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Eukaryote Writes Blog
Personal blog · eukaryotewritesblog.comsciencewriting
Eukaryote Writes Blog is a personal blog at eukaryotewritesblog.com about science and writing. Since 2017, 43 different Hacker News readers have linked it 53 times, most often “There’s no such thing as a tree, phylogenetically”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-04-25, and you can follow it by feed.
Risk, research, and life as a membrane-bound organism
Most-linked posts?
- There’s no such thing as a tree, phylogenetically23 people · 24 mentions · first linked 2021-05-03
- Fiber arts, mysterious dodecahedrons, and waiting on “Eureka ”4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-09-06
- There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-12-20
- I got dysentery so you don’t have to3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-10-22
- Barriers to Bioweapons2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-02-28
- Will the growing deer prion epidemic spread to humans? Why not?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-06-25
What Hacker News says?
It's best to think of it as "tree-ing" or "to tree" A really, really fantastic article: https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Biological Miracle – Wood Frog”Submitted There’s no such thing as a tree, phylogenetically as a story · 264 points
HN discussionhttps://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th... What is and isn't a tree is not as well defined as one would think.
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Iceland’s forest and bush cover has increased sixfold since 1990”Submitted There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) as a story · 229 points
HN discussionTrees are also too many things to be one thing. https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th... crops up on HN periodically. “Trees” are not a coherent phylogenetic category. On the evolutionary tree of plants, trees are regularly interspersed with things that are absolutely, 100% not trees. This means that, for instance, either: - The common ancestor of a maple and a mulberry tree was not a tree. -…
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “But good sir, what is electricity?”Submitted I got dysentery so you don’t have to as a story · 157 points
HN discussionhttps://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2024/10/21/i-got-dysentery-s... is a writeup of a similar trial that hit HN recently. That person got $4000 for 10 days.
Comment linking /2024/10/21/i-got-dysentery-so-you-dont-have-to/
on “Richard A. Cash, who saved millions from dehydration, has died”Submitted Defending against hypothetical moon life during Apollo 11 as a story · 107 points
HN discussionIt's more that, as I understand it, "fish" isn't a coherent phylogenetic category so much as a convention-based descriptive grouping of certain characteristics. I don't think of whales as fish, no. But an exclusion based on eg tail fin orientation or lack of gills is based on convention rather than strict taxonomic practices. So if someone wants to weigh the characteristics differently and include whales in the term…
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Kerosene did not save the sperm whale (2024)”Submitted Carl Sagan, nuking the moon, and not nuking the moon as a story · 101 points
HN discussionMy favorite example of this is that trees aren’t really a phylogenetic group all their own. They’re just plants and plants can become tall and woody with a few genetic tweaks. You can’t trace trees to a common ancestor because the ancestors of many types of trees are just ordinary plants. https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine”Submitted A giant whiteboard for $14 plus nails as a story · 70 points
HN discussionNot OP, but: https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “A glob of 99M-year-old amber trapped a zombie fungus erupting from a fly”Submitted I got dysentery in a human challenge trial as a story · 49 points
HN discussionHere's an article I like about that: https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Wooden satellite heads to space in Mars exploration test”Submitted There's no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) (2021) as a story · 47 points
HN discussionAmusingly trees are like human races. They aren’t a meaningful biological category[1]. [1] https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Number of Earth’s tree species estimated to be 14% higher than currently known”Submitted Naked mole-rats: A case study in biological weirdness as a story · 23 points
HN discussionSure. Another post on the front page now is about trees[1]. Where's the line between a short tree and a bush? We humans see the difference, but biology (a hard science) shows that using their classification rules there is no difference between a tall bush and a short tree. [1]: https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Why psychology isn’t science (2012)”Submitted There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) as a story · 5 points
HN discussionAnother one is, believe it or not, trees: https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds”Submitted Learn to write well BEFORE you have something worth saying as a story · 4 points
HN discussionEngine-rich exhaust can still provide thrust. People like their idealised models of the world, but they're fundamentally still just idealised and models. It's somewhat illuminating to learn that all abstractions are leaky. For example, you can't reliably represent "sex" using a "bit" type in a database. It's not just "M" or "F". You can have "unknown" (of course), "known but not willing to say" (whatever), intersex…
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “Ask HN: What’s the most outrageous belief you’re confident is true?”Submitted There's no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionWell it depends how deep you wanna go in the history, there is no such thing as a tree. https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-th...
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “0AD, an open source historical RTS in development for 22 years”Submitted Fiber arts, mysterious dodecahedrons, and waiting on “Eureka ” as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe "there's no such thing as tree" concept is expanded here: < https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/ > This was discussed on HN a few years ago: < https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29621646 > I think it's fair to argue that the palm forests noted in TFA filled a similar niche to that of current tree-like forests. All taxonomical groupings are ultimately grounded in practical organisational utility for huma…
Comment linking /2021/05/02/
on “Earliest forest discovered, scientists say”Submitted There's no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIn the article, they mention that two different species of electric fish evolved independently, by two separate genetic pathways. For a long time I believed that if two organisms were phenotypically similar, they must have a nearby common ancestor. But I keep reading more and more about how nature seems to stumble across the same adaptations and mechanisms via many different routes. E.g. what we know as a "tree" is…
Comment linking /2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
on “How Electric Fish Were Able to Evolve Electric Organs”Submitted Lichen as the common ancestor of all life on Earth as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
