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Lauren Frankel

@laufran.bsky.social
1.5K followers 623 following 147 posts

evolutionary biologist (phylogenetic network methods, plant systematics) | postdoc @ University of Washington | PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison | she/her 🏃🏻‍♀️✨🌈🌻🧬

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Reposted by Lauren Frankel
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For every story like the Cornell gang rape, there are thousands more that couldn’t make it into the light. I wrote about a few dozen of them at one university in On the Wrong Side. The university’s treatment of survivors is eerily similar to what Jane Doe at Cornell experienced.
bookshop.org
On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence
"Bedera dispels deeply ingrained campus rape myths and puts the innate violence of the campus sexual assault reporting process into focus."--Jezebel"The book's grim conclusions are tempered with a hop...
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tweed is such a beautiful fabric to wear this time of year because it produces, in Dolly Parton's phrasing, a coat of many colors. Even a solid-colored brown is not just brown, but bits of red, blue, and yellow to produce something that looks lifted off the Scottish landscape.
There are two photos taped together. The top shows a brown stone building with a brown thatched roof. It's surrounded by green grass, stone walkways, and blue-gray sea. Below is a checked brown tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it. There are two photos taped together. The one at te top shows a rocky hillside with green and straw-colored grass, gray rocks, and a tan sandy beach below. The blue waters are crashing at the shore. Below is a green herringbone tweed that reflects the colors in the landscape above it. There are two photos taped together. The top shows a field of green and straw colored fields with bits of purple flowers. Below is a a series of checked brown tweed that reflect the colors in the landscape above it. A swatch book of solid-colored tweeds. The green tweed has visible flecks of red, gold, and blue.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
the horrific cornell gang rape case has me thinking about emma sulkowicz who alleged she was raped as a student at columbia in 2014 and never got any justice. it has me thinking about the physical and mental weight young women are forced to carry while their safety is subsumed by male potential.
Emma Sulkowicz carrying around a mattress on the Columbia campus in 2014 to raise awareness of her alleged rape and the university's inaction.
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
in case you too were applying for the PRFB & worrying about this - I emailed a PO and it seems this does not apply to us
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taenia @taenia.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Goooooood morning, pika fans It's September, and you know what that means! That's right, we are Making Hay, we are Perching On Rocks, we are Squeaking
An American Pika carrying a branch across rocky terrain

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.Am American Pika crouched on a rock at a 3/4 view towards the camera

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.An American Pika with a mouth full of dried vegetation sitting on a rock

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.An American Pika perched on a rock and calling

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 22/09/2026
Beaver Overthinking Dam theonion.com/beaver-overthinking-da…
Beaver Overthinking Dam
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The real “brain drain” is not the handful of high-profile scientists taking a top position abroad. It's the international scholars who have to leave the US halfway through their postdoc, or the international students who never apply for grad school in the US because of visa policies
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just a warning that if you ever fondly recollect The Golden Girls on TV, you may get a strongly worded note from a Mr. James Anthony.
crackpot email: Ken Jennings ~ The Golden Girls
NO - 'we All dont love that show'!
It was Stupid
and you know it Ken regards
James Anthony
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ms. Rachel: "Ed Sheeran had an opportunity…Instead he caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows." "If more than 20,000 white children were killed…everyone would be shouting…Treating some children's lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral."
Ms. Rachel post:
"Ed Sheeran had an opportunity show that we won't be bullied into punishing people for supporting Palestine. Instead he caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows. A genocide is happening in Gaza. We all need to speak out against it.

