We’re trying something new! eLife authors can now freely speculate the meaning and implications of their data in our new section: 💡 Ideas and Speculation 💡 (1/3) elifesciences.org/inside-elife/e…

I was so spellbound by Lisa Giocomo’s talk on grid cell remapping today - perfectly still, none of my usual fidgeting/phone checking, just basking in the beauty of the results - that my sleep tracking app thought I was napping. A notable first! Exquisite is the only word.

My new review is out Journal of Molecular Evolution. What de novo genes are there? What do they do? What can they teach us about how it’s even possible for genes to come from nothing? A blast to write; hope it shows! The Origins and Functions of De Novo Genes: Against All Odds? bit.ly/3vbNWRX

Final version out at Current Biology! A look at how using species whose genomes have been annotated by different tools can affect how many lineage-specific genes there seem to be. (Punch line: you get more, sometimes by a lot.) tinyurl.com/34k6adsb

Is there a bioRxiv equivalent for theory/synthesis articles?

We're excited to announce the winner of the 2023 Zuckerkandl prize, given to the top paper in JME in the calendar year: “Case Studies in Microbial Fitness: Seemingly Subtle Changes Can Have Major Effects on Phenotypic Outcomes”, by Sarah B Worthan, Robert McCarthy, and Megan Behringer!

I started using Obsidian just under three weeks ago and am already so unburdened that the thought of not having it one day makes me anxious

Wow.

Promoter recruitment drives the emergence of proto-genes in a long-term evolution experiment with Escherichia coli Md. Hassan uz-Zaman, Simon D’Alton, Jeffrey E. Barrick, Howard Ochman journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar… #LTEE #science #evolution #genetics #genomics #microbiology