Shikhara Bhat
@shikharabhat.bsky.social
Theoretical evolutionary ecologist. Fond of math, coffee, natural history, and metal music. Kokkonut and PhD student at Uni Mainz, Germany.
Past: BS-MS at IISER Pune, India. MS thesis at CES, IISc.
Webpage: https://thepandalorian.github.io
he/him
Past: BS-MS at IISER Pune, India. MS thesis at CES, IISc.
Webpage: https://thepandalorian.github.io
he/him
Pinned
Do you want to #model quantitative trait #evolution? Do you like #SPDEs? Happy to say my first solo author paper, now out in Theoretical Population Biology, is about just this! Check it out here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I'm super proud of this y'all :')
#scisky 🧪 🧬 #mathsky #physics
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I'm super proud of this y'all :')
#scisky 🧪 🧬 #mathsky #physics
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Why is altruism more common in nature than spite? This new paper gives a general mathematical explanation: the degree of negative assortment that can be achieved is constrained in a way that positive assortment is not, particularly in unbalanced populations.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 25, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Why is altruism more common in nature than spite? This new paper gives a general mathematical explanation: the degree of negative assortment that can be achieved is constrained in a way that positive assortment is not, particularly in unbalanced populations.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
i will be giving a talk on some recently published work on the 4th of December. Come by (zoom link below) if you want to think and learn about the evolution of mutual dependence and synchronised reproduction in endosymbioses!
Our Guest: Gaurav S. Athreya.
Title: The Evolution of Dependence and Cohesion in Incipient Endosymbioses.
When: 🌟Thursday, 4th December, at 3 PM (Stockholm time zone).
Zoom link: umu.zoom.us/j/68775661118
Webinar schedule: endosymbiosiswebinar.github.io
#Endosymbiosis
Title: The Evolution of Dependence and Cohesion in Incipient Endosymbioses.
When: 🌟Thursday, 4th December, at 3 PM (Stockholm time zone).
Zoom link: umu.zoom.us/j/68775661118
Webinar schedule: endosymbiosiswebinar.github.io
#Endosymbiosis
November 24, 2025 at 10:30 AM
i will be giving a talk on some recently published work on the 4th of December. Come by (zoom link below) if you want to think and learn about the evolution of mutual dependence and synchronised reproduction in endosymbioses!
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Happy to share that our paper ‘a formal theory of group-level adaptation for obligate eusociality’ (with @andygardner.bsky.social) is now out in @jevbio.bsky.social advances.
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
#OpenAccess #Eusociality #GroupAdaptation #FormalDarwinism
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
#OpenAccess #Eusociality #GroupAdaptation #FormalDarwinism
November 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Happy to share that our paper ‘a formal theory of group-level adaptation for obligate eusociality’ (with @andygardner.bsky.social) is now out in @jevbio.bsky.social advances.
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
#OpenAccess #Eusociality #GroupAdaptation #FormalDarwinism
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
#OpenAccess #Eusociality #GroupAdaptation #FormalDarwinism
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
This is a reminder that @asn-amnat.bsky.social publishes abstracts in both English and your native language, using your native alphabet. You can see and read those online. Here is a screenshot of a great example. Love seeing this in my favorite journal.
November 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
This is a reminder that @asn-amnat.bsky.social publishes abstracts in both English and your native language, using your native alphabet. You can see and read those online. Here is a screenshot of a great example. Love seeing this in my favorite journal.
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
"Nature, red in tooth and claw"
are you dumb, nature is green ?
are you dumb, nature is green ?
November 14, 2025 at 2:51 PM
"Nature, red in tooth and claw"
are you dumb, nature is green ?
are you dumb, nature is green ?
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Really nice opportunity to run polygenic adaptation experiments on Drosophila as a postdoc with the great @nedabarghi.bsky.social ! Located at MPI in the lovely town of Ploen. Come join this wonderful research community ::))
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
https://evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldir/PostDocs//MPI-EvolBiol_Germany.PolygenicAdaptation
A Postdoctoral position is available in Evolution of Polygenic Traits
Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology-
Pl�n, Germany. Our group studies the genetic basis of adaptat...
evol.mcmaster.ca
November 14, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Really nice opportunity to run polygenic adaptation experiments on Drosophila as a postdoc with the great @nedabarghi.bsky.social ! Located at MPI in the lovely town of Ploen. Come join this wonderful research community ::))
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at @unibe.ch 🤓⛰️📊👩💻🎓: banklab.github.io/positions/
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
October 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at @unibe.ch 🤓⛰️📊👩💻🎓: banklab.github.io/positions/
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Working on internal conflicts? Please submit to the Internal Conflicts STN special issue with @jevbio.bsky.social! We invite work on all forms of within-organism conflict, and are very keen to receive research manuscripts. See the link for more info, or reach out to me if you have any questions.
