Andrew Roger
@andrewjroger.bsky.social
deep-time evolution, phylogenetics, anaerobic protists, the tree of Life. Science depends on vigorous respectful debate and evidence-based reasoning. This is my personal page and what I post here has nothing to do with my employer.
Reposted by Andrew Roger
Four days before Trump’s inauguration, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal w/the Trump family to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500M, according to docs & people familiar. The buyer paid half up front, steering $187M to Trump entities.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company
$500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips.
www.wsj.com
February 1, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Four days before Trump’s inauguration, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal w/the Trump family to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500M, according to docs & people familiar. The buyer paid half up front, steering $187M to Trump entities.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Wow!!!
A new Cambrian soft-bodied biota after the first Phanerozoic mass extinction: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Many non-bilaterian animals including beautiful sponge (panel b, c) and ctenophore (panel d) fossils🤩 🧽🪼.
#sponges #ctenophores #Cambrian
Many non-bilaterian animals including beautiful sponge (panel b, c) and ctenophore (panel d) fossils🤩 🧽🪼.
#sponges #ctenophores #Cambrian
January 29, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Wow!!!
So now history is going to erased and "rewritten" I suppose: www.bbc.com/news/article...
FBI raids Georgia election office in 2020 materials
President Trump has long claimed voter fraud led to his loss in the state - even though multiple investigations offered no proof.
www.bbc.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:14 PM
So now history is going to erased and "rewritten" I suppose: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Andrew Roger
👀 "LKB1 acts as a nexus between metabolism and gene expression, acting via the SMARCA4-SWI/SNF complex to regulate gene expression in lung cancer."
New preprint out of Marignani Lab
@pmarignani.bsky.social
New preprint out of Marignani Lab
@pmarignani.bsky.social
January 29, 2026 at 12:48 AM
👀 "LKB1 acts as a nexus between metabolism and gene expression, acting via the SMARCA4-SWI/SNF complex to regulate gene expression in lung cancer."
New preprint out of Marignani Lab
@pmarignani.bsky.social
New preprint out of Marignani Lab
@pmarignani.bsky.social
Reposted by Andrew Roger
I genuinely don't understood how America took the emoluments clause -- the common-sense bar on a president using his powers to line his own pockets, a law children can understand -- and just said, nah, that doesn't apply for our Very Special Boy.
He’s turned the presidency into the world’s largest ATM machine.
January 17, 2026 at 1:26 AM
I genuinely don't understood how America took the emoluments clause -- the common-sense bar on a president using his powers to line his own pockets, a law children can understand -- and just said, nah, that doesn't apply for our Very Special Boy.
Reposted by Andrew Roger
A massive "Hands off Greenland" protest is happening right now in Copenhagen to demonstrate against Trump's threats.
"The aim is to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland's democracy," organisers said.
“Respect for Greenland, respect for Greenlanders, respect for Denmark.”
"The aim is to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland's democracy," organisers said.
“Respect for Greenland, respect for Greenlanders, respect for Denmark.”
January 17, 2026 at 3:52 PM
A massive "Hands off Greenland" protest is happening right now in Copenhagen to demonstrate against Trump's threats.
"The aim is to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland's democracy," organisers said.
“Respect for Greenland, respect for Greenlanders, respect for Denmark.”
"The aim is to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland's democracy," organisers said.
“Respect for Greenland, respect for Greenlanders, respect for Denmark.”
Agreed
As this ramps up and we are asked to cheerlead for it, I remain genuinely shocked that Canada, once again, under the banner of a **nation-building**, has created a funding program that excludes Canadian students and researchers based on presence in Canada. /1
universityaffairs.ca/news/feds-la...
universityaffairs.ca/news/feds-la...
Feds launch $1.7 billion international talent attraction program - University Affairs
The program will provide funding to bring 100 top-tier international research chairs and their teams to Canada.
universityaffairs.ca
January 12, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Agreed
Reposted by Andrew Roger
Western University is looking for a Canada Research Chair (CRC)
Tier 1 in Metabolomics. We are intent on building capacity in this system and the ideal candidate will help build infrastructure and mentor junior faculty.
