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Josep Mercadal

@josepmercadal.bsky.social
345 followers 427 following 37 posts

Physicist attempting biology. Postdoc at the MPIPZ Cologne. Interested in development, evolution, and philosophy. He/him.

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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 3h
This year's cohort of Pathway to Independence Fellows is visiting the @biologists.bsky.social building today for leadership and management skills training by hfp consulting. It is great for our team to get to meet them in person. Best of luck with this training!
The PI Fellows are standing in front of the Company of Biologists building in Histon, UK.
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Pathway to Independence – an interview with Josep Mercadal In this interview, @josepmercadal.bsky.social talks about the importance of interdisciplinary diversity for developmental biology, as well as his hopes and plans for his future lab. doi.org/10.1242/dev....
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How do plants grow cups? Leonie Kraska shared her research at #SLS26 investigating the development and plasticity of Marchantia polymorpha gemma cups - organs with a distinct concave geometry #PlantScience
Leonie Kraska presenting at #SLS26Images of cup forms in fungi and plants - Nidulariaceae, Mitella japonica and Marchantia polymorpha
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Excuse my squishy fleshy brain, but I cannot fathom how one can write bullshit like: "Conventional research papers require readers to understand and adapt the paper’s code, data and methods to their work, creating barriers to dissemination and reuse." and get away with it.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You know what creates "barriers to dissemination and reuse"? Paywalls and the whole gatekeeping ecosystem so beloved by @nature.com and its ilk, all in the name of "prestige".
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Fuck this. If this is the future of scientific papers, I'm out. And shame on @nature.com for engaging in this bullshit AI booster propaganda. Profit above all yet again. Why not stop doing science altogether?
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You know what's also interactive? Reading the paper. Talk to your colleagues about the paper you just read. Tell them why you loved it. Tell them why you hated it. And even better: invite the authors to talk about their paper 🧪
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Fuck this. If this is the future of scientific papers, I'm out. And shame on @nature.com for engaging in this bullshit AI booster propaganda. Profit above all yet again. Why not stop doing science altogether?
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David Sepkoski @hallucigenia.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Will someone please teach science journalists at the NYT that human behavioral genetics is 99% bullshit? A better headline for this piece would be "Psychologists Posing as Geneticists Played With Some Statistical Software." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/s...
nytimes.com
Scientists Find More Than 1,000 Genetic Variants Linked to Personality
More than one million genomes helped identify DNA variants linked to extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and more. Researchers measured how those traits influenced how people lived.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
What do we make of the statement that 1260 ‘genetic variants’ account for between 4.8%-9.3% of our personality? www.nature.com/articles/s41.... If you believe, as most media has, that our personality is genetically determined, you are gullible. 1/3🧵
nature.com
Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality - Nature
The genetic architecture of personality is robustly generalizable, minimally confounded and widely relevant to human experience.
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Pau Formosa-Jordan @pauformosa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Our article “Time-dependent bistability leads to critical slowing down during floral transition in Arabidopsis” is now published in @natcomms.nature.com. Link: rdcu.be/fBZ3S. What an exciting collaboration with the Coupland lab! @mpipz.bsky.social @ceplas.bsky.social #PlantDevelopment #criticality
Top: Waddington/quasi-potential landscape cartoon illustrating a bistable transition. Bottom: Scheme of a simplified regulatory network underlying floral transition at the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem. Adapted from Rodríguez-Maroto, Wang et al. (2026). Link: https://rdcu.be/fBZ3S
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Micah @rincewind.run · 25/08/2026
I think the tech press bears an enormous amount of blame for this because they continue to cover Musk's announcements as "Maverick CEO Says Thing" rather than "Nazi Says Thing" and a lot of people take that level of normalcy as a signal that he's not really that bad
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This sign is a great example for helping to explain why chatbots present such a potent illusion. A probably not short thread 🧵>>
Photo of a sign with a doorbell attached. The printed sign reads:

CURRENT GUGGENHEIM ACCES BY HUSKY CARD ONLY
[Logos for Amazon, FedEx, UPS]
DELIVERIES/VISITORS
PLEASE RING THIS DOORBELL

Delivery hours M-F 9:00am-(obscured)
University of Washington

Taped next to the doorbell is a hand written note that reads:
yes! it rang! Pelase wait 30 seconds before pressing again.
thanks!
