Vanessa Higham
@vanessahigham.bsky.social
Biologist, PhD Researcher @MonashUni. Interested in mitochondria, sexual conflict, microbiome, diet and life-history evolution
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
No. No Just no. We do not want guns in Australia and governments should resist the lobbying #AusPol
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
‘Blindsided’: father of Port Arthur massacre victims says NSW hunting bill will take a ‘jackhammer’ to gun control
Walter Mikac, who lost his wife and two daughters in the 1996 shooting, warns that Labor-backed Shooters party bill will weaken national firearms agreement
www.theguardian.com
August 25, 2025 at 9:19 PM
No. No Just no. We do not want guns in Australia and governments should resist the lobbying #AusPol
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Could be treated as a complement to this paper finding that most LLMs tested (9 out of 10) had a tendency to over-generalize clinical trial results in summaries.
(Claude was a repeated exception, for whatever reason).
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
(Claude was a repeated exception, for whatever reason).
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
August 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Could be treated as a complement to this paper finding that most LLMs tested (9 out of 10) had a tendency to over-generalize clinical trial results in summaries.
(Claude was a repeated exception, for whatever reason).
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
(Claude was a repeated exception, for whatever reason).
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
"Any book worth banning is a book worth reading."
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
August 25, 2025 at 8:40 PM
"Any book worth banning is a book worth reading."
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Abandoning the vision of liberal arts education is at the heart of how fascism has come knocking.
Scientists speaking of abandoning humanities have not learned the core lessons of our history - and by our history I even mean THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Science is never separated from society.
Scientists speaking of abandoning humanities have not learned the core lessons of our history - and by our history I even mean THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Science is never separated from society.
August 13, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Abandoning the vision of liberal arts education is at the heart of how fascism has come knocking.
Scientists speaking of abandoning humanities have not learned the core lessons of our history - and by our history I even mean THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Science is never separated from society.
Scientists speaking of abandoning humanities have not learned the core lessons of our history - and by our history I even mean THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Science is never separated from society.
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
An important piece on #AI generated #preprints and why it's important to consider their impact on scientific ecosystem.
Some other important considerations related to this that are not covered in the article 👇
🧵1/14
#AI4Science #AI4Research #ScAISci #SciSci
Some other important considerations related to this that are not covered in the article 👇
🧵1/14
#AI4Science #AI4Research #ScAISci #SciSci
Preprint servers are seeing a rise in submissions seemingly produced by paper mills or with help from AI tools
go.nature.com/47sqZxw
go.nature.com/47sqZxw
AI content is tainting preprints: how moderators are fighting back
Preprint servers are seeing a rise in submissions seemingly produced by paper mills or with help from AI tools.
go.nature.com
August 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM
An important piece on #AI generated #preprints and why it's important to consider their impact on scientific ecosystem.
Some other important considerations related to this that are not covered in the article 👇
🧵1/14
#AI4Science #AI4Research #ScAISci #SciSci
Some other important considerations related to this that are not covered in the article 👇
🧵1/14
#AI4Science #AI4Research #ScAISci #SciSci
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Please help us spread the word! Please amplify!
We are searching for an associate or full professor (Canada Excellence Research Chair) in Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph! 🐟🌿🦠🐜🐸🐝
Applications are due October 6 2025.
careers.uoguelph.ca/job/Guelph-C...
#AcademicJobs #EvoBio
We are searching for an associate or full professor (Canada Excellence Research Chair) in Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph! 🐟🌿🦠🐜🐸🐝
Applications are due October 6 2025.
careers.uoguelph.ca/job/Guelph-C...
#AcademicJobs #EvoBio
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Biodiversity Genomics
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Biodiversity Genomics
careers.uoguelph.ca
August 14, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Please help us spread the word! Please amplify!
We are searching for an associate or full professor (Canada Excellence Research Chair) in Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph! 🐟🌿🦠🐜🐸🐝
Applications are due October 6 2025.
careers.uoguelph.ca/job/Guelph-C...
