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
Reposted by April Wright
PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social
hoehnalab.github.io
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social
Reposted by April Wright
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Reposted by April Wright
As one of those federal employees, I couldn’t agree more.
“Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.”
“Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.”
Harm to SNAP recipients, federal workers, and others is real. In a normal democracy it’d make sense to prioritize reducing that harm in the short term.
In a rapidly backsliding democracy, harm is happening no matter what. Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.
In a rapidly backsliding democracy, harm is happening no matter what. Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.
November 10, 2025 at 11:48 AM
As one of those federal employees, I couldn’t agree more.
“Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.”
“Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.”
Really cool of you to close your voice mail box before announcing this. Afraid of your constituents?
My statement on the funding deal to reopen government, protect federal employees, and vote to protect health care:
November 10, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Really cool of you to close your voice mail box before announcing this. Afraid of your constituents?
Legit thought this was crawfish with potatoes and corn from across the street
November 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Legit thought this was crawfish with potatoes and corn from across the street
Reposted by April Wright
Glad to have this one out! As some of you might remember, I'd kicked around the idea for some time, but the inestimable @wrightam.bsky.social got it all pulled together properly. It's a first step - we still need to include likelihoods of stasis between first & … www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Distinguishing punctuated and continuous-time models of character evolution for discrete characters and the implications for macroevolutionary theory | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Distinguishing punctuated and continuous-time models of character evolution for discrete characters and the implications for macroevolutionary theory
www.cambridge.org
November 8, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Glad to have this one out! As some of you might remember, I'd kicked around the idea for some time, but the inestimable @wrightam.bsky.social got it all pulled together properly. It's a first step - we still need to include likelihoods of stasis between first & … www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
My kids school was under a desegregation order. Guess which teacher was moved first when it was lifted?
Only 48% of US high schools offer calculus.
This seems like a huge problem and an easy place where high schools embracing online courses (+/- AI) could easily benefit students.
This seems like a huge problem and an easy place where high schools embracing online courses (+/- AI) could easily benefit students.
November 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
My kids school was under a desegregation order. Guess which teacher was moved first when it was lifted?
Contact did not acquit itself as well. Engaging, interesting, but didn’t stick the landing as well
Still slaps, though I’m utterly heartbroken by its prescience.
November 5, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Contact did not acquit itself as well. Engaging, interesting, but didn’t stick the landing as well
Reposted by April Wright
BREAKING:
NBC News projects: Abigail Spanberger (D) wins Virginia Governor. Democrat Gain.
NBC News projects: Abigail Spanberger (D) wins Virginia Governor. Democrat Gain.
November 5, 2025 at 12:55 AM
BREAKING:
NBC News projects: Abigail Spanberger (D) wins Virginia Governor. Democrat Gain.
NBC News projects: Abigail Spanberger (D) wins Virginia Governor. Democrat Gain.
Reposted by April Wright
The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Passing of the Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project began its journey almost 40 years ago, and was formally announced in early 1996. It has served thousands of pages of information about the evolutionary tree of life and…
subulatepalpomere.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
Reposted by April Wright
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Reposted by April Wright
Seafood samples from the Tangipahoa River last month contained harmful levels of arsenic, but state officials say the testing didn't determine whether the arsenic detected was nontoxic organic or the carcinogenic inorganic type. @greglarose.bsky.social reports. lailluminator.com/briefs/arsen...
State officials downplay arsenic found in Tangipahoa River seafood after Smitty’s Supply explosion • Louisiana Illuminator
It’s the latest update from state officials on the river’s health after the Aug. 22 fire and explosion at the petroleum products facility in Roseland.
lailluminator.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Seafood samples from the Tangipahoa River last month contained harmful levels of arsenic, but state officials say the testing didn't determine whether the arsenic detected was nontoxic organic or the carcinogenic inorganic type. @greglarose.bsky.social reports. lailluminator.com/briefs/arsen...
Reposted by April Wright
Nature Communications will publish ~10K papers in 2025 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?term=%22Natu...
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
October 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Nature Communications will publish ~10K papers in 2025 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?term=%22Natu...
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
Still slaps, though I’m utterly heartbroken by its prescience.
October 30, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Still slaps, though I’m utterly heartbroken by its prescience.
Someone has seemingly abandoned a gallon bag of fennel seeds on my stoop.
Curious about why.
Curious about why.
October 29, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Someone has seemingly abandoned a gallon bag of fennel seeds on my stoop.
Curious about why.
Curious about why.
Reposted by April Wright
Discovered Husker Du when I was 16, in the wake of Nevermind, and they were my absolute North Star for years, and remain so close to my heart. Thanks so much to @thequietus.com for letting me write this. It’s quite long. thequietus.com/interviews/h...
Plans That They Made: Hüsker Dü Interviewed | The Quietus
Stevie Chick talks to Bob Mould and Greg Norton about Grant Hart, American punk and paving the road for Nirvana
thequietus.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Discovered Husker Du when I was 16, in the wake of Nevermind, and they were my absolute North Star for years, and remain so close to my heart. Thanks so much to @thequietus.com for letting me write this. It’s quite long. thequietus.com/interviews/h...
Reposted by April Wright
Assessing the impact of character evolution models on phylogenetic and macroevolutionary inferences from fossil data onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @daveyfwright.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Assessing the impact of character evolution models on phylogenetic and macroevolutionary inferences from fossil data onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @daveyfwright.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social
I’m too old to have held out hope it might be good.
October 25, 2025 at 10:12 PM
I’m too old to have held out hope it might be good.
Yaniv put a ton of work into these resources, and they're absolutely wonderful
Hey Yaniv Brandvain is not on Bluesky but his most recent biostats ebook is live ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/. His stats resources have been so helpful to me as I develop my own stats course, so check it out. Github repo here: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
Applied Biostatistics
ybrandvain.github.io
October 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Yaniv put a ton of work into these resources, and they're absolutely wonderful
Reposted by April Wright
Just in time for #FossilFriday! Our paper is out today in Palaeontology @thepalass.bsky.social
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology
Large datasets of fossil occurrences, often downloaded from online community-maintained databases, are a vital resource for understanding broad-scale evolutionary patterns, such as how biodiversity h...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Just in time for #FossilFriday! Our paper is out today in Palaeontology @thepalass.bsky.social
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!
Reposted by April Wright
The dark truth behind FormatMyPaper.com
Beware giving this site your unpublished data
Users noticed the website had fake testimonials and a domain name registered seemingly overnight.
https://ubadah.substack.com/p/beware-giving-this-site-your-unpublished\
October 24, 2025 at 12:11 AM
The dark truth behind FormatMyPaper.com
Reposted by April Wright
Anyone looking for an undergrad research assistant this coming summer? I have a truly phenomenal undergrad with expertise in genetic mapping, long read sequencing & bioinformatics who wants experience in another lab before grad school. She has been in our lab for 3 years & writing her first paper!
October 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Anyone looking for an undergrad research assistant this coming summer? I have a truly phenomenal undergrad with expertise in genetic mapping, long read sequencing & bioinformatics who wants experience in another lab before grad school. She has been in our lab for 3 years & writing her first paper!
Phil, I’m ready to be heartbroken
October 23, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Phil, I’m ready to be heartbroken