Call for Papers for a special issue on "Foundations of Internal Conflicts" in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Submit by Feb 28, 2026. Contact Martijn Schenkel for details: [email protected]
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
October 27, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Working on internal conflicts? Please submit to the Internal Conflicts STN special issue with @jevbio.bsky.social! We invite work on all forms of within-organism conflict, and are very keen to receive research manuscripts. See the link for more info, or reach out to me if you have any questions.
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Working any sort of within-organism conflict?
Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!
Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!
Call for Papers for a special issue on "Foundations of Internal Conflicts" in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Submit by Feb 28, 2026. Contact Martijn Schenkel for details: [email protected]
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
October 27, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Working any sort of within-organism conflict?
Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!
Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Myself and Alastair Wilson wrote an updated version of our 2016 primer to quantitative genetics in the wild: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... Happy to share a copy if interested. It is also on research gate
Quantitative Genetics in Natural Populations
Phenotypes evolve under natural selection if, and only if, they are genetically variable. While evolutionary ecologists have long studied natural sele…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Myself and Alastair Wilson wrote an updated version of our 2016 primer to quantitative genetics in the wild: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... Happy to share a copy if interested. It is also on research gate
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
As a longtime RStudio and ggplot user, it is really disappointing to see the (still?) head of Posit and author of R For Data Science using LLMs to create translations of package vignettes, instead of hiring a professional
October 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM
As a longtime RStudio and ggplot user, it is really disappointing to see the (still?) head of Posit and author of R For Data Science using LLMs to create translations of package vignettes, instead of hiring a professional
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Interested in resource competition theory, mutualism, spatial patterns or temporal dynamics? I'll be giving a talk in the IITE online seminar series tomorrow summarizing our recent work on microbial cross-feeding that includes all these ingredients.
📣Tomorrow our next series of online seminars restarts: Chris Klausmeier (MSU) will present:
⭐Microbial cross-feeding: coexistence and collapse, spatial patterns and population cycles⭐
Free and open to all:
Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/
Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
⭐Microbial cross-feeding: coexistence and collapse, spatial patterns and population cycles⭐
Free and open to all:
Zoom link: iite.info/seminar/
Global Times: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/f...
October 20, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Interested in resource competition theory, mutualism, spatial patterns or temporal dynamics? I'll be giving a talk in the IITE online seminar series tomorrow summarizing our recent work on microbial cross-feeding that includes all these ingredients.
Analog machine that simulates solutions to the Schrödinger equation when you take long exposure pictures of parts of its motion 🤯
In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
The simple machine that visualised atomic orbitals
In 1931, Harvey Elliott White developed a device that traced out the shapes of electron clouds by approximating solutions to the Schrödinger equation
www.chemistryworld.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Analog machine that simulates solutions to the Schrödinger equation when you take long exposure pictures of parts of its motion 🤯
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
The simple machine that visualised atomic orbitals
In 1931, Harvey Elliott White developed a device that traced out the shapes of electron clouds by approximating solutions to the Schrödinger equation
www.chemistryworld.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:37 AM
In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
I'm delighted to announce that the Interdisciplinary Challenges (IntCha) meeting is returning in April 2026! Abstract submission is now open.
We encourage young scientists working at the interface between biology and physics to join us at the IESC in Corsica. Website here: intcha26.sciencesconf.org
We encourage young scientists working at the interface between biology and physics to join us at the IESC in Corsica. Website here: intcha26.sciencesconf.org
October 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
I'm delighted to announce that the Interdisciplinary Challenges (IntCha) meeting is returning in April 2026! Abstract submission is now open.
