Joel Marthelot
@joelmarthelot.bsky.social
📤 334
📥 440
📝 22
BioSoftActuation @ CNRS Aix-Marseille Univ
https://biosoftact.wordpress.com
pinned post!
Fresh off the press, our work on wing deployment in Drosophila 🪰:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Work by: Simon Hadjaje, Ignacio Andrade-Silva, Marie-Julie Dalbe and Raphaël Clément
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about 1 year ago
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Nathan Vani
1 day ago
Our article on multilayer inflatables has been published! A physics-computer graphics collab in which we introduce a new type of thin-sheet balloons and discuss their shape programming 🎈
@espciparispsl.bsky.social
@pmmh-lab.bsky.social
dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
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Lochlan W
10 days ago
Excited to share my first PhD preprint! w/ Sören Kannegieser and
@anna-stoeckl.bsky.social
@insect-vision.bsky.social
We investigated how hawkmoths coordinate lateralized sensory and motor control for appendage guidance, revealing similar control principles to vertebrates
doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Etienne Jambon-Puillet
9 days ago
The paper is finally out in JFM 🎉🎊:
doi.org/10.1017/jfm....
Below is the thread summary of last year 👇
add a skeleton here at some point
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Joel Marthelot
Brugues Lab
15 days ago
Really excited to share our new paper in
@nature.com
! We uncovered how a physical instability of the cytoplasm coupled with the cell cycle drives cytoplasmic partitioning in early embryos
#zebrafish
#drosophila
. Read more in this🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🤩
@poldresden.bsky.social
@mpi-cbg.de
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Raphaël Clément
15 days ago
Super happy to share the exciting work of Emma Legait, showing how neighbourhood composition determines cancer stem cell fate in hierarchical tumours. A great and long-standing collaboration with
@cedricmaurange.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Lucia Stein-Montalvo
15 days ago
More about our latest collaborative work... “Architectural Swarms for responsive façades and creative expression” is now published in Science Robotics
@science.org
! Read it here:
science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.ady7233
.
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Hadrien Oliveri
21 days ago
Job alert🚨I am advertising a 2-year postdoctoral position to work on the mathematics of plant morphogenesis
@mpipz.bsky.social
. Candidates with interests in mathematical modelling, mechanics, or biophysics are strongly encouraged to apply. 🌱Reposts are appreciated!
jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/4...
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Alice Auersperg
24 days ago
Our new paper (with
@biotay.bsky.social
) is out and on the cover story of
@currentbiology.bsky.social
!!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Brugues Lab
about 1 month ago
Excited to share Alison's
@alisonkickuth.bsky.social
paper from the lab out in
@nature.com
this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early
#zebrafish
embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🤩
@poldresden.bsky.social
@mpi-cbg.de
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eLife
about 1 month ago
The most recognisable feature of the human brain is its folds. So why do other animals’ brains look so different?
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The rise of brain folds
Differences in brain folding between species can be explained by variations in initial brain size, shape and cortical growth rate, rather than by different folding mechanisms.
https://buff.ly/vIgS5jg
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Joel Marthelot
Vermot Lab
about 2 months ago
Check out our latest preprint on the cellular mechanical basis of Voronoi tessellations in epithelia! This biophysics study is inspired by disordered tessellations observed in zebrafish hearts 🤓🐟💙
#SulaimaanLim
#ChiuFanLeeLab
arxiv.org/html/2512.13...
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Shashi Thutupalli
about 2 months ago
Non-motile microbes are not prisoners of diffusive transport. Just their metabolic activity can be sufficient to stir up the ambient fluid and cause explosive long-range dispersal -- a "metabolic firework". Our latest work --
arxiv.org/abs/2512.16288
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eLife
2 months ago
The study shows how individual fingerprint ridges deform when we touch different textures, revealing how subtle stretching and shifting along the ridge flanks may drive our remarkably fine tactile sensitivity.
buff.ly/4z67Vf1
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Nature
2 months ago
Nature research paper: Quantifying grain boundary deformation mechanisms in small-grained metals
go.nature.com/48vtZcJ
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Quantifying grain boundary deformation mechanisms in small-grained metals - Nature
Experimental observations in small-grained polycrystals suggest a new concept of considering metallic grain boundaries not as defects but as separate defect-containing lattices, providing a potential explanation for the deformation behaviour of nanocrystalline metals.
https://go.nature.com/48vtZcJ
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Nicole Sharp
2 months ago
As humanity pumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the ocean absorbs about a quarter of it. This exchange happens largely through bubbles created by breaking waves.
fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=26003
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2 months ago
Researchers propose a method of manipulating small particles by using acoustic levitation and electrostatic charging, leveraging electrostatic repulsion and acoustic attraction to expand and collapse structures as needed. In PNAS:
https://ow.ly/LKIK50XC71T
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Oxford Mathematics
3 months ago
Where on earth is the best laboratory to demonstrate the beauty of fluid dynamics? Actually, it’s not on earth. Here is the story of the soft cell. And a longer read:
www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74308
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Giacomo Bartolucci (he)
3 months ago
Active droplets are fundamental in cell biology and origin of life. With Jonathan Bauermann,
@boekhovenlab.bsky.social
, Frank Jülicher, and
@m-pol.bsky.social
, we show that a critical transition influences their size, morphology, ripening and division propensity
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
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Isabelle Eisenmann
3 months ago
Our work on hydrodynamic instabilities in active jets is on the cover of PRL this week!
