Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · 25d

Atta grrls www.btpm.org/2025-09-08/l...

Chelsea O chatted with Toronto’s Bebe and Oona about what it’s like playing in a band with your sibling, the all ages music scene in Southern Ontario, collaboration across artistic mediums, and more.

www.btpm.org

Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · 27d

Exciting new #speciation + #phylogenetics dating work now out @plos.org by PhD students Daniel Fusca & Maia Dall'Acqua! #celegans doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Phylogenomic timetree-calibrated speciation clocks for Caenorhabditis nematodes reveal slow but disproportionate accumulation of post-zygotic reproductive isolation

Author summary As separate populations evolve into distinct species, they accumulate genetic changes that record the duration of their separation and that can contribute to reproductive incompatibilit...

doi.org

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Reposted by Asher Cutter

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · Sep 1

Quasi epigenetic equilibrium: the implications of plasticity and variability on evolution and extinction https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.27.672696v1

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Maxwell Shafer @maxshafer.bsky.social · Aug 28

Now published @natecoevo.nature.com with @annika-nichols.bsky.social, our latest on the evolution of 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 across 𝟲𝟬 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 of cichlid fishes! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
with members of the @schierlab.bsky.social and Salzburger labs, as well as the burgeoning Shafer lab @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social

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Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · Aug 29

Cool new comparative analysis of giant worm sperm cells using electron microscopy, by recent PhD Rebecca Schalkowski! Evolution advance access @journal-evo.bsky.social #celegans #ecoevo doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Validate User

doi.org

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Society for the Study of Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social · Aug 29

Less than 3 weeks left to submit your proposals for the GREG Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards, which provide up to $3500 for 3rd-year and above PhD students. Full instructions, evaluation criteria, and FAQs on our website: www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
Deadline September 15!

Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants. Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards, Deadline: September 15, 5:00 PM Eastern.

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Stephen I Wright @stepheniwright.bsky.social · Aug 27

Please share broadly: I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to work on a collaborative project on the temporal population genomics of invasive Capeweed (using contemporary and herbarium genomics), with ‪‪@shaky-dingo.bsky.social‬ and colleagues

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Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · Aug 20

Ethics of gene drives in humans if we go down the path of heritable genome editing? Now in print jme.bmj.com/cgi/content/...

Guerrilla eugenics: gene drives in heritable human genome editing

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing can and has altered human genomes, bringing bioethical debates about this capability to the forefront of philosophical and policy considerations. Here, I consider the undere...

jme.bmj.com

Reposted by Asher Cutter

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Aug 12

The University of Calgary seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Freshwater Ecology, starting 2026. Candidates must have a PhD and focus on research and teaching-related aquatic ecology. Apply by Sept 5, 2025. More info: https://ucalgary.ca. #job

Top Degree Programs and Research in Canada

Transform your inspiration into impact!

ucalgary.ca

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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · Aug 11

Our paper showing that variation in transcription factor binding sites underlies the majority of additive genetic variance for phenotypic variation in maize is finally out!

Sadly they didn't use our suggested cover image below (made by the inimitable Andi Kur).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · Aug 8

#Viewpoint: Measuring #NaturalSelection on the transcriptome

John R. Stinchcombe & John K. Kelly 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#LatestIssue

Schematic depicting the mapping from genotype to fitness.

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Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · Aug 7

Looking for an end-of-summer good read? My book Evolving Tomorrow is 50% off at Amazon right now www.amazon.com/Evolving-Tom... Packed with cool organisms and cool science, and even tariff-free Canadian content!

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Cell & Systems Biology (CSB) @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social · Aug 5

Job Alert! 🚨 The Department of Biology at UTM @utmbiology.bsky.social is currently recruiting for an Assistant Professor, Molecular Genetics
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Mississa...

Assistant Professor - Molecular Genetics

jobs.utoronto.ca

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Thomas Lenormand @thomaslenormand.bsky.social · Jul 12

Interested to know more about a new theory relating the #evolution of #sexchromosomes to the rules of #speciation? Check out this paper that we published with Denis Roze in the last issue of #Science. PDF here: www.science.org/stoken/autho...