We encourage young scientists working at the interface between biology and physics to join us at the IESC in Corsica. Website here: intcha26.sciencesconf.org
We encourage young scientists working at the interface between biology and physics to join us at the IESC in Corsica. Website here: intcha26.sciencesconf.org
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 AM
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
What is sexual selection all about... definitionally and mathematically? A super talented PI, Jussi Lehtonen, is looking for a postdoc to work it all out! Deadline end of this month.
ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...
ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...
October 16, 2025 at 1:59 PM
What is sexual selection all about... definitionally and mathematically? A super talented PI, Jussi Lehtonen, is looking for a postdoc to work it all out! Deadline end of this month.
ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...
ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
4) “the complexity of biological phenomena is an argument for the use of mathematical methods rather than against it. In the case of a simple phenomenon we may hope to understand it without the use of mathematics, by simple inspection. But in a complex case we are left hopeless without mathematics.”
October 16, 2025 at 12:30 PM
4) “the complexity of biological phenomena is an argument for the use of mathematical methods rather than against it. In the case of a simple phenomenon we may hope to understand it without the use of mathematics, by simple inspection. But in a complex case we are left hopeless without mathematics.”
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Looking forward to this! A non-Elsevier alternative to Theoretical Population Biology / Journal of Theoretical Biology
Population Biology Modeling & Theory (PBMT) is a peer-reviewed journal reporting advances in modeling and theory within population biology. Its scope spans demography, ecology, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, and phylogenetics. PBMT will be online soon.
October 7, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Looking forward to this! A non-Elsevier alternative to Theoretical Population Biology / Journal of Theoretical Biology
This sounds amazing! Society-led, open access, Elsevier-free alternative to TPB and JTB, two of my otherwise favourite journals. Very excited to see where this goes.
Looking forward to this! A non-Elsevier alternative to Theoretical Population Biology / Journal of Theoretical Biology
Population Biology Modeling & Theory (PBMT) is a peer-reviewed journal reporting advances in modeling and theory within population biology. Its scope spans demography, ecology, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, and phylogenetics. PBMT will be online soon.
October 15, 2025 at 5:55 PM
This sounds amazing! Society-led, open access, Elsevier-free alternative to TPB and JTB, two of my otherwise favourite journals. Very excited to see where this goes.
#evosky, a naive, theory-pilled question: Why is anybody who believes in n-locus models of cooperation for small n allowed to care about relatedness in the pedigree (IBD) sense?
A quick thread (please excuse any hyperbole, misrepresentation, or strawman arguments and point them out for me lol):
A quick thread (please excuse any hyperbole, misrepresentation, or strawman arguments and point them out for me lol):
October 10, 2025 at 10:08 PM
#evosky, a naive, theory-pilled question: Why is anybody who believes in n-locus models of cooperation for small n allowed to care about relatedness in the pedigree (IBD) sense?
A quick thread (please excuse any hyperbole, misrepresentation, or strawman arguments and point them out for me lol):
A quick thread (please excuse any hyperbole, misrepresentation, or strawman arguments and point them out for me lol):
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
This:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!
Stop treating code like an afterthought: record, share and value it
Scientists, research institutions, funders, libraries and publishers must all improve software practices.
www.nature.com
October 9, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
Nominations are now open for the Dobzhansky Prize, which recognizes the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. The award includes $5000 and an award talk at the in-person Evolution meeting. Deadline: December 1
shorturl.at/p70wY
shorturl.at/p70wY
October 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Nominations are now open for the Dobzhansky Prize, which recognizes the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. The award includes $5000 and an award talk at the in-person Evolution meeting. Deadline: December 1
shorturl.at/p70wY
shorturl.at/p70wY
Reposted by Shikhara Bhat
from now on I'm just going to truncate the taylor series for sin at the first term. sin(x) = 0 for all x. this approximation
- is efficient to compute
- has bounded error
- has excellent analytic properties
- has very high accuracy for small values, which occur frequently in applications
- is efficient to compute
- has bounded error
- has excellent analytic properties
- has very high accuracy for small values, which occur frequently in applications
October 8, 2025 at 5:21 PM
from now on I'm just going to truncate the taylor series for sin at the first term. sin(x) = 0 for all x. this approximation
- is efficient to compute
- has bounded error
- has excellent analytic properties
- has very high accuracy for small values, which occur frequently in applications
- is efficient to compute
- has bounded error
- has excellent analytic properties
- has very high accuracy for small values, which occur frequently in applications