🎉 Congratulations to Andrew Gonzalez (@biomcgill.bsky.social), who is one of three recipients of the NOMIS Foundation’s 2026 Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Award! Discover the project ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/574

This video shows the new born octopus hatching from the egg. They are independent, the size of a pea. To learn more about the entire process go here: octonation.com/how-do-octop...

⭐️ A stony coral, Montipora capitata, primary polyps, one month of age. Autofluorescence of symbiotic algae (magenta) and GFP (green). 🔬 📸 Credit: Emma Rangel-Huerta from Stowers Institute for Medical Research #FluorescenceFriday #devbio #cnidarians 🪸

The feather starfish free-swimming marine vertebrate related to starfish and sea urchins. It survives as a passive filter feeder, using feathery branching arms to catch plankton and drifting food particles from water column. There are up to 600 recognized living species of feather stars.

Invasion science justifies a stringent precautionary approach to planetary protection. #bioinvasions #biosecurity #astrobiology www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/cha...

A little Roomba for hump day! I love the way the darkfield lighting shows the vortex created by this larval gastropod’s vela (the ciliated ‘wings’). #marineplankton 🦑

Cell transplant across the tree of life hints at how animals emerged - Embryonic ‘organizer cells’ can tell embryos of various phyla what kind of body to build. nature.com/articles/d41... via @nature.com #palaeontology #biology #science #SciChat

Thank you to our community for making McGill the outstanding university it is. McGill has been named the #1 university in Canada — and ranked 30th in the world — in the QS World University Rankings 2027. And we did it together! 

The array of organs in the animal body differ dramatically in their architecture, but cell-cell adhesion mediated by cadherins is a common principle. Our lab usually focuses on epithelia but cadherins are also active in migrating mesenchymal cells like these migrating testis myoblasts 1/n 🧪

This is a deep-sea isopod. Dr. Johanna Weston, a deep-ocean biologist and guest investigator at @whoi.edu, is confident this is Bathyopsurus nybelini, one of her favorite animals. Learn why via the YouTube caption: youtube.com/shorts/DenUj...

New study led by PhD Candidate Laura Lardinois (Barrett Lab) showed that the skin microbiomes of coral reef fishes respond to environmental changes created by seasonal upwelling, with potential implications for reef health under climate change. Published in BMC Microbiology: doi.org/10.1186/s128...

Giant Nudibranch during mating season. Filmed in the Nanoose area (Vancouver Island) at a depth of 100 feet by scubabc.ca #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFu...

In Canada, there were only a handful of cases only a decade ago,” McGill University biologist Virginie Millien. “It’s not a linear relationship, it’s exponential when a disease emerges. It’s not going to stop anytime soon because it’s really driven by climate warming.” www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

From sky to sea, and then back to the lab, here are the top images from Nature’s 2026 photo competition. www.nature.com/immersive/d4... via @nature.com #SciArt #ScientistAtWork #STEAM #science #SciChat

Emoticons: E9.5 mouse embryo sections through otocyst, hindbrain and pharyngeal endoderm resemble eyes, nose, and smile of an emoticon. 📸 Image credit: Ankita Thawani (Baylor College of Medicine) #FluorescenceFriday #Embryology #DevelopmentalBiology #Microscopy #ScienceArt✨ 🧬

I found this really pretty 🐸 macrophage. Looks like it has 2 leading edge trying to move in the opposite directions but one is stronger than the other so it got dragged along. It looks cool, nevertheless. #FluorescenceFriday

Bieler School of Environment Director Anthony Ricciardi and colleagues, are calling for caution when bringing extraterrestrial samples to earth and are highlighting how a base on the moon could be an answer for responsible research.

Pressed plant specimens collected centuries ago and stored in herbaria around the world could play a key role in facilitating the tracking of genetic change and extinction risk in plants, a McGill University-led study indicates. Learn more ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/5eB

And that’s just the beginning 🎓❤️ Congratulations to all #McGillGrads, and welcome to the @mcgillalumni.bsky.social community.

New paper out in Molecular Ecology 🐟🧬 Led by Julien Beaulieu, we show environmental RNA (eRNA) can estimate freshwater fish biomass & abundance in the wild — outperforming eDNA. Mitochondrial eRNA tracked Brook Trout numbers best. First demonstration in natural lakes 👇 doi.org/10.1111/mec....

“I think it’s a real mistake to forget where the pipeline for all this begins.” John Diffley reflects on the importance of basic research, his mission to decode DNA replication and recreate it in the lab, and the scientific optimism of the 1960s that helped shape it. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

We are pleased to announce the appointment of four department chairs, who began their terms on June 1. Find out who they are ➡️ www.mcgill.ca/science/chan...

