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Jo Wolfe, PhD

@jopabinia.bsky.social

16K followers 2.9K following 15K posts

Why things evolve into crabs. Evolutionary biologist (species alive today AND fossils, and how to study them together). Canadian at UCSB and Harvard (she/her) My science: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CKqoVjEAAAAJ&hl=en

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Aug 1

Our paper on convergent evolution of land crabs is out in its final final form. The journal didn't pick my image as the cover, so I'm sharing it here because it must be seen!

academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...

🦀🦑🧪

Circular timetree of crabs with pie slices colored by superfamily (Figure 2 in the paper). Simplified version with no text/labels. Line drawings of crabs arranged around the perimeter like a zodiac, with colors matching the superfamily pie slice.
Figure by me, drawings by Harrison Mancke and Javi Luque

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 11h

Haha I made a thread of many Halloween themed crabs last year

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Oct 31

Quick thread of the many crabs named for Halloween related topics. This one is Gecarcinus quadratus, aka THE Halloween crab 🦀

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Sep 12

Interested in carcinization? 🦀🧪🦑 #invertebrate
Check out the Crab Time feed by liking/pinning here,
bsky.app/profile/did:...
and let me or @lucidillusions.in know if you want to post crabs!

How can you say no to this face?

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 11h

Lol just realized this plus the photo set really embrace the pre-made vegan proteins. I don't even eat them that much, literally finishing up some beans and rice rn

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 11h

I'll describe how I do caesar too then. Rip up kale (or lettuce tbh). Halved cherry tomatoes, cut avocado, croutons, plant based dressing. If I have it, lightlife vegan bacon

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 12h

I make salads with it too! It's good in a caesar, or this

kale salad with pecorino and walnuts

Cut into thin threads and tossed with vinegar-soaked golden raisins, sharp cheese, toasted walnuts and crispy breadcrumbs, I could eat a mile of this kale.

smittenkitchen.com

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 12h

I find the dinosaur/lactinato kale (what I have) easier to eat raw. The curly ones are a bit tough oftentimes

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 12h

I ironically don't have a good photo of cooking my own kale even though I've eaten tons of it all summer...hence the plant itself

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 12h

Mods are asleep post brassicas

My hand next to tall ass kale, the height of my balcony railing (raised in a wooden planter). It's next to a smaller kale that is stunted by being next to yet another tall ass one

Manchurian cauliflower, battered and air fried on rice. With red onion, red pepper, and cilantro

Red cabbage ripped up in a salad with shredded carrot, cucumber, and those hodo spicy yuba noodles I used to get at whole foods but can't find anywhere anymore

Vegan dan dan noodles from Bettina Mak's recipe featuring prominently some steamed bok choy (its Brassica rapa!). Contains gardein ground round with Sichuan peppercorn and dried chili pepper, and rice noodles with peanut sauce (it's supposed to be wheat noodles but I was out)

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Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD

Deep-Sea Biology Society Arts @dsbsoc-arts.bsky.social · Jun 25

🎨🔬 CALLING ALL ARTISTS & DEEP-SEA SCIENTISTS!

💡 Open to ALL artists & scientists
 🗓 Deadline: August 31
 📍 Apply via the short form in our bio / link below!

🔗 forms.gle/SftLbez3ML2j...

Are you inspired by the mysteries of the deep? We're launching a new initiative ArtSea Matchmaking that pairs artists and scientists for creative collaborations rooted in deep-sea science.
Together, you'll co-create compelling work that bridges disciplines and reaches wider audiences through exhibitions and outreach.

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 13h

Not off the top of my head, but DBS can probably reach any better than I can

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 16h

Obligatory 🦀

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 16h

I think this is noticeable to you because you are a polyglot. I never notice anything because I have zero idea what are root words unless I look them up

Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD

Brian O'Meara @omearabrian.bsky.social · 21h

Finally posted blog posts on our latest phylogenetics readings in our modern phylo class:

Phylogeography

Simulation

Behavior & Genomics

Reticulate evolution

All in series: brianomeara.info/blog.html#ca...

#Evolution 🧪

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Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Welcome back to the 'don't look now but the sky's doing weird shit' part of the year

The aurora borealis (northern lights) as two distinctive shapes over a mountain. One purple spike into a more diffuse green wave. Both very clear and strong.

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 19h

Plus brassicas weren't really adapting...it was artificial selection. In their case, it's what I said crabs aren't. Because we did do it on purpose!

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 19h

Alas there's no ultimate lifeform

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Feb 27

New writing! For @sciam.bsky.social, I talk about misleading memes.

If you understand evolution enough to know this already, great! But memes/youtubes/etc reach folks with no biology background. Science has been twisted to justify bad things, such as eugenics, before. NOT IN CRABS' NAME.

🦀🧪🦑⚒️

Crab Memes Amplify Mistaken Ideas about Evolution

Memes about repeated evolution of crabs have been co-opted to joke about technology and “ultimate forms.” They’re hilarious, but they oversimplify natural variation, giving bad arguments a scientific ...

www.scientificamerican.com

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

Say more!

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

The paper I linked said wild type B. oleracea is "10s" of millions of years old. Although we know that most of the edible varieties are the result of artificial (human) selection. So...Roman empire park?

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

You could make a salad with existing red cabbage and shape it like a crab on the plate lol

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

I'd eat that!

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

But it's the opposite tho so that wouldn't make sense 🤔

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

Also I remembered this paper about them!

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Feb 19

Wow! The complex genomic and epigenetic variation that builds the tasty diversity of Brassica oleracea (the single species that forms broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts)

🧪🥦🥬

Large-scale gene expression alterations introduced by structural variation drive morphotype diversification in Brassica oleracea - Nature Genetics

De novo genome assemblies of 22 Brassica oleracea accessions and pan-genome analyses highlight the effects of structural variations on gene expression and their contributions to morphotype diversifica...

www.nature.com

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

Anyway here is my kale. Photo angled lower than it really is, it actually is about the height of the railing

My hand and a tall ass kale and a smaller kale (is planted between tall ass ones)

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 20h

Crabbage is a study in contrasts:

One ancestral Brassica diversified into different forms

Different ancestral crustaceans converged on similar crab forms 🦀

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

Mods are asleep post brassicas

You either die a brassica or you live long enough to see yourself become a crab.

CAP'N
CRUNCH'S
DOPSIAll
NATURALLY &
ARTIFICIALLY
Brassica oleracea
otened
cer

What vegetable are you?
I'm brassica oleracea
Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?

Brassica oleracea

Ladies, get you a fella who can do it all

Selection for terminal buds
Selection for lateral buds
Selection for stem
Selection for leaves
Selection for stems and flowers
Selection for flower clusters
Cabbage
Brussels sprouts
Kohlrabi
Kale
Broccoli
Cauliflower

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 23h

The venn diagram of round and cuteness is...also round

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 23h

@haus53.bsky.social

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