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Stefan A. Rensing

@rensingstefan.bsky.social
1.8K followers 434 following 107 posts

Professor of biology interested in #plants, #evolution and #bioinformatics. He/him, private account. @RensingStefan @RensingStefan@Freiburg.social

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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 9h
A particular diterpene controls the N-fixing hornwort - cyanobacteria mutualism @fernway.bsky.social #MAdLand2026
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 9h
UV-B response in plant sister lineage: similar, but different. Cool story @caeciliafkunz.bsky.social #MAdLand2026 www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Chemodiverse cell system responses to UV in an algal sister of land plants
Kunz et al. use physiological and transcriptomic analyses and metabolite fingerprinting to study the responses to UV-B in Mesotaenium, a unicellular representative of the closest algal relatives of la...
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 16h
Using a device that cages Individual cells and lets you follow their fare for days #MAdLand2026 www.cellanome.com/products
cellanome.com
Live Cell Imaging Platform | Cellanome R3200 System
The Cellanome R3200 Instrument combines longitudinal live-cell imaging with same-cell transcriptomics to link morphology, function, interactions, and molecular state over time. The complete platform i...
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Have your say on NGT1 plant regulation: tell the commission what you think. ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
ec.europa.eu
European Commission - Have your say
European Commission - Have your say
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CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies @cibss.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
📣 #JobAlert The @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social of @uni-freiburg.de invites applications for a position as Head of the Life Imaging Center (LIC) – the core facility for light microscopy. ❗ Application Deadline: 6 September, 2026 🔗 kurzlinks.de/2126 #Biology #LightMicroscopy #Imaging
Job alert for Head of Life Imaging Center with the application deadline (6 September).
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Good morning from @uni-freiburg.de excellent research retreat
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CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies @cibss.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
CRISPR can change plants—but will it change agriculture? 🌱🧬 In a new Nature Plants Correspondence, #CIBSS researchers discuss how regulation, access, commercialisation and public trust shape the real-world impact of genome editing 🚜. 🔗Read more: rdcu.be/xuiHDM7EB5Ka
Female researcher looking at plants. Quote: "We know that CRISPR can change plants. The question is how it will change agriculture."
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PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Please submit comments to the EU Commission’s Call for Evidence on how to implement the new rules for "Plants obtained by new genomic techniques (#NGT)". Submission deadline 28 Sept. Below what I submitted. #plantscience ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet... ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
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German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
In our general assembly today Sophie de Vries introduced & launched YongDBG, the network for early career researchers (ECR) from undergraduate level to first junior group leader position for members of our DBG @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/en/sections/...
deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de
YoungDBG
YoungDBG is DBG's member network for early career researchers in the plant sciences.
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
#Spirogyra genome paper now available @theplantcell.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social @watertoland.bsky.social
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Most TF families predictive for organismal complexity were gained during early plant evolution and act as homo- as well as heterodimers. Together, this suggests that gain of TF families as well as the rewiring of GRNs after gene duplication events are causative for plant morphological evolution.
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Can the pretrained transformer-based architecture TabPFN predict plant organismal complexity based on their complement of transcription factors? Yes it can: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Happy to hear your thoughts! @dvarshney.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social @watertoland.bsky.social
biorxiv.org
Prediction of plant organismal complexity based on transcription factor annotation: an AI approach
How morphological complexity evolves is still enigmatic. While there is evidence in algae and plants as well as animals that diversification of the repertoire of transcription factors (TF) is causativ...
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Mostly Harmless @whalepetunias.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
the editors, having to meet a publishing deadline, copied the information off the back of a packet of breakfast cereal, hastily embroidering it with a few footnotes in order to avoid prosecution under the incomprehensibly tortuous Galactic Copyright laws.
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Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
🌿 REVIEW 🌿 Blanco-Touriñán & Blázquez explore molecular network evolution underlying conducting tissues, highlighting how conserved and rewired regulatory modules generated diverse systems in land plants while providing a framework for studying developmental circuits. #PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Comparison of conducting-cell types and regulatory modules in land plants. (A) Phylogenetic tree illustrating the major extant land plant groups. (B) Comparative overview of conducting structures across representative lineages, highlighting the diversity of water- and food-conducting cell types in bryophytes (e.g. hydroids, leptoids, pegged rhizoids) versus tracheophytes (true vascular tissues). True vascular conducting tissues include phloem, comprising sieve elements (SEs) and companion cells (CCs), and xylem, which includes protoxylem and metaxylem characterized by spiral/annular and pitted/reticulate secondary wall thickenings, respectively. Root cross-sections for Arabidopsis, Ceratopteris, and Selaginella are shown.
