Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 22/11/2025Confirming two pairs of two. couldn’t find any others in any other formations at all (including solo). Definitely not dead - will sometimes wave a leg if touched. but both pairs remained in exactly that formation all day. 200
Reposted by Rob LanfearJo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 21/11/2025In answer to the question of how you should write a philosophy essay one of my teachers - Malcom Budd - said ‘Answer the question clearly and simply.’ Superb answer and an example of itself. I’ve tried to follow in all I do. 1338
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 21/11/2025My first thought too. But the pairing seems so interesting. we saw two pairs really close together. Will look for more tomorrow. 110
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 21/11/2025Anyone know what’s going on with these ( maybe dead?) pairs of leafcutter bees in Australia? 293
Reposted by Rob LanfearAndrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 17/11/2025I recently discovered Conventional Comments (conventionalcomments.org) for providing a pseudo-standard set of labels for feedback and just tried it for an article review and it was really helpful to specify issues vs. thoughts vs. suggestions, etc. Hopefully it's helpful for the authors too! 616143
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 11/11/2025A lot of similarities to Oaks as far as I can tell so far. Possibly with more hybridisation and introgression. Also some really cool F1 hybrids like the Meelup mallee. As far as we know it's a single individual, thousands of years old, and infertile. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyp...en.wikipedia.orgEucalyptus × phylacis - Wikipedia 010
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Had a read through. So interesting! I'm just starting to get into similar questions (though from a position of great ignorance...) in Eucalypts. I'd love to chat some time when i've had a chance to read a whole bunch more... 120
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 10/11/2025What a great lecture! Such a broad overview of the entire system. Wonderful to see the breadth all tied together like that! 110
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 10/11/2025I remember really enjoying this paper on individuality. Some time since I read it though, and I see there's a bunch of new stuff I haven't read yet... link.springer.com/article/10.1...link.springer.comPlant individuality: a solution to the demographer’s dilemma - Biology & PhilosophyThe problem of plant individuality is something which has vexed botanists throughout the ages, with fashion swinging back and forth from treating plants as communities of individuals (Darwin 1800; Bra... 121
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Cool! Do you happen to also have a recording of the Biology Dept seminar flagged at the beginning - on the nature of Oak species? 220
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 29/08/2025I remember reading the study this is based on somewhere (preprint, maybe), and worrying a lot that it was perhaps very overparameterised. Honestly can't recall details, but would be interested to know others' thoughts. Will re-add the primary study to my reading list. 020
Reposted by Rob LanfearAnna-Liisa Laine @annaliisalaine.bsky.social · 26/08/2025We are recruiting‼️A permanent university lecturer position in BIOSTATISTICS is available at @helsinki.fi Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. Great colleagues, excellent infrastructures and startup support 🙌🏻 DL 14 September jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...jobs.helsinki.fiUniversity Lecturer in BiostatisticsUniversity Lecturer in Biostatistics 03251
Reposted by Rob LanfearJanelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · 26/08/2025📢We're #hiring Group Leaders! Apply to lead a lab at Janelia & advance biology using theory, computational modeling & machine learning. 🔹5-year renewable appointment 🔹Pioneer new tools & approaches 🔹Collaborate across disciplines Apply by Nov. 4👉 janelia.link/groupleader 06365
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 26/08/2025Let's find leaders for ANU who act as if higher ed actually matters. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/pe...megaphone.org.auPetition to ANU CouncilIn support of our petition, we observe that: • ANU Council has the entire control and management of the University and is required to act in all matters concerning the ANU in the way it thinks w... 040
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 25/08/2025I just love this paper. If you are interested in germlines, go read it. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgEarly germline sequestration in a basidiomycete fungusIn sexual organisms, inheritance of new mutations is highly dependent on the timing of germline definition. Here, we used the fairy ring–forming fungus Marasmius oreades to challenge the general assum... 1101
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 07/07/2025It's so bad. Obviously impossible to know for sure, but one develops a decent radar after years of looking at undergrad work. And parts of the review are just so 'off' in that tricky to nail down way. 020
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 07/07/2025Right now I'm responding to grant comments, and one of the reviewers appears to have mostly relied on AI to generate their (sometimes hilariously off-base) critiques. I am not enjoying this. 3150
Reposted by Rob LanfearAndrew Rambaut (🐏🎀) @arambaut.bsky.social · 02/07/2025BEAST X v10.5.0 finally released – you can't just do beta releases forever. github.com/beast-dev/be... Details and instructions for installing on the BEAST website: beast.community 311760
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 02/07/2025Same in Science. And the VC won't even be there. It's a joke. 030
Reposted by Rob LanfearWayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · 28/06/2025Mesquite 4.0 released! A major update — many new features, small and large (phylogenomics, visualizations, workflow management, &c). Check out the trailer video: www.mesquiteproject.org. Come discuss in our new Google Group (groups.google.com/g/mesquite-project). @bembidion.bsky.social 🧪 #evolbio 512243
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Would be very interesting to work in the Perth office for a bit. Maybe you’d get hired to write a speech or two! 000
