Rob Lanfear
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roblanfear.bsky.social
Rob Lanfear
@roblanfear.bsky.social
phylogenetics, molecular evolution, some genomes, kids, dogs, and eclectic hobbies none of which I am much good at but I think for me that's the point
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
We 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...
University Lecturer in Biostatistics
University Lecturer in Biostatistics
jobs.helsinki.fi
August 26, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
📢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👉 https://janelia.link/groupleader
August 26, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I just love this paper. If you are interested in germlines, go read it.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Early germline sequestration in a basidiomycete fungus
In 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...
www.science.org
August 25, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Right 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.
July 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
BEAST 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
July 2, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
Mesquite 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
June 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
www.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.social
Make your future Melbourne | WEHI
Lead the next wave of biomedical discovery
www.wehi.edu.au
May 13, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
look at how they're geared up to arrest unarmed civilians. Fucking absurd. And hats off to the people who backed them down.
San Diego neighborhood makes ICE agents retreat
June 2, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
We 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!
Open letter: The ANU executive is planning a new round of unnecessary and damaging cuts and forced redundancies. We are asking staff to sign this open letter calling on the executive to cancel planned CMPs and to be transparent about ANU’s finances.

ANU colleagues please sign and share widely.
Open letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cuts
Fact 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...
forms.gle
May 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
Is 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.
May 28, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
Time to speak up again. Here’s our latest open letter against unnecessary and damaging cuts and redundancies: forms.gle/SmuBaMz6PPGT...
Open letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cuts
Fact 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...
forms.gle
May 26, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
In 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.
May 23, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
Mesquite 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...).
May 23, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
ANU 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
May 22, 2025 at 10:36 PM
If 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...
Open letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cuts
Fact 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...
docs.google.com
May 22, 2025 at 3:11 AM
ANU 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 !
May 20, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
The cybernetics school is a very curious beast, formerly led by the now VC Bell. A protected species?
May 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
Hi, 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?
May 15, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
If you're wondering how things are going at #ourANU, it's not good. A lot of voluntary redundancy folks still waiting to hear if they are can go. College budgets slashed, layoffs imminent, but zero communication. So we rely on Reddit posts like this:
www.reddit.com/r/Anu/commen...
From the Anu community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the Anu community
www.reddit.com
May 14, 2025 at 9:11 PM
If you're wondering how things are going at #ourANU, it's not good. A lot of voluntary redundancy folks still waiting to hear if they are can go. College budgets slashed, layoffs imminent, but zero communication. So we rely on Reddit posts like this:
www.reddit.com/r/Anu/commen...
From the Anu community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the Anu community
www.reddit.com
May 14, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
important historical perspective on the value of federal funding of basic research at universities: "These are the building blocks of America's extraordinary strength, created over the last 100 years, and they are now being dismantled in 100 days" 🧪

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qk4...
Fareed’s Take: Trump is gutting what made American science great
YouTube video by CNN
www.youtube.com
May 13, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Still waiting for #ourANU to run a poll which allows all staff to vote whether or not they have confidence in the leadership.

>800 union members voted, and >95% said they had no confidence.

ANU leadership claim that wasn't representative.

Prove it.
It's worth remembering that last year #ANU staff end of year parties got cancelled - oh, and that ANU leadership asked staff to give up their pay rise...

No wonder @NTEUnion members have no confidence in ANU leadership.
www.afr.com/policy/healt...
Cash-strapped ANU splurged $80k on Davos party
ANU financial dire straits have been building for years with expenses outstripping revenue. Lavish trips to Davos did little to help keep costs down.
www.afr.com
May 13, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Reposted by Rob Lanfear
It is sad that even basic research needs to be defended with utility. For me, basic research is in the same category as art: civilized societies can't do without it, because we all want to know who we are and what our place in the natural world is -- questions that only science can answer.
May 9, 2025 at 9:09 PM