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MaizeGDB @maizegdb.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
We are deeply saddened to share that Michael Freeling passed away on 7/20/2026 after a year-long battle with cancer. Our deepest condolences go to his family, friends, colleagues, and the many students he inspired. We will share additional memorial information soon.
We are very sorry to share the sad news that Michael Freeling passed away on 7/20/2026 after a year long battle with esophageal cancer.  Mike was a long-time faculty member in the Plant and Microbiology Department at University of California-Berkeley, a groundbreaking plant geneticist, and an inspiring teacher and mentor to over two dozen Ph.D. students, four dozen postdocs, and countless undergraduates. He was best known for pioneering work on maize anaerobic metabolism and gene regulation, transposon biology, developmental genetics of the maize ligule, and the discovery of biased gene retention following whole-genome duplications in plants. Mike was hired by UC-Berkeley as an assistant professor straight out of graduate school in 1973, and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1979 and to full professor in 1984. He was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1980, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1994, and won the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies in 2017. Mike taught genetics, comparative genomics and scientific reasoning to our graduate students, and he also taught a popular genetics course for non-majors that had various titles over the years but was affectionately known as “Genetics for Poets.”  Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and many colleagues.
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KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
5/5 Our paper reveals how young lateral roots establish their initial growth direction. Besides, it also highlights something equally important: Science is cumulative, collaborative, and built through mentorship — from group leaders to PhD candidates to undergraduate students.
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Mostly Harmless @whalepetunias.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
He had made one careless blunder though, because he had skimped a bit on his preparatory research. The information he had gathered had led him to choose the name 'Ford Prefect' as being nicely inconspicuous.
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George R. L. Greiff @ilichenmoss2.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Happy to announce our study that has just been published from work done during my PhD at the University of Bristol working in Prof. Jill Harrison's lab. It's about WOX genes and sporophyte development in the model moss, Physcomitrium patens. Take a look 🧵👇
A wild-type shoot with a single apical sporophyte (left) beside a Ppwox13lc mutant with three sporophytes on the same shoot (right).
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Updated @theplantjournal.bsky.social guidelines: avoid the use of terms such as “basal”, “early diverging lineage”, “primitive”, “ancestral plant”, “lower and higher plants” [..] recommends the use of specific terms such as “bryophytes”, “vascular plants” [..] onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...
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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I often get asked: what impacts would a shutdown of the Atlantic ocean circulation #AMOC have on people? A good short overview is found in this expert report. Impacts include e.g. widespread domestic food insecurity in Northern Europe and strain on global food systems. pub.norden.org/temanord2026...
pub.norden.org
2. Impacts of an AMOC collapse - A Nordic Perspective on AMOC Tipping
This report is the outcome of the Nordic Council of Minister’s sponsored workshop arranged in October 21-24, 2025 in Helsinki and Rovaniemi, Finland as part of Finland’s council presidency theme resil...
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Robert Hoffie @forscherrobert.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Am 17.06. steht die finale Abstimmung im EU-Parlament auf der Tagesordnung. Nach eigenen Angaben der Demeter-Kampagne wurden EU-Parlamentarier*innen bisher mit 200.000 E-Mails vollgespamt. Heute wurden Nummern veröffentlicht, um die MdEPs jetzt noch mit Telefonterror mürbe zu machen. Völlig irre.
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German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Abstract submission deadline extended for 2 types of posters to present your #plantsci work at our #BT2026 to an international plant science audience 📍 in Bochum, Germany 📅 6-10 Sept 2026 www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/u/BT2026ext
"From industrial Past to Green Future" written around an ancient industry tower typical for the region together with a plant changing colours from blue to green is the motto of the German Society for Plant Sciences international Conference, the Botanik-Tagung, 2026 in Bochum Germany, that brings together plant scientists from several scientific disciplines. The logo highlights the structural change of the Ruhr area, from coal mining + heavy industries to the increasingly important issues of climate protection, sustainability + preservation of biodiversity, with plant sciences at the forefront of this transformation.
