Door 5: Horsetail (Equisetum) species still hybridise, 100 million years after they diverged

In a previous blogpost, I asked the question how long species are able to form hybrids after their lineages diverged — and I showed that certain species of flowering plants (angiosperms) retain this ability for at least 50 million years (Ma). This question is of particular significance because […]

Group of the month, August: Rough sharks (Genus Oxynotus)

Drawing a shark could be fun, so why not following a step-by-step tutorial for it? As many suggest, let`s start by deconstruct your soon to be shark in simple geometrical figures. A triangle can be the head, a dorsal fin or a tail. One or two rectangles for […]

Hva er det neste som skjer med smådyrene?

I forrige uke publiserte vi en artikkel om meiofauna og hvorfor det er viktig å studere dem, og hvilke vitenskapelige spørsmål som bør tas opp i neste omgang. Artikkelen «Fundamental questions in meiofauna research highlight how small but ubiquitous animals can improve our understanding of Nature» ble publisert […]

What’s up next for the small animals?

Last week, we published an paper on meiofauna and why it is important to study them and which scientific questions should be addressed next. The paper “Fundamental questions in meiofauna research highlight how small but ubiquitous animals can improve our understanding of Nature” was published in Communications Biology. […]

Door 7: A New Perspective on Human Origins, interconnected Lineages in Africa

Species evolution is often depicted as linear, neatly separated branches of a tree, an oversimplification that fails to capture the true complexity of evolutionary history. This is especially true for human evolution, where the prevailing belief has been that the modern human population that emerged from Africa was […]

Group of the month: Dinophilidae

The group of the month I would like to introduce to you today is a group I have a close personal connection with. The group goes back a long way with me. I will present you the annelid family Dinophilidae. After my Diploma thesis (today Master thesis) on […]

Månedens gruppe: Dinophilidae

Månedens gruppe jeg vil presentere for dere i dag, er en gruppe jeg har et nært personlig forhold til. Gruppen har en lang historie for meg. Jeg vil presentere familien til Annelida Dinophilidae. Etter å ha skrevet diplomoppgave (i dag masteroppgave) om proteiner i et virus relatert til […]

Day 8: Working in Phylogenetic Methods

As we open day 8 on our Advent Calendar, I bring an urgent message. Maths Can Be Fun, Too! The Christmas period and the advent calendar gives us a great chance to talk in more general terms about our research. Here at FEZ many of our ongoing research […]

Door 2: Mitochondrial genomes and why they are so great

The mitochondria is the organelle within the cell which is regarded as the cells “power house”. This is because they play a crucial role in energy production through oxidative phosphorylation. Within the mitochondria, the mitochondrial genomes, also referred to as mitogenomes, are found. The mitogenomes are small circular […]

The importance of the small stuff for science

Yesterday, we published an preprint on the meiofauna and why it is important to study them and which scientific questions should be addressed next. The publication involved 42 researchers from 44 institutions all around the world. The research was initiated and led by Alejandro Martínez and Diego Fontaneto […]