Gene flow weakens genomic clines while selection maintains adaptive loci: two decades of evolution in Drosophila melanogaster natural populations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.28.691231v1

Very happy to see our opinion article out in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social today. 🥳 We ask whether sexual signals can influence the evolutionary trajectory of naturally selected adaptations, such as protective colouration, for better or for worse 🧐 1/n doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

Somatic mutations impose an entropic upper bound on human lifespan www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

“There were some cells in there that were very messed up” In a technological tour-de-force, researchers have sequenced the whole genomes of more than 100 individual cells from one 74-year-old man go.nature.com/4rvXH8Y

In this new #JRSocInterface study, researchers have unveiled key evolutionary factors influencing the surface texture of #bird eggshells by analysing 453 species: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Seahorses have a unique sex role reversal with male pregnancy involving the brood pouch, an evolutionarily novel organ. A study in Nature Ecology & Evolution uses single-cell genomics and in-vivo experiments to reveal the mechanisms of pouch development in seahorses. 🧪

The gut microbiome can influence brain activity and complex behaviours. A Review in Nature Reviews Microbiology discusses microbiome-associated effects on social behaviour in model organisms, animals and humans, and considers potential mechanistic pathways. go.nature.com/4p2baUd 🔒 #MicrobiomeSky

New findings show that both attraction and repulsion between neurons guide the formation of fruit fly olfactory circuits, influencing how brain wiring shapes behavior. doi.org/hbcxtq

🧵1/5 Excited about our new paper in PRSB! @royalsocietypublishing.org Can AI make research on avian brood parasitism easier? YES! We show that AI model can identify conspecific parasitic eggs better than an average ornithologist. doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 📸 Barn swallow – our study species.

Online now: Evolutionary influences of sexual signalling on protective colouration

How does fever work? Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence. This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Parent-offspring conflict over sex determination in non-Mendelian systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690632v1

Why are there more songbirds some years compared to others? When animals drift across continents, it's hard to know. New study examined > 1.2 million captures of 33 passerine sp. across 11 European countries. It found an answer: adult survival shapes abundance link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I'm very happy to see this paper now out. We used early-life climbing ability to separate genetically identical short-lived and long-lived sub-cohorts of fruit flies, and to identify metabolites and metabolite modules that predict longevity. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A specialized appendage responds to female sex hormones, allowing male octopuses to find their sex organs in the dark. https://scim.ag/4roFry3

A while ago @caritalindstedt.bsky.social asked me “would you puke to save the group?” Well not me personally, there's real science about the evolution of cooperation here. With the help of talented student @abhay-gupta.bsky.social, we now have answers! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....

Del Basto & co show that using brown fat to generate extra body heat has helped some mammals conquer the globe, but birds have had to come up with other strategies while marsupials are stuck where the climate doesn't get so chilly journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Life history and infection susceptibility parameters of Drosophila species reared on a common diet https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.25.690557v1

The Everlasting Ovary: Decoding the Mechanisms of Lifelong Oogenesis in the Naked Mole-Rat https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41273388/ #EvoDevo

Pigeons may be able to sense magnetic fields via electric currents in their inner ears. https://scim.ag/4p1a4rU

This hairdo doesn't just help male pheasants woo females--it also obscures their vision, making them more vulnerable to predators. Fun story at @science.org

Thrilled to share our new paper! With @tomtom-auer.bsky.social team, we asked how #evolution reshapes what animals #eat to match their ecological niches. Using pan-neuronal Ca2+ imaging, we show that the changes are in how the brain processes #taste. Link @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out this nice Digest in @journal-evo.bsky.social by Pedram Samani about our EM study of sperm cell gigantism! digest = doi.org/10.1093/evol... original study = doi.org/10.1093/evol...

The last work of my PhD is finally out: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...! This work is about accurately estimating branch length in the Ancestral Recombination Graph (ARG), which is achieved by a really simple framework with minimal assumptions. (1/n)

Wondering if insects feel pain? Here's our critique of work that looked at this in bees. We were unconvinced of the evidence, and built a model to think through these issues. Their response is published alongside and we'll have a response to that out soon. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Long-term calorie restriction may slow brain aging by supporting healthier metabolism and myelin maintenance in brain cells, suggesting dietary habits can influence the trajectory of brain health. doi.org/hbcpcp

Transgenerational plasticity affects fitness and mediates local adaptation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.690023v1

Genetic and environmental interactions outweigh mitonuclear coevolution for complex traits in Drosophila https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.689096v1

Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨ Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?

Behavioural ecology in the 21st century..... www.nature.com/articles/s41... @asgriffin.bsky.social

Why is altruism more common in nature than spite? This new paper gives a general mathematical explanation: the degree of negative assortment that can be achieved is constrained in a way that positive assortment is not, particularly in unbalanced populations. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.

Our preprint doi.org/10.1101/2025... getting media coverage (!)

Our new collaborative work led by @taliamycota.bsky.social Jiajun Cui & Emma Caullireau between my lab @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social & the Karasov Lab (tkarasovlab.org) @uofubiology.bsky.social and collaborators: @plantricia.bsky.social et al. tinyurl.com/5yx2wmz5 (1/n)

Povilus et al. examined DNA methylation and genetic imprinting in water lily species, finding that maternal gene expression and parent-specific DNA methylation in the endosperm likely represent the ancestral condition of seed development. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf271 #evobio #molbio #PlantSky

New work from @rohner.bsky.social & @alexckeene.bsky.social 🐟

New paper out in @behavecol.bsky.social! Multiple studies show that sexually selected traits such as colours can reflect the presence of pathogens/parasites, but, can defensive coloration do the same? L. Schlippe Justicia, @carodittrich.bsky.social, O. Nokelainen & I tackled that question (1/3)

This is the first paper to originate from my lab and include Hamilton undergraduates! So proud of the hard work they put into this paper 🐸

Nature research paper: Repulsions instruct synaptic partner matching in an olfactory circuit go.nature.com/3LNmbtT

New evidence shows that specific DNA sequences can guide DNA methylation in plants, revealing a genetic mechanism for establishing new epigenetic patterns with implications for agriculture and medicine. doi.org/hbb8h9

Dose- and outcome-dependent effects of bacterial infection on female fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.22.689874v1

Biological age measured by DNA methylation clocks and frailty: a systematic review and meta-analysis www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Maternal care shapes an aposematic display and provides lifelong protection against predators #ParentalCare #PredatorPreyInteractions #Beetle #Insect doi.org/10.1093/behe...

Evolving life-history traits promote biodiversity via eco-evolutionary feedback mechanisms @PLOSBiology.org

I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵

A multi-omics molecular landscape of 30 tissues in aging female rhesus macaques www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How does messenger RNA (mRNA) get out of the nucleus to become a protein? Eukaryotic mRNA is packaged, exported, and then translated in the cytoplasm. But how do these steps work? And what are open questions? Check out our new review for our take: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... (1/3)

After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY

Why do eagle #rays and manta rays have such long, whip-like tails? This new #RSOS study shows these tails help keep their bodies stable while gliding through the water: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...