April Wright
@wrightam.bsky.social
Statistical phylogenetics and the fossil record. Researcher, professor and mentor at a PUI. Mother, reader, runner. Congenital optimist. Minnesotan Virginian.
Pinned
On this Valentine’s Day, I hope you all get what I got: the realization that your husband has not seen the Civil War fort in your neighborhood and the chance to Bore. Him. Senseless
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wi...
Fort Willard - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 15, 2026 at 1:26 AM
On this Valentine’s Day, I hope you all get what I got: the realization that your husband has not seen the Civil War fort in your neighborhood and the chance to Bore. Him. Senseless
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wi...
Next week won’t be so bonkers and I’ll get some writing done.
Right?
Right?
a mascot in a philadelphia flyers jersey stands in front of a computer
ALT: a mascot in a philadelphia flyers jersey stands in front of a computer
media.tenor.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Next week won’t be so bonkers and I’ll get some writing done.
Right?
Right?
Reposted by April Wright
For those who might want to use ChatGPT tools to help figure out colleges to apply to, a free, open source, non-AI alternative I made uses federal data and a Bayesian classifier to find colleges where students with similar interests & background actually graduate: collegetables.info/predict.html
As Students Turn to ChatGPT for College Searches, AI Visibility Becomes Priority
Students are using AI tools to decide where to apply to college, pushing institutional leaders to find ways to ensure that AI chatbots include their college in the conversation. https://bit.ly/4rA3ZnL
#EDUSky
Students are using AI tools to decide where to apply to college, pushing institutional leaders to find ways to ensure that AI chatbots include their college in the conversation. https://bit.ly/4rA3ZnL
#EDUSky
February 14, 2026 at 2:05 PM
For those who might want to use ChatGPT tools to help figure out colleges to apply to, a free, open source, non-AI alternative I made uses federal data and a Bayesian classifier to find colleges where students with similar interests & background actually graduate: collegetables.info/predict.html
Reposted by April Wright
This elitist view that only rich/Ivy/private school kids should study/have access the liberal arts is so deeply ingrained in so many highly educated Democrats’ views (including tons who majored in the lib arts themselves) that they don’t even realize they hold it, let alone how ugly & elitist it is
(3) But the Democrat view is also bad: while it's fine for people at Princeton and Harvard to study Latin and Sanskrit, public higher education is about job training and $ ROI. There is no room for the idea that curiosity-driven inquiry is a good that should be supported by the public.
February 13, 2026 at 3:54 PM
This elitist view that only rich/Ivy/private school kids should study/have access the liberal arts is so deeply ingrained in so many highly educated Democrats’ views (including tons who majored in the lib arts themselves) that they don’t even realize they hold it, let alone how ugly & elitist it is
Reposted by April Wright
#rstats RIP, John Fox
@yihui.org just published this lovely tribute to John Fox and his work
yihui.org/en/2026/02/j...
@yihui.org just published this lovely tribute to John Fox and his work
yihui.org/en/2026/02/j...
R.I.P., John Fox - Yihui Xie | 谢益辉
Last November, I learned the very sad news from Michael Friendly that John Fox had passed away. That brought my memory back to 2006 when I emailed John for the first time asking for his help on a &hel...
yihui.org
February 12, 2026 at 2:05 AM
#rstats RIP, John Fox
@yihui.org just published this lovely tribute to John Fox and his work
yihui.org/en/2026/02/j...
@yihui.org just published this lovely tribute to John Fox and his work
yihui.org/en/2026/02/j...
Reposted by April Wright
What do we want?
Fossil databases! 🐚🦕
When do we want them?
Forever! 🗓️
Nice new paper highlighting how academic funding systems and digital architecture need to change, to ensure we can protect and sustain our precious fossil data 📚
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fossil databases! 🐚🦕
When do we want them?
Forever! 🗓️
Nice new paper highlighting how academic funding systems and digital architecture need to change, to ensure we can protect and sustain our precious fossil data 📚
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors survey community palaeontological databases, documenting their contributions to science as well as their vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for the future of open science databas...
www.nature.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:47 AM
What do we want?
Fossil databases! 🐚🦕
When do we want them?
Forever! 🗓️
Nice new paper highlighting how academic funding systems and digital architecture need to change, to ensure we can protect and sustain our precious fossil data 📚
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fossil databases! 🐚🦕
When do we want them?
Forever! 🗓️
Nice new paper highlighting how academic funding systems and digital architecture need to change, to ensure we can protect and sustain our precious fossil data 📚
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by April Wright
In 2014, New York City lowered its citywide default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. In the year that followed:
- Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent
- Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent
transalt.org/reports-list...
- Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent
- Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent
transalt.org/reports-list...
Also, most car crashes occur at intersections, and not because a car was exceeding the speed.
My bet is that even if you made it so no one could speed anywhere, it would only marginally lower traffic fatalities.
My bet is that even if you made it so no one could speed anywhere, it would only marginally lower traffic fatalities.
February 9, 2026 at 6:40 PM
In 2014, New York City lowered its citywide default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. In the year that followed:
- Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent
- Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent
transalt.org/reports-list...
- Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent
- Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent
transalt.org/reports-list...
Reposted by April Wright
This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in most American cities.
February 9, 2026 at 3:50 AM
This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in most American cities.
And now my turn in the hot seat. Hex is still mad about the vet and sleeping in the Hate Perch.
February 4, 2026 at 3:40 AM
And now my turn in the hot seat. Hex is still mad about the vet and sleeping in the Hate Perch.