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Call for Papers Submit your latest plant and multicellular algae #DevBio research to our upcoming special issue – Plant and Algae Development #DevSIPlantAlgae Editors: @stanfordstomata.bsky.social & Susana Coelho Deadline: 2 November 2026 journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pl...
Call for papers Special Issue
Plant amd Algae Development

Academic Editor Dominique Bergmann (Stanford University, USA) and Guest Editor Susana Coelho (Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany).

Submission deadline: 2 November 2026

Development logo to the left
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Friedemann Weber @friedemann.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Dear journalists, neither Andes virus nor Bundibugyo virus are Hanta- or Ebola-VARIANTS, respectively. They are virus SPECIES. Species differ much more from each other than variants do. Thank you for your attention to this matter
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Sjon Hartman @hartman-plantlab.com · 30/05/2026
Dear #plantscience friends, we're looking to recruit a new colleague at @uni-freiburg.de @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social: a Professor in Plant Biotechnology. 🌱🧪 The @dompsfr.bsky.social community is truly fantastic. Interested? Please share far and wide and join us! uni-freiburg.de/en/job/00005...
uni-freiburg.de
University of Freiburg
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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
♻️🆓: Cell death in bryophytes: emerging models to study core regulatory modules and conserved pathways doi.org/10.1093/aob/... #PlantScience
doi.org
Cell death in bryophytes: emerging models to study core regulatory modules and conserved pathways
Abstract. This review summarizes recent progress in our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the cell death pathways in bryophytes, focusing
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Katrin Heer @katrinheer.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
🌲 We're hiring a postdoc! Join the Future Forests Excellence Cluster at Uni Freiburg to uncover the molecular basis of stress resilience in forest trees. Work with Douglas fir & sessile oak using epigenomics, RNA-seq, and more. 3-year position, TV-L 13. Apply now! 🧬🌿 uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
“Ich komme regelmäßig nach Deutschland und werde seit Jahrzehnten von meinen Freunden und der Familie gemobbt, mit welch komischen Viren ich mich beschäftige. Jetzt plötzlich haben sie mich verstanden.” Sehr gutes Interview von @florianschumann.bsky.social und Anna Carthaus zum Hantavirus-Ausbruch
zeit.de
Hantavirus: »Das Virus braucht engen Kontakt, aber offenbar geht es auch anders«
Der Ausbruch auf der »Hondius« habe sie erschreckt, sagt Hantavirus-Forscherin Nicole Tischler. Man müsse nun verstehen, warum sich so viele Menschen angesteckt haben.
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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
If I read the title and abstract of a paper and still couldn’t figure out which species they were using, it’s definitely not plants.
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German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
The preliminary programme of International Conference of our German Society for #PlantSci, the Botanik-Tagung, is online botanik-tagung.de/programme.html 📆 6-10 September 2026 📍Bochum, Germany Makes it easier to plan your participation. Register today! botanik-tagung.de/registration...
"From industrial Past to Green Future" written around an ancient industry tower typical for the region together with a plant changing colours from blue to green is the motto of the German Society for Plant Sciences international Conference, the Botanik-Tagung, 2026 in Bochum Germany, that brings together plant scientists from several scientific disciplines. The logo highlights the structural change of the Ruhr area, from coal mining + heavy industries to the increasingly important issues of climate protection, sustainability + preservation of biodiversity, with plant sciences at the forefront of this transformation.
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Trends in Plant Science @cp-trendsplantsci.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Plant formins pave the way for endosymbiosis #plantscience
dlvr.it
Plant formins pave the way for endosymbiosis
Intracellular infection by beneficial microorganisms enables endosymbiosis and remains a challenge in synthetic biology. A new study by Qiao et al. reveals that a formin orchestrates both rhizobial infection in legumes and mycorrhization in diverse plants. Harnessing this mechanism could enable the engineering of microbial entry into crops for sustainable nutrient acquisition.
