bifrost: an R package for scalable inference of phylogenetic shifts in multivariate evolutionary dynamics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

A Brief History of Lab Notebooks How experimental recordings have changed, from the Renaissance through today.

Fascinating short history, including how "Isaac Newton’s famous Waste Book is a rare example of a physical continuity between the two cultures of notetaking: humanist and scientific."
www.asimov.press/p/lab-notebo...

So I pleased to announce the conceptual spawn of FigTree: PearTree (acronym still to be finalised). If you want to dive right in it is hosted as a web app here: artic-network.github.io/peartree (click the “Example...” button for immediate candy and then click every button you can find).

Environmental conditions shape the global distribution of ant societies | PNAS Sociality has evolved several times and is a key strategy for overcoming environmental challenges and promoting ecological success. Yet, it remains...

Our new study is out in @pnas.org ! 🐜🌍
We show that the environment shapes how ant societies are distributed across the world. Accessible here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Calling all OrthoFinder users!

We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.

GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...

(1/10)

Glucocorticoid Treatment Dampens Kynurenine Pathway Activation and Cytokine Release in Immune Stimulated Human Microglia - Martina Esposito Soccoio, Robert P. Mason, Julien Devilliers, Roberto Feuda, ... As a first line of defence for the central nervous system (CNS), microglia play a critical role in maintaining homeostasis within the brain. Upon detection of d...

A bit of a different collaboration on neurodegenerative diseases between at the time PhD students

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Check it out! Daily fluctuations of human smell, with behavioural and molecular synchronisation of mosquitoes smell and attraction! And icing on the cake a new timeless mutant line...

Check out this new preprint from the lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Lan Lou, @juliendevilliers.bsky.social, @karthikeyanc.bsky.social, @lahonderelab.bsky.social, the Tu Lab, and @joshuabenoit.bsky.social show that mosquito olfactory rhythms are synced with daily rhythms in how we smell.

Ever wanted to know how the visual system of a long distance migratory moth looks like? Then you'll find your answers in our new paper. Finally out, after about a decade of collecting data by a group af amazing co-authors. Find it here, open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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)

Learn about using the VectorByte Databases, VecTraits and VecDyn, to answer cool questions! Save the date for the VectorByte training workshop at Virginia Tech, together with EEID, May 30-June 1, 2026!!

Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

We performed an experiment with two spider species, one web building and one cursorial species. Juveniles experienced vibrations or visual input or both or no stimuli. Their brain areas did not differ significantly. However, siblings reacted in a similar way.

Spiders that experience vibrations, visual stimuli, both or none during development do not differ strongly in the size of their brain areas. This is a surprising finding. Even more surprising is that siblings react alike. See our new publication in the J. comp. Neurology.
doi.org/10.1002/cne....
🧪🕷

The earliest mature debate about animal consciousness occurred around 1900 and centred on the insects. We cover this rich history in this new article, as well as some more recent developments on the topic: royalsocietypublishing.org/.../10.../rs...

Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...

I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A

Please drop me a line is you are interested to work in my lab and are eligible for the CSC funding!

The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...

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...

Effect of landscape heterogeneity on mosquito abundance and sugar feeding behavior Abstract. Mosquito-borne diseases pose a dire threat to humanity, claiming over 700,000 lives annually. At the local scale, the interplay between several e

Check out our newest paper on mosquito sugar feeding! 🦟🌸

This study was led M. VanderGiessen, F. Upshur & M. Cartadena-Guzman. A great collaboration with L. Escobar & @thevinaugerlab.bsky.social!

@globalchangebio.bsky.social @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/jme/article-...

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell types and widespread co-expres...

Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸

There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

🌷New Research highlight showcases Arrowsmith et al. (2025), which shows that temperature alone can shift pollinators’ floral choices in diverse plant–pollinator communities. Such thermally-driven species interaction rewiring may have important consequences. ➡️ buff.ly/i5QrFjd

@blancaac.bsky.social

Sexual selection and speciation: a meta-analysis of comparative studies Abstract. Understanding the drivers of biodiversity is a central goal in evolutionary biology. In particular, sexual selection has long been proposed as a

Does #SexualSelection fuel #Speciation?

Our new #meta-analysis of comparative studies finds support for a positive relationship, but the rather moderate global effect suggests it’s not necessarily a dominant force.

doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Divergent sensory transcriptomic profiles in positive and negative learning in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Journal of Comparative Physiology A - Mate preference learning, where individuals learn to prefer or avoid specific phenotypes during mate selection, is pervasive across animal taxa and influences...

🚨 New paper out in #JCP-A @springernature.com "Divergent sensory transcriptomic profiles in positive and negative learning in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies" by Yi Teng Ter & Erica Westerman #Neurogenomics #VisualLearning #Lepidoptera 🧪🧠🦋
↘️ link.springer.com/article/10.1... ↙️

Revised evolutionary relationships within Brachycera and the early origin of bicoid in flies Mulhair et al. uncover a functional bicoid in non-cyclorrhaphan flies, pushing the gene's origin back by ∼20 million years. Reassessing the Diptera phylogeny using the largest dataset to date permits ...

Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social

We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬

To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).

🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy

🚨 PhD position available!

Study the implications of vision on sleep using drosophila as a model.

Apply by end of November

Interested in joining my lab to study the evolution and development of monoaminergic neurons?
You can now apply for the Giuseppe Levi Post-Doc Fellowship (2 years, Neurobiology, EU citizens).
Deadline: 10 Nov 2025 – 18:00
For more info selezionionline.lincei.it and email me!

From Trees to Traits: A Review of Advances in PhyloG2P Methods and Future Directions Abstract. Mapping genotypes to phenotypes is a fundamental goal in biology. Phylogenetic Genotype to Phenotype mapping methods are a relatively new set of

📢 New publication 'From Trees to Traits: A Review of Advances in PhyloG2P Methods and Future Directions' by Arlie Macdonald, Maddie James, Jonathan Mitchell and Barbara Holland in Genome Biology and Evolution 🧪

doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

#Phylogenomics

Protocol for multiplex whole-mount RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with immunohistochemistry in the mosquito brain Advances in sequencing technologies have enabled transcriptional profiling of previously understudied yet critical species, such as mosquitoes. Here, we present a protocol for multiplex whole-mount RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with immunohistochemistry in the Anopheles gambiae brain. We describe steps for dissection, fixation, probe hybridization, hybridization chain reaction (HCR) probe detection, and primary antibody application. We then detail procedures for tissue preparat...

Protocol for multiplex whole-mount RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with immunohistochemistry in the mosquito brain #protocol #starprotocols #cellpress

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon). Photo (c) Mike Rowe

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

OrthoSNAP: A tree splitting and pruning algorithm for retrieving single-copy orthologs from gene family trees Molecular evolution studies often rely on single-copy orthologs. This study presents OrthoSNAP, an algorithm that identifies and extracts additional single-copy orthologs nested within larger gene fam...

Original publication here: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Many thanks to @roliroberts.bsky.social for their professional handling of the manuscript

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and ev...

Ivimey-Cook @eivimeycook.bsky.social et al. From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... #OpenScience #OpenData