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Ben Ashby

@bnashby.bsky.social
59 followers 51 following 7 posts

Professor in Math @ SFU, British Columbia | Scientific Director of PIPPS | Research: Eco-evolutionary theory ecoevotheory.com | Fun: hiking, biking, running, hockey...

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Reposted by Ben Ashby
Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
You know your life is going well when it's covered by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social. Severe ME takes everything and yet we don't know how to treat it. The NHS regularly just ignores sufferers as a result.
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Evolution Students @ssegrad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
How can we teach evolution more effectively and help students engage with concepts they find challenging? Join us for "Teaching Evolution: Evidence-Based Pedagogy for Graduate Students & Postdoc Instructors", a virtual workshop featuring practical, research-backed approaches to teaching evolution.
Promotional flyer for an SSE panel and workshop titled “Teaching Evolution: Evidence-Based Pedagogy for Graduate Student and Postdoc Instructors.”
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Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (gw4biomed.ac.uk/how-does-tem...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky **Please share** the ad below with anyone who may be interested.
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 26/08/2026
Join Professor Kayla King for the Francis Crick Prize Lecture on 14 October 2026. @kayla-king.bsky.social will explore the rapid evolution of pathogens across the tree of life. She will also reveal what drives evolutionary changes in pathogen virulence: royalsociety.org/science-even...
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Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Come and work with us (the Kokkonuts) as a postdoc! Our research within (theory-evo-eco) is broad; let's say it's implicitly defined by the journal club papers we read. Which is why the application process includes a JC-related task, I hope it'll be a fun one for you! www.evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...
evoldir.net
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Sultan Nazir @sultannazir.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
🚨 New paper with @bramvandijk.bsky.social, out now in Genome Biology and Evolution! Why do accessory genes so often hitch a ride on temperate phages? We show that spatial structure alone can tip selection toward a prophage locus over a chromosomal one. doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... 🧵 Two mechanisms:
doi.org
Viral Lifecycle Dynamics and Spatial Structure Explain Why Accessory Genes Are Associated With Temperate Phages
Abstract. Genes encoding for virulence factors are frequently found on prophages, yet the evolutionary forces driving this association remain unclear. The
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Kayla King, Ph.D. @kayla-king.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
New King lab paper @currentbiology.bsky.social led by the brilliant @luismsilva.bsky.social on parasite shedders and spreaders: www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Transmission heterogeneity emerges from uncoupled parasite shedding and spreading
Silva et al. show that disease transmission emerges from multiple ecological bottlenecks rather than a single host trait. Separating parasite shedding from downstream infection success reveals why hos...
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Kayla King, Ph.D. @kayla-king.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
A new primer in @microbiologysociety.org on epidemic exponential growth with @bnashby.bsky.social @chadisaadroy.bsky.social and Dan Coombs: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... Fun collaboration!
microbiologyresearch.org
Microbial Primer: Understanding the exponential growth of epidemics
Microbiology Society journals contain high-quality research papers and topical review articles. We are a not-for-profit publisher and we support and invest in the microbiology community, to the benefi...
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Paper is now published in @journal-evo.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/evol...
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UBC Mathematics @ubcmath.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Today on International Women in Mathematics Day, we celebrate the many women in our department whose research, teaching, mentorship, and leadership continue to shape and strengthen the mathematical community. #WomenInMaths #May12WIM #ubc
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Asher Leeks @asherleeks.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
We're recruiting! We're looking for two graduate students to join us at UBC in Vancouver. Fully funded and open to global applicants, with flexible start-date. Topics include theory, bioinformatics, and microbiology. More details: asherleeks.com/apply #socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
Leeks Lab is recruiting. We study social evolution in viruses. We're recruiting for two fully funded PhD or MSc positions, starting from September 2026. Evolutionary theory / experimental microbiology / viral bioinformatics. Experience optional / enthusiasm essential. asherleeks.com/apply
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Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
PLEASE SHARE. PhD Opportunity with me, Ben Raymond and Jan Engelstaedter and Andrew Letten at University of Queensland. Experimentally testing mechanisms of how temperature may change selection and spread of AMR in E. coli. Coupled with some advanced modelling and sequencing. 🧪🦠 #microsky
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
New preprint with an awesome former undergraduate student (Alyssa Anderson) on guarding and self-guarding mechanisms in innate immunity: doi.org/10.64898/202... (1/2)
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CSEE_SCEE @csee-scee.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Happy International Women’s Day! We are grateful to the incredible women who lead (and have led) the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution, & to all the women ecologists & evolutionary biologists across Canada for their important work. You help make our society, country, & planet a better place!
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Rob Noble @robjohnnoble.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Apart from much else, the naming of this tool defames the guy who said, "The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think".
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Stu West @stuwest.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
A super handy database to help support academic society journals and other ethical publishing. academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...
academic.oup.com
Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology
Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
I've been thinking a lot about quality vs quantity of publications recently. Like many, I've felt the pressure to publish for various reasons. At times this felt like a conveyor belt, so I've been trying the slow science approach to hopefully enjoy doing science more. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
I’m going to halve my publication output. You should consider slow science, too
If we don’t slow down, the research enterprise is going to crash, argues Adrian Barnett.
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
We've got ISSUES. Literally. We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do? arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563 A 🧵 1/n
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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 09/01/2026
🚨Call for papers🚨 Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health in the society journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health Guest Editors: Bob Woods, Silvie Huijben & Camilo Barbosa EIC: me This will be great, please submit and share! academic.oup.com/emph/pages/m...
Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health