#AcademicJobs #EvoBio
We are searching for an associate or full professor (Canada Excellence Research Chair) in Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph! 🐟🌿🦠🐜🐸🐝
Applications are due October 6 2025.
careers.uoguelph.ca/job/Guelph-C...
#AcademicJobs #EvoBio
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
Harvard University lays off fly database team
The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.
www.thetransmitter.org
August 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM
FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
🇬🇷 Greece- Ioanna Papadopoulou, Winter Harvest
A retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone that focuses on the pain and violence done to the women in classical myth (god, Zeus is such a fucking asshole)
A retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone that focuses on the pain and violence done to the women in classical myth (god, Zeus is such a fucking asshole)
Winter Harvest
Check out Winter Harvest - <p>When her beloved daughter Kore vanishes, Demeter is distraught. Suspecting betrayal and mistrusting of her family, she searches across the world, unable to come to terms ...
bookshop.org
August 6, 2025 at 5:49 AM
🇬🇷 Greece- Ioanna Papadopoulou, Winter Harvest
A retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone that focuses on the pain and violence done to the women in classical myth (god, Zeus is such a fucking asshole)
A retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone that focuses on the pain and violence done to the women in classical myth (god, Zeus is such a fucking asshole)
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
A reminder you/your lab can support FlyBase at Cambridge through the following link. Every bit helps. Please share if you yourself can't donate.
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
August 14, 2025 at 5:25 AM
A reminder you/your lab can support FlyBase at Cambridge through the following link. Every bit helps. Please share if you yourself can't donate.
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
We can't go back in time, but we can change our directory going forward. If you don't mask, you can do so from now on. Kindness is one (pretty important!) way to fight fascism, and i can't think of any kinder act than protecting each others' health.
UK: What if everyone had masked up? Analysis of app data has the answer:
"Respirators would have dropped the rate of COVID transmission by an estimated factor of 9, compared with 0.6 for surgical masks. A factor of 9 is enough to put SARS-COV-2 into exponential decay!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Respirators would have dropped the rate of COVID transmission by an estimated factor of 9, compared with 0.6 for surgical masks. A factor of 9 is enough to put SARS-COV-2 into exponential decay!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What if everyone had masked up? Analysis of app data has an answer
Modelling study based on almost 250,000 positive COVID-19 tests in the United Kingdom shows that universal masking could have cut transmission markedly.
www.nature.com
August 10, 2025 at 5:11 AM
We can't go back in time, but we can change our directory going forward. If you don't mask, you can do so from now on. Kindness is one (pretty important!) way to fight fascism, and i can't think of any kinder act than protecting each others' health.
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
There is, of course, no such thing as "PhD level intelligence". PhD level stubbornness ("I'm going to finish this if it kills me") or PhD level sunk cost fallaciousness, sure.
A PhD is awarded for the creation of *new* knowledge. Which is one thing that LLMs are incapable of doing.
A PhD is awarded for the creation of *new* knowledge. Which is one thing that LLMs are incapable of doing.
surely related to the widespread obsession with IQ among among techbros, a notion of intelligence that rests on just thinking some people have it (and should be in charge) and others don't and should be ruled. Whereas a PhD is a mark of hard-earned expertise, not "intelligence" as a fixed attribute
Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
August 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
There is, of course, no such thing as "PhD level intelligence". PhD level stubbornness ("I'm going to finish this if it kills me") or PhD level sunk cost fallaciousness, sure.
A PhD is awarded for the creation of *new* knowledge. Which is one thing that LLMs are incapable of doing.
A PhD is awarded for the creation of *new* knowledge. Which is one thing that LLMs are incapable of doing.
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
So you'd like a research grant from @britishacademy.bsky.social but you've got an additional need that makes that difficult? Well we still believe in equality, diversity, inclusion, and so there is a fund you can apply to for help with that www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/addi...