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
As a modeller, it’s sometimes hard to convey the idea that adding complexity to our models (ostensibly making them more realistic) doesn’t necessarily give us more explanatory power. This paper makes that point clear by arguing why simpler models are often more illuminating. Congrats to the authors!
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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
New 📄 🚨! #CellBio is teeming with simulations comprising an extraordinarily high number of components. We argue that model complexity will not automatically lead to a better understanding of biological systems & discuss how modeling practices could be repurposed: arxiv.org/abs/2608.06998 #philsci
arxiv.org
Simulating is not always understanding: When model complexity obscures biology
In cell biology, computational models of biological systems range from minimal representations with a handful of parameters to whole-cell simulations tracking thousands of molecular species across a c...
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I thought I'd repost this piece quoting the first sentence. Then I thought, no, the first paragraph. No, the first three. And I went on doing that until the final word. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
theguardian.com
‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom
Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
A phenomenon I've noticed recently is people trying to occupy some untenable middleground wrt to the use of systems sold as "AI" -- this is a position where people try to recognize the harms of this tech but also hold space for "responsible" or "ethical" use. 🧵>>
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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Today is the day the story There Will Come Soft Rain is set. An amazing and heartbreaking work of fiction for our modern age. Read it here:
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Our work on pattern formation in fossil and extant liverworts is out! @dev-journal.bsky.social Check it out if you are interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes! 🌿🧪 Thread ⬇️
journals.biologists.com
Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts
Highlighted Article: Comparative and mathematical analyses reveal that oil body cell patterning in fossil and extant liverworts is consistent with a local activation-lateral inhibition mechanism, poin...
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
From fossils to present: a conserved pattern in liverwort oil body specification This Research Highlight showcases work by Josep Mercadal and colleagues. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Light micrographs of the Middle Devonian fossil liverwort Metzgeriothallus sharonae. (A) Thallus comprising a midrib and unistratose wings with scattered dark cells. Scale bar: 1 mm. (B-E) Representative images of M. sharonae showing sections of different thalli, in which scattered dark cells can be readily discerned. These dark cells are regularly distributed across space, mostly isolated (idioblasts) or forming small clusters of two to three cells (B,C). Occasionally, larger, mostly linear clusters of dark cells can also be observed (D). In a few sections, dark cells appear only occasionally and in idioblastic form (E). Scale bars: 0.1 mm. Specimen accession numbers are: UC250151.14 (B, top), UC250150.12 (B, bottom), UC250155.27 (C, top), UC250153.07 (C, bottom), UC250156.21 (D, top), UC250152.05 (D, bottom), UC250151.17 (E, top), and UC250155.09 (E, bottom). The specimen in A could not be preserved to become a permanent slide.
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
From fossils to present: a conserved pattern in liverwort oil body specification This Research Highlight showcases work by @josepmercadal.bsky.social, Susan Tremblay, @leoniekraska.bsky.social, @pauformosa.bsky.social and colleagues. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Light micrographs of the Middle Devonian fossil liverwort Metzgeriothallus sharonae. (A) Thallus comprising a midrib and unistratose wings with scattered dark cells. Scale bar: 1 mm. (B-E) Representative images of M. sharonae showing sections of different thalli, in which scattered dark cells can be readily discerned. These dark cells are regularly distributed across space, mostly isolated (idioblasts) or forming small clusters of two to three cells (B,C). Occasionally, larger, mostly linear clusters of dark cells can also be observed (D). In a few sections, dark cells appear only occasionally and in idioblastic form (E). Scale bars: 0.1 mm. Specimen accession numbers are: UC250151.14 (B, top), UC250150.12 (B, bottom), UC250155.27 (C, top), UC250153.07 (C, bottom), UC250156.21 (D, top), UC250152.05 (D, bottom), UC250151.17 (E, top), and UC250155.09 (E, bottom). The specimen in A could not be preserved to become a permanent slide.