Call for Papers

A defining characteristic of infectious diseases is that they evolve. The consequences of this evolution are among the most pressing medical issues facing humanity, including emerging pandemics, antibiotic resistance, and the success or failure of vaccines. Pathogen evolution profoundly influences virulence, transmission, and responses to a broad array of human interventions. While the evolutionary dynamics of pathogens have historically been challenging to study, large-scale genomic sequencing, novel computational tools, and experimental methods are rapidly changing the field. We encourage submissions on the broad topic of the evolution of infectious diseases.

This Special Issue aims to feature research that blends evolutionary approaches to understanding pathogen heterogeneity and ongoing genetic change in clinical samples and models of human infection. It also seeks to highlight opportunities to design treatment and prevention strategies that remain effective in the face of ongoing pathogen evolution.

Submission – open until January 31, 2027

Guest editors
Robert Woods, MD PhD, University of Michigan
Camilo Barbosa, PhD, University of Michigan 
Silvie Huijben, PhD, Arizona State University
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Prakhar Jaiswal @prakharj.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Recently had the chance to hear @carlbergstrom.com on information foraging in the current space of LLMs. He and @jevinwest.bsky.social have crafted a course that touches various facets of LLMs. Just finished reading through its 18 modules. Absolutely loved it! thebullshitmachines.com
thebullshitmachines.com
Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines: Introduction
A free online humanities course about how to learn and work and thrive in an AI world.
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
The deadline for applications is Nov 15 - please repost!
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Super proud of Daniel Kim, whose paper on coevolutionary cycling and the evolution of virulence has just been published in @journal-evo.bsky.social. Daniel was in high school when he did this research and has just started his undergraduate degree @kebleoxford.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1093/evol...
doi.org
Coevolutionary cycling in allele frequencies and the evolution of virulence
Abstract. Coevolutionary cycling in allele frequencies due to negative frequency-dependent selection—sometimes referred to as Red Queen Dynamics—is a key p
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Jeremy Yoder says no war @jbyoder.org · 30/09/2025
So this came online over the weekend: My dive into the "definition" of coevolution is online ahead of publication in @journal-evo.bsky.social! Don’t ask "when is it coevolution?" — ask "how?" doi.org/10.1093/evol...
doi.org
Don’t ask “when is it coevolution?” — ask “how?”
Abstract. Coevolution has come to be widely understood as specific, simultaneous, reciprocal adaptation by pairs of interacting species. This strict-sense
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Please spread widely and quickly - the more signatures we get the better chances we have of cajoling NSF into changing course on this small but very impactful item
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Luís M. Silva @luismsilva.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Interested in #virulence? Not sure what it is - or how to explain it? Just curious? 🧐🦠🧬🦋 @kayla-king.bsky.social and I just wrote a Primer for @currentbiology.bsky.social on the ecology and evolution of virulence! Check it below and share :) #MicroSky #EvoSky #pathogens
cell.com
Ecology and evolution of virulence
Silva and King discuss the concept of virulence and the ecological and evolutionary factors that shape it.
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Ben Ashby @bnashby.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Join us at SFU for a 2-year Mekler Postdoctoral Fellowship in mathematical biology to work with me and Ailene MacPherson. Apply at www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/27... by Nov 15.
mathjobs.org
MathJobs from the the American Mathematical Society
Mathjobs is an automated job application system sponsored by the AMS.
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