Midwater worms >> terrestrial worms. 😍 #tomopteris 🦑🧪🌊 #DesigningtheFuture3 @mbarinews.bsky.social @schmidtocean.bsky.social

Galaxy siphonophore (side view) on the ROV feed bin the SuBastian control room.

Galaxy siphonophore from an oblique view (partially above) in the pilot sit camera feed.

The ROV pilots’ view of multiple feeds, including the galaxy siphonophore.

This perspective of a galaxy siphonophore is incredible!!! Look at the spiral!! 🤩 🦑 @schmidtocean.bsky.social @mbarinews.bsky.social #Designingthefuture3

PLS RT📣

Two Postdoc jobs at #mpaib with Serena Ding on collective behavior of worms

(Never seen a "wormuration"? That's them in green)

🪱 social dynamics of collective dispersal: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/2...

🪱 sensory ecology of worm towers: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/7...

Electric stealth through bidirectional signal suppression in electric eels and their knifefish prey Poon and Crampton report bidirectional suppression of electrolocation during encounters between wild electric eels and their weakly electric knifefish prey. Predator and prey alternate between signal emission and silence to balance active sensing with concealment. This electric stealth dynamic parallels acoustic stealth in killer whales and their echolocating toothed-whale prey.

Electric stealth through bidirectional signal suppression in electric eels and their knifefish prey CurrentBiology

Some favorites from Ray Troll's gorgeous "blue seas, green seas" California Current murals on the old NOAA building at Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, California

Evolution is amazing both for creating this spider and iNaturalist (which helped humans understand how remarkable this spider is)

Extraordinary footage of a sperm whale birth shows coordinated help from family and non-family members for hours after birth, social behavior usually associated with primates www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

For millions of years the traits of predators and prey have dictated their interactions. In the Anthropocene, humans are altering these traits. In @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social, we explore how human-induced traits shifts reshape predator-prey interactions.

tinyurl.com/TREEshifts

Resource variability shapes the ecology of social information and collective sensing Social information expands individual sensing of resources in dynamic ecosystems, yet why social strategies evolve in resource pursuit remains unsettled. We posit that resource variability along three...

New paper in TREE co-led w @jennakohles.bsky.social: We explore how resource variability shapes the value of social information for maximizing resource gain & minimizing variance. This eco-evolutionary lens helps us explain why collective sensing emerges in dynamic ecosystems!
🧪 tinyurl.com/2rurcry7

This rocks

@cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social | @mbarinews.bsky.social | @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social | @uwsafs.bsky.social | @ecosystemsentinels.bsky.social | @animaltracking.bsky.social | @livingingroups.bsky.social | @uni-konstanz.de

We are far from the first or last to wade into these waters, but I hope this paper shapes future theoretical and empirical work in social foraging and collective behavior. It has certainly influenced my thinking! I learned so much via thoughtful exchanges with outstanding co-authors and reviewers.

Resource variability shapes the ecology of social information and collective sensing Social information expands individual sensing of resources in dynamic ecosystems, yet why social strategies evolve in resource pursuit remains unsettled. We posit that resource variability along three...

New paper in TREE co-led w @jennakohles.bsky.social: We explore how resource variability shapes the value of social information for maximizing resource gain & minimizing variance. This eco-evolutionary lens helps us explain why collective sensing emerges in dynamic ecosystems!
🧪 tinyurl.com/2rurcry7

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama!

Three positions, each including salary & a research budget.

Applications due April, 15th.

DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us!

stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

DISI is an outstanding experience! Apply to keep shaping what makes this community so special!!

How and why does cognition vary so greatly between individuals and species? In @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, we propose the "Predatory Intelligence Hypothesis" which posits that the cognitive challenges associated with predator–prey interactions drive a cognitive co-evolutionary arms race

rdcu.be/e5KIj

Humpback whale breaching in front of the New Caledonian coastline.

New paper on age-related reproductive tactics & success in humpback whales, published in Current Biology.🐳🧬
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
#marmam @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social @clairenea.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social 1/7

Hiring for 3 positions: Research Assistant, Field Research Coordinator, and Postdoc I am looking to hire 3 people into my lab this year. I am still doing the paperwork to get the jobs officially posted but I want to send the word out and screen potential applications right away. R…

I am hiring a research assistant (vampire bats), a Panama fieldwork coordinator (vampire bats), and also considering postdoc apps (social behavior, any species): socialbat.org/2026/02/19/h...

Yes! That's part of what makes this work so exciting to me: using social information in (broadly-defined) foraging decisions is such a familiar experience for almost all humans. Super exciting to see why and how this is the case demonstrated so clearly in the wild.

but ya, they do

cognitive dissonance (2026)

This paper is amazing, an early fav of mine in 2026. But who "previously thought [humans] to be solitary decision makers"? Not the authors of this (again, outstanding!) study. From the intro of their structured abstract: "Foraging decisions... are, therefore, likely influenced by social information"

Fantastic opportunity to work with us at Shark Bay Dolphin Research 👇🏻

I love the ocean

Check out our paper which came out last year
www.cell.com/current-biol...

We understand a great deal about how and why cooperation evolves, but what about its long-term consequences?

Great to see our new review on this out now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social!

I love the ocean

On Brian Cantwell Smith and the Promise of AI Today I had the bittersweet pleasure of participating in a symposium honoring the late philosopher Brian Cantwell Smith, a good friend whom I’d known for over 30 years.

I wrote about the late philosopher Brian Cantwell Smith, and his profound thinking about AI and the nature of intelligence.

aiguide.substack.com/p/on-brian-c...

A photo I took in Monterey Bay was on the cover of @behavecol.bsky.social in late 2025! Killer whales are 1 of many case studies explored in our paper "Integrating space, time, and culture in animal conservation practice". tinyurl.com/2pnx2k36 Excited about more ongoing culture + ecology work...

Basque Country, Feb 2026