"If more than 20,000 white children were killed in another part of the world, everyone would be shouting about it at their concerts. Treating some children's lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral."
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include: 1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc 2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
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Pause AI in BC Schools @aicaution.ca · 10/09/2026
The data from this OECD PISA report is damning. "students who do not use AI outperform those who do, ... equivalent to being around one year of schooling ahead of their peers." www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Graph showing students who never use AI scoring 505 on a "draft texts for writing assignments" task. As students use AI more, the score goes down, until students who use it daily score 480.
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
current grant writing status: slurping down iced coffee, listening to a playlist of slayyyter, charli, and gecs, 20+ tabs of papers open. writing feels like it's approaching levels of pepe silvia mania...
still of Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia doing his iconic Pepe Silvia rant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nTpsv9PNqo). he's bug eyed, holding a cig on one hand, and gesticulating to the whiteboard of a madman with lots of strings connecting pieces of mail
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Jordan aka Jirdan @slclunk.com · 09/09/2026
Any answer other than “who gives a shit, republicans are using a dozen kids playing JV volleyball as a distraction from looting the county and covering for elite pedophiles” is cowardly horseshit
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Chicago in Pop Culture @chicagopopculture.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Chicago – United Air Lines, Stan Galli, 1955.
1955 United Air Lines travel poster for Chicago by Stan Galli, showing the dark gridded facades of Mies van der Rohe’s Lake Shore Drive towers framing a narrow view of Lake Michigan, with a sunny beach, tiny figures, sailboats, and mid-century cars below. Large yellow “CHICAGO” lettering and white “UNITED AIR LINES” text stretch across the upper half.
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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Look, y'all— this is not the worst outcome, but it's also not great. Framing this as gaining a notably large herbarium is spin; the reality is a historic, important herbarium has lost its identity. The specimens were never going to be trashed; Duke still voluntarily truncated their botanical legacy.
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Norm Douglas @ringstem.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This is very good news. ncbg.unc.edu/2026/08/31/u...
ncbg.unc.edu
UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke to combine herbaria, creating the third-largest university plant collection in the United States - North Carolina Botanical Garden
The combined herbaria will create an unmatched archive for studying plant diversity in the southeastern United States (Chapel Hill, N.C.— Aug. 31, 2026) UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University will unite....
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
never imagined i'd reach the career stage where i have to read my own CV to remember things i did (and rue Old Lauren for not writing some items/details down)
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Stacey Burns @wentrogue.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Jennifer Nelson’s entry to this year’s Minnesota State Fair crop art
A localized version of Guernica with a loon at the center and a person holding an ICE OUT sign 

“My piece was inspired by Picasso's Guernica, a work that was his response to the Nazi's bombing of the Basque town. I thought there was a fitting parallel between these incidents about the high price paid by ordinary people when aggressive regimes try out new tactics of war, as well as a fitting juxtaposition of the darkness of living such an experience and the light we shone through it in our own resistance and care for one another. The patterns near Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s mouths are actually their last words in Morse code: ‘I’m not mad at you,’ and ‘Are you okay?’” 

Jennifer Nelson
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
NSF just announced its GRFP solicitation due in October - deadline varies by field: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... Now for the bad news... * NSF estimates they will issue 1,500 awards, down from 2,500+ last year. * NSF removed STEM Education and Learning Research as a Major Field.
nsf.gov
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Here's the official announcement of Parton's passing from her reps, along with the request that in lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com
NASHVILLE, TN (August 25, 2026) – Global icon and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died peacefully today in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80 years old.

 

Dolly is preceded in death by her beloved husband of 59 years Carl Thomas Dean (1942 – 2025), her mother Avie Lee Caroline Owens (1923 – 2003), and father, Robert Lee Parton, Sr. (1921 – 2000). 

 

A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family. Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.

 

At Dolly’s request, a small, private service will be held for immediate family. Dolly’s fans and friends from around the world are encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media by tagging @DollyParton or by leaving a message at www.dollyparton.com.         

 

In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com.
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
RIP Dolly. here's some of my other favorite Dolly-related media: @tressiemcphd.bsky.social's great 2021 essay on Dolly's cultural significance and projected political image: tressie.substack.com/p/the-dolly-... Newport performance w/ the Highwomen in 2019: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGi...
youtube.com
"Eagle When She Flies", Dolly Parton featuring the Highwomen, Newport Folk Festival, 7/27/2019
YouTube video by Dale Martin
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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
No greater tribute to Dolly than depicting her as she always preferred to be: stacked and snatched
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 24/08/2026
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano was 29 and had lived in Durham, North Carolina since arriving from Mexico at age three. He was detained this summer at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia and diagnosed with acute leukemia while inside. indyweek.com/news/priscil...
indyweek.com
Mexican Man From Durham Dies From Leukemia While In ICE Custody
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano began feeling ill while detained at a Georgia detention center. He died on Friday, July 24.
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Carrie M. Tribble, PhD @tribblelab.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hello world! You bored? My research group is documenting flower color variation and you can help! check out tribblelab.org/flower_color... and dm me with any technical difficulties or issues. Share with your friends! The more players the better.
tribblelab.org
In Bloom — Flower Color Quiz
A crowdsourced flower-color observation quiz.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
year 1: there's still grant funding, but we may need to change how we talk about our work, or what we work on year 2: the government has disappeared one billion dollars of science funding. it is unclear why they did that or where that sits within concepts like "the rule of law"
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Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
@MNateShyamalan
Entomologist here. Great question! It may seem surprising that the scientific community could miss an entire bug species after all this time, especially when it’s THIS big. The answer might surprise you more. Let’s dive in (1/?)

