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Daohan "Rex" Jiang

@rexjiang.bsky.social
1.4K followers 773 following 437 posts

Evolutionary biologist. Postdoc @oistedu.bsky.social. Evolutionary theories, complex traits, macroevolution. Views are my own. Website: rexjiang385518549.wordpress.com iNaturalist: www.inaturalist.org/people/rexjiang

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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Please vote, if do have the right to!
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Per Ahlberg @perahlberg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It’s horrendous, I see this in my own postdocs and it’s heartwrenching to not be able to help. Especially when someone embeds really happily in the team: all they want to do is stay, all I want to do is keep them, but I can’t. It feels like evicting a family member.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I just learned that this broken bridge I saw while walking around is a war memorial. The bridge named Akabashi (lit. Red Bridge) was destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa of WW2, by a teenager guerrilla squad to stop the US military.
The remain of a destroyed bridge in a river mouth area. Plants grow on it. Beside the broken bridge is a functional bridge.The remain of a destroyed bridge in a river mouth area. Plants grow on it. Beside the broken bridge is a functional bridge.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Freshly observed swimming #crab 🦀 molts. Both Portunus pelagicus I think. #iNatTogether
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"He has allegedly been released from the hospital and is in ICE custody at an unknown location, his lawyer's office said." abcnews.com/US/man-hospi...
abcnews.com
ICE officer shoots and injures DoorDash delivery driver in Austin: Police
A man was shot and injured in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement incident in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, according to officials.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
At the time of #iNatTogether, I'd also like to promote another project I'm managing: www.inaturalist.org/projects/ide... This project started a while ago and documents identifiable crocodilian 🐊 individuals. So far we've had >800 observations, mostly of saltwater #crocodile and Nile #crocodile.
inaturalist.org
Identifiable Crocodilian Individuals
This project is for observations of identifiable crocodilian individuals.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A pair of Papilio polytes 🦋. One landing on a beggartick flower, the other hanging behind. They kept flying together before disappearing from my sight. Apparently a courting pair? A newest observation of mine just featured in the #iNatTogether project👇 #butterfly
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iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Time to get outside & touch some grass! #iNatTogether has officially started. 😎 👀 If you want to meet new people to explore nature with, find an iNat Together event near you, hosted by some of our incredible iNaturalist Ambassadors: www.inaturalist.org/pages/inatto...
A moth sits on top of a frog with the caption iNat Together: September 18-28, 2026. Find your nature friends and get outside! A small speech bubble next to the frog says "you don't have to go far, just together!"
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
New work from my former labmate Mark Kim on the origin of multicellularity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Unicellular and Multicellular Modes of Selection Impose Distinct Constraints on Cellular Phenotype Evolution
Single-cell sequencing data have revealed that cellular phenotypes, such as gene expression states, are often low-dimensional, suggesting that cellular variation may arise from combinations of a small...
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Most excellent summary of the only coherent science policy from current administration
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A cute #Okitsura collab seen at @oistedu.bsky.social
A leaflet about safety during diving in Okinawa, featuring characters from the manga and anime series Okitsura.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A windy day. Suddenly felt like seeing waves striking rocks and entered Manzamo. The brutality of nature weirdly let me feel a bit relief this time.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
They can be stealthy and hard to find though
A box crab dwelling in intertidal shadow water. Its color closely resembles the surrounding environment.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Because the first package was lost on the way, it took me a while to finally get my hands on @stevebrusatte.bsky.social’s book, which was received today…
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
An #orca 🫍at the Port of #Nagoya Public Aquarium regurgitating food (fish). She didn’t do so in an obviously repetitive manner though. #whale #dolphin
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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 27/08/2026
Past American dominance in science is not due to a few dozen “top scholars.” It’s due to America 🇺🇸 spending ENORMOUSLY more on science than other countries and distributing it widely. Canada 🇨🇦 boasting about attracting “top talent” of a few dozen people is not serious. And not US “brain drain.”
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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 27/08/2026
The real American 🇺🇸 “brain drain” isn’t that a few established scholars might get new jobs outside the US, it’s the enormous number of grad students - particularly international grad students - who can’t or won’t study in the US now or in years to come. That’s the body blow.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Back on a whale shark
An airplane painted to resemble a whale shark.An airplane painted to resemble a whale shark.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
New paper on the evolution of A-to-I #RNA editing in #fungi with Jiachen Li and George Zhang, now published on MBE. I did some very preliminary analysis near the tail end of my PhD (but didn't continue) and Jiachen had this project fully developed.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A flying whale shark
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Traffic jam on my way to the Naha Airport. The consequence of the way how Americans built #Okinawa, isn’t it?
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The nest is gone…Apparently removed by humans.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A #nest of #Okinawa mud #wasp (Delta esuriens) I've been observing for ~2 weeks. I saw the wasp working on it and it expanding over time. The last photo was taken today; it survived the most recent #typhoon.
A potter wasp is working on a nest on the wall of a building.A potter wasp nest. The upper left conner has an opening, from which some Lepidoptera larvae can be vaguely seen.A potter wasp nest, sealed and taller than before.A potter wasp nest. It has expanded further along the wall.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I am organizing a symposium titled "How microevolutionary mechanisms produce macroevolutionary patterns" for the annual meeting of the Society for Evolutionary Studies, Japan this year. The conference will take place from Aug. 19-22 in #Nagoya. sesj2026.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp/program_en.h...
sesj2026.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Schedule & Program | The 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Evolutionary Studies, Japan (Nagoya Meeting 2026)
This is the program page for the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Evolutionary Studies, Japan. Information on symposiums, oral presentations, poster sessions, and other program details will be p...
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A year of typhoons…🌀