Additional needs
The British Academy has set aside specific funding to support any additional needs that applicants and award holders may require. This funding would be in addition to the amount already requested for ...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
March 11, 2025 at 8:11 PM
So you'd like a research grant from @britishacademy.bsky.social but you've got an additional need that makes that difficult? Well we still believe in equality, diversity, inclusion, and so there is a fund you can apply to for help with that www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/addi...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Rare Australian post-doc for a palynologist/paleoecologist with statiistical skills! jobs.unimelb.edu.au/en/job/91951...
Details : Postdoctoral Fellow, Paleoecology : The University of Melbourne
Careers at The University of Melbourne
jobs.unimelb.edu.au
March 7, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Rare Australian post-doc for a palynologist/paleoecologist with statiistical skills! jobs.unimelb.edu.au/en/job/91951...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Now seems a good time to mention that I haven't yet filled a postdoc position in phylogenetic methods. If you just lost your job, need something temporary, and know something about bioinformatics/statistics/evolution, talk to me.
Spread the word that I have a postdoc opening right now, and am also open to PhD applications evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi.... We have lots of follow up ideas! 15/15
https://evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldir/PostDocs//UArizona.AminoAcidSubstitutionModels
Postdoc position: amino acid substitution models
A postdoc position is available with PI Joanna Masel
(https://www.masellab.org/) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Tucson
is a vibrant city of n...
evol.mcmaster.ca
February 15, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Now seems a good time to mention that I haven't yet filled a postdoc position in phylogenetic methods. If you just lost your job, need something temporary, and know something about bioinformatics/statistics/evolution, talk to me.
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
If you're a non-UK scientist who wants to come to the UK for a postdoc, this year's Newton Fellowships are now open. You'll need a lab to host you (which could be me, but truly, could be any PI, so get in touch with someone you'd like to work with!)
royalsociety.org/grants/newto...
royalsociety.org/grants/newto...
Newton International Fellowships | Royal Society
This fellowship is for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK.
royalsociety.org
January 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
If you're a non-UK scientist who wants to come to the UK for a postdoc, this year's Newton Fellowships are now open. You'll need a lab to host you (which could be me, but truly, could be any PI, so get in touch with someone you'd like to work with!)
royalsociety.org/grants/newto...
royalsociety.org/grants/newto...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
📣 We are recruiting! Please spread the word!
We look to hire an associate professor in animal ecology, specializing in evolutionary ecology. Apply by Feb 7 2025. Come join us in Uppsala, Sweden!
Application page and contact info 🔗👇 #ecology #evolution #job
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
We look to hire an associate professor in animal ecology, specializing in evolutionary ecology. Apply by Feb 7 2025. Come join us in Uppsala, Sweden!
Application page and contact info 🔗👇 #ecology #evolution #job
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Associate Professor in Animal Ecology with specialization in Evolutionary Ecology - Uppsala University
Associate Professor in Animal Ecology with specialization in Evolutionary Ecology , Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University
www.uu.se
December 11, 2024 at 4:36 PM
📣 We are recruiting! Please spread the word!
We look to hire an associate professor in animal ecology, specializing in evolutionary ecology. Apply by Feb 7 2025. Come join us in Uppsala, Sweden!
Application page and contact info 🔗👇 #ecology #evolution #job
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
We look to hire an associate professor in animal ecology, specializing in evolutionary ecology. Apply by Feb 7 2025. Come join us in Uppsala, Sweden!
Application page and contact info 🔗👇 #ecology #evolution #job
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Super interesting article by Martin Picard
January 9, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Super interesting article by Martin Picard
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Is low fecundity of old males a consequence of seminal fluid or sperm declines, or female post-mating responses? Our new paper in evolution letters finds some surprising answers!
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
Reproductive output of old males is limited by seminal fluid, not sperm number
What causes an old male to reproductively fail? Is it his sperm or seminal fluid? In fruit flies, old males produce fewer offspring than young males. But s
academic.oup.com
January 7, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Is low fecundity of old males a consequence of seminal fluid or sperm declines, or female post-mating responses? Our new paper in evolution letters finds some surprising answers!
