Anya Auerbach
@aauerbach.bsky.social
PhD candidate at UMN EEB studying Madagascar’s bird radiations | Loves birds, diversification, biodiversity, teaching evolution, and (natural) history museums | Queer. Organizer. Still a NYer at heart.
This is SO COOL??!! Apparently it syncs its reproduction to when the seals haul out for long periods?
I love that, thanks to insects, I will never ever run out of incredible and slightly horrifying new things to learn about the world. How wonderful is that.
I love that, thanks to insects, I will never ever run out of incredible and slightly horrifying new things to learn about the world. How wonderful is that.
The article doesn't mention pinniped lice (Echinophthiriidae), which actually spend most of their lives IN the ocean, swimming and diving with their hosts. Lepidophthirus macrorhini, the louse of the southern elephant seal, survives dives to depths over 2000 m below sea surface.
November 21, 2025 at 3:28 AM
This is SO COOL??!! Apparently it syncs its reproduction to when the seals haul out for long periods?
I love that, thanks to insects, I will never ever run out of incredible and slightly horrifying new things to learn about the world. How wonderful is that.
I love that, thanks to insects, I will never ever run out of incredible and slightly horrifying new things to learn about the world. How wonderful is that.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Cassie Stoddard'a talk was really insightful and colorful:
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Cassie Stoddard'a talk was really insightful and colorful:
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
"sure, we're living exciting times to study the genome, but also to study the phenome, the birds' phenotypes using collections"
#BOUasm25 #ornithology #evolution @bou.org.uk
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
So I say this as a proud academic labor union member who believes deeply in the importance of tenure to the academic mission:
FIRE
LARRY
SUMMERS
FIRE
LARRY
SUMMERS
November 18, 2025 at 12:47 AM
So I say this as a proud academic labor union member who believes deeply in the importance of tenure to the academic mission:
FIRE
LARRY
SUMMERS
FIRE
LARRY
SUMMERS
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Not to vaguepost but I have an exclusive and *exciting scoop* about the university of Minnesota, the ongoing labor/negotiation issues, general shenanigans. DMs are open if you like to write about local issues and want the first details!
November 13, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Not to vaguepost but I have an exclusive and *exciting scoop* about the university of Minnesota, the ongoing labor/negotiation issues, general shenanigans. DMs are open if you like to write about local issues and want the first details!
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
New paper on deep-sea fish diversity out now in @sse-evolution.bsky.social, with @cmartinez.bsky.social and @sarahtfried.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Distinct evolutionary signatures underlie body shape diversity across deep sea habitats
Abstract. The deep sea is known for extreme biological conditions such as high pressure, little-to-no solar light and cold temperatures. Despite these chal
academic.oup.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:09 PM
New paper on deep-sea fish diversity out now in @sse-evolution.bsky.social, with @cmartinez.bsky.social and @sarahtfried.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
🦜🦠Happy to share our new paper in
Integrative Zoology!
We explore how bird migration, community composition, and environmental factors jointly shape the global distribution of avian haemosporidian lineages.
Open Access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...
[1/3] @andrew-w-park.bsky.social
Integrative Zoology!
We explore how bird migration, community composition, and environmental factors jointly shape the global distribution of avian haemosporidian lineages.
Open Access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...
[1/3] @andrew-w-park.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 10:06 PM
🦜🦠Happy to share our new paper in
Integrative Zoology!
We explore how bird migration, community composition, and environmental factors jointly shape the global distribution of avian haemosporidian lineages.
Open Access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...
[1/3] @andrew-w-park.bsky.social
Integrative Zoology!
We explore how bird migration, community composition, and environmental factors jointly shape the global distribution of avian haemosporidian lineages.
Open Access 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...
[1/3] @andrew-w-park.bsky.social
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Starbucks baristas are on strike and the No Kings Alliance stands with them. Don’t shop at Starbucks while workers fight for fair pay, better staffing, and an end to union-busting. Power belongs to the people who make this country run: nocontractnocoffee.org/#pledge #NoContractNoCoffee #NoKings
November 13, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Starbucks baristas are on strike and the No Kings Alliance stands with them. Don’t shop at Starbucks while workers fight for fair pay, better staffing, and an end to union-busting. Power belongs to the people who make this country run: nocontractnocoffee.org/#pledge #NoContractNoCoffee #NoKings
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
November 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos
Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
🧵1/6
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Our paper on tinamou evolution is finally out in @systbiol.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Our paper on tinamou evolution is finally out in @systbiol.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
If you vote today, nyc, there’s a special sticker for #Halloween. It’s not a democracy sausage but it’s a New York pigeon sticker! (They allegedly run out of these fast so get on that broomstick!)
October 31, 2025 at 12:29 PM
If you vote today, nyc, there’s a special sticker for #Halloween. It’s not a democracy sausage but it’s a New York pigeon sticker! (They allegedly run out of these fast so get on that broomstick!)
