Caroline Henry presents research on her Senior Honors Thesis project on the microbiome of green and brown anoles.

Ellie Rice next to her poster on the effects of antibiotics on gut health and behavior.

CURE lab student Andrew Holman with his poster on gene expression and behavior.

LSU Discover Day 2026 was an awesome chance for lab members (and one of our CURE lab students!) to present research from the lab! Thanks to @lsudiscover.bsky.social for organizing! @lsuscience.bsky.social @lsubiosci.bsky.social 🧪🧫🦎

Post-doc opportunity on comparative cognition and movement dynamics in corvids with the brilliant Prof Debbie Kelly at the University of Manitoba

Closeup image of a wild azalea flower

It’s wild azalea season in Louisiana 😍

A photo of a Louisiana iris with three bright purple blooms on the stalk.

The first Louisiana iris of spring! 🤩

College student research on display at Louisiana State Capitol  • Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana’s university students presented their research at the State Capitol this week to demonstrate the impact of undergrad research

I worked with several @lsu.bsky.social undergraduate researchers to redesign technical posters to make them accessible for a broader audience, & they did a fabulous job presenting their findings to lawmakers this past Monday @lailluminator.com: lailluminator.com/2026/03/13/c...

A graph showing that sparrows that were more willing to feed in the presence of a novel object (left side of the graph) also performed shorter bouts of a beak wiping behavior compared to sparrows that were less willing to approach and feed (right side of the graph). This suggests that neophobic sparrows may also be more anxious. Figure is adapted from Figure 2 of Masri et al. 2026.

Sparrows that avoided novelty also performed more repetitive beak-wiping behavior, suggesting these birds may be more anxious. This project was the @lsubiosci.bsky.social honors thesis of @lsuscience.bsky.social undergrad Danna Masri, who is also first author! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Several kids at a table watch LSU postbacc Ellie Rice arm wrestle a student to see the electrical impulses made by her arm muscles. Suman Gunin and Katie Stewart look on.

LSU graduate students Suman Gunin and Katie Stewart with postbacc Ellie Rice at a table talking to a group of kids at the LSU Museum of Natural Science. Ellie holds a sign that says "Bioelectricity" and shows a neuron.

Lattin and @juheehaam.bsky.social lab members teaching local 4th-6th graders about neurobiology at the @lsumns.bsky.social annual Kids' Day at the Museum event! @lsuscience.bsky.social @lsulagniappe.bsky.social 🧪

Expression of genes in the blue (top) and turquoise (bottom) modules (created using weighted gene co-expression network analysis) were significantly associated with novelty avoidance behaviour in female Eurasian tree sparrows but not in males. The graphs show an increase in the approach time of sparrows towards food paired with novel objects with increased expression of the blue module, and a decrease in approach time with increased expression of the turquoise module, in female but not male sparrows.

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...

A group of barnacles on a cliffside at Sharkham Point, Brixham, one of the many species beloved by naturalist Charles Darwin. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and user Partonez.

Today I learned that Charles Darwin delayed publishing On the Origin of Species because he was too busy writing FOUR VOLUMES on the barnacles of the world (shout out to @lucycooke.bsky.social and her awesome book Bitch for that fun fact) 📚🧪

Cyclosa Menge, 1866 (Araneidae) Orb‐Weavers Build Stabilimenta That Resemble Larger Spiders The orb-weaving spider Cyclosa longicauda from Peru constructs unique stabilimenta from detritus and silk that visually resemble a larger spider. This previously undescribed behavior likely functions....

These orb-weaver spiders build FAKE SPIDER DECOYS in their webs, potentially to deter predators 🤯 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Roseate spoonbills on the @lsu.bsky.social lake!

Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA Scientific Reports - Persistent open chromatin state in early-life stress-activated cells of the VTA

Congratulations to Rebekah Rashford and team, it’s finally out! We tagged early life stress-activated neurons in VTA and found that chromatin those cells was much more open, even into adulthood, and that open CREs predicted greater gene expression in response to stress later in life
rdcu.be/eLa9z

A photo of a window in the LSU Our Lady of the Lake Interdisciplinary Science Building, showing bird safe glass with a repeating pattern of black vertical stripes

Bird-safe glass on the new @lsuscience.bsky.social Interdisciplinary Science Building! The repeated 2 inch vertical pattern should help minimize window collisions 🥰🐦‍⬛🪟

A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia Neophobia (the aversive response to novelty) varies considerably across species and individuals, and can impact adaptability and survival. This study assesses neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 bird ...

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...

Paper samples made by out of plants that are invasive in Louisiana, including mimosa, alligator weed, Japanese climbing fern and water hyacinth.