(quoting:)
@theoceanblooms
can I ask a question: how does something like this go undiscovered until now

(quoting:)
@ABC
Scientists have discovered a giant new species of stick insect in Australia, which is over 15 inches long and researchers say may be the heaviest insect in the country.

@MNateShyamalan
he look like stick (2/2)
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
i'm sorry, you're telling me the best reporting mechanism the NSF has for reporting coauthors/collaborators is a freaking excel spreadsheet template??? (thoughts brought to you by a NSF grant baby preparing her PRFB 🐣)
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Mark Hibbins, Great Lakes Swashbuckler @rejectresubmit.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work on an NSF-funded project developing new models of trait evolution for phylogenetic comparative methods! Info about the lab here: mhibbins.github.io Applications to our grad program are due December 1. Please share!
mhibbins.github.io
Hibbins Lab
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Edward Elderman @elderman.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Andrew Wyeth 'Wind from the Sea' 1947. Tempera on hardboard The curtains
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Ana Bedoya @botana-bedoya.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
If you are planning for #Botany2027 and did or did not attend #Botany2026, fill out this form if you need childcare!! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... please!! This year there was no childcare and the nursing room is more a custodian closet without a lock, AC, water/sink+light goes off very 5 mins
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Carrie M. Tribble, PhD @tribblelab.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Tribble Lab representation was strong at #Botany2026! What a fantastic opportunity to reconnect and welcome new scholars into our botanical community.
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Carrie M. Tribble, PhD @tribblelab.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
So proud of Tribble Lab postdoc Dr. Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social for her Cooley Award win!! We are so lucky to be blessed with Lauren's wisdom 🦉
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
thank you so much to the ASPT @amsocplanttaxon.bsky.social for this honor!! I feel so proud and touched to be recognized for the Cooley Award! 💗💗 #botany2026
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Alyssa Smith @cetaceanneeded.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I'm incredibly honored to be one of the inaugural winners of the Ctrl-Z award. The sequence of events preceding and following this retraction were harrowing (and are honestly still stressful), but I hope this will be an opportunity for more open dialogue about mistakes + self-retraction in science.
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Rosana Zenil-Ferguson @roszenil.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Maybe late to the game, but if you have not read the 75th Anniversary special series of @systbiol.bsky.social you should. So many good ideas and history there academic.oup.com/sysbio/pages... #systematicbiology
academic.oup.com
Systematic Biology's 75th Anniversary
In celebration of Systematic Biology's 75th anniversary, the 2026 volume features a special series of discussions and essays commissioned by the Society’s Legac
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Ana Bedoya @botana-bedoya.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Hey #Botany2026, mark your schedule for an amazing talk by Kelly González, postdoc in my research group on ecological niche modeling and whether riverweeds (Podostemaceae) care for anything other than river rapids!! Tomorrow at 2:15 pm at San Luis 1
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Patrick McKenzie @patrickmckenzie.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Major #Botany2026 FOMO, but the drive MA->OR starts this week. So, sharing from afar: I’m recruiting grad students for my new lab at OSU! Info: www.mckenzie-lab.org . We're going to have FUN with systematics, speciation genomics, methods, natural history, and more in North Am angiosperms. Reach out!
lab logo with a cartoon of white-flowering beebalm and the following text: "McKenzie Lab, Plant Evolution, Oregon State"
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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Better late than never to compile the #botany2026 talks from research done in the #LagoLab! Check out talks by @laufran.bsky.social, Aislinn Mumford, and @evoyeyo.bsky.social tomorrow, and @laymonstera.bsky.social on Tuesday!
Poster with talks from the Lagomarsino Lab at LSU:

Lauren Frankel (former undergrad)
Introgression and trait evolution in the Neotropical bellflowers (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae)
Monday at 8:45 in the Cooley Award Session 
Tucson C-D

Aislinn Mumford
Evolution of Color in Palicourea, a Genus of Neotropical Flowering Plants
Monday at 11:30 in Ecology I
San Pedro 2

Dr. Diego Paredes-Burneo (former PhD student)
Rapid Diversification and Phylogenomic Conflict Across the Tropical Andean Flora
Monday at 2:15 in the Cooley Award Session
Tucson C-D

Laymon Ball
Clarifying species boundaries in a Neotropical complex: Hillia subgenus Hillia (Rubiaceae)
Tuesday at 11:15 in Systematics & Taxonomy
San Ignacio