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
New for #Evol2026: Research Synthesis Working Groups! Each funded group will present a symposium at the meeting, collaborate on a publication, and establish a lasting research network. Submit your proposal by January 6! www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
October 31, 2025 at 5:16 PM
New for #Evol2026: Research Synthesis Working Groups! Each funded group will present a symposium at the meeting, collaborate on a publication, and establish a lasting research network. Submit your proposal by January 6! www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
"The project that was terminated was on this hummingbird, the white-necked jacobin....I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary." Researcher @jjinsing.bsky.social interviewed by @carlzimmer.com #birds #nature #science #fundscience #nonbinary 🧪
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
"The project that was terminated was on this hummingbird, the white-necked jacobin....I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary." Researcher @jjinsing.bsky.social interviewed by @carlzimmer.com #birds #nature #science #fundscience #nonbinary 🧪
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.
October 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Beautiful and heartbreaking. Christmas Island also has the wonderful migrating red crabs 🦀 (Gecarcoidea natalis) which are threatened* by introduced species. Island ecosystems are precious!
*colloquialism because they don't have an IUCN assessment and might not before it's too late
*colloquialism because they don't have an IUCN assessment and might not before it's too late
This got to me. Haunting and beautifully written. news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-m...
In memory of the Christmas Island shrew
It never weighed more than a spoonful of sugar. Five or six grams of life, soft-furred and sharp-nosed, darting among the roots and leaf litter of a tiny island in the Indian Ocean. At night, its voic...
news.mongabay.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Beautiful and heartbreaking. Christmas Island also has the wonderful migrating red crabs 🦀 (Gecarcoidea natalis) which are threatened* by introduced species. Island ecosystems are precious!
*colloquialism because they don't have an IUCN assessment and might not before it's too late
*colloquialism because they don't have an IUCN assessment and might not before it's too late
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
New Collection Study Grants for students and postdocs to come visit the @burkemuseum.bsky.social! Applications due 12/15/25. www.burkemuseum.org/collections-...
Collections Study Grants
Collections study grants provide financial assistance for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to study the collections of the University of Washington Burke Museum (UWBM).
www.burkemuseum.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
New Collection Study Grants for students and postdocs to come visit the @burkemuseum.bsky.social! Applications due 12/15/25. www.burkemuseum.org/collections-...
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
For anyone who needs to pass these on:
www.alieward.com/ologies/geno...
www.alieward.com/ologies/revo...
www.alieward.com/ologies/arti...
www.alieward.com/ologies/cons...
www.alieward.com/ologies/trol...
www.alieward.com/ologies/crit...
www.alieward.com/ologies/blat...
www.alieward.com/ologies/geno...
www.alieward.com/ologies/revo...
www.alieward.com/ologies/arti...
www.alieward.com/ologies/cons...
www.alieward.com/ologies/trol...
www.alieward.com/ologies/crit...
www.alieward.com/ologies/blat...
October 23, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
We will be trying to build cohorts across programs (@harvardoeb.bsky.social, Human Evolutionary Biology, @harvardmcb.bsky.social) via combined social events and possibly classes. Working on this as we speak.
If you normally have an incoming class of 15 students (like in my PhD program), what's the point of admitting just one or two students? How are you going to teach classes or have any sense of camaraderie?
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold
Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.
go.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We will be trying to build cohorts across programs (@harvardoeb.bsky.social, Human Evolutionary Biology, @harvardmcb.bsky.social) via combined social events and possibly classes. Working on this as we speak.
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
🚨Our new package {galaxias} is released in R & Python today! 🚨
📦 galaxias makes it easy to standardise data to Darwin Core, the accepted format for sharing ecological data with infrastructures like @gbif.org and the Atlas of Living Australia
galaxias.ala.org.au
#rstats #python 🧪🌏🐟
A thread 🧵👇
📦 galaxias makes it easy to standardise data to Darwin Core, the accepted format for sharing ecological data with infrastructures like @gbif.org and the Atlas of Living Australia
galaxias.ala.org.au
#rstats #python 🧪🌏🐟
A thread 🧵👇
October 23, 2025 at 2:41 AM
🚨Our new package {galaxias} is released in R & Python today! 🚨
📦 galaxias makes it easy to standardise data to Darwin Core, the accepted format for sharing ecological data with infrastructures like @gbif.org and the Atlas of Living Australia
galaxias.ala.org.au
#rstats #python 🧪🌏🐟
A thread 🧵👇
📦 galaxias makes it easy to standardise data to Darwin Core, the accepted format for sharing ecological data with infrastructures like @gbif.org and the Atlas of Living Australia
galaxias.ala.org.au
#rstats #python 🧪🌏🐟
A thread 🧵👇
Reposted by Anya Auerbach
Happy to share my first postdoc work published in @funecology.bsky.social ! A huge thank-you to @oliverdemuth.bsky.social @lizzysteell.bsky.social @fieldpalaeo.bsky.social @grumpydrfabre.bsky.social and to @snsf.ch
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Constrained variation in the internal architecture of avian wing bones
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Happy to share my first postdoc work published in @funecology.bsky.social ! A huge thank-you to @oliverdemuth.bsky.social @lizzysteell.bsky.social @fieldpalaeo.bsky.social @grumpydrfabre.bsky.social and to @snsf.ch
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...