Tan
To a first approximation, all Australian vertebrates are lizards. 🦎
But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks!
With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...
1/4
But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks!
With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...
1/4
February 17, 2026 at 12:57 AM
To a first approximation, all Australian vertebrates are lizards. 🦎
But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks!
With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...
1/4
But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks!
With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...
1/4
Reposted by Milton Tan
Some thoughts prompted by the recent incident of an AI agent trying to smear and shame a matplotlib developer. We need to think about building AI with empathy. Sociopathic AI (which is what we have today) will turn into a nightmare.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/sociopathi...
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/sociopathi...
Sociopathic AI agents
AI alignment will likely require creating AIs with genuine empathy
blog.genesmindsmachines.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Some thoughts prompted by the recent incident of an AI agent trying to smear and shame a matplotlib developer. We need to think about building AI with empathy. Sociopathic AI (which is what we have today) will turn into a nightmare.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/sociopathi...
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/sociopathi...
Reposted by Milton Tan
Genome size and phenotypic change: insights on contemporary evolution across biological groups.
New analysis of the PROCEED database in J Evol Biol.
Led by Lucas Gorne with @photopidge.bsky.social & F Pelletier
New analysis of the PROCEED database in J Evol Biol.
Led by Lucas Gorne with @photopidge.bsky.social & F Pelletier
February 16, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Genome size and phenotypic change: insights on contemporary evolution across biological groups.
New analysis of the PROCEED database in J Evol Biol.
Led by Lucas Gorne with @photopidge.bsky.social & F Pelletier
New analysis of the PROCEED database in J Evol Biol.
Led by Lucas Gorne with @photopidge.bsky.social & F Pelletier
Reposted by Milton Tan
ProteoCast predicts mutation effects across entire proteomes using sequence conservation alone. Applied to 22,000 fly protein isoforms, it correctly flags 85% of lethal mutations and identifies key sites.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.09.637326
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.09.637326
February 16, 2026 at 4:27 PM
ProteoCast predicts mutation effects across entire proteomes using sequence conservation alone. Applied to 22,000 fly protein isoforms, it correctly flags 85% of lethal mutations and identifies key sites.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.09.637326
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.09.637326
Reposted by Milton Tan
Hey genomics colleagues: are they any software programs you wish still worked on your modern OS? I’m trying to get a list of dead software that lost support and fell out of fashion, not due to method but due to software support. #genomics #evosky #evolbio #popgen #Evolution
February 16, 2026 at 9:55 AM
Hey genomics colleagues: are they any software programs you wish still worked on your modern OS? I’m trying to get a list of dead software that lost support and fell out of fashion, not due to method but due to software support. #genomics #evosky #evolbio #popgen #Evolution
Reposted by Milton Tan
The recent description of the 9,000th amphibian species marks a remarkable milestone for biodiversity science and a testament to decades of careful fieldwork, taxonomy, and collaboration across the globe. Read more at AmphibiaWeb.org #AWNews
February 16, 2026 at 5:07 PM
The recent description of the 9,000th amphibian species marks a remarkable milestone for biodiversity science and a testament to decades of careful fieldwork, taxonomy, and collaboration across the globe. Read more at AmphibiaWeb.org #AWNews