I continue to be in shock by all of this. I talked to Alan a day before the accident as we were working on a paper together about the field station (Gobabeb) where the accident occurred. He was so passionate about Namibia and the work he was doing.

At the RVC we are grieving the death of the Structure & Motion Lab's creator, and stalwart comrade, Professor Alan Wilson FRS, from a plane crash in Namibia on Wednesday. He was a giant in comparative biomechanics and an amazing scientist. I'm still reeling. It is utterly shocking and deeply sad.

Truly devastating and tragic accident.

From Tiny Spines to Sticky Toes: What Cyrtodactylus Geckos Can Tell Us about the Evolution of Stickiness in Lizards Like anoles, geckos are famous for their adhesive toepads, enabling astonishing climbing abilities. Since adhesive toepads evolved independently in geckos and anoles, these two rather distantly rel…

From Tiny Spines to Sticky Toes: What <i>Cyrtodactylus</i> Geckos Can Tell Us about the Evolution of Stickiness in Lizards www.anoleannals.org/2026/02/03/f...

As part of the upcoming 2nd edition of Fish Biomechanics (co-edited with @georgelauder.bsky.social ), our chapter on the ecology and biomechanics of locomotion and feeding in fishes is now available www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #fish #biomechanics #ecology

Very exciting to have this out to bridge physiology and physics. #biology #collectivebehaviour #fish #metabolism

Planktivorous reef fishes are thought to possess unique morphological traits to feed on small, evasive prey. Despite the multitude of family-level studies addressing this hypothesis, results remain inconclusive. Our goal, therefore, was to determine whether specialised traits and patterns of morphological convergence are congruent across a comprehensive phylogeny of reef-associated fishes. We measured 15 morphological traits from 815 images of 299 species in 12 globally distributed families. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we mapped the evolution of plankton-feeding across lineages; assessed the effect of planktivory on body shape; and tested for the presence of morphological convergence among planktivores. We demonstrate that planktivory is evolutionary ubiquitous and occurs in 12 of the most abundant global families. Some morphological trait differences between planktivores and non-planktivores were detected, but there was no difference in overall body shape. Contrary to longstanding assumptions, we show that planktivores have not converged towards distinct morphologies, but instead encompass the entire morphospace of reef fishes. Due to their behavioural, spatial, temporal, and resource heterogeneity, reef fishes of any shape and size can readily navigate the challenges of plankton-feeding.

More than one way to be a planktivore: the vast morphospace of plankton-feeding reef fishes

Ng, I., Bellwood, D.R., Strugnell, J.M. et al. More than one way to be a planktivore: the vast morphospace of plankton-feeding reef fishes. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s111...

New paper led by Alexandra McInturf & @physiologyfish.bsky.social
We present a methodological framework for analysing catch data to infer aggregation behaviour. We outline key metrics to explore and apply this framework in a case study of juvenile sharks. 🦈

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Skeletons of Plesiopterys wildi, a plesiosaur from the Posidonia Shale, Posidonienschiefer, of Holzmaden, Germany. The upper specimen is a skeleton in the Urweltmuseum Hauff collection, the lower specimen is the holotype of Plesiopterys wildi in Stuttgart.

🚨 New plesiosaur paper 🚨
I'm pleased to announce that our paper on the plesiosaur Plesiopterys wildi has been published today in PeerJ: peerj.com/articles/189...
In our study, led by @miguelpmarx.bsky.social, we describe a new and previously undescribed specimen.
#science #research
1/4

😃 A new article published in J Biomech by Kovács et al suggest sprint runners have longer Achilles tendon moment arms than distance runners in absolute terms, but this does not seem to impact running performance in either group.

👀 buff.ly/UrxOPIR
#BiomechSky

Paleoherpetology and The Anatomical Record Click on the article title to read more.

Heather F. Smith & Jeffrey T. Laitman (2025)
Paleoherpetology and The Anatomical Record
The Anatomical Record (advance online publication)
doi: doi.org/10.1002/ar.2...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Great opportunity for a Vertebrate Paleontologist - Collections Manager at the Los Angels County Museum. workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

Howdy members of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH).

The JMIH 2025 (#JMIH2025) meeting website is now active, and the deadline for submitting abstracts is March 25th.

The meetings are in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 9-13

Please share

burkclients.com/JMIH/meeting...

New paper with colleagues! Bagchi et al published work in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 😃

This ML model automatically extracts whale body length & volume from aerial images! Using Mask R-CNN, it detects whales, traces their body shape, and estimates the body axis. 🧵

Biology of Otodus megalodon Reassessment of the possible size, form, weight, cruising speed, and growth parameters of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontida

New collaborative paper on the biology of megalodon. @ucriverside.bsky.social @scinews.bsky.social #shark #paleontology palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...

Hi folks, we have a full time lecturer position in our department at BU!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/29783
We are a fun group of people, dedicated to creating an inclusive space!
Consider joining us!
Please share widely!

Geckos running with dynamic adhesion: towards integration of ecology, energetics and biomechanics Summary: We propose a set of lab and field experiments to further investigate adhesively assisted gecko locomotion, which is controlled by a hierarchical system including muscles, vascular tissue, tendons and hair-like adhesive structures.

Very excited for our new review paper (with Tony Russell) on gecko adhesion, locomotion, and ecomechanics. This stemmed from the JEB symposium last year. @jexpbiol.bsky.social @ucriverside.bsky.social #gecko #ecomechanics #adhesion journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Swimming smarter, not harder: fishes exploit habitat heterogeneity to increase locomotor performance Summary: Fishes actively exploit complex environments to enhance locomotor efficiency, revealing sophisticated strategies to navigate diverse hydrodynamic landscapes and highlighting the need for habi...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨

Fishes don’t just swim harder—they swim smarter. 🐟⚡ In our latest paper in @jexpbiol.bsky.social, Elsa Goerig and I show how fishes use habitat complexity to reduce the energetic cost of swimming. 🧵 🧪
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Excited to see this paper finally come out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social - I found that frictional adhesion predicts maximum acceleration (but not speed) in nature in a rock-dwelling gecko from Namibia. #gecko @ucriverside.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

I look forward to catching up with friends and colleagues at #sicb2025. Our lab will be giving 3 talks. The first will be given by Erik Axlid (Jan 4th, 8:30am): The effects of flow on prey capture in largemouth bass. #fish

The lab is excited for SICB!!! Check out this talk by Marina on Saturday!! #gecko #sicb2025

Super excited for my PhD student's (Seth Shirazi) first manuscript - investigating the drivers of failed strikes in stickleback @jexpbiol.bsky.social #fish @ucriverside.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...