Andrew Davinack
@vermiformes.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Biology (Wheaton College Massachusetts).
Marine Parasitologist | Ailurophile | New Yorker | Horror-writer
Davinack Lab: https://davinackdrew.wixsite.com/thedavinacklab
Marine Parasitologist | Ailurophile | New Yorker | Horror-writer
Davinack Lab: https://davinackdrew.wixsite.com/thedavinacklab
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
What a week. But pleased to share new #fish #biogeography paper by PhD student Bryson Hilburn on southeastern stream captures (🐟not 🐿️) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Evidence for Widespread Inter‐Basin Vicariance of Fishes Associated With Quiescent Geologic Features in the Southeastern United States
Aim
Stream captures are implicated as drivers of speciation in many groups of lotic fishes. In the southeastern United States, numerous stream-dwelling animals possess restricted trans-divide popula.....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:52 AM
What a week. But pleased to share new #fish #biogeography paper by PhD student Bryson Hilburn on southeastern stream captures (🐟not 🐿️) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
My recent piece in the Chronicle. I know many other faculty members and colleagues feel the same way. #academia #highereducation #actuallearning
Assessment Is Ruining Teaching
In trying to routinize education, we’re losing sight of what it can be at its best.
www.chronicle.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:00 PM
My recent piece in the Chronicle. I know many other faculty members and colleagues feel the same way. #academia #highereducation #actuallearning
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
The Natural History Museum Denmark seeks a Tenure-track Assistant Professor & Curator in Bryology. Applications due by Mar 23, 2026. More info: https://employment.ku.dk/tenure-track/?show=156070 #job
211-0251/25-2N - Tenure Track Assistant Professor and Curator of Bryology
211-0251/25-2N - Tenure Track Assistant Professor and Curator of Bryology
employment.ku.dk
February 12, 2026 at 3:48 PM
The Natural History Museum Denmark seeks a Tenure-track Assistant Professor & Curator in Bryology. Applications due by Mar 23, 2026. More info: https://employment.ku.dk/tenure-track/?show=156070 #job
Environmental DNA is cool but to make a giant inferential leap from biodiversity monitoring to population-level inferences is fool's gold. Technological novelty is killing pure science. #popgen #randomthoughts
February 12, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Environmental DNA is cool but to make a giant inferential leap from biodiversity monitoring to population-level inferences is fool's gold. Technological novelty is killing pure science. #popgen #randomthoughts
I know NSF has been gutted in terms of personnel but FFS...I didn't know how bad it was. Literally no one in the IT Help Desk can help me solve a simple problem with research.gov. SMFH...UGH.
February 10, 2026 at 7:46 PM
I know NSF has been gutted in terms of personnel but FFS...I didn't know how bad it was. Literally no one in the IT Help Desk can help me solve a simple problem with research.gov. SMFH...UGH.
In #popgen, I have students work with short DNA barcodes. They hate having to fetch them from GenBank using the "front door" and none of them code. So, I created a GUI that retrieves COI data for any species and compiles it into FASTA file. I'll be hosting the installer on my github account.
February 10, 2026 at 7:11 PM
In #popgen, I have students work with short DNA barcodes. They hate having to fetch them from GenBank using the "front door" and none of them code. So, I created a GUI that retrieves COI data for any species and compiles it into FASTA file. I'll be hosting the installer on my github account.
Woke up this morning to an email from IBM stating that my proposal was accepted. Essentially I get to analyze population genetic data on an actual quantum computer---and compare those results with what we find using classical computing. #popgen #bravenewworld #quantumcomputing
January 30, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Woke up this morning to an email from IBM stating that my proposal was accepted. Essentially I get to analyze population genetic data on an actual quantum computer---and compare those results with what we find using classical computing. #popgen #bravenewworld #quantumcomputing
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
Chris Madel Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor: “I can’t look my daughters in the eye & say I’m running as a Republican, when they’re pulling over Hispanics & Asians because of the color of the skin — I did not sign up for that”
January 26, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Chris Madel Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor: “I can’t look my daughters in the eye & say I’m running as a Republican, when they’re pulling over Hispanics & Asians because of the color of the skin — I did not sign up for that”
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
It's really too bad the United States Congress no longer exists.
January 24, 2026 at 9:41 PM
It's really too bad the United States Congress no longer exists.
Snowstorm, a cat and his favorite author #rhodeisland #sundaymorningblues
January 25, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Snowstorm, a cat and his favorite author #rhodeisland #sundaymorningblues
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
Another Gestapo murder in Minnesota. Six agents wrestle someone to the ground and then shoot him in the back
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Federal agents shoot person in Minnesota, governor says
Minneapolis officials said they are investigating.
www.nbcnews.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Another Gestapo murder in Minnesota. Six agents wrestle someone to the ground and then shoot him in the back
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Reposted by Andrew Davinack
If you are considering doing genomic research on children... don't. We are not yet able to prevent significant harm to participants and society.
