iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Michael Hickerson @hickerlab.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

How much of the tree of life did you eat? Phylodiet scores a meal by phylogenetic diversity: type what you ate and it builds the dated tree of the organisms in it, from ~3,300 edible eukaryotes, back 2 billion years. Last night's dinner, below. 🧵 mjhickerson.github.io/phylodiet/app/phylodiet.html

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have so much work to catch up on tonight, but The Algorithm started feeding me videos of cute pets in silly poses interpreted as Croissant, Shrimp, Baguette, Loaf, and Bun accompanied by a silly song, and I am feeling a deep urge to binge those videos. Must resist for at least two more tasks...

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Can we look into getting that closing data modified, or text added that says that evaluation will begin on Nov 17? Would hate to have a good candidate skipped over because it's so entirely unclear...

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Exciting news! We here at the LSU Museum of Natural Science @lsumns.bsky.social and Dept. of Biological Sciences are looking for Curator and Assistant Professor of Vertebrate Paleobiology! Come work with us! We are fun, supportive and active! lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/jo...

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Assistant Professor

All Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre...

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I’m off to Bogotá 🇨🇴 for 2 months for the first of 3 visits that will form my Fulbright fellowship, so my lab had a “despedida” happy hour yesterday, before I disappear for most of the rest of the semester. The #LagoLab is currently small, but mighty- and they will be totally fine without me!

Four people smile for the camera on a rooftop bar with live oak canopies in the background.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Boas Pucker @bpucker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Excited to share our new paper is out in TPJ! 🌱 "Out of the blue: family-wide loss of anthocyanin biosynthesis in Cucurbitaceae" We explore the anthocyanin biosynthesis gene loss through comparative genomics: doi.org/10.1111/tpj.... @nancy-choudhary.bsky.social @puckerlab.bsky.social #Evolution

Synteny analysis supports the loss of crucial genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis across Cucurbitaceae. Details and figure reference: https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.71136

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just got of my first Very Formal committee meetings in Spanish, and despite speaking a whole lot of Spanish in my personal and professional lives and considering myself fluent, I present my current mood:

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

this one's for the botanists

poster for the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" except it's three genera of spiky plants in the subfamily Madiinae

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Mi corazón está con Villa de Leyva, y las colecciones biológicas nacionales de Colombia allá ❤️ www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

So I hear what you’re saying but maybe apply this criterion evenly against different perceived academic “types”!

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

As someone whose brand that is— I already do so much extra service that review requests (of which I get a lot) are low on my priority list. And I don’t stop being a good citizen when I decline- I suggest alternatives if in my field, and that takes time that I might have to prioritize elsewhere.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Megan Smith @snaildit.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

My lab is hiring a postdoc for an NSF-funded project on machine learning, model misspecification, and population genetics! Flexible start-date! Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job... Please reach out if you have any questions!

smithlabbio.github.io

The Smith Lab — Mississippi State University

The Smith Lab at Mississippi State University studies diversification using genomic data, with a focus on terrestrial snails and slugs.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Kelly Zamudio @kzutaustin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Plant Colleagues! Open job for Director of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center (PRC) at UT Austin. A great job for anyone addressing fundamental questions in evolution of plants and a commitment to herbarium administration and/or collections-based research. apply.interfolio.com/193263

a field of blooming bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's been a very wet winter and so the superbloom is expected to be spectacular!

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I got the same email, thought the same thing 😅

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Awesome news - for now.

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I’m planning an October trip to Chile for the superbloom in the Atacama desert, and am so excited that I can throw in a day trip to the top of Andes (3700m) to see up to three species of flamingo!! I did not realize two of my bucket list items existed in such proximity 😍🦩🌺🏔️!!

static.klipy.com

Pink Flamingo Flock in Water

ALT: Pink Flamingo Flock in Water

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

500k plants, ok, then 6 million fish. Important, sure but that's one uni making a bad choice. Then 7 million fossils and modern mollusks (PRI), 19 million specimens at ANSP, soon we're talking big data right? specimens you can hold in your hand are real data www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nat...

atlasobscura.com

It's Hard to Be a Natural History Museum in the 21st Century

As belts tighten, rich collections of plant and animal specimens face relegation, dissolution, or worse.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Society for the Study of Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Applications are now open for the International Travel Stipends to attend #Evol2027! Funds cover registration, travel, meals, and lodging. The application deadline is earlier this year: November 1st! www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci... @evolmtg.bsky.social