Reposted by April Wright
We dig into what “recovery” really means : species return, ecosystem structure, and function. If you love palaeobiology or biodiversity, this perspective offers fresh ways to think about life rebounding after crisis. Read it open access! 🌊💡
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The timing and nature of marine ecosystem recovery following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction - npj Biodiversity
npj Biodiversity - The timing and nature of marine ecosystem recovery following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction
www.nature.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:34 PM
We dig into what “recovery” really means : species return, ecosystem structure, and function. If you love palaeobiology or biodiversity, this perspective offers fresh ways to think about life rebounding after crisis. Read it open access! 🌊💡
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
I hate the vet, so I’m hiding in the trash
February 3, 2026 at 1:57 PM
I hate the vet, so I’m hiding in the trash
Reposted by April Wright
Coming to #evol2026 this summer? The SSB Early Career Travel Funds competition is now live! Apply by February 27 for this years’ Tri-Society meeting.
More info:
www.systbio.org/early-career...
More info:
www.systbio.org/early-career...
January 26, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Coming to #evol2026 this summer? The SSB Early Career Travel Funds competition is now live! Apply by February 27 for this years’ Tri-Society meeting.
More info:
www.systbio.org/early-career...
More info:
www.systbio.org/early-career...
Reposted by April Wright
New paper with @peterjwagner3.bsky.social, @wrightam.bsky.social, Jen Bauer, and Maggie Limbeck!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Exploring rates of change and modes of evolution in blastozoan echinoderms | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Exploring rates of change and modes of evolution in blastozoan echinoderms
www.cambridge.org
February 2, 2026 at 3:17 PM
New paper with @peterjwagner3.bsky.social, @wrightam.bsky.social, Jen Bauer, and Maggie Limbeck!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Summer camp registrations open tomorrow at 11 am (on a delay due to snowcrete).
I've queued my submissions. I've updated my card on file. Nothing is left to do.
I've queued my submissions. I've updated my card on file. Nothing is left to do.
a man in armor is standing in front of a group of people and says death .
ALT: a man in armor is standing in front of a group of people and says death .
media.tenor.com
February 2, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Summer camp registrations open tomorrow at 11 am (on a delay due to snowcrete).
I've queued my submissions. I've updated my card on file. Nothing is left to do.
I've queued my submissions. I've updated my card on file. Nothing is left to do.
Reposted by April Wright
If you have developed outreach/education resources and want to get the word out— @sse-evolution.bsky.social has a deadline coming up for funding to present at an education focused session/conference. Grad students and Postdocs are very welcome to apply! evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...
Thomas Henry Huxley Award
Site description
evolutionsociety.org
January 29, 2026 at 2:21 AM
If you have developed outreach/education resources and want to get the word out— @sse-evolution.bsky.social has a deadline coming up for funding to present at an education focused session/conference. Grad students and Postdocs are very welcome to apply! evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...
Everything is quite bad, but it’s still fun to run past a long line of cars. Doubly so in ice spikes.
And snow fetch remains undefeated.
And snow fetch remains undefeated.
January 26, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Everything is quite bad, but it’s still fun to run past a long line of cars. Doubly so in ice spikes.
And snow fetch remains undefeated.
And snow fetch remains undefeated.
This was a little disappointing. Very good insights on the mentality of tech billionaires. But struggles a bit with the balance of being about billionaires or about how billionaires twist science to serve their aims. So the synthesis feels a bit light.
Still enjoyed; worth reading.
Still enjoyed; worth reading.
January 26, 2026 at 1:43 AM
This was a little disappointing. Very good insights on the mentality of tech billionaires. But struggles a bit with the balance of being about billionaires or about how billionaires twist science to serve their aims. So the synthesis feels a bit light.
Still enjoyed; worth reading.
Still enjoyed; worth reading.
We got her a new perch from which to hate him
January 25, 2026 at 3:54 PM
We got her a new perch from which to hate him
And then we had to put the dog down
A moment’s fuckin’ break would be great, eh?
A moment’s fuckin’ break would be great, eh?
January 24, 2026 at 7:53 PM
And then we had to put the dog down
A moment’s fuckin’ break would be great, eh?
A moment’s fuckin’ break would be great, eh?
Rented the first Hobbit film for my son, since we recently finished the Hobbit and the Fellowship and saw the Fellowship in theaters.
He is not amused and has settled in to watch my old Fellowship DVD.
He is not amused and has settled in to watch my old Fellowship DVD.
January 23, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Rented the first Hobbit film for my son, since we recently finished the Hobbit and the Fellowship and saw the Fellowship in theaters.
He is not amused and has settled in to watch my old Fellowship DVD.
He is not amused and has settled in to watch my old Fellowship DVD.
Reposted by April Wright
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 AM
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
Reposted by April Wright
This is correct. Today was a bit cold. Next week will be pretty cold, the week after looks actually cold.
January 17, 2026 at 11:59 PM
This is correct. Today was a bit cold. Next week will be pretty cold, the week after looks actually cold.
I feel like there’s a special insult to being asked for a 2FA code after getting logged out while still active in the editorial manager software
January 17, 2026 at 6:39 PM
I feel like there’s a special insult to being asked for a 2FA code after getting logged out while still active in the editorial manager software
Courage.
I have tenure. It is crucial that we support the people doing brave things, and do them ourselves.
We must support courage.
I have tenure. It is crucial that we support the people doing brave things, and do them ourselves.
We must support courage.
There is a cost to this action: I am mere months away from a critical tenure decision. This action to withdraw from Proceedings B will likely delay publication long enough that the ms won't be eligible for reporting in the tenure packet. It won't "count" in this major application to keep my job. 2/4
January 13, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Courage.
I have tenure. It is crucial that we support the people doing brave things, and do them ourselves.
We must support courage.
I have tenure. It is crucial that we support the people doing brave things, and do them ourselves.
We must support courage.