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Joe Brennan @biologyjoe87.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Well deserved award for @katelaskowski.bsky.social ! I am honored to have her as a mentor at UC Davis and to learn from her what it means to produce rigorous and just science 🥳
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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I am beyond excited to share that our paper, "Neurodivergent Perceptions, Experiences, and Perspectives in Academic Biological Sciences Spaces" has been published! A 🧵incoming because this paper is so special to me and the co-authors. doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
doi.org
Neurodivergent Perceptions, Experiences, and Perspectives in Academic Biological Sciences Spaces
Abstract. Neurodiversity has received considerable attention recently from the general population and academic researchers, coinciding with an increase in
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STEMthebleeding @stemthebleeding.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
This was what was at stake in 2024. If you didn't vote for Harris, the only person who could've won against Trump - you are no less responsible for this. A Harris administration never signs the EO. A Harris administration never appoints Homan, Miller, or Hegseth. You are not an ally.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
A 6yo killed in a failed gene therapy trial done *secretly*, *before* the animal experiment results were published. The man behind it, Zilong Qiu, deserves to be jailed. Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public
Parents want accountability after study went disastrously wrong, Science and Retraction Watch investigation reveals
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Encountered this rice paper #butterfly (Idea leuconoe) today. This is the prefecture butterfly of #Okinawa and the largest butterfly here, with a wingspan of 12-14cm.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
A nice summarization of concepts. It’s focused on animals but it’s enough to illustrate that any single definition of sex has limitations. (I’d still love to see a “sequel” that discusses other groups that conduct sexual reproduction though lol)
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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
okay fine i'll read the thing based on the first skim i did i'm not holding my breath, but since we're cited repeatedly i'll engage in good faith.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
IMAO biological sex is rooted in the asymmetric inheritance of organelle DNA, and microorganisms that are isogamous and/or have >2 mating types do have biological sex (albeit not referred to using names of anisogamous sexes). This should be the cleanest way biological sex can be defined.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
My 1st wild #octopus 🐙 sighting Apparently feeding on a #crab 🦀
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It's the season of blueberry hermit crab (Coenobita purpureus) now. Today I encountered a shell-less one on the beach. No jettisoned shell 🐚 nearby either. Hope it can find a nice new home soon. #Okinawa #HermitCrab #Crustacean
A blue hermit crab without a snail shell on a sandy beach.
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Paper of @haorancai.bsky.social on apparent stabilizing selection on fly wing shape is out 🎉 Persistent selection on size explains micro- and macroevolutionary alignments in fly wings | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I wanted to like QED's new 1% preprint ranking. I really did. But the more I looked at the data, the more uncomfortable it made me. Here is my full peer review. open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
open.substack.com
My Peer Review of The 1%
I wanted to like QED's new 1% ranking. I don't.
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Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
NIH grants have been under political scrutiny since early 2025. But what does the screening process actually look like? What is being flagged? I spent a month digging into leaked docs and emails. We've published the 235-word list that are being flagged by an internal AI tool. And so much more. 🧵
nature.com
Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants
Mandatory reviews by top health officials and checks for 235 disfavoured terms have left hundreds of vetted grant applications in administrative limbo.
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Flo Débarre @flodebarre.eurosky.social · 26/06/2026
I hope that @qedscience.bsky.social will implement an opt-out mechanism @odedrechavi.bsky.social I personally do not want to be included in those ranking metrics; it is the part of academia I dislike most and find the most damaging
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I’m obligated to post some new 🦀 sightings, ain’t I? This time it’s a dimorphic pair of tetragonal fiddler crabs (Gelasimus tetragonon)..,
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Encountered a Ryukyu flying fox 🦇 (Pteropus dasymallus) today and luckily managed to film it this time #bat #flyingfox
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🧵 It’s not so much an instant decapitation of American science as it’s a slow but steady asphyxiation. But the effect is the same. We’re planting the seeds of doubt in the next generation of scientists that maybe this is not what they should sign up for.
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
The US truly seems to be pushing eager young scientists to reconsider their life goals of research & higher ed. I'm sure these anecdotes are being repeated for many of you & am curious what systematic efforts are underway to catalogue & measure this deterrent effect on future talent
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Greetings from Eriphia sebana (Well, just an excuse to share new crab 🦀 clip)
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Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Migration should be a human right and right to reside in a country should not be dictated by labour you can/cannot do.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/05/2026
This is North Korea level bullshit, and a total fucking disaster for science and for the United States alike. It doesn't matter whether it fails to pass; this kind of thinking is already penetrating NIH, NSF, NASA, etc and causing severe harm. NASEM, AAAS, AAUP, etc must condemn unequivocally.
science.org
Lawmakers propose banning all U.S.-Chinese research collaborations
Critics say bill would weaken U.S. science by cutting flows of ideas and talent
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Now I can no longer acknowledge #NIH grants of collaborators based in US in my papers. Not fatal to me since my own work is theoretical/computational, but for many others it'd be much harder (e.g., if they do experimental work). The insanity that's consuming US science is eroding the outer world.
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
I looked at my past 6 years of papers, out of curiosity. 42 are co-authored with foreign collaborators. 16 with international students or postdocs, some of whom subsequently left the US. Only 26 were by US residents only, less than 1/3 of my scientific work. This policy will kill US innovation
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
I'm presenting this study for the virtual meeting of @evolmtg.bsky.social on May 22 at 6:15 PM Eastern Time. Please come!
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Daohan "Rex" Jiang @rexjiang.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I walked back home today, which is much slower than the shuttle bus but allowed me to encounter some cool creatures, like this colorful #beetle. Probably Sophiodela okinawana (I didn’t find its English common name), a tiger beetle #endemic to #Okinawa.
A beetle with a vibrant color scheme consisting of green, red, dark blue, and white areas.A beetle with a vibrant color scheme consisting of green, red, dark blue, and white areas.
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