Each talk has an image of the speaker to the left and their study system to the right. It's purple and gold.
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Karolina Heyduk @kheyduk.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Hey. You. Presenter at #Botany2026. Let's use the mic this week, yes?! Yes!
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
highlights from this morning's trail run at #botany2026. successfully avoided tripping on a rock and falling into any number of prickly things.
a tall saguaro with three arms stands against a backdrop of a blue sky and a hillside dotted with many other saguarosanother photo of the hillside dotted with saguaros, and also a cholla (?) in the foreground. the bright cloudless blue sky is dotted with the moonan orange arizona poppy flower with bee flies around/in the flower. the leaves are pinnately compound and mostly out of focus
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
level up in career stage: finishing my talk at the conference. phd me would have finished my talk a week ago. not quite at PI stage of writing my talk on the plane.
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
current #botany2026 status: lazy river and this
A beautiful looking pina colada waiting to be drank
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Shelly Gaynor @shellygaynor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
At #Botany2026, I was hoping to start recruiting for my lab group. If you are interested in polyploidy and population genetics, please reach out.
Interested in Polyploidy and Population Genetics?

Florida State University, Join the Gaynor Lab. My lab is open to both Ph.D. and master students through the Ecology and Evolution area in Biological Sciences at FSU - applications are due December 1st!
I also have funding to support a postdoctoral researcher and a technician during my first three years at FSU. The postdoctoral researcher will focus on polyploidy population genomics. The technician will help with lab work including flow cytometry for genome size estimation and DNA sequencing preparation.

If you are interested in joining the lab, please send me an email with a CV/resume and a brief explanation of your research interests and your career goals

Find out more at mlgaynor.com and email me at  shellyleegaynor at gmail.com
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Cody Coyotee @wile-phylote.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
#Botany2026 is almost here! The Bulbous Lab will be there in full force (see image for times and locations of our talks)! Can’t wait to see everyone and hear about all the awesome botanical science going on!
List of times and locations for presentations at the Botany 2026 conference
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Carrie M. Tribble, PhD @tribblelab.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Tribble Lab & University of Washington Herbarium crew at #Botany2026!
A grid of six portraits of researchers from the Tribble Lab, each with their name and presentation topics, with floral graphics above the title "TRIBBLE LAB."

Poster Session
Grand Ballroom
M 5:30–7:00 

Elizabeth Kenny
The morphology and systematics of Allium crenulatum (P254)

Emily Humphreys
Which came first? A modeling approach for examining the role of preadaptation in plant evolution onto harsh soils (P158)

Hayden Wright
The Columbia River Basin: an under-recognized hotspot for vascular plant endemism in central Washington State (P20)

Makoa de Almeida
Habitat heterogeneity and insularity affect fern reproduction strategies (P210)

Fanya Yuan
Investigating the optimal herbarium plant tissue storage protocol (P232)

Cooley Awards
M 8:45, Tucson C-D

Lauren Frankel
Introgression and trait evolution in the Neotropical bellflowers (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae)

Macroevolution
W 9:30, San Xavier

Carrie Tribble
Umbels mediate faster diversification rates and radiation in a Neotropical radiation
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Andrew Hipp @andrewlhipp.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Heading to Botany 2026? Join @amsocplanttaxon.bsky.social in a special lecture by Diné botanist Dr. Arnold Clifford as he presents the story of the Carrizo Mountain Herbarium (CMH), the Navajo Nation's largest herbarium. Monday, August 3, 7:00-9:00 PM details at: mailchi.mp/f7208188714a...
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Lauren Frankel @laufran.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Wanna hear about introgression and pollination syndromes? Boy, do I have a talk for you! I'll be presenting my last dissertation chapter in the Cooley Award session on Monday, 8:45am in room Tucson C-D! #botany2026
Title slide of talk with bold text: "Introgression and trait evolution in the Neotropical bellflowers (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae)"
Author list: "Lauren Frankel, Ana Maria Bedoya, Katherin Arango-Goméz, Nicholas Brigida, Laura Lagomarsino, Cécile Ané"
and colorful floral photos of Neotropical bellflowers lining the bottom of the slide.
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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
EEB Mentor Match is now open! But apps due soon (8/17). Mentees: get help applying for grad school or fellowships in ecology & evolution. Mentors: senior grads, post-docs, or faculty in these fields willing to give advice Org by Diversity Cmte of @asn-amnat.bsky.social Pls share! eebmentormatch.com
eebmentormatch.com
EEB Mentor Match
Visit the post for more.
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Evolution Students @ssegrad.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
1/4 In today's funding climate, every grant and fellowship matters. Based on feedback from our GSAC Community Check-In Survey, we're building a growing hub of graduate & postdoctoral funding opportunities and job boards to make them easier to find. 🧵
Funding and job board curated by Dieter Lukas and Pro Manna
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/07/2026
1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.
arxiv.org
The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science
As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...
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