Carl Simpson
@glyptocrinus.bsky.social
macroevolution CU Boulder
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Thrilled to share our work on the 🔥 single-celled predator Podophrya collini, which rewires its cell morphology to hunt more efficiently. Huge thanks to our amazing team—Amy, Lauren, Omaya, Marine, Mari, and especially Scott—for making this shine! ✨
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
November 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Thrilled to share our work on the 🔥 single-celled predator Podophrya collini, which rewires its cell morphology to hunt more efficiently. Huge thanks to our amazing team—Amy, Lauren, Omaya, Marine, Mari, and especially Scott—for making this shine! ✨
Reposted by Carl Simpson
NEW pub in @science.org 🥳
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
NEW pub in @science.org 🥳
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
As part of his dissertation, @beziostudio.bsky.social leads a recent paper on benthic ctenophores. New family established based on anatomical observations, mitochondrial genome structure, and sequence data. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Benthoplanidae, a new family of benthic ctenophores (Platyctenida), based on morphological and genetic data
The benthic ctenophore Benthoplana meteoris (adults left and bottom, planktonic juveniles to the top right), type species for the genus, which in turn is type for the newly erected family: Benthoplan....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
As part of his dissertation, @beziostudio.bsky.social leads a recent paper on benthic ctenophores. New family established based on anatomical observations, mitochondrial genome structure, and sequence data. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
We warmly congratulate Wolfgang Kießling on his outstanding achievement in the Ranking of the Stanford List 2025. Wolfgang is ranked among the top 50 in his field!
This year’s ranking takes into account a total of 236,313 researchers. Visit: www.fau.eu/2025/09/news... for more details.
This year’s ranking takes into account a total of 236,313 researchers. Visit: www.fau.eu/2025/09/news... for more details.
October 31, 2025 at 8:30 AM
We warmly congratulate Wolfgang Kießling on his outstanding achievement in the Ranking of the Stanford List 2025. Wolfgang is ranked among the top 50 in his field!
This year’s ranking takes into account a total of 236,313 researchers. Visit: www.fau.eu/2025/09/news... for more details.
This year’s ranking takes into account a total of 236,313 researchers. Visit: www.fau.eu/2025/09/news... for more details.
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney recently published a global temperature record covering almost the past half-billion years. According to her model, 50 million years ago, inland temperatures approached 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
Climate Extremes Are a Hallmark of the Age of Animals | Quanta Magazine
New reconstructions of 540 million years of climate history show the planet tumbling between icehouse and hothouse states, revealing how rare and vulnerable our temperate moment is.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney recently published a global temperature record covering almost the past half-billion years. According to her model, 50 million years ago, inland temperatures approached 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
Reposted by Carl Simpson
We are happy to share our latest work in @nature.com . We study the genomic and cellular basis of facultative symbiosis in Oculina patagonica - a Mediterranean coral remarkable for its ability to survive long periods without algal symbionts. Led by Shani Levy and @xgrau.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eLbaZ
rdcu.be/eLbaZ
October 15, 2025 at 7:58 PM
We are happy to share our latest work in @nature.com . We study the genomic and cellular basis of facultative symbiosis in Oculina patagonica - a Mediterranean coral remarkable for its ability to survive long periods without algal symbionts. Led by Shani Levy and @xgrau.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eLbaZ
rdcu.be/eLbaZ
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...
Genes Have Harnessed Physics to Help Grow Living Things | Quanta Magazine
The same pulling force that causes “tears” in a glass of wine also shapes embryos. It’s another example of how genes exploit mechanical forces for growth and development.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Wrote a long story for @quantamagazine.bsky.social about our best understanding of climate change over the entire half-billion-year-plus age of animals www.quantamagazine.org/climate-extr...
Climate Extremes Are a Hallmark of the Age of Animals | Quanta Magazine
New reconstructions of 540 million years of climate history show the planet tumbling between icehouse and hothouse states, revealing how rare and vulnerable our temperate moment is.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Wrote a long story for @quantamagazine.bsky.social about our best understanding of climate change over the entire half-billion-year-plus age of animals www.quantamagazine.org/climate-extr...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵
Flagellar gliding in choanoflagellates
Freire-Delgado and Brunet discover a new mode of cell motility in choanoflagellates,
the closest relatives of animals. Under mild confinement, choanoflagellate move over
surfaces without cell deformat...
www.cell.com
September 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Punctuated equilibrium, a concept introduced by paleontologists in 1972, reimagines evolution’s tempo as a stochastic burst rather than a steady beat. A new model finds support for their theory in both molecular and fossil data. @jakebuehler.bsky.social reports www.quantamagazine.org/the-sudden-s...