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MAdLand @watertoland.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
‼️ Registration for the Annual MAdLand Meeting 2026 is now open! Join us in Göttingen from Sep 29–Oct 2, 2026 to discuss the latest trends in plant science & reconnect with an amazing #Plantsci community #MAdLand2026 #Evolution 🌱 Learn more and register here: madland-meeting.de/2026/
The venue of the MAdLand Meeting 2026: The Alte Mensa in Göttingen, Germany
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ISEP @isepprotists.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
New #ISEPpapers #preprint by @deemteam.bsky.social: Re-evaluating the eukaryotic Tree of Life with independent phylogenomic data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Eukaryotes #TreeOfLife #Phylogeny #Phylogenomics #Bioinformatics #Algae
a simplified evolutionary tree of eukaryotes with pictures of various microbes
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Mathias mit 1 Tee @malo82.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Heute is Welt #Homöopathie Tag 🍭 Eine gute Gelegenheit erneut an die beeindruckenden Weiterentwicklungen dieser Pseudomedizin zu erinnern.
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Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Today is World Homeopathy Day. In its honor, let’s remember that time The Amazing James Randi overdosed on homeopathy and lived to tell about it.
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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Phylogenomics of Bryopsidales and the significance of genome duplication in multinucleate cells 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 👆 A #Commentary by Quinten Bafort on this article by Hossen et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience
Fig 1. from Hossen et al.: Phylogenetic relationships of Bryopsidales inferred from 708 nuclear genes.
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Pinus canariensis #tenerife
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
GREGOR and VTT at the #Teide observatory, in slight cloud fingers
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Look @plantevodevo-ab.bsky.social what grows quite massively on the middle slopes of Teide
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Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Anybody knows why they often grow next to each other? #Tenerife
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Michael Borg @borglab.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Our work on chromatin evolution in brown algae is now published in @natecoevo.nature.com! We show that developmentally complex brown algae evolved without epigenetic silencing pathways long thought universal, underscoring why non-model lineages are important to study. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Undaria pinnatifida gametophyte
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Romy Petroll @petrollromy.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I am very grateful to be featured discussing my work on transcription associated proteins and TAPscan @rensingstefan.bsky.social Many thanks to @theplantjournal.bsky.social for the opportunity and recognition!
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Mostly Harmless @whalepetunias.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
"You don't like talking to me do you?" said Marvin in a low desolate tone. Trillian talked to Arthur instead.
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Gernot Segelbacher 🪶 🧬 @gsegelbacher.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Sunset with saharadust
Sun setting over forest at horizon, orange grey sky
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Mostly Harmless @whalepetunias.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
He had had a nasty feeling that that might be an idiotic thing to do, but he did it anyway, and sure enough it had turned out to be an idiotic thing to do. You live and learn. At any rate, you live. You also panic.
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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Hier zwei Grafiken dazu (Update mit Daten für 2025). Links ein stückweise linearer Fit an die Temperaturdaten (jeweils 10 Jahre), rechts die Erwärmungsrate (also die Steigung der rot gezeigten Trends). In den letzten zehn Jahren ist die Erwärmung am schnellsten. tamino.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/g...
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PM Delaux @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Congrats @ottlab.bsky.social and @pengbo10.bsky.social for leading this work!
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German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
#PlantSciConfi Registration open for International Conference of our German Society for Plant Sciences Botanik-Tagung #BT2026 in #Bochum, Germany 6 – 10 September 2026 www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/u/82bsBT2026
"From industrial Past to Green Future" written around an ancient industry tower typical for the region together with a plant changing colours from blue to green is the motto of the German Society for Plant Sciences international Conference, the Botanik-Tagung, 2026 in Bochum Germany, that brings together plant scientists from several scientific disciplines. The logo highlights the structural change of the Ruhr area, from coal mining + heavy industries to the increasingly important issues of climate protection, sustainability + preservation of biodiversity, with plant sciences at the forefront of this transformation.
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Andrew Rambaut (🐏🎀) @arambaut.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
So I pleased to announce the conceptual spawn of FigTree: PearTree (acronym still to be finalised). If you want to dive right in it is hosted as a web app here: artic-network.github.io/peartree (click the “Example...” button for immediate candy and then click every button you can find).
artic-network.github.io
PearTree — Phylogenetic Tree Viewer
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Mostly Harmless @whalepetunias.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Once something actually happens somewhere in something as wildly complicated as the Universe, Kevin knows where it will all end up — where "Kevin" is any random entity that doesn't know nothin' about nothin'.
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