Bianca M. Sacchi
@bmsacchi.bsky.social
PhD @ eebtoronto by way of Edmonton. Sex chromosome evolution and gene expression in plants. Expect very occasional content: plant genomes, bioinformatics, birding, women's sports, cats, not necessarily in that order. 🏳️🌈
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
One of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved in: Project Psyche! Read all about our ambitions and aims. It's ground breaking stuff, just mind blowing and even surreal (27 years ago we did single genes for lep phylogenetics)! @projectpsyche.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe
Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level
reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found
in Europe. Here, we describe t...
www.cell.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:46 AM
One of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved in: Project Psyche! Read all about our ambitions and aims. It's ground breaking stuff, just mind blowing and even surreal (27 years ago we did single genes for lep phylogenetics)! @projectpsyche.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
We've got a really cool preprint out in collaboration with @lpachter.bsky.social's awesome student Cat Felce. Using biophysical models and RNA-seq data, we explore the mechanisms of selective constraint on mRNA abundance, finding constraint on decay rate www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Biophysical constraints on mRNA decay rates shape macroevolutionary divergence in steady-state abundances
Evolutionary changes to gene expression are understood to be a major driver of phenotypic divergence between species. Researchers have investigated the drivers of this divergence by fitting evolutiona...
www.biorxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
We've got a really cool preprint out in collaboration with @lpachter.bsky.social's awesome student Cat Felce. Using biophysical models and RNA-seq data, we explore the mechanisms of selective constraint on mRNA abundance, finding constraint on decay rate www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
You can pry my pre-owned iphone 12 mini from my cold, dead hands. Bring back small phones and maybe I'll reconsider!
Everybody knows the only solution to the rich eliminating all the jobs is to keep buying $1700 phones
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever before, and while it may be consumer smart, it comes at a cost to work productivity and the U.S. economy.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:52 PM
You can pry my pre-owned iphone 12 mini from my cold, dead hands. Bring back small phones and maybe I'll reconsider!
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Aaah! New preprint from the Sethuraman Lab has dropped! Tamsen and I have been working on this for a while, and we can’t wait for your feedback. Short thread on our swanky new polyploid genome simulator, DemographiKs, and its functionality.
Hidden in Plain Sight. How Ks histogram dynamics can reveal and obscure ancient whole genome duplications. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.689290v1
November 20, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Aaah! New preprint from the Sethuraman Lab has dropped! Tamsen and I have been working on this for a while, and we can’t wait for your feedback. Short thread on our swanky new polyploid genome simulator, DemographiKs, and its functionality.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
More really cool science news: Scientists have extracted the oldest known RNA!
This is a particularly amazing feat because RNA degrades very quickly. (Also, we learned that Yuka here was a male, not a female as previously thought.) 🧪
(by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social)
This is a particularly amazing feat because RNA degrades very quickly. (Also, we learned that Yuka here was a male, not a female as previously thought.) 🧪
(by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social)
A Frozen Woolly Mammoth Reveals the World’s Oldest RNA
RNA has been extracted from an ancient woolly mammoth, providing insight into its last moments on Earth
www.scientificamerican.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:22 PM
More really cool science news: Scientists have extracted the oldest known RNA!
This is a particularly amazing feat because RNA degrades very quickly. (Also, we learned that Yuka here was a male, not a female as previously thought.) 🧪
(by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social)
This is a particularly amazing feat because RNA degrades very quickly. (Also, we learned that Yuka here was a male, not a female as previously thought.) 🧪
(by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social)
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
November 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
bro are you fucking kidding me
![quote from the Economist article which says "[study authors] are now looking at whether AI facial analysis can give lenders useful clues about a person’s propensity to repay loans. For people without access to credit, that could be a blessing."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6ofjbklfvptnupad4lxumblw/bafkreia3yctiqd7ejumpd6novxjpiycphtfkc3bdgd573jw37faqdl7o7m@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 5:59 PM
bro are you fucking kidding me
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
To Finish the Pandemic Agreement, WHO Needs a Trustworthy Viral Database | Think Global Health
Online platforms for sharing virus sequences are in disarray. The World Health Organization has a chance to build something new
www.thinkglobalhealth.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
At some point it has to become clear that this tech exists is to create a more toxic society and enrich its owners. These uses are not aberrations but rather the entire purpose.
