I want to highlight two beautiful papers published/posted last week, which creatively used genetic data to estimate historical human generation times (generation interval, or parental age at conception). nature.com/articles/s4146… biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 1/10

Losing our tail had big consequences for our ancestors, but how did it happen? In our paper, led by Bo Xia, and with Jef Boeke, we propose that tail-loss involved the insertion of a single transposable element, with implications for our health today. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

One of my fav peoms. A more complete version is 煮豆持作羹，漉菽以為汁。萁在釜下燃，豆在釜中泣。本自同根生，相煎何太急。Cook beans to make soup, boil bean leaves as sauce. Bean stalk burns under the pot in which the bean cries: we were born from the same root, why fry each other?

The #AlphaFold source code has been updated and now accounts for multi-chain protein complexes - providing a significant improvement in accuracy for predicting protein interactions: dpmd.ai/af-multimer-os Generate predictions from your browser via: dpmd.ai/alphafold-colab

Great that someone speaks out. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Finally, direct protein sequencing with nanopore. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Happy year of Tiger!

Except that your own history book says otherwise:

Read more about it here: academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-ar…

The School of Ecology SYSU, China is continuing tenure-track faculty search in EEB. Our department is now home to over 40 faculty members with only few vacancies left. Send your CV or please forward to someone you know. eco.sysu.edu.cn/article/591

Happy Chinese New Year! This is the year of rabbit, I wish everyone have a vivacious year.

New exciting challenge ahead: We are happy to announce that the FLI is starting the new year with @dariovalenzano as our new Scientific Director💐. We are looking forward to what’s coming. Find out more👉leibniz-fli.de/a-new-exciting…

First pub from my lab is out on Molecular Ecology! We analyzed the genetic load on two high quality phased genomes of the critically endangered Chinese Bahaba and simulated load purging in captivity. Artificial selection needed for rescue. doi.org/10.1111/mec.17…

New in ME! By Rongfeng Cui et al., predicting haplotype-specific genetic load and outlooks for purging deleterious variants from captive populations in the endangered giant croaker 𝘉𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴. Wiley Ecology & Evolution  Read more: buff.ly/48BlUjU

Our great work led by the Schumer lab is finally out nature This is some of the best evidence out there that mitonuclear interactions can lead to speciation. Article: doi.org/10.1038/s41586… Summary: tinyurl.com/hamu6n6n

1/14 🚨🚨 New preprint! Very excited to share our new study on the evolution of sexual parasitism and the invasion of the deep sea by anglerfishes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #biology #evolution #teamfish

Proud to share our latest Cell paper. We present a novel immune population termed PNS microglia that regulate neuronal soma size throughout evolution. cell.com/cell/abstract/… #Microglia#PNS#NeuronalSomaSize#Macrophage#BodySize#Neuroimmunology#Evolution (1/8)

In the latest issue! Synonymous mutations promote tumorigenesis by disrupting m6A-dependent mRNA metabolism dlvr.it/TK1SDl

Fully funded PhD & master’s scholarship to do EEB research at SYSU in Shenzhen China, open to students from 10 countries. Deadline coming up soon! Please pass on to students who might be interested iso.sysu.edu.cn/en/application…

Many students from my lab and I are going to Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2025 in Beijing. I am happy that my undergrad student Chang Liu’s work on Flashlight fish symbiosis was accepted as a 12-min talk in the symbiosis session. The rest of us are having posters too. Come talk to us ;-).