The San Juan coastline. Text: Evolution 2027, San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 25-29. Society for the Study of Evolution International Travel Stipends, Deadline: November 1.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

David Maddison @bembidion.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The Tree of Life Web Project is back online! tolweb.org Thanks to Travis Wheeler (@wheelerlab.org), Danny Mandel, and Andrew Lenards, the original programmers for ToLWeb, for retooling the code to work on a modern OS! It is hard for me to believe it lives again.

tolweb.org

Tree of Life Web Project

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This is a "least bad" outcome of a self-inflicted problem from Duke University. Is it better than the collection being atomized and shipped all over the place? Yes. Is it a travesty that one of the world's wealthiest private Universities divested from their herbarium? Definitely yes.

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I type this as the Director of an herbarium, also in the southeastern US, that has "merged with" (i.e., assumed stewardship of) multiple herbaria, including Tulane's herbarium. In my decade in this job, only one research group from Tulane has come to use their former herbarium specimens.

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The specimens will still be available study, and in great hands with the UNC/NCBG partners. That is crucial, and a good outcome for the botany community. But what good is an herbarium "merger" if one of the partners seems to have no intention of maintaining herbarium-based research?

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It's a legacy important to me! My closest collaborator in Rubiaceae trained at Duke, as did many of her botanical contemporaries (now retired or at the end of their careers). My Costa Rican husband's first collections are there, due to Duke's former times to the Organization for Tropical Studies.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Laura Lagomarsino @tropicalbotany.bsky.social (Louisiana State University, USA): A Clade's Eye View of Plant #Evolution in the Andes 5/9

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Absolutely. My sense is that there isn't a large herbarium staff, but if there are any, I do hope that Duke continues their employment.

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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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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Yes! Thank you for making this point. It's not a trivial one, and I'm sad to see this celebrated. Sure, it's better than other alternatives— but it is not good.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

"Creating the third-largest university plant collection" may seem celebratory, but remember: this is happening because Duke administration decided to axe the herbarium as a cost-cutting measure. Natural history collections are a precious scientific resource, and too many are at risk of being lost.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

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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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

And eventually you’ll hit the point where you decide it’s more hassle than it’s worth to add something. (This is a post-tenure attitude, don’t be like me… yet! 😅)

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Member of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (or would like to be) and have awesome plant photos to share? Submit them to our annual photo contest!! www.iaptglobal.org/photo-contes...

iaptglobal.org

Photo contest

Each year, IAPT will run a competition, seeking the world's best pictures of plants, algae and fungi, of people doing taxonomy and systematics, and of the great places where many of us do field work. ...

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

University professors generally do not make very much relative to our training levels. Most of us, especially in STEM, could make a lot more in industry (and deal with a lot less bureaucracy). Grant money mostly goes to paying students, postdocs, and staff, and is heavily vetted and scrutinized.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Are you (or do you know someone) recently graduated from undergrad looking to beef up your skills and experience prior to starting grad school/career? Do you like social drama and parakeets? Come join my team! I'm looking for two people to start very soon!! tinyurl.com/59rf8jcy

Graphical ad for Hobson Lab Parakeet sociality & cognition Postbac Research Technician, with a graphic showing a flock of monk parakeets flying towards a social network, two unmarked monk parakeets perched, and examples of our individually color-marked birds showing their dye marks and color codes

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It’s very telling of the moment we are in that my incoming grad student won’t be taking one, but TWO, seminars about AI in research this semester.

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A site created by his former students

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

DrArchivalGenomics @ehekkala.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

😡👇🧪🦠🧬🌏👩‍🔬#WomenInSTEM but we knew that already..

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Hmmm, I also had a post-Botany thing… wonder if it was also flu… 🤧

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Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

What great experiences for you and outcomes for your peers- it sounds like you really leaned into leadership in the role!

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Reposted by Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Josef Uyeda @pseudacris.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Really nice article laying out the semantics of sex/sexes that causes persistent confusion and arguing in our community. It lays out the undisputed patterns in biology and makes clear any "lack of consensus" on sex/sexes is arguing across different levels. academic.oup.com/icb/article/...

academic.oup.com

Evolution, Development, and the Incoherence of Sex: A Framework for Multiple Sex Concepts

Synopsis. The word sex can refer to at least seven distinct, evolutionarily related biological phenomena (0–6 below). Bacteria and archaea use mechanisms f

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