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
A dialogue between experiment and theory, where we use light to control active suspensions and show how they can be destabilized by their self-generated flows
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Pure Hydrodynamic Instabilities in Active Jets of Puller Microalgae
Using phototaxis to control cell orientation, various instabilities can be induced in jets of motile microalgae.
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/jjcv-ygvq
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Joel Marthelot
Physics Magazine
3 months ago
Coaxing tiny, self-propelled particles into cohesive structures provides one route to making micromachines. Taking a step in that direction, researchers have measured and analyzed the mechanical properties of materials assembled from active particles.
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Active Matter Gets Solid
Researchers have determined the mechanical properties of a tiny beam made of active particles, laying the groundwork for future micromachines.
https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/176
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Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
3 months ago
Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and
@joelmarthelot.bsky.social
(Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by
@abigailplummer.bsky.social
(BU)
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Joel Marthelot
Campàs Lab
4 months ago
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet
@jesseveenvliet.bsky.social
@mpi-cbg.de
@poldresden.bsky.social
🤩 We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species ➡️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Science Magazine
4 months ago
Static electricity may be key to helping a tiny roundworm latch onto its insect hosts. Like a heat-seeking missile, the parasite zooms up to 10 millimeters in the air before getting yanked toward its target by nothing more than the electrostatic charge of its host.
https://scim.ag/3WKFVjZ
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
4 months ago
Sharpen your knives! High-speed video analysis reveals that blunt knives and faster cutting speeds release more eye-irritating droplets from onions by building pressure under the onion’s skin before the ejection of the tear-inducing aerosols. In PNAS:
https://ow.ly/5rc750Xcvhj
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Pierre-François Lenne
4 months ago
Appreciate Quanta for shining a light on our joint work with Simon Gsell, Sham Tlili (
@shamtlili.bsky.social
), and Matthias Merkel (
@merkellab.bsky.social
).
add a skeleton here at some point
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Etienne Jambon-Puillet
4 months ago
Did you know you can manipulate hundreds of microparticles using phototactic algae? This is what we show in our last preprint, led by T. Laroussi and J. Bouvard:
arxiv.org/abs/2509.08133
🧵👇
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Arif Ashraf
4 months ago
🍀🔬 MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap
@natcomms.nature.com
from Toyota lab.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Saverio E. Spagnolie
4 months ago
Psst, your students want to hang out in Boulder next July. Application deadline is Jan. 15.
www.colorado.edu/conference/b...
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Nature Portfolio
4 months ago
A paper in Nature shows that parachute designs inspired by kirigami — the Japanese art of paper cutting to produce 3D designs — are stable and fall close to their target. These findings could simplify parachute manufacturing, reduce costs, and improve accuracy.
go.nature.com/473OMmK
🧪
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Nature
4 months ago
Cutting a pattern into a flat disc can transform it into a parachute capable of carrying small payloads
go.nature.com/4nsKfA7
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Parachutes inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami
Cutting a pattern into a flat disc can transform it into a parachute capable of carrying small payloads, which might be used to deliver humanitarian aid
https://go.nature.com/4nsKfA7
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Daniel Alber
5 months ago
A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis! Out now in
@pnas.org
at
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
with
@zhaoshh.bsky.social
, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman,
@lepuslapis.bsky.social
(1/8)
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Felix W. Moll
5 months ago
New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows
@currentbiology.bsky.social
. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Thibaut Brunet
5 months ago
New short paper from our lab
@currentbiology.bsky.social
, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
- A 🧵
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Flagellar gliding in choanoflagellates
Freire-Delgado and Brunet discover a new mode of cell motility in choanoflagellates, the closest relatives of animals. Under mild confinement, choanoflagellate move over surfaces without cell deformat...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00937-6
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Pierre Haas
5 months ago
New
#preprint
: "Control of lumen morphology by lateral and basal cell surfaces", a great
#biophysics
collaboration with Chandraniva Guha Ray,
@markusmukenhirn.bsky.social
, Alf Honigmann
@biotec-tud.bsky.social
@poldresden.bsky.social
.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04316
@mpipks.bsky.social
@mpi-cbg.de
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Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
5 months ago
Dresden researchers
@paveltomancak.bsky.social
@bruvellu.bsky.social
, Carl Modes,
@cuencam15.bsky.social
& colleagues published in
@nature.com
that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.
www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
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Mechanical forces drive evolutionary change
A small tissue fold present in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses and may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.
