Darren Irwin (he / him)
LightNews LightNews
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Darren Irwin (he / him)
@darrenirwin.bsky.social
660 followers 510 following 180 posts
UBC Professor of Zoology; student of birds, genomes, evolution. Pro-democracy. Pro-sanity. Pro-humanity.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Darren Irwin (he / him) @darrenirwin.bsky.social · Jun 11
Hi y'all. In the midst of [gestures all around], I managed to write a thing.

If you work with mitochondrial DNA sequences in groups such as birds, butterflies, or snakes, you might find it interesting.

Feedback welcome.

The "Driving W Hypothesis" for low mtDNA diversity:

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
The Driving W Hypothesis for Low Within-Population Mitochondrial DNA Diversity and Between-Population Mitochondrial Capture
The fields of evolutionary biology, molecular ecology, genetics, and taxonomy have been profoundly influenced by studies of variation in mitochondrial DNA. Here I propose a hypothesis that will likely...
doi.org
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
badphysicist.bsky.social
Julia is quickly becoming the successor to Fortran, once the standard for high-performance computing in science, mathematics, and engineering. It’s powerful and fun to use. Get a solid foundation with a good book:

lee-phillips.org/amazonJuliaB...

#julialang #physics #programming #mathematics
Rankings of Julia books on Amazon
lee-phillips.org
February 5, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
juliacon.org
@kevinbonham.com, Rasmus Henningsson, Elisabeth Rösch, and Jakob Nybo Andersen are running a minisymposium on "Julia for Biology" at JuliaCon 2026!

Find out more at pretalx.com/juliacon-202... and submit your talk to juliacon.org/2026/cfp

#julialang #biology
Computing has a rich history in biological discovery, and the needs of biologists are continuing to drive algorithm development in multiple domains. Close alignment between developers and deep biological domain expertise is crucial in this field and a programming language such as Julia provides an ideal platform for such tight collaborations that require a range of access points to the software. Julia provides interactive and notebook-based interfaces commonly used by experimentalists whilst also giving algorithm developers the opportunity create more complex workflows and structures, and optimize performance as needed. In this minisymposium, we aim to highlight ways in which computational biologists* are using Julia to advance our understanding of living systems, in academia and industry, while also contributing to the package ecosystem and core language on multiple fronts. "Computational biology" is a broad tent. Topics presented include algorithms for text matching and search (bioinformatics), modeling and machine learning (systems biology and quantiative pharmacology),statistics and data science (experimental analysis, epidemiology), and imaging and geospatial statistics (microscopy), among others.
February 6, 2026 at 9:47 AM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
the struggle is real
February 7, 2026 at 3:54 PM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Questions have I … Do the chromosomes somehow replicate to three copies rather than two or four?
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Stapler and staple remover, both of which look sort of like dinosaurs but are actually dragons (biologists have not actually done the DNA work to see how dragons and dinosaurs are related).
February 6, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
stephenbheard.bsky.social
Excellent classification. xkcd.com/3204/
Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
xkcd.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
aclu.org
The First Amendment fully protects our right to record ICE agents, police, FBI, National Guard troops, and other government officials performing their duties in public.

Know your rights while filming, how to protect your digital privacy, and what to do if you're stopped or arrested for recording.
Recording and Documenting Police and Federal Agents
The First Amendment protects your right to take photos and videos of law enforcement officers performing their duties in public. This applies to ICE agents, police, FBI, National Guard troops, and any other government officials. If you're not under arrest, a law enforcement officer needs a warrant to confiscate your device or to view its contents without your consent.
www.aclu.org
January 31, 2026 at 12:50 AM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Large anniversary the size of a small anniversary:
geohenning.bsky.social Henning @geohenning.bsky.social · 14d
Happy 6th "Large boulder the size of a small boulder" anniversary to those who celebrate! #Geology ⚒️
Twitter post screenshot of the San Miguel Sheriff account. 5 years ago they posted about a boulder on the road but referred to it as "Large boulder the size of a small boulder".
January 27, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
geohenning.bsky.social
Happy 6th "Large boulder the size of a small boulder" anniversary to those who celebrate! #Geology ⚒️
Twitter post screenshot of the San Miguel Sheriff account. 5 years ago they posted about a boulder on the road but referred to it as "Large boulder the size of a small boulder".
January 27, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
darrenirwin.bsky.social
If you need a 12-minute break from [[gestures all around]] and want to have a virtual visit to see and learn about the first-ever Taiga Flycatcher in Canada, I've made this for you:

youtu.be/GCsGUhkifCA

#birds
#birding
#TaigaFlycatcher
Taiga Flycatcher in Vancouver!
YouTube video by Darren Irwin
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 7:51 PM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Thank you Syd! Maybe the bird will stop by Whitehorse on its way back to Siberia.
January 26, 2026 at 12:45 AM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
If you need a 12-minute break from [[gestures all around]] and want to have a virtual visit to see and learn about the first-ever Taiga Flycatcher in Canada, I've made this for you:

youtu.be/GCsGUhkifCA

#birds
#birding
#TaigaFlycatcher
Taiga Flycatcher in Vancouver!
YouTube video by Darren Irwin
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
astrokatie.com
A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.
January 25, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
phylogenomics.bsky.social
To those American academics out there who have chosen to remain silent/mostly silent about the horror going on in the USA these days at every corner of the federal government, please start speaking out and fighting back.
January 25, 2026 at 4:33 AM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
kakape.bsky.social
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
January 24, 2026 at 18:42 Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti "We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the 'hero' term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.
January 25, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
barackobama.bsky.social
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life fighting for equity and justice. He taught us that even in the face of intimidation and discrimination, we must never stop working towards a better future – a lesson that feels especially relevant today.
January 19, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
anacrgomes.bsky.social
Master Projects available in the Qvarnström lab @qvarnstromlab.bsky.social studying climate adaptation and speciation using a natural flycatcher hybrid zone on Öland, Sweden!

Check available projects here 👇👇
drive.google.com/file/d/1B69x...
December 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
He's caused a tremendous boost to the Canadian wine industry
January 17, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
jazjanes.bsky.social
Come work with us! We are seeking a tenure-track botanist, preferably in the areas of non-vascular, systematics, physiology or cell. Happy to answer questions.

unbc.njoyn.com/CL/xweb/xweb...

🧪🌱 #botany
Assistant professor in botany job description for University of Northern British Columbia
January 16, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
vscooper.micropopbio.org
Terrific origin story, history, and future of bioRxiv and medRxiv by @richardsever.bsky.social in @mbio.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The Story behind the Science: Preprints of pandemic potential—how bioRxiv and medRxiv brought preprints to the life sciences | mBio
When we launched medRxiv in mid-2019, we never could have anticipated that just a few months later, New York would be at the epicenter of a rapidly escalating global pandemic, and we would be handling...
journals.asm.org
January 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Yes I think so, but can mention that drift is always a factor and that together with limited dispersal distances leads to IBD (and selection can enhance that or even work against it)
January 12, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
biblioholic.bsky.social
“And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.” JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

#Whitehorse #Yukon
January 11, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
scoiattolo.mountainherder.xyz
Things are grim right now but as a reminder of who we are and why we fight, this is the US Women’s figuring skating champion.
Amber Glenn wearing her gold medal after winning the US National Championship Women’s Singles Competition. She is dressed in a black short sequined gown and proudly holding a progress pride flag behind her. There is a gaggle of photographers in front of her.
January 10, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
mollyschumer.bsky.social
Significant increase in turnout today at the indivisible protest, with many people motivated to speak out about the violence against our communities and violations of international law. We also had a Portland-style anti-ICE frog!
Blow up frog costume at protest
January 10, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Darren Irwin (he / him)
nick-mason.bsky.social
LSU Museum of Natural Sciences is hiring a postdoc! Come join our very active and supportive museum community. Applicants can work with any of the major divisions: 🐀🦜🦎🐸🐠

Review begins February 15th, please share!

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/LSU/job/0119...
Postdoctoral Researcher
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...
lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:19 PM