Here’s a little story about the new queen bee paper 🐝👑 @felicitymuth.bsky.social biology.ucdavis.edu/news/single-...

New paper alert! Read about how queen #bumblebees learn scent associations better than workers 🐝👑 This coupled with previous findings from the Muth Lab suggests that queens may generally be better learners than workers @felicitymuth.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Happy Earth Day! Check out @felicitymuth.bsky.social talk about bees on this ABC segment. You may see some familiar faces as well 😊🐝 abcnews.com/video/132283...

Have you ever seen a bumblebee being born?? Pretty cool to watch this worker emerge from her pupal cell today! She will be ready to work in just a few hours after her cuticle hardens and her wings dry out. Love the new bee fluffy look though 🐝 Also check out that big beautiful queen 👑

I love spotting bumblebees in my neighborhood! Here’s a bombus melanopygus worker I saw foraging on lavender a few weeks ago

New paper alert! Our collaboration with @jacanamama.bsky.social & Alex Bentz found Eurasian tree sparrows, a less-successful invasive cousin of house sparrows, had distinct patterns of gene expression associated with novelty avoidance that differed by sex: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

It was thrilling to be involved in this multi-site, multi-bird @themanybirds.bsky.social project out today in @plosbiology.org! We examined why some bird species show more novelty avoidance than others; 2 big predictors were a specialist diet & migratory behavior: dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

We previously showed corticosterone is involved in neophobia (novelty avoidance) in house sparrows; my students @marquisehenry.bsky.social & Melanie Kimball's new paper found this effect does not appear to be mediated via low-affinity glucocorticoid receptors: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/NMYI9B...

A new paper from the lab led by Blake Dusang & @marquisehenry.bsky.social builds on past work & finds not all "neophobia" tests measure the same trait. Specifically, responses to novel objects & novel environments were not consistent within individuals: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The lab was recognized for outstanding research & teaching at this year's @lsuscience.bsky.social awards! Danna Masri won the Undergraduate Research Award from @lsubiosci.bsky.social, former PhD student Melanie Kimball the Distinguished Dissertation Award, & I received a Graduate Teaching Award ❤️