LSU College of Art and Design Professor Leslie Koptcho with a print she made of water lettuce, an invasive species in Louisiana

I’m loving the @lsumns.bsky.social new “Art After Dark” series! Last night I learned how @lsu.bsky.social Art & Design Professor Leslie Koptcho is making paper out of invasive plants, and using them as inspiration for her printmaking 😍🌱📃🖼️🧪

EGFP Designated Awardee Institutions and Programs

Current list of funded programs in EPSCoR states: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller? Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

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

Enter the 2026 @sicb-spdac.bsky.social sticker contest! Stickers will be available at the SPDAC booth at the #SICB2026 meeting. Enter submissions by November 3 as PDF or PNG files (>600 dpi; no AI designs). 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place will receive Visa gift card prizes: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The cover of David Stipp's new book, "Why Rats Laugh & Jellyfish Sleep: And Other Enchanting Stories of Evolution," showing Charles Darwin sitting on a jellyfish.

A photo of page 56 of "Why Rats Laugh & Jellyfish Sleep," which references house sparrow and Eurasian tree sparrow research done by the Lattin Lab.

The lab’s research on house sparrows & Eurasian tree sparrows is featured in Chapter 2 of David Stipp’s new non-fiction book, “Why Rats Laugh and Jellyfish Sleep: And Other Enchanting Stories of Evolution," available September 23: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david... 🤩🐦📖🧪

Michelle and a friend sitting under the moonlight on the side of Mount Shasta. They started their climb that morning at 3 am! Photo courtesy of Michelle Stantial.

"Once you get to the top, you get to ski all the way back down the mountain!" Read @lsubiosci.bsky.social PhD student @jacobcarignan.bsky.social's interview with Quantitative Ecologist Michelle Stantial about her ski mountaineering hobby:
thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...

A very nice article from @lsuscience.bsky.social about @marquisehenry.bsky.social and his @hhmi.org Gilliam Fellowship! Geaux Marquise!! 💜💛 www.lsu.edu/science/news...

I’m so so proud of rockstar PhD student @marquisehenry.bsky.social who is one of this year’s class of @hhmi.org Gilliam Fellows! @lsubiosci.bsky.social @lsuscience.bsky.social @lsu.bsky.social

Beth MacDougall-Shackleton and the Silver Spotlight Players performing “Shakin’ at the High School Hop” from Grease: The Musical. Photo courtesy of Beth MacDougall-Shackleton.

"I got all my friends and family to come out and see me being Anne of Cleves! That was great." @lsubiosci.bsky.social PhD student @ezekielbmartin.bsky.social interviews @westernu.ca Biology Professor @bethmacshack.bsky.social about her show choir hobby: thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...

Quinn working on painting a miniature. (Photo credit: Amanda Harvey).

"This campaign wasn't written by biologists...I have to come up on the fly with a reason why it makes sense to somebody who knows about genetics." @lsumns.bsky.social PhD student @harveyyamanda.bsky.social interviews Quinn McCallum about his RPG & miniatures hobbies: thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...

Kelton sport climbing in Thailand as an Assistant Professor. Photo credit: Mac McMahon.

"I've snapped tendons in my hands, which meant long recovery periods...those moments taught me patience." @urigso.bsky.social Oceanographer Kelton McMahon talking about his rock climbing hobby with @lsubiosci.bsky.social PhD student Yasodha Gamage on our class blog: thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...

LSU researcher Jena Bordelon chats with LSU Interim President Dr. Matt Lee about her research on improving the food environment in Louisiana schools.

Researchers talk to legislators, faculty, and visitors at the end of the morning session at the Louisiana Undergraduate Research Association (LaURA) Posters at the Capitol 2025 event.

I had an awesome morning at the #postersatcapitolLA25 event today! I really enjoyed chatting with Louisiana’s best and brightest undergrad researchers @lsu.bsky.social & 11 other LaURA organizations on how their important work helps their local communities, our state, country & world 🥹🧪

Katharina and her daughter, Hanna, sailing. Photo courtesy of Mario Stanke.

"I had the choice of getting a driver’s license for a moped or a sailboat, and of course I went for the boat." Read more about @lsubiosci.bsky.social PhD student Jackson Ferber's interview with @katharinahoff.bsky.social about her sailing hobby here: thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.

It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.

unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

White House Health Report Included Fake Citations

As I know from when my students try to do it, using ChatGPT to write your scientific reports is not the best idea www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...

Undergraduate Danna Masri receives the Undergraduate Teaching Award from the LSU Department of Biological Sciences and Dr. Christine Lattin receives the Graduate Teaching Award from the LSU College of Science.

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 ❤️