Please see the job ad at: uwo.ca/facultyrelat...
Tier 1 in Metabolomics. We are intent on building capacity in this system and the ideal candidate will help build infrastructure and mentor junior faculty.
Please see the job ad at: uwo.ca/facultyrelat...
uwo.ca
January 12, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Western University is looking for a Canada Research Chair (CRC)
Tier 1 in Metabolomics. We are intent on building capacity in this system and the ideal candidate will help build infrastructure and mentor junior faculty.
Please see the job ad at: uwo.ca/facultyrelat...
Tier 1 in Metabolomics. We are intent on building capacity in this system and the ideal candidate will help build infrastructure and mentor junior faculty.
Please see the job ad at: uwo.ca/facultyrelat...
The plot thickens! It's been thickening for a decade 😀
Our eLetter github.com/caseywdunn/s... responding to a recent Science paper was just posted. The paper found more genes with consistent support for sponge-sister than ctenophore-sister. We found several technical issues that, when corrected, reverse the conclusions and recover ctenophore-sister.
January 9, 2026 at 10:49 PM
The plot thickens! It's been thickening for a decade 😀
Reposted by Andrew Roger
This is part of the Systematic Biology 75th anniversary collection: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
This collection was put together by our excellent Legacy Committee to celebrate the Society’s accomplishments and future!
This collection was put together by our excellent Legacy Committee to celebrate the Society’s accomplishments and future!
January 2, 2026 at 7:40 PM
This is part of the Systematic Biology 75th anniversary collection: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
This collection was put together by our excellent Legacy Committee to celebrate the Society’s accomplishments and future!
This collection was put together by our excellent Legacy Committee to celebrate the Society’s accomplishments and future!
I'm really enjoying this memoir on the history of numerical methods in phylogenetics by F. James Rohlf: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Too Many Numbers?
Abstract. A somewhat personal account of the development and acceptance of numerical taxonomic methods during the early years of the journal Systematic Zoo
academic.oup.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:02 PM
I'm really enjoying this memoir on the history of numerical methods in phylogenetics by F. James Rohlf: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
A comprehensive review and guide to fossil tip dating: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Practical Guide and Review of Fossil Tip-Dating in Phylogenetics
Abstract. Phylogenetic tip-dating has been and still is revolutionizing evolutionary biology in several ways. Fossil tip-dating, where fossils are placed i
academic.oup.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:14 PM
A comprehensive review and guide to fossil tip dating: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Looks like a great issue to dig into!!!
Interested in the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social
special issue on phylogenomic discordance? tinyurl.com/v2eces3s 🧪
One more summary added, just in time for some holiday travel chaos! ☃️
We'll return as more articles come live.
Again, all and any oversimplications are entirely my fault!
special issue on phylogenomic discordance? tinyurl.com/v2eces3s 🧪
One more summary added, just in time for some holiday travel chaos! ☃️
We'll return as more articles come live.
Again, all and any oversimplications are entirely my fault!
December 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Looks like a great issue to dig into!!!
The number of papers I've been asked to review in the past week is getting ridiculous....I guess everyone is submitting things before Christmas...Pretty sure I can't review 7 papers, plus teach my course, plus write a grant by Feb. plus edit a thesis plus committee work plus run a lab.
December 19, 2025 at 12:57 PM
The number of papers I've been asked to review in the past week is getting ridiculous....I guess everyone is submitting things before Christmas...Pretty sure I can't review 7 papers, plus teach my course, plus write a grant by Feb. plus edit a thesis plus committee work plus run a lab.
This blog post nails it: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/democrats-...
Democrats need a theory of power, but democracies need a theory of accountability
No, the Trump administration is not a model for how to get things done
donmoynihan.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:29 PM
This blog post nails it: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/democrats-...
