Watch a harvestman in action as it devours a worm, showcasing its unique predatory skills. These fascinating arachnids are more than meets the eye.

Spiders doing weird stuff with their eyes and brains yet again ❤️‍🔥

Thanks for the snapshot Riverside, really appreciate that snapshot selection 🤡 Just filmed a little piece talking about my research and what advice I'd give to undergraduates looking to get into the field of visual ecology for an upcoming biology textbook from Oxford University Press 🦋🤸‍♂️🌟

Pollinators matter for human health!🐝 Our new @nature.com paper traces links from wild pollinators>crops>nutrient intake & income of families in rural Nepal—showing how pollinator declines threaten health & livelihoods, but also how farmers can help manage these risks doi.org/10.1038/s415...

📢 New pre-print alert! Most spiders have eight eyes, but not all - PhD researcher Antonio Galán Sánchez and Dr Andres Rivera Quiroz @naturalis.bsky.social led an exciting new analysis of the evolution of eye number and losses in spiders on a truly incredible scale! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Beautiful new preprint from Antonio and Andres on the evolution of eye loss in spiders! Find the full thread below for details on unequal losses across parallel visual systems, possible regains of eyes, 1000s of surveyed species, ecological and developmental clues, and a gratuitous dinosaur emoji 🦕

This is a great opportunity with a great group 🧠🦋

Finally answered the "should we start a podcast" call that waits for us all... Episode 1 of Inside Geroscience is out now! Tune in for conversations about the biology of ageing with leading scientists in the field. Brought to you by the Academy of Geroscience, available on all podcast platforms.

New paper out now! Biologically inspired warning patterns deter a passerine, Parus major, from digital turbine blades academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Monarch butterflies and Bogong moths are incredible navigators that annually migrate thousands of kilometers. In this review, Basil el Jundi and Eric Warrant @lundvision.bsky.social outline the neural mechansims underlying long-distance migration in insects. 🦋 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This will be a really cool project with a great PI!

For anyone working on #lightpollution #ALAN and #animalbehaviour - just 2 weeks left to submit an abstract for our symposium on light pollution and invertebrate behaviour at ECBB this September, with @ecbb2026.bsky.social, @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social . Would be great to see you there!

Are you a computational scientist? Within 7 years of your PhD? Come join us at Lund University! We have two new positions as assistant professor! Deadline: 25th of May. The advert is broad, but this is your chance to push computational neuroscience in a fantastic place! lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Any Bristol folks keen to learn more about the spiders we share our city with, or with curious little ones, please come along to the Bristol Spider Group's spider hunt later this month 🕷️🤸‍♂️🕸️ @britishspiders.bsky.social

🎙️ New Meet the P.I. podcast episode with Anna Stöckl @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social is out! From vision to interdisciplinary science, navigating new fields, dealing with rejection, and finding your own path ✨ 🎧 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1DGh... 📺 YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iemB...

New paper on seeing in air and water with compound eyes! The problem: physics The solution: physics Elegantly described with the dream team @tannermierow.bsky.social and @alexkingston.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Researcher in arthropod visual ecology Lund University - Lund, Sweden Read the full job description and apply⤵️ jobrxiv.org/job/research... #ScienceJobs

Nice summary of long distance insect migration in the Guardian today with fancy graphics www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A lovely few hours spent discussing academic careers in STEM with young people alongside Gargi and Meghan @techniquest.org

i'm back in @science.org reporting on a newly discovered "lunar compass" used by bull ants! these ants return home from foraging trips by observing the arc of the moon and integrating it with their sense of time—the first animals known to do so 🧪 learn more in the link below:

I recently saw this video by Aphra Hardwick on behalf of the Bristol University Neurodiverse Society (BUNs🎂). The video includes quotes from BUNs members explaining why nature is important to them. I found it so moving! Green and wild spaces are so very precious 🌳🌊🌺 Thanks Aphra for letting me post

We argue that the strange arrangement of cells and circuits is the consequence of a reduction of our visual systems to a simple median eye in our ancient filter-feeding ancestors.

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?

