Excited to see the Hecht Lab featured in this NYT article about lost science www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/s...

Me backing out of commitments I jumped into a little too eagerly

Joshua Sanes Receives Society for Neuroscience’s Highest Honor 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu @sfn.org

I’m teaching my colleague’s puppy some neuroscience. So far she’s learned that brains and brain books are great chew toys

PhD-opening in our ancient genomics lab this year, apply below! We work on: 📜 Genetic history integrated with archaeology and history 📈 Natural selection and trait genetics 🐺 Evolutionary genomics of dogs and wolves 🦠 Ancient pathogen genomics 💀 Hominin evolution and ancient proteomics

If this doesn’t end bonobos’ reputation as the hippies of the great apes I don’t know what will. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Dogs who experience neglect as puppies are more likely to be fearful and aggressive in adulthood, suggests research in Scientific Reports. go.nature.com/4pT9hKp 🧪

Fyi if you're an educator looking for videos about the brain and/or how neuroscience is done, check out @brainfacts.org's YouTube page: youtube.com/@brainfactsorg It includes submissions to their Brain Awareness Week video contest, which can be quite fun! #neuroskyence

#SciArtSeptember Day 23: Scouting Working dogs use their noses to find target species during conservation projects. - #beagle #dogs #sketchbook #drawing

Excited to share the latest (but still not the last!) study I had the chance to work on with the Family Dog Project 🐶🇭🇺 We found that Gifted Word Learner dogs' talent goes beyond what we expected; they can generalise words based on function, not just looks. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thank you @helenahartmann.com and @scienceandfiction.net for sharing my short story! I hope it helps bring needed awareness to the plight of the vaquita porpoise 🐬

Is there anybody in my bubble that likes to write stories, and would be up for trying to write something for my project @scienceandfiction.net? It's a great way to practice your science communication and try something new! 💙 DM me for more info!

Today and tomorrow I am giving my first #scicomm workshop all on my own 😱 It's all about communicating science through fictional short stories (like in @scienceandfiction.net) and on social media! 🤩

#SciArtSeptember 12 - Wandering Adolescent golden jackals can wander thousands of kilometers while searching for a mate and a place to settle to. They used to only occur in southeastern Europe, but recently, they have been turning up all over the place: Netherlands, Finland, even northern Norway.

"A study, led by Courtney Sexton, has created a vital baseline for dog behavior research. The study, which compiles data from over 47,000 dogs, provides a powerful starting point for understanding the link between health and behavior as dogs age." ➡️ Learn more: news.vt.edu/articles/202...

#Dogust 8/18 STREETIES from South Asia/Indian Subcontinent From my book DOGS OF THE WORLD doggiedrawings.net/pages/dogs-of-the-world-book Via @Spicydogsbehavior (instagram): The future isn't dog-free streets. It's SAFE, HEALTHY, CARED-FOR street dogs living alongside us.

🐕DOGUST 8/14: Potcake Dog! aka American Village Dog from the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos islands. From my book DOGS OF THE WORLD doggiedrawings.net/products/dogs-of-the-world-book 🐕 turksandcaicostourism.com/turks-caicos... 🐕Do you live with a Potcake? Please share photos!

Am I doing #SundayFishSketch right? This is my pet Betta splendens named Ragetti. Please excuse the child-like quality of my drawing 😅

Something lovely for the weekend! A very good boy! 🐾🐕😍 An amazing 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian mechanical dog carved from ivory. This leaping hunting dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking, by using a lever below its chest. Met Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

Super proud of Robert! I had the pleasure of mentoring him on this project

🐕Predatory Motor Patterns doggiedrawings.net/blogs/whats-... 🐕LINK to download: doggiedrawings.net/products/pre...

Do you love Labrador Retrievers? If so, my upcoming webinar on the science of Labradors may be of interest! 🐕‍🦺 🔬 I will explore recent research on Labradors from the fields of neuroscience, animal behavior, genetics, and more. Register here: bit.ly/labresultswebinar

My paper on brain-behavior differences in premodern and modern breed dogs is officially published — and my dog Tamsin made the cover! 🐶 🧠 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/2...

How Did Language Evolve? Comparing Human & Chimpanzee Brains Erin Hecht shares new data from chimpanzee research supporting a model where both modalities together contributed. brain.harvard.edu/hbi_news/how...