August 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Punctuated equilibrium, a concept introduced by paleontologists in 1972, reimagines evolution’s tempo as a stochastic burst rather than a steady beat. A new model finds support for their theory in both molecular and fossil data. @jakebuehler.bsky.social reports www.quantamagazine.org/the-sudden-s...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Lovely piece on five model organisms for the origin of animal multicellularity and on the community who studies them. It was a pleasure to make a small contribution.
For some three billion years, unicellular organisms ruled Earth. Then, around one billion years ago, a new chapter of life began
go.nature.com/3JyRV4S
go.nature.com/3JyRV4S
How did life get multicellular? Five simple organisms could have the answer
Single-celled species that often stick together in colonies have researchers rethinking the origin of animals.
go.nature.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Lovely piece on five model organisms for the origin of animal multicellularity and on the community who studies them. It was a pleasure to make a small contribution.
Reposted by Carl Simpson
People. This book is SO GOOD. Truly -- I am about 70% the way through and the way Peter explains and synthesizes and expands and provides fresh perspective is truly stunning.
In one week my book about carbon comes out, and here's some nice things some nice people have said about it. If you feel moved to do so, the link below provides a means of purchase. Thank you, that is all. www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
August 22, 2025 at 8:22 PM
People. This book is SO GOOD. Truly -- I am about 70% the way through and the way Peter explains and synthesizes and expands and provides fresh perspective is truly stunning.
Reposted by Carl Simpson
In one week my book about carbon comes out, and here's some nice things some nice people have said about it. If you feel moved to do so, the link below provides a means of purchase. Thank you, that is all. www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
August 19, 2025 at 2:43 PM
In one week my book about carbon comes out, and here's some nice things some nice people have said about it. If you feel moved to do so, the link below provides a means of purchase. Thank you, that is all. www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
More than happy that this is finally out. Well done @isaiah-e-smith.bsky.social
Happy to announce the publication of our new study!📝Ádám T. Kocsis, @kiessl.bsky.social, and I examined occupancy trajectory and its influence on extinction risk in marine microplankton! 🔬🦠🌊 (1/2)
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
Occupancy history influences extinction risk of fossil marine microplankton groups
Abstract. Geographic range has long been acknowledged as an important determinant of extinction risk. The trajectory of geographic range through time, however, has not received as much scientific atte...
bg.copernicus.org
July 25, 2025 at 3:45 AM
More than happy that this is finally out. Well done @isaiah-e-smith.bsky.social
Reposted by Carl Simpson
🌊Just out! We reviewed the history of human-ocean interactions, focusing on the Pacific coast of the Southern Central Asmerican Isthmus (Panamá and Costa Rica).
Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Illustration: Madeline Dall
Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Illustration: Madeline Dall
Historical ecology of the Southern Central American Pacific coast | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The Pacific coast of the Southern Central American Isthmus is a highly productive and biodiverse region with a rich human history. Although the interaction of the oceans, climate, biodiversity and early human systems has shaped the region’s ecology, ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
July 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
🌊Just out! We reviewed the history of human-ocean interactions, focusing on the Pacific coast of the Southern Central Asmerican Isthmus (Panamá and Costa Rica).
Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Illustration: Madeline Dall
Over 16K years of stories on culture, environment, and ecology!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Illustration: Madeline Dall
Reposted by Carl Simpson
1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
June 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Tissue-like multicellular development triggered by mechanical compression in archaea
The advent of clonal multicellularity is a critical evolutionary milestone, seen often in eukaryotes, rarely in bacteria, and only once in archaea. We show that uniaxial compression induces clonal mul...
www.science.org
April 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
My new preprint (with Matt Pennell & Lauren Sallan), which is my first at OIST, is now online! Finally, something cheerful in this depressing period...