https://www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreach/news-media/article/mechanical-forces-drive-evolutionary-change
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Cecilia Baldoni
5 months ago
The secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔 Not cell loss, but water loss! Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯 Check the paper!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
@labdavalos.bsky.social
@batichica.bsky.social
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Programmed seasonal brain shrinkage in the common shrew via water loss without cell death
Brain plasticity, the brain’s inherent ability to adapt its structure and function, is crucial for responding to environmental challenges but is usual…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982225010814
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Xavier Trepat
5 months ago
New preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by
@tomgolde.bsky.social
🙌 @IBECBarcelona
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Adrienne Roeder Lab
6 months ago
We learned a lot about plant cell wall mechanics by stretching the Arabidopsis epidermis. Now published in @natcomms.nature.com Fibrous network nature of plant cell walls enables tunable mechanics for development
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
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Joel Marthelot
PLOS Biology
6 months ago
How do
#honeybees
adapt their comb-building to different spatial constraints? A new study from
@oritpeleg.bsky.social
&co uses 3D printed panels and X-ray microscopy to reveal the existence of three distinct construction modes, from tilting cells to building complex 3D structures.🧪
plos.io/4n1g6Hs
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Honeybees adapt to a range of comb cell sizes by merging, tilting, and layering their construction
Honeybees often need to build their comb under conditions that prevent a regular hexagonal lattice. This study uses 3D printed panels and X-ray microscopy to explore their adaptive process when differ...
https://plos.io/4n1g6Hs
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Ben Larson
6 months ago
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n
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Orit Peleg
6 months ago
New paper in PLOS Biology: as we raise the difficulty of our 3D printed puzzles, bees keep landing on combs with ever stranger hexagonal order! 🐝 Led by the brilliant Golnar Gharooni Fard, in collaboration with CK Prasanna & FL Jiménez
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
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Joel Marthelot
Bhamla Lab @ Georgia Tech
6 months ago
How do tiny ripple bugs surf raging rivers? Check out our new work in
@science.org
Work led by Victor Ortega-Jimenez, Dongjin Kim, Sunny Kumar, Changhwan Kim, Je-Sung Koh, and Saad Bhamla - a collaboration between UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Ajou University.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Ultrafast elastocapillary fans control agile maneuvering in ripple bugs and robots
Rhagovelia ripple bugs use specialized middle-leg fans with a flat-ribbon architecture to navigate the surfaces of fast-moving streams. We show that the fan’s directional stiffness enables fast, passi...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv2792
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Joel Marthelot
6 months ago
🚰 Fluid inertia limits microporous flow efficiency, out in EPJ Plus this week, with Kaare Jensen
@jensen-research.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eBV2C
👇
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Thibault (Tibo) Leroy
6 months ago
My small contribution to the popularization of evolutionary biology during the
#ESEB2025
week, thanks to this article on the evolution of rose breeding in The Conversation France. If you read French, here it is:
theconversation.com/comment-le-c...
If not, our Genetics paper:
doi.org/10.1093/gene...
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Alex Wilkins
6 months ago
These gorgeous origami shapes - an entirely new family called bloom patterns - could be used to design new, more effective space telescopes or solar panels.
www.newscientist.com/article/2493...
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Flower-like origami patterns could inspire folding spacecraft
Engineers have developed a class of origami structures that unfold in one smooth motion to create flower-like shapes, which could have applications in space
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2493104-flower-like-origami-patterns-could-inspire-folding-spacecraft/
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tal boger
6 months ago
On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°! In
@currentbiology.bsky.social
,
@chazfirestone.bsky.social
& I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science.
bit.ly/45BVnCZ
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Orit Peleg
6 months ago
More on collective behavior: Our new Annual Review of Biophysics piece - with the stellar Danielle Chase - explores how animals sense, share information, and make group decisions. In honeybees and beyond 🐝
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
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Laura Boulan
6 months ago
Our new paper is out in
@currentbiology.bsky.social
! Using 3D reconstructions and volume measurements in Drosophila wing primordia, we show that growth can be uncoupled from cell proliferation and uncover a new time window for growth arrest. With
@leopoldlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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A switch to non-proliferative growth sustains Drosophila wing development during the early pupal stage
Using precise tissue volume quantification, El Marzkioui, Gaugué, et al. show that wing primordia continue to grow during the early pupal stage, a phase of increased cell volume driven by insulin/IGF ...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00886-3
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Joel Marthelot
Cells & Development
6 months ago
Maybe it's time we rethink the idea that development is a cell centric process? In this beautiful review, María-del-Carmen and
@stramerlab.bsky.social
discussed how the ECM underlies and influences many morphogenesis processes from wing unfolding to mammary gland development.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
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Anaïs Bailles
6 months ago
Very happy that the first article from my postdoc work in the Tomancak lab is now published @PNAS!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
. We studied the self-organization of actin in aggregates made from Hydra cells. Thread below (1/9)
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