Precon_all is finally citeable! I’m relieved, pleased, thrilled and all other superlatives to present to you our preprint describing the inner workings of the precon_all pipeline for semi-automated non-human cortical surface reconstruction! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10

🚨🚨PhD position alert!🚨🚨 Do you like 🐢🐢? Or ecomorph evolution? I am offering a 36-month PhD position funded by the DFG about ecomorphology and neuroanatomy of turtles. Check out the ad here: www.senckenberg.de/en/career/sc... Please share and if you have questions, send me a message 😉

Bone-crushing dogs! Bone-crushing dogs! Modern canids crush bones, too, but Borophagus and kin were extra adept at busting up skeletons. Fossil feces packed with bone back up what the jaws imply. 🧪

Due to the whites of the eye, humans have a uniquely communicative gaze. Other primates have dark eyes, hiding their gaze from conspecifics. We cooperate, they compete. Common knowledge – right? Yes, but it’s incorrect, as we argue in our new paper 🧵🧪1/11 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New paper out from our lab today! @evolsara.bsky.social shows that harriers have expanded their auditory nuclei in a similar way to owls to enable them to calculate the position of prey by sound. #birds #ornithology #neuroskyence 🧠🧪🇨🇦🇦🇺 doi.org/10.1111/joa....

Dogs' behaviour is more similar to that of children than to that of cats in a prosocial problem situation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.27.650646v1

A study in Scientific Reports shows that the dog-human relationship exhibits characteristics of both child and best friend relationships, combining the positive aspects of the parent-child bond with the minimal negative interactions of close friendships. go.nature.com/4cJtdcs 🧪

Dog birthday parties are so much more fun than human ones

Harvard University sued the Trump administration, alleging that the government’s campaign to alter the school’s policies while cutting off research funding is unconstitutional. trib.al/YtIZTuv

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A fun little scent detection task you can do with your dog is the muffin tin game. Fill a muffin tin with tennis balls and hide a treat under one of them. See how long it takes your dog to find and access the treat!

Please join us at the BPL Roxbury for interactive activities for all ages on 5/6 at 4pm! @harvardmed.bsky.social @bpl.boston.gov @gaablab.bsky.social and @bostonchildrens.bsky.social

Free idea: a website where you enter the name of your disease/injury/condition/procedure and get shirts, stickers, signs, etc. with “NIH grant number X saved my life.”

Shout out to the home of my monthly column, @newscientist.com, which nailed their headline about the genetically modified GREY wolves www.newscientist.com/article/2475...

NO, they did not "resurrect" the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). They have only edited 14 genes of the gray wolf to resemble it. Apparently, all the changes are focused on its appearance (color, size and shape of the ears) It is pure propaganda. (blog) www.newscientist.com/article/2475...

My dog Tamsin and I did our first canicross race this weekend! It was amazing to see the great variety of dogs racing (including a tiny chihuahua) 🐕 🏃🏻‍♀️

Many people I speak to are surprised to know that most single-breed dogs were created only around 200 years ago. doggiedrawings.net/pages/dogs-o...

Exciting update! 🚀 My MSc research has now been officially published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science! 📖 Read it here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ap... Always happy to discuss this topic —get in touch! 🐕 #AnimalBehaviour #DogAdoption #Research @bethologist.bsky.social

Tool scratching. Looking at the phylogenetic relationships of pet parrot species that scratch with tools, this study predicts that 11 to 17 percent of parrot species could potentially use tools. (paper) www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

"Puppies are pure love wrapped in fur!" 🐾 Join us in celebrating #NationalPuppyDay! We invite you to share a photo of your adorable puppy and spread the joy! ❤️ 🔍 Discover more about the #DogAgingInst and how you can make a difference at dogaginginstitute.org.

I’m thrilled to share more about my PhD Research at The Manchester Metropolitan University: KennelNet: A Machine Learning Approach to Postural Estimation and Behavioural Monitoring in Kennelled Dogs, in partnership with @dogstrust.bsky.social 🐕 #AnimalWelfare #AI #MachineLearning #PhD #Dogs

It was a book about Kanzi that sparked my interest in comparative psychology. 😔 www.apeinitiative.org/remembering-...

"The Mind of a Dog. Science Meets Comics", our next nonfiction graphic novel, is now available for pre-orders! Check out sample pages and your pre-order benefits: www.arador.fi/mindofdog Fun and useful knowledge, based on up-to-date science. #dogs #animals #animalbehavior #science #comics #arador