Joseph W. Brown
@josephwb.bsky.social
Comp. evol. biol., fake ornithologist, LFHCfs, Luddite, CSH
I get down methodically
Without regard to my soul
tinyurl.com/G00gleSch0lar
HHGG bot: @whalepetunias.bsky.social
pfp: Chickens exposed to natural beard hair on a mannequin
hdr: socks & sandals
I get down methodically
Without regard to my soul
tinyurl.com/G00gleSch0lar
HHGG bot: @whalepetunias.bsky.social
pfp: Chickens exposed to natural beard hair on a mannequin
hdr: socks & sandals
Pinned
Joseph W. Brown
@josephwb.bsky.social
· Dec 28
I made this over the break. Why would I do such a thing? Am I some sort of #phylogenetics dork? Well... yes, but that's not why. To fully explain I'll have to do one of those sewing-strings-wrapped-around-a-spool dealies. 1/ 🧪
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Hear this wild idea out: what if we started blaming a system that forces researchers to publish a lot in little time? What if we stopped rewarding the number of papers when hiring new PIs? Do you really think researchers would still give up on doing what they love the most and hand it to AI?
AI is screwing up journal papers:
Journal editor asks authors of 10 submitted papers to meet and discuss their paper. Of the 7 that showed up, 3 were unable to answer basic questions about the paper and 3 had difficulty when asked further questions on technical details…
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Journal editor asks authors of 10 submitted papers to meet and discuss their paper. Of the 7 that showed up, 3 were unable to answer basic questions about the paper and 3 had difficulty when asked further questions on technical details…
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Asking Authors About Their Own Papers
By Nihar B. Shah
medium.com
September 18, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Hear this wild idea out: what if we started blaming a system that forces researchers to publish a lot in little time? What if we stopped rewarding the number of papers when hiring new PIs? Do you really think researchers would still give up on doing what they love the most and hand it to AI?
Fossil record structure strongly shapes clade age estimates under the Bayesian Brownian Bridge model www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com
September 18, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Fossil record structure strongly shapes clade age estimates under the Bayesian Brownian Bridge model www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Fan of weird end-Permian-surviving fossil sharks? Check out our preprint describing the first endoskeletal fossils of Carnian jalodontiform Keuperodus brodiei. #FossilFriday
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Led by Ryan Tokeley (no bsky), based on his great masters project work @nitroshutter.bsky.social
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Led by Ryan Tokeley (no bsky), based on his great masters project work @nitroshutter.bsky.social
September 18, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Fan of weird end-Permian-surviving fossil sharks? Check out our preprint describing the first endoskeletal fossils of Carnian jalodontiform Keuperodus brodiei. #FossilFriday
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Led by Ryan Tokeley (no bsky), based on his great masters project work @nitroshutter.bsky.social
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Led by Ryan Tokeley (no bsky), based on his great masters project work @nitroshutter.bsky.social
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
I found this MacClade instruction manual from 1992 when I arrived at the OMNH. I keep it in my office and treat it like a beloved fossil in our collections
September 18, 2026 at 3:33 PM
I found this MacClade instruction manual from 1992 when I arrived at the OMNH. I keep it in my office and treat it like a beloved fossil in our collections
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
She even tried to catch me before she started the exam.
“What kind of floss?”
“Soft picks in the morning and regular floss at night.”
“What color are the soft picks?”
“Green”
“Waxed or unwaxed floss”
WOMAN I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL WIN THIS DENTAL EXAM
“What kind of floss?”
“Soft picks in the morning and regular floss at night.”
“What color are the soft picks?”
“Green”
“Waxed or unwaxed floss”
WOMAN I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL WIN THIS DENTAL EXAM
September 18, 2026 at 3:02 PM
She even tried to catch me before she started the exam.
“What kind of floss?”
“Soft picks in the morning and regular floss at night.”
“What color are the soft picks?”
“Green”
“Waxed or unwaxed floss”
WOMAN I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL WIN THIS DENTAL EXAM
“What kind of floss?”
“Soft picks in the morning and regular floss at night.”
“What color are the soft picks?”
“Green”
“Waxed or unwaxed floss”
WOMAN I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL WIN THIS DENTAL EXAM
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Happy b-day to my partner @rachelsb.bsky.social! youtu.be/o1qqLTTfv1g?...
car seat headrest - something soon
YouTube video by carseatheadrest
youtu.be
September 18, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Happy b-day to my partner @rachelsb.bsky.social! youtu.be/o1qqLTTfv1g?...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Come to @romtoronto.bsky.social and EEB in Toronto! ROM is seeking entomologist/arachnologist curator who would also be faculty in EEB at UofT royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/mdMTpA...