Thread 🧵 ahead:
Thread 🧵 ahead:
A general evolutionary model for the emergence of novel characters from serial homologs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.27.645690v1
March 30, 2025 at 9:15 AM
My new preprint (with Matt Pennell & Lauren Sallan), which is my first at OIST, is now online! Finally, something cheerful in this depressing period...
Thread 🧵 ahead:
Thread 🧵 ahead:
Reposted by Carl Simpson
My new paper examining how plasticity may have shaped the evolution of cellular differentiation is out! We propose that the plastic development of somatic-like cells may have been an intermediate step in the evolution of soma in the volvocine algae. #evosky #mevosky doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Plasticity and the evolution of group-level regulation of cellular differentiation in the volvocine algae | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
During the evolution of multicellularity, the unit of selection transitions from single
cells to integrated multicellular cell groups, necessitating the evolution of group-level
traits such as somatic...
doi.org
March 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
My new paper examining how plasticity may have shaped the evolution of cellular differentiation is out! We propose that the plastic development of somatic-like cells may have been an intermediate step in the evolution of soma in the volvocine algae. #evosky #mevosky doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Happy to announce our latest paper! A fresh look at the sponge Aggregation Factor, a glycoprotein complex involved in self-recognition and adhesion. Previously thought to be sponge-specific, we report compelling structural links with proteins found in all animals! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
December 18, 2024 at 7:15 PM
Happy to announce our latest paper! A fresh look at the sponge Aggregation Factor, a glycoprotein complex involved in self-recognition and adhesion. Previously thought to be sponge-specific, we report compelling structural links with proteins found in all animals! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Did neurons evolve twice? Our work on the ctenophore syncytial nerve net & the beautiful work from Darrin Schultz, Sebas Najle, Arnau Sebe-Pedros & many others covered in Scientific American.
With comments from Detlev Arendt, Max Telford & Leslie Babonis.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
With comments from Detlev Arendt, Max Telford & Leslie Babonis.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
January 5, 2024 at 6:46 PM
Did neurons evolve twice? Our work on the ctenophore syncytial nerve net & the beautiful work from Darrin Schultz, Sebas Najle, Arnau Sebe-Pedros & many others covered in Scientific American.
With comments from Detlev Arendt, Max Telford & Leslie Babonis.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
With comments from Detlev Arendt, Max Telford & Leslie Babonis.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
Pleased to announce that we are organizing a session at the upcoming 2024 NAPC to celebrate the scientific legacy of the late Jim Valentine —if you plan to attend the meeting and do research in one of the many areas influenced by Jim's work, please consider submitting an abstract!
December 13, 2023 at 3:35 PM
Pleased to announce that we are organizing a session at the upcoming 2024 NAPC to celebrate the scientific legacy of the late Jim Valentine —if you plan to attend the meeting and do research in one of the many areas influenced by Jim's work, please consider submitting an abstract!
Reposted by Carl Simpson
New work on the role of physical constraints in the early evolution of complex multicellularity
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 12, 2023 at 9:26 PM
New work on the role of physical constraints in the early evolution of complex multicellularity
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Carl Simpson
📺 For those of you in the US (or with access from elsewhere) I’ll be in a couple of episodes of the new PBS NOVA series, “Ancient Earth”. 🌍
Starting tonight and continuing for the next 5 weeks, the series covers, Birth of the Sky 🌌 , Frozen 🥶 , Life Rising 🦠, Inferno 🔥, and Humans 👨🏿🔬
Starting tonight and continuing for the next 5 weeks, the series covers, Birth of the Sky 🌌 , Frozen 🥶 , Life Rising 🦠, Inferno 🔥, and Humans 👨🏿🔬
October 4, 2023 at 5:35 PM
📺 For those of you in the US (or with access from elsewhere) I’ll be in a couple of episodes of the new PBS NOVA series, “Ancient Earth”. 🌍
Starting tonight and continuing for the next 5 weeks, the series covers, Birth of the Sky 🌌 , Frozen 🥶 , Life Rising 🦠, Inferno 🔥, and Humans 👨🏿🔬
Starting tonight and continuing for the next 5 weeks, the series covers, Birth of the Sky 🌌 , Frozen 🥶 , Life Rising 🦠, Inferno 🔥, and Humans 👨🏿🔬