Fantastic article on the current state of race science (with a guest appearance from @stairwaytokevin.bsky.social)
Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:48 PM
If you are considering doing genomic research on children... don't. We are not yet able to prevent significant harm to participants and society.
Remember that article that came out sometime last year in Frontiers in Psychiatry, where the author claimed that #parasites can cause heightened sexual aggression in humans? It moved around on social media even though it was nonsense. Here's my response:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Questioning claims of parasite-induced sexual aggression in humans
www.sciencedirect.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Remember that article that came out sometime last year in Frontiers in Psychiatry, where the author claimed that #parasites can cause heightened sexual aggression in humans? It moved around on social media even though it was nonsense. Here's my response:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The lab looks like a pigsty which is clearly a reflection of my personality since all my research students are working on bioinformatics projects…so there is no reason to be on the bench. #springsemester #davinackmarineinvertebratelab
January 19, 2026 at 5:33 PM
The lab looks like a pigsty which is clearly a reflection of my personality since all my research students are working on bioinformatics projects…so there is no reason to be on the bench. #springsemester #davinackmarineinvertebratelab
It’s been three years since I moved to New England and it’s still weird that people are still so freaked out about incoming snow. There are notifications everywhere warning people of wintry conditions. Like bro, it’s January….
January 17, 2026 at 6:25 PM
It’s been three years since I moved to New England and it’s still weird that people are still so freaked out about incoming snow. There are notifications everywhere warning people of wintry conditions. Like bro, it’s January….
For my #popgen nerds out there, I've finished building a Python package called hapnet - an easy to use, straight out the box tool for building #haplotype networks. Just plug your data in, run a single line of code and voila! A pretty color coded network. Still beta testing!
pypi.org/project/hapn...
pypi.org/project/hapn...
Client Challenge
pypi.org
January 10, 2026 at 3:52 AM
For my #popgen nerds out there, I've finished building a Python package called hapnet - an easy to use, straight out the box tool for building #haplotype networks. Just plug your data in, run a single line of code and voila! A pretty color coded network. Still beta testing!
pypi.org/project/hapn...
pypi.org/project/hapn...
Upcoming preprint on arXiv. I've started applying quantum algorithms to population genetic data. Might be a dead end, might be something to it. Only one way to find out.
December 22, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Upcoming preprint on arXiv. I've started applying quantum algorithms to population genetic data. Might be a dead end, might be something to it. Only one way to find out.
Angry seas in the #oceanstate today
November 30, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Angry seas in the #oceanstate today
It's rare to find me speechless but this morning I found out that my horror novella was accepted by an independent niche publisher. The story is called The Harvest, and is set in the Adirondacks. It's largely folk horror with a sprinkle of Lovecraftian imagery. #horror #lovecraft #firststory
August 23, 2025 at 1:37 PM
It's rare to find me speechless but this morning I found out that my horror novella was accepted by an independent niche publisher. The story is called The Harvest, and is set in the Adirondacks. It's largely folk horror with a sprinkle of Lovecraftian imagery. #horror #lovecraft #firststory
Just signed my first book contract with Columbia University Press! It’s going to be a popular science book about #parasites. Details to come soon 🥳
June 6, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Just signed my first book contract with Columbia University Press! It’s going to be a popular science book about #parasites. Details to come soon 🥳
May 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Fresh new preprint from the Davinack Lab. We tracked Polydora websteri infestation in eastern oysters for a year in an estuarine habitat with restricted tidal flow. #wormwednesday
Winter Warriors: Seasonal Persistence of Polydora Infestation in Eastern Oysters from a Tidally Restricted New England Estuary
Shell-boring polychaetes of the genus Polydora pose a significant threat to oyster aquaculture worldwide, yet little is known about their seasonal dynamics in t
papers.ssrn.com
April 16, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Fresh new preprint from the Davinack Lab. We tracked Polydora websteri infestation in eastern oysters for a year in an estuarine habitat with restricted tidal flow. #wormwednesday
Last week I helped lead an informative workshop on mud-blister disease and how it's affecting oysters on Cape Cape cod. Meeting with farmers and growers puts my research into a translational perspective, something that I have been focusing on much more recently. #polychaetes #aquaculture #newengland
March 23, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Last week I helped lead an informative workshop on mud-blister disease and how it's affecting oysters on Cape Cape cod. Meeting with farmers and growers puts my research into a translational perspective, something that I have been focusing on much more recently. #polychaetes #aquaculture #newengland