Curator of Insects & Arachnids - Royal Ontario Museum - Career Page
Apply to Curator of Insects & Arachnids at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada.
royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com
September 17, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Come to @romtoronto.bsky.social and EEB in Toronto! ROM is seeking entomologist/arachnologist curator who would also be faculty in EEB at UofT royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/mdMTpA...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Most science stories focus on impact not process, but this story unfolds like a Poirot mystery: a secret code, a stolen weapon, and the little grey cells that pieced the mystery together
Before #CRISPR, there was VIPR — a tool viruses used to battle each other with a never-before-seen genetic coding system, uncovered by researchers in the Doudna Lab. Read more here: https://ow.ly/KblS50ZOxwQ
#AI #LanguageModel #RNA
#AI #LanguageModel #RNA
September 17, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Most science stories focus on impact not process, but this story unfolds like a Poirot mystery: a secret code, a stolen weapon, and the little grey cells that pieced the mystery together
Me refreshing bandcamp (hoping the artist accidentally releases the album a day early) like it's Manuscript Central.
Bongo Cat Playing the Red Button
Alt: Bongo Cat Playing the Red Button
static.klipy.com
September 17, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Me refreshing bandcamp (hoping the artist accidentally releases the album a day early) like it's Manuscript Central.
JWB: I am SO OLD...
Audience, interrupting: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
JWB: I am SO OLD I remember when people used to write AND read their own papers :/
Audience, interrupting: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
JWB: I am SO OLD I remember when people used to write AND read their own papers :/
This is the future of scientific papers.
Instead of a PDF, the paper is an AI agent that you can talk to, ask questions, run analyses.
No more digging through supplements - just ask the paper directly: "what p-value cutoff was used in Fig 3B? Re-run at 0.01."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Instead of a PDF, the paper is an AI agent that you can talk to, ask questions, run analyses.
No more digging through supplements - just ask the paper directly: "what p-value cutoff was used in Fig 3B? Re-run at 0.01."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reimagining research papers as interactive and reliable AI agents - Nature
Paper2Agent converts research papers into interactive artificial intelligence agents by turning manuscripts, code and data into model context protocol-based tool-invoking systems that reproduce origin...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2026 at 2:14 PM
JWB: I am SO OLD...
Audience, interrupting: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
JWB: I am SO OLD I remember when people used to write AND read their own papers :/
Audience, interrupting: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
JWB: I am SO OLD I remember when people used to write AND read their own papers :/
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Well that’s a bleak fucking future.
September 17, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Well that’s a bleak fucking future.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
If a student walked in and told you "summarize your work for me because I'm unwilling to read and understand it in full," would you accept that?
What about if they then asked you questions you'd already answered in the paper?
You've built a system that teaches people not to read or research.
What about if they then asked you questions you'd already answered in the paper?
You've built a system that teaches people not to read or research.
September 17, 2026 at 11:18 AM
If a student walked in and told you "summarize your work for me because I'm unwilling to read and understand it in full," would you accept that?
What about if they then asked you questions you'd already answered in the paper?
You've built a system that teaches people not to read or research.
What about if they then asked you questions you'd already answered in the paper?
You've built a system that teaches people not to read or research.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Basically, we don’t add a Shiny app to every paper, even in the Big Time Journals, and I don’t think there’s a very big market for Shiny Apps That Talk especially Shiny Apps That Talk instead of just … being a paper
September 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Basically, we don’t add a Shiny app to every paper, even in the Big Time Journals, and I don’t think there’s a very big market for Shiny Apps That Talk especially Shiny Apps That Talk instead of just … being a paper
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Lovely to see several pieces of our ctenophore work featured in this beautiful new story from @quantamagazine.org 🪼
Great piece by @mstarling.bsky.social, also featuring work by @stevehaddock.bsky.social, @arnausebe.bsky.social & @hejnol.bsky.social.
www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
Great piece by @mstarling.bsky.social, also featuring work by @stevehaddock.bsky.social, @arnausebe.bsky.social & @hejnol.bsky.social.
www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
Ctenophores Aren’t Just Beautiful. They’re Biological Wonders. | Quanta Magazine
Comb jellies are helping answer fundamental questions in biology, from how the earliest nervous systems evolved to how bioluminescence works.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 16, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Lovely to see several pieces of our ctenophore work featured in this beautiful new story from @quantamagazine.org 🪼
Great piece by @mstarling.bsky.social, also featuring work by @stevehaddock.bsky.social, @arnausebe.bsky.social & @hejnol.bsky.social.
www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
Great piece by @mstarling.bsky.social, also featuring work by @stevehaddock.bsky.social, @arnausebe.bsky.social & @hejnol.bsky.social.