A single theory for the evolution of sex chromosomes and the two rules of speciation

Sex chromosomes are involved in three major empirical patterns: (i) Y (or W) chromosomes are often nonrecombining and degenerate; (ii) heterogametic offspring (XY or ZW) from interspecific crosses are...

www.science.org

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Erich M. Schwarz @erichmschwarz.bsky.social · Aug 1

After 10 years of work, a complete telomere-to-telomere gap-free genome for C. elegans finally exists: it has 106 Mb rather than the textbook 100.3 Mb, and up to 366 additional genes.
genome.cshlp.org/content/35/8...

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Marc Johnson (he/him) @evoecolab.bsky.social · Jul 30

My department @utoronto.ca (www.utm.utoronto.ca/biology/) is hiring a molecular biologist in any field (e.g., ecology, evolutionary biology, etc.). Please encourage any excellent finishing PhD students, postdocs or assistant professor to apply here:
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Mississa...

www.utm.utoronto.ca

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University of Toronto @utoronto.ca · Jul 22

From rooftop greenhouses to subterranean growth chambers, plant research facilities on #UofT’s historic St. George campus are quietly undergoing a major lighting retrofit – and gaining a research boost in the process. 🌱 uoft.me/bJ3

Tom Gludovacz, chief horticulturist, says the new LED lighting emits the specific spectrum of light plants need

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Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · Jul 22

⭐Issue 6 of JEB is now online!⭐

This issue is headlined by a Target Review from @josselin-clo.bsky.social et al. on #matingsystems evolution, accompanied by several #invitedcommentaries expanding on this key discussion comparing concepts in plants and animals:

academic.oup.com/jeb/issue/38/6

Volume 38 Issue 6 | Journal of Evolutionary Biology | Oxford Academic

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

academic.oup.com

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Asher Cutter @asherdcutter.bsky.social · Jul 22

Clo et al.’s new review on mating system evo was a great excuse to let me dig into some underexplored ideas in the field: roles of interspecies interactions doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

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Alice Boyle @birdfiddler.bsky.social · Jul 19

Are you a PhD student, have an offer, or have had an offer recently rescinded from a US university? If so, Western (in London, ON, Canada) has a new scholarship program for you! Check out this news story. I can vouch for this university! You will love it.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Western University launches program to capitalize on shrinking U.S. research funding | CBC News

Western University is looking to capitalize on massive shifts in the academic landscape of the United States with a new initiative designed to turn a difficult situation into a brain gain for both the...

www.cbc.ca

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Nicolas Bierne @couplingdmi.bsky.social · Jul 10

3-year #postdoc position at Centre de synthèse et d'analyse de la biodiversité (CESAB) in Montpellier to work on how taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs. Please share widely #PopGen #NbS
www.fondationbiodiversite.fr/en/about-the...

Job opportunities - Fondation pour la recherche sur la biodiversité

Créée en 2008, la FRB recherche régulièrement de nouveaux collaborateurs. Elle constitue un point de convergence entre la science et la société, autour des défis que doit aujourd’hui relever la recher...

www.fondationbiodiversite.fr

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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Jul 10

The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field?

That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience

A 🧵 1/n

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Karl Grieshop @karlgrieshop.bsky.social · Jul 9

Out now in @molbioevol.bsky.social with Michelle Liu (co-first), Ryan Frost, Matthew Lindsay, Malak Bayoumi, Martin Brengdahl, @ruxmolnar.bsky.social and @aneil-agrawal.bsky.social, we evolved ~40% of the D. melanogaster genome under male-limited inheritance, ...

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Expression Divergence in Response to Sex-biased Selection

Abstract. It remains debated whether greater degrees of sexual dimorphism would evolve if not for intersexual genetic constraints. Here, we used experiment

academic.oup.com

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · May 20

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