@mauriciogforero
Senior postdoctoral fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Vienna, Austria. Interested in mathematical evolutionary theory, evo-devo, brain evolution, eusociality, and more. https://mauriciogforero.github.io
With @saramitri.bsky.social, @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social and L. Lehmann we’ve launched the UNIL Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution @unil.bsky.social🇨🇭
To kick things off, we’re offering short visiting fellowships for theorists in ecology & evolution. Apply & pls RP 😀
tinyurl.com/2wem36zz
New Perspective form Rory Maizels & me: "Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations"
Gene regulatory networks are supposed to give us mechanistic explanations of development, so why are we drowning in 'hairballs' of statistical correlations?
rdcu.be/e7zx7
@russcd.bsky.social ushers in a new era of academic metrics with the core-pivotal author index, which assigns all credit to authors that occupy the exact center of the author list, while non-central peripheral authors receive no credit whatsoever.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag026
#evobio #molbio
I saw this when it was a preprint? They have a unique version of the estimand-estimator-estimates workflow, will be useful for may biologists, not just ecologists. We need more case studies for ecologists to emulate and for norms to shift so "regression and storytelling" becomes unpublishable.
New preprint: "A mathematical synthesis of genetics, development, and evolution". This work addresses the longstanding challenge of integrating these and finds a way. I think it has broad implications and offers exciting opportunities. Feedback welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
How does development affect the evolutionary process?
Join our symposium at www.evodevoconference26.com
in Glasgow this June. We have a strong lineup of invited speakers, chaired by me and @milocco.bsky.social
Submit your abstract before Thursday! ⏰
New preprint: "A mathematical synthesis of genetics, development, and evolution". This work addresses the longstanding challenge of integrating these and finds a way. I think it has broad implications and offers exciting opportunities. Feedback welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Happy to have contributed to this upcoming pop-sci book called Humans, whose editor in chief is @profaliceroberts.bsky.social. To be released in June. Her unpacking of it: www.instagram.com/p/DUogLl1Dmf...
That's very kind! Thank you!
If we are making lists of non-ignorable "complexity" in biology, how about the interaction of selection and development? Many biologists find it boring (unnecessary complexity) or threatening (old naive adaptationism called into question). @mauriciogforero.bsky.social does good work in this area!
Should biology put complexity first? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... - excellent essay by @philipcball.bsky.social. I would add epistasis to polygenicity and pleiotropy as a ubiquitous and fundamental phenomenon, not some optional complication that we can try to account for afterwards
ExE 2026
Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Then you cannot miss #ExE2026! Hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall, this #conference has a stellar line-up of speakers and lots of pre-and post-conference workshops. Space is limited, so register now at evoxeco.uk!
Tom Van Dooren and I are organising a symposium on "Advances in theoretical evo-devo" at the next Euro Evo Devo meeting in Glasgow. Invited speakers: @n-martin.bsky.social, Nayely Vélez-Cruz, Thomas Hansen & Günter Wagner. Consider submitting an abstract, now open! www.evodevoconference26.com
Yes, I agree that "directing" and other teleology is not justified. But what organisms do on average seems to matter evolutionarily, even if not inherited.
Happy to chat on the model anytime. Feel free to email me questions or happy to video call too.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Indeed, taking development seriously does suggest a quite different understanding on human evolution, one that is hard to digest with the adaptionist intuitions we have developed over 100 years (that the human brain size might not even be an adaptation): royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...
I agree that the teleological words are unnecessary, but I have come to realise that they make a very valid point that development is key for evolution and that we have a huge blindspot there because the tools so far have largely ignored it.
It seems to me that while adaptation via plasticity may rely on preadaptations/exaptations previously evolved via selection, that does not mean that selection is involved in the recent adaptation via plasticity/culture. I think Lala et al make that point somewhere.
Not sure I see the fatal flaw. What is your view on cultural adaptation & learning? That it is not adaptation? Or that they must involve natural selection? This gets into the trick business of defining adaptation, but if it's increasing survival and fertility, adaptation via plasticity seems valid.
How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications.
My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/
academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...
COLEVOL y La Salle están organizando el VIII Simposio de Biología Evolutiva que se realizará del 23 al 25 de Julio de 2026. Ya están abiertas las convocatorias para simposios temáticos, cursos pre-simposio, reuniones de las mesas de trabajo regionales y otros. shorturl.at/BDHGu Les esperamos!
Haven't used AI for work so far, except for editing some already written small text that wasn't for publication. The tools call for systemic changes: how do readers/job & promotion panels ascribe credit for ideas, methods, results if authors may not have done/understood them & reviewers can't cope?
Never said they're not useful. I said they're useful, regardless of motives, be it to advance your career or make an actual contritbution, which are not always aligned. The safeguards that exist to align the two were already ineffective before AI, and now are vastly overwhelmed.
I am happy to share this article, entitled "The importance of Biological Theory". It is my inaugural editorial as the new Editor-in-Chief of @biologicaltheory.bsky.social . In these complex and challenging times, theory is more important now than ever. Enjoy!
doi.org/10.1007/s137...
Sure, and the efficiency gains come with system level costs: bsky.app/profile/rebe...
bsky.app/profile/baye...
I hope you are right, but I can also see it massively increase the level of noise.
Many reasons. One: science social dilemma; useful to individuals, possibly costly to science. Careful readers couldn’t spot Pruitt until large costs were drawn, even before AI could help him spot mistakes that exposed him. This tool allows for harder-to-spot Pruitts produced at an industrial scale.
bsky.app/profile/deve...
Please join us for a @smtpb.bsky.social panel discussion about publishing theory in biology w/ @joshuasweitz.bsky.social (Co-Chief Editor of J Theor Biol), Mark Lewis (Advising Editor for J Math Biol & Bull Math Biol), and me (Theor Pop Biol)
13 Feb 2026 9:00AM–10:00AM PST
smtpb.org/event-6520871