Welcome Kevin! I am sure the dive into the evolution of ctenophore neurons is gonna be adventurous!😄 This project is supported by a generous @leverhulme.ac.uk grant.

Looking for a #PhD project? The #DEEVA team (biom.obs-banyuls.fr/presentation...) proposes a PhD research project on the evolutionary modifications in the formation of the palps, the sensory and adhesive organ located at the anterior end of the #ascidian larvae.

The development of #salps differs from that of #ascidians in the presence of maternal cells called calymmocytes. This study of #embryogenesis in 2 salp species identifies distinct cleavage patterns & blastomere positioning, informing the study of their #evolution @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4bscc6j

First ascidian sea squirt egg of the year! If you think it’s something different, let me know! #marineplankton 🦑

Neither machine nor organ: these Platynereis worms possess cells that function like a 3D printer! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Davies et al. assemble the genome of polychaete Capitella teleta, a model for evolutionary developmental biology, comparative genomics, conservation, and ecotoxicology, generating a 243 Mb chromosome-level genome, and publish a genome browser. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag041 #genome #evolution

Happy to announce I've launched a new service for the fly community: flyRoom, a web-based comprehensive stock manager for all your fly pushing needs. Organise all your stocks, maps all your genotypes, plan your crosses, print and scan your labels. Give it a try and let your colleagues know!

📣 JOBS!!! We're looking for new colleagues in the School of Biology @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social - two associate profs (plant sci and animal biology) and a lecturer (ecology/zoology)... jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Nature research paper: Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature go.nature.com/4ua5R82

New paper from the lab led by @ericmulhall.bsky.social addresses how PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are tuned to different types mechanical forces. From nanometer-scale super-resolution microscopy to in vivo experiments, links single-molecule observations to physiological function. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances! Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors. Here’s the cover 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is the cercaria larva of a parasitic flatworm (Trematode) from the family Bucephalidae. These Platyhelminthes parasitise bivalves and fish. #marineplankton 🦑

How can we build better experiment-theory collaborations in neuroscience? We're hosting a series of 6 in-person, interactive workshops to discuss this. Come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/understand...

🪼🌊 A new species of ornamental jellyfish has been described from Japanese waters. 👉 Find out more through our blog: blog.pensoft.net/2026/02/25/n... 📖 Read the full study: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.173354

From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?

Postdoc Opening! 🚨 Thrilled to (belatedly!) share that I’ve received @hfspo.bsky.social grant in collaboration with @KatherinaPetrou "Plant-like solar tracking in a photosymbiotic animal." We are hiring a Postdoc to join the team @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! Apply👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO766/r...

We are excited to announce the latest release of MorphoNet 🎉 ! Explore a completely remade interface to be clearer, with more features 🧑‍💻! It also contains many bug fixes, and new plugins for you to discover 😉! download at morphonet.org/downloads

📢📢📢Lectureships at Bristol!📢📢📢 We're hiring 3 x lecturers (=assistant professor) in Biological Sciences, across the discipline. Great department, great colleagues, great building, great city Details here: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

PhD opportunity in "The role of neural development in multimodal intelligence" with me, @marcusghosh.bsky.social and @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social. Read details below 👇. Note there's a very short window for applying (deadline Feb 27). 🤖🧠🧪 www.imperial.ac.uk/school-of-co...

I've written a post about Galactosomum nagasakiense - a flashy fluke which lives rent-free in the heads of fish and literally gives them brain rot 🧪 dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2026/02/gala...

Yes well said!! "Behaviourally complex"!! Time we finally recognised that you don't need to be a "higher" animal to exhibit behavioural complexity...

1 budget for 26-30 is rising 🎉 2 quota for basic research stable 🙂 BUT 3 we're slashing success rate for currently assessed grants 🫠 4 next call hopefully in Apri 2027 (with £s for lucky few going out months later, suppose) 💀 How does this make us more competitive? www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

"Saw her in the Amazon With the voltage runnin' through her skin Standin' there with nothin' on She gonna teach me how to swim" for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol... (and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)

We found no signs of DNA incorporation for #HEK293 cells ✅ EU only in RNA @mchatzigeorgiou.bsky.social #Drosophila wing disc ✅ EU only in RNA Katherine L. P. Downham & Fergal O'Farrell Thanks also to @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social for encouraging us to follow the 🐇!

In marine invertebrates 💙, test for DNA incorporation of EU! #Nematostella ⚠️ EU in RNA+DNA #Aiptasia ⚠️ EU in DNA #Ctenophores ✅ EU only in RNA @ruthstyfhals.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social #Platynereis ⚠️ EU in RNA+DNA @leonieadelmann.bsky.social @tessmarraiblelabs.bsky.social

A huge thanks to our amazing collaborators from @msarscentre.bsky.social, @unibergen.bsky.social and @univie.ac.at who helped investigate how commonly EU ends up in the wrong macro-molecule. 👏 Check it out at link.springer.com/article/10.1...