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 04/06/2025I get it. The absolute state of #ourANU. It's a mess. 010
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 04/06/2025Charge that right back to ANU. They should bear the cost, not you. 110
Reposted by Rob LanfearMarnie Blewitt @marnieblewitt.bsky.social · 14/05/2025www.wehi.edu.au/careers/make... WEHI is looking for new lab heads! New and experienced lab heads welcome. Check out the ad, consider applying and share. We’re a collaborative bunch, in Australia, with fabulous technology, great colleagues at a values-driven organisation. @wehi-research.bsky.socialwehi.edu.auMake your future Melbourne | WEHILead the next wave of biomedical discovery 02528
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 04/06/2025Love it! I still use "ham", "cheese", "egg" etc. because of a programming book I read maybe in the last century. 130
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 04/06/2025I do hope you are working from the very nice and recently refurbished ANU office there! 100
Reposted by Rob LanfearMike the Mad Biologist and Trump's Press Corps Approver @mikethemadbiol.bsky.social · 03/06/2025look at how they're geared up to arrest unarmed civilians. Fucking absurd. And hats off to the people who backed them down. 0173
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 30/05/2025so much this. My experience of current grading is that even when the citations are real the information is often made up. One student acknowledged they didn’t read stuff, just got AI to (drastically incorrectly) summarise papers. 010
Reposted by Rob LanfearOur ANU @ouranu.bsky.social · 28/05/2025We will send the open letter to ANU executive and Council today at 3pm. At 7.30am, we have 434 signatures. How high can we get before 3pm? Tell your colleagues, spread the word! 057
Reposted by Rob LanfearARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 28/05/2025Is this related to why announcements for Linkage Projects & Laureate Fellowships are delayed? Maybe RMS couldn’t handle new grants being awarded when the other changes were being made? Why doesn’t the ARC tell anyone what’s going on? Simple transparency & expectations management would be nice. 0101
Reposted by Rob LanfearOur ANU @ouranu.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Time to speak up again. Here’s our latest open letter against unnecessary and damaging cuts and redundancies: forms.gle/SmuBaMz6PPGT...forms.gleOpen letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cutsFact sheet on 'Renew ANU so far': https://shorturl.at/iYVjc Open Letter PDF for print with QR codes to sign: https://shorturl.at/5KYs3 __________________________________________________ Letter to AN... 072
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 24/05/2025I liked this one a lot. I'd love to grab a coffee and chat about strategies for HE inspired by this. 110
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Same for me. IT seems very unstable at the moment, presumably because of understaffing thanks to precisely the subject of the document none of us can read. 010
Reposted by Rob LanfearJonathan Eisen @phylogenomics.bsky.social · 23/05/2025In 1987 I took Stephen Jay Gould’s “Science B16 course” that helped convince me to be major in Biology w/ a focus on Evolution. But it was my TA Wayne Madison showing us early versions of MacClade that really did the trick. 3456
Reposted by Rob Lanfearboehninglab @boehninglab.com · 23/05/2025youtu.be/KBmdxv29tog?...youtu.beA message from MIT President Sally KornbluthYouTube video by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 0127
Reposted by Rob LanfearWayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Mesquite 4 beta released! Many new features, esp. phylogenomic. Check out the trailer and longer video on the home page: www.mesquiteproject.org, and use the download link there to get a copy. Feedback welcome! Ask and discuss on our new Google Group (groups.google.com/g/mesquite-p...). 112661
Reposted by Rob LanfearAlex Skeels @alexskeels.bsky.social · 22/05/2025ANU colleagues, stand up and protect your workplace and each other. Let's stop the reputational and psycho-social damage being done by the disproportionately heavy-handed response of the executive. Please sign and share widely in your networks. #ourANU 022
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 22/05/2025If you're part of #ourANU, please read this open letter to the ANU executive, and consider signing it. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...docs.google.comOpen letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cutsFact sheet on 'Renew ANU so far': https://shorturl.at/iYVjc Open Letter PDF for print with QR codes to sign: https://shorturl.at/5KYs3 __________________________________________________ Letter to AN... 060
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 20/05/2025ANU website is SUPER super helpful. Always good to have FAQs so we know what they want us to do... Everything's going great at #ourANU ! 150
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Like a free loan? That's so generous. Would you like to rent my dog? 2 month downpayment, must be returned in the same condition as you received it, bills and food not included. 010
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 16/05/2025That's the same as about 57,000 individual pro subscriptions over the same time period, right? ($20/month for pro = $360 for 18 months). Seems like a large bill... 010
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 16/05/2025I'm in the same boat. I have that lingering (and now months long) anxiety that I *know* there are important things in there. One more week of semester to go and I can spend a day writing a string of apologies. 010
Reposted by Rob LanfearRick Morton @squigglyrick.bsky.social · 15/05/2025The cybernetics school is a very curious beast, formerly led by the now VC Bell. A protected species? 64821
Reposted by Rob LanfearOded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 15/05/2025Hi, do you have examples in your field for 20th century scientists who said something crazy that has been ignored since, but YOU think that maybe, just maybe, there's something there that's worth re-visiting? 7199
Rob Lanfear @roblanfear.bsky.social · 15/05/2025Thanks! And yeah, I expect that for most folks things will improve one way or another over the next few years. But there always remains the question of how much bullshit you're willing to put up with. 110