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Read the Research Article 'Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts' here. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts
Highlighted Article: Comparative and mathematical analyses reveal that oil body cell patterning in fossil and extant liverworts is consistent with a local activation-lateral inhibition mechanism,…
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
To learn more about this work and the people behind it, we talked to Josep Mercadal and Susan Tremblay. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Josep Mercadal (left) and Susan Tremblay (right). Images courtesy of Danijel Majic (left) and Linda Hernick (right).
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
📑 EvoDevo Papers @evodevo-papers.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42478743 #EvoDevo
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
If you want to learn more about the story behind the paper, check out our interview, where Susan and I talk about the work and what inspired it.
doi.org
The people behind the papers – Josep Mercadal and Susan Tremblay
In evolutionary developmental biology, fossil records play crucial roles in our understanding of developmental patterns and their evolutionary relationships. In their work, Josep Mercadal, Susan Tremb...
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Enter the oldest known fossil liverwort, Metzgeriothallus sharonae (ca. 388 Ma). These exceptionally well-preserved fossils allow us to distinguish different cell types. Dark cells (homologs of oil body cells of modern liverworts) form salt-and-pepper patterns, a hallmark of lateral inhibition.
Pictures of M. sharonae, the oldest fossil liverwort, displaying very well-preserved dark cells forming salt-and-pepper patterns, a hallmark of lateral inhibition.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Our work on pattern formation in fossil and extant liverworts is out! @dev-journal.bsky.social Check it out if you are interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes! 🌿🧪 Thread ⬇️
journals.biologists.com
Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts
Highlighted Article: Comparative and mathematical analyses reveal that oil body cell patterning in fossil and extant liverworts is consistent with a local activation-lateral inhibition mechanism, poin...
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I've developed a strong aversion to AI-generated slides in presentations. They look so ugly, and seem to discourage economy in how ideas are presented. Indeed, the problems are akin to those for AI text: the hard work of creation is bypassed, and it shows.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
When did liverwort oil body cells originate? Here, Susan and I provide quantitative evidence that they emerged by at least the Middle Devonian (~390 Ma!), shedding light on a key anti-herbivory defense mechanism of early land plants!
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Motion to collectively call this the Slop Factor 🧪
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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
It's always a little funny to run into "keep politics out of paleontology!" sentiment. Because hey guess what about all those dinosaur bones stolen from other nations, lands, and countries since the inception of the field?
cambridge.org
Our past creates our present: a brief overview of racism and colonialism in Western paleontology | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Our past creates our present: a brief overview of racism and colonialism in Western paleontology - Volume 48 Issue 2
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Summer reads 📖 @cbzeichmann.bsky.social @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @restingdinoface.bsky.social
Picture of the books Radical Antiquity by Christopher B. Zeichmann, The AI Con by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and When the Earth Was Green by Riley Black.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
When did liverwort oil body cells originate? Here, Susan and I provide quantitative evidence that they emerged by at least the Middle Devonian (~390 Ma!), shedding light on a key anti-herbivory defense mechanism of early land plants!
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Reposted by Josep Mercadal
New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Homology of the dark cells of Paleozoic liverworts with the specialized oil body cells of modern liverworts (Marchantiophyta) Tremblay and Mercadal nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/BWYYSE...