Reposted by Andrew Roger
Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Identification of a deep-branching lineage of algae using environmental plastid genomes - Nature Communications
Here, the authors leverage data from the Tara Oceans expeditions to perform a phylogeny-guided plastid genome-resolved metagenomic survey and provide 660 non-redundant plastid genomes from marine alga...
www.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This is a good point.
"LLMs are structurally indifferent to truth."
while i am not an academic i did see this coming and post about it on bluesky, which is why i am quoted in this article
December 18, 2025 at 1:00 AM
This is a good point.
Reposted by Andrew Roger
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes
Muller's ratchet predicts that non-recombining genomes can accumulate deleterious mutations, though molecular evidence for it is rare. Previous studies have tried to detect ratchet-like behavior in mi...
www.biorxiv.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I agree. Without accompanying billion dollar plans to increase the Tri-Council funding of open competitions, this just means that, after a few years, these new recruits will be applying to the same small pool of money as the rest of us meaning less money on average for everyone.
December 10, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I agree. Without accompanying billion dollar plans to increase the Tri-Council funding of open competitions, this just means that, after a few years, these new recruits will be applying to the same small pool of money as the rest of us meaning less money on average for everyone.
This looks like something to dig into...Not simple to understand but it looks very powerful!!!!
📢 New publication 'Convergence-Divergence Models: Generalizations of Phylogenetic Trees Modeling Gene Flow Over Time' by Jonathan Mitchell and Barbara Holland in Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 🧪
doi.org/10.1007/s115...
#PhylogeneticTree #evolution
doi.org/10.1007/s115...
#PhylogeneticTree #evolution
Convergence-Divergence Models: Generalizations of Phylogenetic Trees Modeling Gene Flow Over Time - Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
Phylogenetic trees are simple models of evolutionary processes. They describe conditionally independent divergent evolution from common ancestors. However, they often lack the flexibility to represent...
doi.org
December 9, 2025 at 11:03 PM
This looks like something to dig into...Not simple to understand but it looks very powerful!!!!
Those interested in performing maximum likelihood phylogenomic analysis on data sets made up of eukaryotic nuclear genes using site heterogeneous mixture models like C60, I suggest you use the ELM model in IQ-TREE instead of the LG model /1
December 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Those interested in performing maximum likelihood phylogenomic analysis on data sets made up of eukaryotic nuclear genes using site heterogeneous mixture models like C60, I suggest you use the ELM model in IQ-TREE instead of the LG model /1
December 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Those interested in performing maximum likelihood phylogenomic analysis on data sets made up of eukaryotic nuclear genes using site heterogeneous mixture models like C60, I suggest you use the ELM model in IQ-TREE instead of the LG model /1
Reposted by Andrew Roger
Report: How to Prevent University Trustee Overreach https://bit.ly/4pc1mqF
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
December 2, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Report: How to Prevent University Trustee Overreach https://bit.ly/4pc1mqF
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
Here we go! Another new paper on the sponges vs. ctenophores dispute!!!! Buy your storm chips or popcorn now! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Integrative phylogenomics positions sponges at the root of the animal tree
Determining whether sponges or ctenophores root the animal tree has important implications for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we examined support for these competing hypotheses by constru...
www.science.org
November 26, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Here we go! Another new paper on the sponges vs. ctenophores dispute!!!! Buy your storm chips or popcorn now! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposting the finding of a Heimdallarchaeon with internal membrane vesicles. Those of us who thought this was a likely possibility -- and there were many of us -- can now safely ignore the dogmatic claims that "Asgards don't have endomembrane systems" that were made based on very limited data.
Was a wild journey also with @magdalechowska.bsky.social @joeparham19.bsky.social @iainrichard.bsky.social @emaguilarpine.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social Heimdallarchaeia are beautiful!
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposting the finding of a Heimdallarchaeon with internal membrane vesicles. Those of us who thought this was a likely possibility -- and there were many of us -- can now safely ignore the dogmatic claims that "Asgards don't have endomembrane systems" that were made based on very limited data.