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Instead of listing my publications, as the year draws to an end, I want to shine the spotlight on the commonplace assumption that productivity must always increase. Good research is disruptive and thinking time is central to high quality scholarship and necessary for disruptive research.
December 20, 2024 at 11:18 AM
Instead of listing my publications, as the year draws to an end, I want to shine the spotlight on the commonplace assumption that productivity must always increase. Good research is disruptive and thinking time is central to high quality scholarship and necessary for disruptive research.
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
If you hate statistics like I do, then you'll love my free lectures. Putting science before statistics, 20 lectures from basics of inference & causal modeling to multilevel models & dynamic state space models. It's all free, made with love and sympathy. 🧪 #stats www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
September 19, 2024 at 10:56 AM
If you hate statistics like I do, then you'll love my free lectures. Putting science before statistics, 20 lectures from basics of inference & causal modeling to multilevel models & dynamic state space models. It's all free, made with love and sympathy. 🧪 #stats www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
🎉 I'm starting my own lab at EMBL-EBI (Cambridge, UK; June 2025) 🎉
We will focus on identifying and characterizing chemical hazards to humans and ecosystems using computational biology methods.
I am beginning the search for two postdocs now - stay tuned for more details!
ewaldlab.org
We will focus on identifying and characterizing chemical hazards to humans and ecosystems using computational biology methods.
I am beginning the search for two postdocs now - stay tuned for more details!
ewaldlab.org
Ewald Lab
@ EMBL-EBI. We identify and characterize chemical hazards to both humans and ecosystems with cell profiling data, machine learning, and integrative data analysis.
ewaldlab.org
December 13, 2024 at 2:12 PM
🎉 I'm starting my own lab at EMBL-EBI (Cambridge, UK; June 2025) 🎉
We will focus on identifying and characterizing chemical hazards to humans and ecosystems using computational biology methods.
I am beginning the search for two postdocs now - stay tuned for more details!
ewaldlab.org
We will focus on identifying and characterizing chemical hazards to humans and ecosystems using computational biology methods.
I am beginning the search for two postdocs now - stay tuned for more details!
ewaldlab.org
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
Having a color-blind colleague is a good reminder that we need to be more careful when designing figures for scientific publication 🧪
My lab has found this page especially useful for selecting color palettes, used in combination with different symbols: thenode.biologists.com/data-visuali...
My lab has found this page especially useful for selecting color palettes, used in combination with different symbols: thenode.biologists.com/data-visuali...
Color blind friendly palettes for data visualizations with categories
A discussion of color blind friendly palettes for labeling unique catergories in data visualization.
thenode.biologists.com
December 8, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Having a color-blind colleague is a good reminder that we need to be more careful when designing figures for scientific publication 🧪
My lab has found this page especially useful for selecting color palettes, used in combination with different symbols: thenode.biologists.com/data-visuali...
My lab has found this page especially useful for selecting color palettes, used in combination with different symbols: thenode.biologists.com/data-visuali...
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
There are few better feelings than when former students go off and do great things, and then write to you and let you know about them.
Students: never wonder if you should get in touch with a former teacher or supervisor to share this kind of thing. It is one of the purest rewards there is. /1
Students: never wonder if you should get in touch with a former teacher or supervisor to share this kind of thing. It is one of the purest rewards there is. /1
December 9, 2024 at 6:26 AM
There are few better feelings than when former students go off and do great things, and then write to you and let you know about them.
Students: never wonder if you should get in touch with a former teacher or supervisor to share this kind of thing. It is one of the purest rewards there is. /1
Students: never wonder if you should get in touch with a former teacher or supervisor to share this kind of thing. It is one of the purest rewards there is. /1
Reposted by Vanessa Higham
King’s College Cambridge has just announced a Research Fellowship on the topic of Symbiosis and/or Coevolution for early career researchers.
www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/work-a...
www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/work-a...
December 9, 2024 at 3:55 PM
King’s College Cambridge has just announced a Research Fellowship on the topic of Symbiosis and/or Coevolution for early career researchers.
www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/work-a...
www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/work-a...