Examples of oil bodies of extant liverworts of the Jungermanniopsida (Bazzania sp., Riccardia chamedryfoli, and Pallavicinia sp.), Marchantiopsida (Conocephalum sp., Marchantia polymorpha) and Haplomitriopsida (Treubia lacunosa and Haplomitrium sp.) and dark cells of Devonian liverworts Pallaviciniites devonicus and Metzgeriothallus sharonae.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Patterns of different cell types are ubiquitous during the development of multicellular organisms. In our recent review, we discuss the importance of dynamics, discreteness, and multistability in cell-type specification. 🧪🌿 @enriquegarciaortiz.bsky.social @marta-ibanes.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com
Dynamics of cell fate patterning in discrete multicellular systems
Pattern formation is a widespread phenomenon in many biological processes; yet, some of the principles governing pattern emergence and maintenance rem…
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Eva-Sophie Wallner @eswallner.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Happy to announce that I have started my own research group at the MPIPZ and that I am looking for a postdoc who would like to investigate Marchantia prothallus development with me! Please spread the word and/or apply if interested :)
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Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research @mpipz.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Looking for a #postdoc? 📣We are #hiring📣 Join the Wallner Group @mpipz.bsky.social to work on tissue patterning, polarity & body axes formation with the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.🌿 Apply now! #plantsci 👉https://jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/54b1ba6d403b8a106f2595c1ef1171f8d729bb720?ref=homepage
job description
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Development setting the bar for how community-first, non-profit publishing should be. Glad to be part of the community!
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
We are pleased to welcome 8 new fellows to our Pathway to Independence programme. Welcome Maëlle Bellec, @iamzico.bsky.social, @evhealy.bsky.social, @josepmercadal.bsky.social, @nikhil-mishra.bsky.social, Jessica Perochon, Yamini Ravichandran & Margherita Zamboni. Read more⤵️ tinyurl.com/4bk4wrk7
Maëlle Bellec, Swarnabh Bhattacharya, Evan Healy, Josep Mercadal, Nikhil Mishra, Jessica Perochon, Yamini Ravichandran and Margherita Zamboni.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
+1 to this. Good reminder that network structure does not determine function, and even the simplest gene circuits can display very complicated dynamics. What does this tell us about real (large) gene regulatory networks and their influence on developmental processes?
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MolPlantSci @molplantsci.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Josep Mercadal from the MPI Cologne on Evolutionarily conserved lateral inhibition governs cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts #MBP2026
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Enter the oldest known fossil liverwort, Metzgeriothallus sharonae (ca. 388 Ma). These exceptionally well-preserved fossils allow us to distinguish different cell types. Dark cells (homologs of oil body cells of modern liverworts) form salt-and-pepper patterns, a hallmark of lateral inhibition.
Pictures of M. sharonae, the oldest fossil liverwort, displaying very well-preserved dark cells forming salt-and-pepper patterns, a hallmark of lateral inhibition.
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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes? In our latest preprint, we uncover an ancestral lateral inhibition mechanism underlying epidermal patterning in liverworts.
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Artie Vierkant @avierkant.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
“They want violence” no they very explicitly want compliance and acquiescence and if you don’t give it to them they will fucking murder you
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Margaret Killjoy @margaret.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
You know me I don't share fundraisers unless I can tell you I trust them with my whole heart and my own wallet. This one gets protective gear to legal observers in Minneapolis / Saint Paul www.gofundme.com/f/help-equip...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE, organized by Jac Kovarik
I have been involved in rapid response in the Twin Cities area since the b… Jac Kovarik needs your support for Help Equip Twin Cities Legal Observers with PPE
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geri katz @gerikatz.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
ICE just shot another one of my neighbors. They had the person on the ground, being beaten by several agents, and then fired multiple shots. In front of the donut shop where we like to get donuts for our kids.
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Margaret Killjoy @margaret.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Another friend put it to me like this: "ICE has made the classic Nazi mistake. They've invaded a winter people in the winter."
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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids? Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
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Yogi Jaeger @yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/01/2026
2026 starts with a big adventure: I travel by train to Paris, my Swiss mountain retreat, and then Barcelona, and back to Vienna on Feb 9. No flights needed. Even for big trips in Europe these days. Only: this costs SO MUCH MORE than a bunch of cheap flier tickets would've set me back. #EU and […]
spore.social
Original post on spore.social
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