So excited to see @malinkjosavik.bsky.social beautiful work out @bmc.springernature.com 🤩! Check it out to see where the RNA-label ✨EU✨ shows up in our favourite sea anemone and how to catch your organism crafting DNA from RNA labelling tools 🧬👀. #transcription

It's that time of the month again for our featured #preprint list for December ⬇️ Welcome to our monthly trawl for developmental and stem cell biology (and related) preprints. thenode.biologists.com/december-in-...

#Mediterranean seafloors are heating fast 🌊🔥. Our new study shows bottom marine #heatwaves will intensify, last longer, and threaten benthic species—often year-round by 2100. A growing #ClimateRisk for benthic #biodiversity. #ClimateChange 🌍🌐🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper out in @bmc.springernature.com 🤩👏 A routine 5-ethynyl uridine (EU) RNA labeling experiment in a sea anemone turned into detective work for @malinkjosavik.bsky.social, @ktgarschall.bsky.social & @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social 🕵️‍♀️

The delightful contract and stretch of a Trematode flatworm, no doubt on the hunt for a host to enact its parasitic ways. #marineplankton 🦑

Looking for a PhD or Postdoc in marine #invertebrates comparative #morphology, #development, #phylogenetics, #fluid mechanics, #skeletogenesis, or #paleontology? Ping me. sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/o...

The colours on this copepod nauplius are just stunning! #marineplankton 🦑

Our latest on #oil droplet capture by #marine animals is #OpenAccess @sicbjournals.bsky.social Oil Droplet Capture by Tunicates by Katherine Beaudry & C.B. Cameron, Integrative Organismal Biology, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2025, obaf045, doi.org/10.1093/iob/... Cover photo by Robin Gwen Agarwal

Barnacles! A lovely little collection of barnacle larvae, both nauplii and cyprid (the seed-shaped ones), which are the earlier and later stages, respectively. #marineplankton 🦑

Marine functional #connectivity matters—from genes to energy flows. This synthesis clarifies concepts, unifies fragmented approaches, and proposes a global framework to better link science, #SpatialPlanning, and #policy in a changing ocean. doi.org/10.1002/brv.... #MarineEcology 🌐🌍🧪🌊

I am deeply honored to share that my project NeurEvoFun has been awarded support from the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS), the Advanced Grant by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, supporting fundamental research inspired by the ERC model. Excited for what’s ahead!

Coming in February!! A monstrous 4-book series covering neural systems in animals, featuring a very long chapter on the origin of NS in metazoans by Volker Hartenstein, @simon-sprecher.bsky.social , and myself. Details very soon—for an incredible bargain price!! 😜😅 shop.elsevier.com/books/evolut...

One of my favourite projects to be involved with - love the combination of cool natural history and the ability to run field #experiments in natural #marine environments. Great work @sammatchette.bsky.social on leading the latest work. 🐟 #trumpetfish #colour #predation @royalsocietypublishing.org

The preprint containing the bulk of my thesis work is out!

An appendicularian (larvacean) from my sample this week. I won’t go on about how awesome they are - I’ve posted about them loads. So just enjoy! #marineplankton 🦑

Our November in #preprints list is now up on the Node! Check it out for the latest in #devbio and stem cell research ⤵️: thenode.biologists.com/november-in-...

A Tunicate #Salp’s Last Supper. A swimming smorgasbord wrapped in glassy flesh #photography #UnderwaterPhotography Link for more #photos and information: mossandfog.com/a-salps-last...

In this month's Creature Column, we feature the ascidian tunicate Ciona, a model for marine systems life sciences. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are thrilled to invite you to the Michael Sars Symposium 2026 - Living systems in a variable ocean, together with our co-organizers at @cbubergen.bsky.social! Mark June 4, 2026 in your calendars, and watch out for our speaker lineup reveal in the new year 🙌

New publication 🐋 fresh out of our #bioacoustics lab! Congratulations to our dedicated colleague @beeden.bsky.social & co-authors 🥳 HIGH FREQUENCY #VESSELNOISE 🛥️ MASKS ECHOLOCATION AND COMMUNICATION 🔉 IN #HARBOURPORPOISES 🐬 Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1121/10.0...

🚨Seeking developmental or cell biologists🔬!🚨 Our department @ucl-cdb.bsky.social is looking to support scientists seeking to establish their lab with a fellowship. Deadline: 30 Jan. Apply here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Multiple anthropogenic stressors can negatively impact species but can a single stressor also have multiple, concurrent impacts? Here we show that light pollution creates several simultaneous impacts to the nocturnal movement ecology of a moth and a spider: tinyurl.com/5eku5bff (1/5)

Stoked that this paper, summarizing a vast series of experiments from past and present members of the team is out. A great way to end this year. www.nature.com/articles/s41...