This is at 1pm tomorrow, if you're around. 'Last chance to book a ticket' the email tells me. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shades-of-...

So happy to be presenting to one of my favorite community of scientists! (@neuroethology.org ) Come join us, to check out some of my “old” work with new insights about arthropod eyes and their molecular make-up! #Neuroethology

JOB ALERT! We are excited to announce that we are recruiting three new academics at lecturer level! Click the link below for more info on how to apply, and don’t forget to explore our research themes too! We look forward to receiving your applications! www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Out in today's issue of Conservation Biology! conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Faculty #job alert - come and join our lovely friendly School! The School of Environmental and Life Sciences @uniofhull.bsky.social are recruiting a #Lecturer in Marine Conservation. Closing date 19 Feb - see details below. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQF022/l...

Environmental assessments need to account for spectrum and brightness of light affecting sensitive species. 🌙 We map impact zones using "moonlight equivalent" measures accounting for species visual sensitivity, then apply spectral tuning and shielding. 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/

New from Jessie Foley! #Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!* Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do. *the title is a spoiler 🧪

📢 Join us for the @thefsbi.bsky.social annual symposium in Southampton! Celebrating all the good that can be done for fish biology and conservation when we work outside our traditional siloes. #FSBI2026 #FishSci #FishBiology #FishMigration ABSTRACT DEADLINE SOON 🐠🐟🦈😁 share.google/vA9r1qi9k21L...

Excited that my 2nd MSc paper is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social 🦋🎉 doi.org/10.1093/evol... We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.

Come and join us to learn about insect brains with @stanley-heinze.bsky.social

Thank you @dmevans.bsky.social @fabusovam.bsky.social @nclneg.bsky.social for this wonderful dispatch on our paper 🤩

For years, experts have warned that nature loss would become a security threat. Now a national security assessment confirms it: biodiversity collapse risks food shortages, economic instability and global disorder. Nature underpins our global safety. So why is UK Government failing to protect it?

The rank prize summer internships are such a great opportunity if you’re thinking about postgraduate study and you’ll be in good hands with the Multipleye lab!

My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

For the presentation nerds: Have a look at this (free) font. It was developed by the @brailleinstitute.bsky.social to be the most readable for the visually impaired. I think its also beautiful and will use it from now on. www.brailleinstitute.org/freefont/

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research. We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Finally out! We studied the retinas of the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark, and found that the retinas remain remarkably healthy in animals around 150 years old. What is the mechanism? It may be a highly efficient DNA repair system. Enjoy! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

POSTDOC ALERT🚨 Two exciting social evolution postdoc positions live today! We're looking for two excellent field biologists. Join us to explore the evolution of sociality in wasps across Africa. Apply by 11th January. Collaboration with @dustinrubenstein.com @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Great #BBC1 Breakfast feature on protecting sharks from illegal fishing in the Mediterranean. Some great science from @virginiatech.bsky.social and @bluemarinef.bsky.social, and top contribution from @bristolbiosci.bsky.social shark expert @clemencywhite.bsky.social

Our researchers reveal that light pollution disrupts nocturnal insects & spiders' movements.🏙️🕷️ Dr Rochelle Meah & Prof Nicholas Roberts highlight two key effects: 1️⃣ Masked day-to-night transitions. 🌙🕷️ 2️⃣ Blinded polarized light for navigation.☀️🦋 Read➡️: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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)

Thanks so much to ASAB and the #ASABwinter2025 organisers for a cracking conference. Not sure why I’m so excited here, I guess the yoghurt and granola had just been served…

3 year postdoc funded by @ukri.org NERC on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins is now live - please share widely 🙏 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...

Caterpillars are great for neuroethology research, and they also stand to benefit from being studied in this way! It was a pleasure to write this with friends Callum McLellan (@bristolbiosci.bsky.social), @rochellemeah.bsky.social, @benitoexplains.bsky.social and @laurensr.bsky.social 👀👂⚡🧪🔥🌎〰️

It was such a joy to be a part of this review and to be a part of the 'Give Caterpillars A Chance' movement that I've just made up in my head. As Sam said, they're great study animals for neuroethology and there's still so much to find out 🐛🙇