OpenAI's Sora 2 Can Generate Videos of Celebrities Appearing to Shout Racial Slurs
OpenAI's Sora 2 video generation model can be exploited to push misinformation and depict public figures behaving badly despite promised guardrails.
www.rollingstone.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:07 PM
At some point it has to become clear that this tech exists is to create a more toxic society and enrich its owners. These uses are not aberrations but rather the entire purpose.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Sharing our new paper, "Distinct haplotypes and reversed dominance at a single-gene balanced polymorphism controlling heterodichogamy in two genera of wingnuts". Genomics & evolution of a mating type system involving two morphs with alternating sexes in walnut relatives www.cell.com/current-biol...
Distinct haplotypes and reversed dominance at a single-gene balanced polymorphism controlling heterodichogamy in two genera of wingnuts
In most species within the walnut family, two genetically determined morphs alternate
between male and female flowering phases in time. Groh et al. identify a distinct
locus for this dimorphism in two...
www.cell.com
October 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Sharing our new paper, "Distinct haplotypes and reversed dominance at a single-gene balanced polymorphism controlling heterodichogamy in two genera of wingnuts". Genomics & evolution of a mating type system involving two morphs with alternating sexes in walnut relatives www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Happy to chat with any potential applicants who want to work in plant phylogenomics!
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
October 14, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Happy to chat with any potential applicants who want to work in plant phylogenomics!
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
tfw you think you're missing out on something but you're actually not
October 14, 2025 at 1:22 PM
tfw you think you're missing out on something but you're actually not
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
probably my most deeply-held belief: it is not possible for a slide deck to be both (1) a good presentation aide; and (2) a standalone document that can be read and understood in isolation.
October 14, 2025 at 8:08 AM
probably my most deeply-held belief: it is not possible for a slide deck to be both (1) a good presentation aide; and (2) a standalone document that can be read and understood in isolation.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Most chromosomes of any animal on Earth so far!
October 8, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Most chromosomes of any animal on Earth so far!
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Tusk by Fleetwood Mac has entered the chat
In defense of Taylor Swift...what's the best 12th album anyone has ever made?
October 4, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Tusk by Fleetwood Mac has entered the chat
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Look the mayor of Vaughan and the Premier of Ontario have said drivers are hard done by. Give them a break.
She was thrown under a streetcar when a car driver knocked her off her bike. Her case was withdrawn.
The mass withdrawal of road safety-related charges has become routine, the result of an overwhelmed court system leaving millions in fines on the table and letting dangerous drivers off the hook.
The mass withdrawal of road safety-related charges has become routine, the result of an overwhelmed court system leaving millions in fines on the table and letting dangerous drivers off the hook.
She was thrown under a streetcar when a car driver knocked her off her bike. Her case was withdrawn — one of thousands tossed each year by a ‘system in shambles’
The mass withdrawal of road safety-related charges has become routine, the result of an overwhelmed court system that is leaving millions in fines on the table and letting dangerous drivers off the ho...
www.thestar.com
September 29, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Look the mayor of Vaughan and the Premier of Ontario have said drivers are hard done by. Give them a break.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
October 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
being a cat person is so crazy bc you live with someone who is undeniably annoying and you're always thinking "maybe i should get another cat"
October 1, 2025 at 5:22 AM
being a cat person is so crazy bc you live with someone who is undeniably annoying and you're always thinking "maybe i should get another cat"
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91
October 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
This was from banning trans girls from girls sports. Just so you understand the reality of what's going on here.
Fewer girls are playing sports after govt erected barriers for girls to play sports.
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...
Early dropoff in girls' school sports linked to new gender confirmation forms
Province's new requirements are already having impacts on girls' sports in junior high
edmontonjournal.com
September 18, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This was from banning trans girls from girls sports. Just so you understand the reality of what's going on here.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
The new XKCD has to be a reference to the ant paper where ants just casually lay eggs of a different species, yes? Maybe? There are so many weird bugs its hard to know.
September 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The new XKCD has to be a reference to the ant paper where ants just casually lay eggs of a different species, yes? Maybe? There are so many weird bugs its hard to know.
Reposted by Bianca M. Sacchi
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
August 27, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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