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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · 9d

Have you seen this one? U 1125 at Krogsta.

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · 20d

My home town! :)

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 24

But it is at least striking and indisputable that it is precisely in Western Europe where we think mostly of the church and its influence that modern science emerged and so vigorously developed. Correlation is not causation but the counterfactual, that the church inhibited it would be hard to show.

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 24

The “church” considered broadly as an institution has existed for a long time and in many places and it is hard to draw completely comprehensive conclusions. Byzantium for example isn’t normally associated with significant scientific advances (but see people like Philoponus who influenced Galileo).

grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 24

Of course the scientific revolution made immense advances. But these advances were in many cases built on or at least partly anticipated by earlier work. The idea of dividing human history into watertight “periods” such as the dark ages or scientific revolution has long been abandoned by historians.

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 24

In many cases it was the church structures themselves that enabled technological advance. One example is the development of blast furnaces and metallurgy by the Cistercians (see eg

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskill ) and arguably it was the Reformation that put a stop to such inventiveness.

Laskill - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 24

The height of the power of the medieval papacy was between say 1100-1300 peaking with Innocent III at 1198-1216. But that corresponds to the “high Middle Ages” which saw great advances in all sorts of ways in Western Europe including in science and technology.

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 23

When do you think that period was?

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 21

Last time I visited you had to get the key from a shop down the road is that still true??

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 21

With the wonderful Purbeck effigy of Lawrence of Arabia!

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 18

My dispatch on early echinoderms (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Palaeontology: Straightening out early echinoderms

Fossil material of echinoderms from the Cambrian of Morocco suggests a novel reconstruction of early echinoderm evolution and ties in with recent adva…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted

Ferdinand Marlétaz @ferdix.bsky.social · Aug 13

After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1

The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature

Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...

www.nature.com

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Reposted

Richard Mann @richardpmann.bsky.social · Aug 5

Do diversification rates and molecular evolution covary? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s surprising how much falls into place if we assume they do doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Evolutionary Tempo, Supertaxa, and Living Fossils

Abstract. A relationship between the rate of molecular change and diversification has long been discussed, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Howev

doi.org

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 5

Main findings: clades very imbalanced; large clades likely to have emerged at time of high tempo and then slowed; expected amount of molecular change on each branch equal (so no molecular clock in this model) and large diverse clades expected to be accompanied by small, conservative “living fossils”

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Aug 5

Our covariant model of evolution is now out in @systbiol.bsky.social. In it, rates of diversification and molecular and morphological evolution all covary governed by a “tempo” variable which itself also varies at a rate equal to its own value. @richardpmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Evolutionary Tempo, Supertaxa, and Living Fossils

Abstract. A relationship between the rate of molecular change and diversification has long been discussed, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Howev

doi.org

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Reposted

Max Telford @maxjtelford.bsky.social · Jul 18

My book 'The Tree of Life' will be available in Spanish translation in October. Other languages coming too. (Uk version here... www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So...)

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Reposted

James Gahan @jgahan.bsky.social · Jul 16

We are looking for new colleagues to come join us in Galway as group leaders (Junior and Senior). The Centre for Chromosome Biology is a great place and it is a good time to join. Please reach out if you want to chat about the opportunity!
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Jul 8

Viator’s Bridge of Izaak Walton fame at Milldale in the Peak District

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Jun 12

Wildflowers

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Jun 7

That’s what I always thought until I moved to Sweden where they fly around my summer house!

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · Jun 6

Cephalanthera longifolia (narrow-leaved helleborine) and Cypripedium calceolus (Lady’s slipper orchid) on Gräsö.

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grahbudd.bsky.social @grahbudd.bsky.social · May 23

Very sorry to hear of the death of Alisdair MacIntyre. ”After Virtue” was never more apposite. dailynous.com/2025/05/22/a...

Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025) - Daily Nous

Alasdair MacIntyre, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and Duke University, well-known for his work in moral and political philosophy, has died. Professor MacIntyre wrote...

dailynous.com

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Reposted

Kjetil Lysne Voje @klvoje.bsky.social · May 22

Here is our attempt at summarizing the state of the evidence for the punctuated equilibrium hypothesis. The paper is part of a special issue of Paleobiology celebrating the 50th anniversary of the PE Hypothesis. Work led by Gene Hunt. @lhliow.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Punctuated equilibrium: state of the evidence | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core

Punctuated equilibrium: state of the evidence

www.cambridge.org

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Reposted

Max Telford @maxjtelford.bsky.social · May 12

New entry into the sponge/ctenophore debate.... Have the chromosome fusions separating ctenophores from all other animals been given too much weight? Beautifully clearly written paper covering complex arguments from @rcply.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies

Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cnidarians and bilaterians to the exclusion of ctenophores...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted

Max Telford @maxjtelford.bsky.social · Apr 24

It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.

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