Peter Morrell

Does Google violate user privacy? Let's ask Google and the new LLM.

This is a great opportunity for a three-year postdoc position in plant biology. Contact me if you are interested. We can do some really cool plant genetics/genomics. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

A+ for thoroughness

Crosswalk Bricks! m.youtube.com/shorts/8kP6R...

Gaut et al. synthesize key lessons and outstanding challenges concerning the action of natural selection on plant genomes, revealing the power and some of the limits of population genomics to infer the dynamics of selection on plant genomes. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #societyjournal

A new Primer on QTL mapping. academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

QTL mapping academic.oup.com/genetics/art... Whether you are new to QTL mapping or have years of experience, you’re sure to learn something new and interesting from Shizhong Xu’s Primer. Don’t fret over the equations; there is a terrific narrative here about the past and future of QTL mapping!

@jonathanfwendel.bsky.social sounds a lot like Ira Flatow (@heyira.bsky.social) on Science Friday, discussing the origins of domesticated cotton. It’s a fun story! tinyurl.com/2aoopmbn

Just out @molecology.bsky.social - an exploration of adaptation to heat and water limitations in cowpea, a staple food source in West Africa. Thanks to FFAR for funding from @gatesfoundation.bsky.social! @rakakpo.bsky.social with extensive input from coauthors... doi.org/10.1111/mec....

I did a long-form interview for a local podcast. Hosts David Nicolai and Seth Naeve did a great job of asking interesting questions. mncropcast.transistor.fm/episodes/dee...

Excited to share our new Molecular Ecology paper with @peterlmorrell.bsky.social, @chaochihl.bsky.social, & collaborators: phenotypically wild barley shows evidence of introgression from domesticated barley in the WBDC collection. doi.org/10.1111/mec.... #Barley #Genetics

Maybe I spend too much time grading, but it seems like this should be in sentence case or title case, but it can’t be a mix. If you go with this style, shouldn’t “not” be capitalized?

@jbyoder.org - I’m losing track of how many times I’ve posted a link to this blog post in a review. A national landmark! www.molecularecologist.com/2024/08/13/f...

Species: Catha edulis Common Name: Khat Active Compounds: Cathinone Medical or Cultural Use: Remedy for fatigue, depression, appetite suppression, and pain Risks of Use: Grandiose delusions, paranoia, nightmares, hallucinations, and hyperactivity

My doctor said I should be talking about "The Science of Cannabis" outside the class - Species: Cannabis sativa - Common name: marijuana - Active compounds: delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol - Medical or cultural uses: pain relief, insomnia, antiemetic - Risks of use: reduced mental acuity, dependency

I wrote an opinion piece about parental/family leave at UConn. I’m only ~75% happy with it but … something needed to be said. Many things actually. Loudly. Repeatedly. And with as many voices as possible. “This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors” ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...

I’m excited to contribute as an associate editor for “Primers in Genetics.” The focus is on educational materials. Should be fun! @genetics-gsa.bsky.social genestogenomes.org/genetics-exp...

Decoding nature’s grammar with DNA language models | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... - Serguei Pakhomov was a great co-author for this commentary on PlantCaduceus

Very happy with this perspective piece just published. Highlighting how anti DEI has the same impacts as good old racism on educational equity.

My HPC team at UC Davis is hiring! Looking for an experienced sysadmin to help build and maintain clusters (hardware and software). HPC experience great, but if you’re an experienced sysadmin and willing to learn, please apply! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucdavis/...

New paper w/ @plos.org! @chaochihl.bsky.social identifies a unique mutational pattern among sodium azide-induced mutants. SNPs in 'CC' context and indels. Thanks to @justinfay.bsky.social @lilei0051.bsky.social @giuliafrascarelli.bsky.social @nanoporetech.com et al journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

A cool trick from AI coding companions. Creating temporary intermediate files in a shell script is pretty easy! Saves IO. log " -> Convert a GFF of gene positions to a BED file" intermediate_bed=$(mktemp) awk '$3 == "gene" {print $1"\t"$4-1"\t"$5}' "${GFF}" > "${intermediate_bed}"

Are you based in the U.S. 🇺🇸 or Canada 🇨🇦 and thinking of doing research in Europe? ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields. Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik #ChooseEurope

“Cutting basic science doesn’t save money.”

Very facts. Very statistics. bsky.app/profile/jona...

Identification of genetic variation associated with high-temperature tolerance in cowpea https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.09.647789v1

foolish & malicious "the food you consume is the result of generations of work by agricultural scientists and plant breeders... This work is only possible because of the availability of...extensive collections of plant genetic resources."

New analysis says ~2/3 of unpaid taxes come from the top 10% of households, w/ 28% coming from the top 1%. The GOP CR would cut $20.2 billion of IRS funding for catching rich tax cheats - because the GOP is laser-focused on helping the rich cheat on their taxes. budgetlab.yale.edu/research/rev...

One aspect of this story caught my attention. The interviewee notes that Target pledged to spend $2B with black businesses and rescinded the pledge after the inauguration! Unless the need for investment in the community no longer exists, Target should keep their pledge. www.npr.org/2025/03/13/n...

www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is firing women and minorities from prominent roles because he thinks they didn’t earn those positions. Did his race or gender play any part in his appointment? Allegations of alcohol and sexual abuse and poor fiscal management can be disqualifying for most jobs!

This is absolutely devastating www.wired.com/story/nation...

Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.

Not sure why this needs to be pointed out, but real diversity, equity, and inclusion in the hiring process should result in a larger and more highly qualified pool of candidates. The equity and inclusion parts (in particular) are requirements under multiple federal, state, and local laws.

My god, spot on

www.404media.co/declassified...

Years ago, a young person asked me to explain Bowie’s song “Space Oddity.” @briandilkes.bsky.social found themes that a 6-year old wasn’t hearing. Copilot says the song is about loneliness and isolation with a hint of tragedy, perhaps splitting the difference in the two interpretations?

This may interest @vsbuffalo.bsky.social (and maybe not even him), but some MacOS utilities now also implement the GNU version of the tool. To transfer files and then verify file integrity, you need `md5` (Mac) and `md5sum` (Linux). MacOS now offers the GNU version of most checksum tools!

When Siri sent my voice query below to ChatGPT, ChatGPT didn’t understand what I was searching for. I think there is a weak link in the chain. “what are some Gino maligners that deal with long chromosomes besides Minnie mouse two”

Fortunately, we now have AI to explain how M365 Copilot differs from GitHub Copilot and Copilot. Both Siri and Copilot have the answer.

I had a revision due back at a journal today. One major task was updating references. I’m fortunate to have picked a winner when I started using Bookends bibliography software many years ago. Great application for the MacOS & iPadOS and it just keeps improving! www.sonnysoftware.com/bookends-for...

Checked my junk folder for the first time in a while. So many pleas to submit a manuscript to the Journal of [Something I Don’t Work On]. Those messages were always a part of junk mail, but now there can be 30+ day! Sorry, my great new manuscript on [sleep disorders] is already in review!

This paper from Gaia Cortinovis, Roberto Papa, et al. is now out. Multiple domestications and introductions of common bean beyond the New World make this an interesting system for studying the genetic nature of adaptation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...