Co-chaired a successful session with @tjcolvin.bsky.social at @scas-scsa.bsky.social / @iaglr.bsky.social 2026 on the impacts of invasive species in Great Lakes systems! Topics included #PinkSalmon #RedSwampCrayfish #RoundGoby & #NilePerch ft PhD research from @biomcgill.bsky.social

For biodiversity indicators to influence decisions, we need to trust them - and to trust them, we need to test them. Happy to share our new paper about how to do that (for genetic diversity) with @seanmhoban.bsky.social & @laura-pollock.bsky.social 😊 📝 doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111824

Bioinvasions & planetary biosecurity: Given the possibility that extraterrestrial life introduced to Earth could behave like invasive species, we propose that a lunar base be used for biocontainment of extraterrestrial samples (eg. from Mars missions). rdcu.be/flg0u link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The glass octopus VITRELEDONELLA richardi Lives in the depth of between 900 and 1000 meters its body is transparent only visible parts are internal organs, eyes optic nerve and digestive track. They grow to approximately 18 inches.

Congrats @sarahsanderson.bsky.social for receiving the Louis Bernatchez Memorial Prize for the best student-led paper in @evolappjournal.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Louis Bernatchez was a visionary scientist and a fantastic colleague. I miss him. @csee-scee.bsky.social

Congratulations to six professors from the Faculty of Science who have been recognized by Angela Campbell, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), for their exceptional research achievements! 🎉

We are so lucky to live in a world that has bobtail squids. 🦑📷 cr1970 (www.inaturalist.ca/observations...)

A copepod slurpy for a cnidarian planula larva! This timelapse shows (probably) a sea anemone baby getting in some lunch, and digesting this young copepod. This probably took around half an hour in real time. #marineplankton 🦑 #zooplankton

The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology acknowledges the increasingly active and important role of #neurobiology in advancing our understanding of the functioning of the brain and the nervous system. Apply by 15 June: https://scim.ag/4lVAtXb

Newly published chapter from the MSc thesis of @briellecomartin.bsky.social. Read it here: cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Correlates of Post-Introduction Displacement in a Conservation Translocation of Threespine Stickleback. Freshwater Biology71, no. 4: e70214. doi.org/10.1111/fwb.....

This microscopic freshwater organism, Limnias malicerta, is a rotifer, recognized by its rotating wheel-like structures. It uses spinning cilia on its head to swim and capture tiny food like algae and bacteria. Original post

I rarely see crab larvae in my samples, so it’s super exciting to see one! This is a zoea larva of a shore crab (Carcinus maenas). #marineplankton 🦑 #zooplankton #microscopy #crab

A study from the Leung Lab analyzed 17 years of data on spruce budworm populations from >1,000 sites in Quebec, and showed that defoliation risk was predicted by the cumulative effects of larval populations over multiple years and the surrounding forest composition. cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10....

Interested in creating baselines for monitoring genetic change? Check how many "populations" qualify based on already digitized herbarium specimens. Grateful to have been part of this side project! Led by amazing grad students and friends at @biomcgill.bsky.social

How useful can #herbarium collections be for genetic monitoring? 🌿 We show that Earth’s currently digitized herbarium specimens can be clustered into HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of historical “populations” suitable for population genetic studies 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/bios... 🧵

An interesting metaphor for earth and climate science.

What do shrimp see? “These guys have completely different eye designs,” according to Dr. Jan Hemmi, a visual neurobiologist. Their large eye size tells Dr. Hemmi and his colleagues that eyes are pretty important to these animals. #designingthefuture3 Read more: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Recently discovered in Japan, the Skeleton Panda Sea Squirt was formally titled 'Clavelina ossipandae' which translates to “little bottle of panda bones.” #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/natureisbe...

How utterly fabulous! I’ve seen plenty of Ptychocylis urnula (a ciliate) empty lorica (the little cup) before, but never a live one! I’m so excited!! #marineplankton 🦑

Evolution of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Defensive Traits following the Stocking of Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Led by Grant Haines - published in Am Nat www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Genome size and phenotypic change: insights on contemporary evolution across biological groups Led by Lucas Gorne - published in J Evol Biol academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...

It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Professor Alanna Watt, of the Department of Biology, as Dean of the Faculty of Science at McGill University. Her five-year renewable term will begin on May 1. Read the full announcement ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/5AH

This Earth Day, I’m spending it with some incredible denizens of the deep that are all unknown to science . 🦑🧪😍 You can too by joining us on the @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive stream: www.youtube.com/schmidtocean.... #onwardsanddownwards #DesigningTheFuture3

I missed that someone finally managed to find and photograph the rare punk rock ant Camponotus thadeus.

Researchers studying 450-million-year-old fossils discovered about 50 km northeast of Quebec City have identified a new species of basal medusozoan: Paleocanna tentaculum, a soft-bodied, tube-shaped polyp with a ring of tentacles. Closely related to modern jellyfish. Read more ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/5Ac