www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
The Agrawal lab has published its first paper! "Sticking the landing: leg mechanosensory feedback coordinates the transition from flight to landing"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This project was led by a technician in the lab, Tse-Wei (Wayne) Kuo. Brief 🧵on what we found
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This project was led by a technician in the lab, Tse-Wei (Wayne) Kuo. Brief 🧵on what we found
Slack
agrawal-lab-workspace.slack.com
September 16, 2026 at 9:32 PM
The Agrawal lab has published its first paper! "Sticking the landing: leg mechanosensory feedback coordinates the transition from flight to landing"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This project was led by a technician in the lab, Tse-Wei (Wayne) Kuo. Brief 🧵on what we found
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This project was led by a technician in the lab, Tse-Wei (Wayne) Kuo. Brief 🧵on what we found
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Transforming turtle systematics: challenges, opportunities and the path ahead by Evers and Joyce 🔗 buff.ly/9dnDRTc
#PaleoSky #turtles #systematics #phylogeny #morphology
View the full series here: Perspectives on the Systematics of Fossil Organisms: Challenges and Opportunities: buff.ly/qiJ0XUO
#PaleoSky #turtles #systematics #phylogeny #morphology
View the full series here: Perspectives on the Systematics of Fossil Organisms: Challenges and Opportunities: buff.ly/qiJ0XUO
September 16, 2026 at 10:45 AM
Transforming turtle systematics: challenges, opportunities and the path ahead by Evers and Joyce 🔗 buff.ly/9dnDRTc
#PaleoSky #turtles #systematics #phylogeny #morphology
View the full series here: Perspectives on the Systematics of Fossil Organisms: Challenges and Opportunities: buff.ly/qiJ0XUO
#PaleoSky #turtles #systematics #phylogeny #morphology
View the full series here: Perspectives on the Systematics of Fossil Organisms: Challenges and Opportunities: buff.ly/qiJ0XUO
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Are you a #NewPI in Ecology & Evolution? Would you like to meet with peers to chat about work, the future and life as a new PI? 🍪☕️
Then I have the form for you! 📋
Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey:
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn
Please RT! 🙏
Then I have the form for you! 📋
Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey:
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn
Please RT! 🙏
September 15, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Are you a #NewPI in Ecology & Evolution? Would you like to meet with peers to chat about work, the future and life as a new PI? 🍪☕️
Then I have the form for you! 📋
Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey:
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn
Please RT! 🙏
Then I have the form for you! 📋
Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey:
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn
Please RT! 🙏
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
Behind the scenes.
September 16, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Behind the scenes.
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
My lab is hiring a postdoc for an NSF-funded project on machine learning, model misspecification, and population genetics! Flexible start-date!
Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io
Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io
Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Please reach out if you have any questions!
The Smith Lab — Mississippi State University
The Smith Lab at Mississippi State University studies diversification using genomic data, with a focus on terrestrial snails and slugs.
smithlabbio.github.io
September 16, 2026 at 3:08 PM
My lab is hiring a postdoc for an NSF-funded project on machine learning, model misspecification, and population genetics! Flexible start-date!
Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io
Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io
Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
We are a friendly bunch, who like hearing about anything systematics-related (methods included!) and about any taxon!
If you're a student (or recent graduate) working on any aspect of systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetics send your abstract along! (Preferably well in advance of October 24!!!)
If you're a student (or recent graduate) working on any aspect of systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetics send your abstract along! (Preferably well in advance of October 24!!!)
Join us Nov 13th for #YSF2026, a completely free, online conference where postgraduate students (and other early career researchers) present their work on systematics, taxonomy and/or phylogenetics.
Abstract submission closes Oct 24th!
REGISTER: tinyurl.com/bdzxt2ht
systass.org/young-system...
Abstract submission closes Oct 24th!
REGISTER: tinyurl.com/bdzxt2ht
systass.org/young-system...
YSF2026 Registration Form
Welcome to the YSF2026 Registration and Abstract Submission form.
This year the conference will be held online on Friday, November 13th 2026. We look forward to seeing old and new faces from across t...
tinyurl.com
September 16, 2026 at 9:24 AM
We are a friendly bunch, who like hearing about anything systematics-related (methods included!) and about any taxon!
If you're a student (or recent graduate) working on any aspect of systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetics send your abstract along! (Preferably well in advance of October 24!!!)
If you're a student (or recent graduate) working on any aspect of systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetics send your abstract along! (Preferably well in advance of October 24!!!)
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
September 16, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
@haorancai.bsky.social @kgslab.bsky.social & @evodaveo.bsky.social show that genetic correlations are more environmentally stable when driven by polygenic background correlation across many loci, vs. a few large-effect pleiotropic outliers
🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#societyjournal #evobio
🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#societyjournal #evobio
Consistent and idiosyncratic pleiotropy in shaping genetic correlations
Abstract. Pleiotropy, the phenomenon where a single mutation influences multiple phenotypic traits, creates genetic correlations that can constrain evoluti
academic.oup.com
September 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
@haorancai.bsky.social @kgslab.bsky.social & @evodaveo.bsky.social show that genetic correlations are more environmentally stable when driven by polygenic background correlation across many loci, vs. a few large-effect pleiotropic outliers
🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#societyjournal #evobio
🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#societyjournal #evobio
Reposted by Joseph W. Brown
"We find three macroevolutionary transitions in mammal assemblages... regional Asianmid-Eocene aridification and...global events—the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (...warming 56Ma) and the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (prolonged cooling 34Ma)."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio
September 16, 2026 at 1:40 PM
"We find three macroevolutionary transitions in mammal assemblages... regional Asianmid-Eocene aridification and...global events—the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (...warming 56Ma) and the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (prolonged cooling 34Ma)."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio