Very interesting work from @borreroja.bsky.social on the unique foraging behaviours of #Heliconius!

Reform are filth. They represent hatred, extremism, ignorance and irresponsibility. They'd make us a wretched vicious hateful little island. If people don't stand up to this, they won't stand up to anything.

If you are from the US and interested in applying for a PhD with me (or anyone else @camzoology.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social), your deadline for the gates scholarship is October 15! (You’ll need to write a research proposal, so contact PIs now) www.gatescambridge.org/programme/th...

Very interesting work from @borreroja.bsky.social on the unique foraging behaviours of #Heliconius!

Women, non-native English speakers & those form low-income countries are disadvantaged in science but by how much? We found that women with non-English first languages from low-income countries publish up to 70% fewer in English than their counterparts. 1/5 doi.org/10.1371/jour... #languagebarriers

Interested in doing your PhD in Spain on 🧠 ? Contact me to discuss projects and apply for this position! www.icp.cat/index.php/en...

Long time no see...But we are back with a real firework 🎆. Join us tomorrow at noon for the first #Goenomix talk of the semester by Cassandra Extavour from Havard University. Talk: "One two three: developmental counting mechanisms in reproductive output and evolution". PM for Zoom details.

Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨

"Overall, the message from this survey is positive– #evolutionary #biologists are readily employable outside of #academia, generally well-prepared for those jobs, and report high levels of satisfaction in their non-academic #careers" https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.671061v1

Come and work with us! Three new academic posts (including Animal Behaviour) and superb facilities in the new Life & Mind Building

Are you interested in uncovering how the tiny C. elegans nervous system uses complex dopaminergic signalling to control behaviours? If so check out our new postdoc position, applications are now open: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Our paper on central complex evolution in Heliconiini butterflies is now available as reviewed preprint at @elife.bsky.social 🎉🎉. Please check out the helpful and constructive reviews which we are going to address in the next weeks 🤗 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... @ebablab.bsky.social

Applications for the next academic cycle at @uniofcam.bsky.social are now open. Provost Professor Eilis Ferran outlines the criteria you need to apply for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. More here -https://www.gatescambridge.org. Just click on the apply tab at the top. #gatescambridge25

Traplining-behavior requires extensive spatial memory which is linked to Mushroom Body expansion in the brain of Heliconius 🦋. @maxfarnworth.bsky.social from @ebablab.bsky.social lab talks about the neural lineages that may underly this anatomical expansion. #dzg2025

Future me, while current me merrily agrees to write a review article.

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

Looking for a PhD? I am advertising two industry sponsored PhD projects. One on black soldier fly genetics with #betabugs and another on searching insect biodiversity for novel enzymes #Syngenta. Get in touch if you are interested!! bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/available-ic...

Most models of aging/lifespan are good & terrible; bowhead whales and Greenland sharks live a long time, so good, yet terrible for experimental studies. Exceptionally long-lived butterflies, however, makes experimental studies of aging/lifespan doable! #DevoEvoAging www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We invite you to connect with the TIBBE community on Mattermost, an open-source platform for real-time discussion and collaboration. This is a great space to share ideas, ask questions, and engage in conversations around the Integrative Biology of Brain Evolution. tibbe-network.github.io

Happening tomorrow! 👀

Happening tomorrow! 👀

New preprint out from the lab, including @rroyaute.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... In this we test what we refer to as the "standard model" of behavioral variation. This was inspired by recent work identifying intra-genotypic variation as a major contributor to "individuality". 1/

The first of Jessie Foley’s work on the #evolution of #ageing in #Heliconius for your reading pleasure. Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻 🧪

Little boy picking up conkers

Lolz… wonder what they’d say if they knew this already happened for reasons related to EDI 😱

A lively and light hearted moth vs butterfly discussion on The Infinite Monkey Cage with @janehillyork.bsky.social, @chrisjiggins.bsky.social, Katy Brand, @profbriancox.bsky.social & Robin Ince. Are you team butterfly or team moth 🦋💡? Listen to the episode in full: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Absolutely this. Rayner is hugely impressive, and should be even if you don’t agree with her politics.

🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar: Evolution of brain cell types. September 10, 2–3pm UTC This event brings together 2 outstanding evolutionary and developmental neuroscientists who will present their work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/evolution-...

Insectember day 4: Heliconius clysonymus Common name: Montane longwing Bug with hat, my go-to apparently 🎨 #insectember2025 #anthro #bugart

Excited for the upcoming TIBBE online talks &discussions with the amazing @matosches.bsky.social & @pkatz.bsky.social around How can we define homologous cell types across vertebrates and invertebrates? Next Wednesday, September 10, 2pm UTC, 4pm Paris 🧠🦎🐣🐭🌊 Join us www.crowdcast.io/c/evolution-...

The first of Jessie Foley’s work on the #evolution of #ageing in #Heliconius for your reading pleasure. Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻 🧪

Mindblowing research out of the wonderful @isemevol.bsky.social (where I'm delighed to be based for the next three months). Opening line: "Living organisms are assumed to produce same-species offspring [1,2]. Here, we report a shift from this norm". 1. Darwin (1859) 2. Mayr (1942).

Scientists discover the secret behind the shrew’s amazing ability to shrink their brains 🧠 The clever trick sheds unwanted weight without compromising too much on cognition. Find the 5-letter word 👇 Study by @cecibaldoni.bsky.social Dechmann Lab #shrewcrew et al www.ab.mpg.de/743885/news_...

For over 25 years, science and discovery centres have been at the heart of inspiring millions of people to explore, question, and be part of UK science and technology. But they're seriously under threat… 1/3

Now published @natecoevo.nature.com with @annika-nichols.bsky.social, our latest on the evolution of 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 across 𝟲𝟬 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 of cichlid fishes! doi.org/10.1038/s415... with members of the @schierlab.bsky.social and Salzburger labs, as well as the burgeoning Shafer lab @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social

In crater Lake Masoko one fish species is splitting into shallow and deep-living ecotypes occupying different light environments. New research shows their visual systems are diverging, and how colours of male eggspots have changed to maximise their visibility. doi.org/10.1093/molb...

False widow spider, creeping it’s creepy little heart out

Grumpy sawfly larvae

Thirty seconds of the Irish Sea

With #eseb2025 coming to a close, it is time to start making plans for 2026. Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Come to our #ExE conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall. Leave your email address at tinyurl.com/EvolxEcol to join our mailing list!

Last day of our youngest’s time in nursery, and for us the end of 7 years of having kids in nursery - end of a life chapter! Something ridiculous like £120k spent on fees, but the love and care provided by our #nurseryworkers was priceless.

Finally had time to watch John Welch’s excellent AV Hill lecture Recent Controversies in Evolutionary Theory. youtu.be/iOnpLT8p500?...

Gregarious behaviour in butterfly larvae has evolved multiple times - Cicconardi, @ebablab.bsky.social et al. use genome data of 60 Heliconiini species, identifying signatures of convergent molecular evolution, on both coding and noncoding loci. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf179 #evobio #molbio

Neuronal diversity is written in transcriptional codes 🧬. But what is the logic of these codes that define cell types and wiring patterns? To find out we built a #scRNAseq developmental atlas of the Drosophila nerve cord and linked it to the #connectome 🪰🧠 #preprint thread ⬇️1/8

A fascinating insight into the origin if @maxfarnworth.bsky.social’s brain and it’s thinking about other brains journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

@fcicconardi.bsky.social 😎

@pinpilinpauxa-aaa.bsky.social 😊

Jose Borrero talk on brain development and visual acuity in Heliconius butterflies @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 SYMPOSIUM 17.2

Francesco Cicconardi talk on single cell transcriptomes of Heliconiini butterfly brains @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 SYMPOSIUM 17.2