Evolutionary landscape of endomembrane systems. On top are two possible endomembrane systems, represented as directed graphs (pER: proto-endoplasmic reticulum; PM: plasma membrane; IC: intracellular compartment). In the layer below, endomembrane graphs are represented as nodes (white dots) connected by evolutionarily viable transitions (red lines). Collectively these dots and lines define an evolutionary landscape. The landscape breaks up into less functional (left) and more functional (right) endomembrane systems, introducing a selective bias.

How did eukaryotic cells get their Golgi, endosomes, lysosomes and other endomembrane compartments? We show that endomembrane evolution depends on long periods of neutral molecular exploration, punctuated by sudden leaps.

New preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

AI Use Appears to Have a "Boiling Frog" Effect on Human Cognition, New Study Warns A new study claims to offer the first causal link between AI dependency and cognitive erosion. Researchers warn of long-term implications.

NEW: A new pre-print study offers the first causal evidence that outsourcing reasoning tasks to AI can rapidly erode users' independent performance AND their will to persist despite difficulty.

"People’s persistence drops... they’re also not willing to try without AI.”

futurism.com/artificial-i...

I call this diatom ‘the sweetie wrapper’ because of how it twists. Helicotheca tamesis. Lovely.
#marineplankton 🦑

Dive into the microscopic world of pond critters! These stunning images reveal ciliates and water bears in incredible detail, showcasing nature's hidden wonders.

How utterly adorable is this gastropod veliger larva?! I’ve never seen one in my samples with such large vela. Stunning! Vid in the comments.

#marineplankton #zooplankton #gastropod

Normally, motile cilia beat vigorously on the cell surface, just like they do on our lung cells to keep us healthy.

I am excited to share our most recent work collaborating with @centriolelab.bsky.social and @stearnslab.bsky.social to look at the ciliary base of mammalian multiciliated cells w/ cryo-ET, XL/MS, and U-ExM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Be part of the amazing PhD community at the Living Systems Institute, UoE. @exeter.ac.uk Work in a truly interdisciplinary place with Maths, Physics, CS, Bio & Biomed co-located in one building. Applications for LSI-funded PhD studentships are open now! www.exeter.ac.uk/research/ins... #FindaPhD

UK Cilia & Centrosomal Network Meeting Spring Meeting 2026 Join us for the annual in-person meeting of the UK Cilia & Centrosomal Network meeting, which for 2026 will be at the University of Leeds!

🥁Calling all Cilia & Centrosome enthusiasts! Registration for the UK Cilia & Centrosome Network Spring meeting in Leeds is open. A homecoming to the place where '9+2' was discovered!

Great opportunity for trainees + ECRs to share work + get community feedback.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-cilia-c...

🥳 Excited to share our #diatom work out in @pnas.org. In a great collaboration with @nic-poulsen.bsky.social and @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social we show that diatoms modulate the curvature of their paths by dynamic switching of their cell–substrate contact sites.

doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2506122123

Book cover

28 months later: In December 2024, I participated in the Ernst Strüngmann Forum on #Navigation #Research 🧭🧪 Now the book has been published including our chapter of group 2 ("team zoo" 🦠🐜🐦🦞🐒🦍🐢🤖) on the "Universal Principles of Navigation across Species and Spatial Scales" ↘️ doi.org/10.1007/978-... ↙️

📣 The Cilia2027 Best Image Competition is open! 🧬✨

🏆 1st Prize: Cover of the program & website + FREE registration to Cilia2027
🥈🥉 2nd & 3rd: Featured in the event screensaver + website

Submit your best cilia visuals: forms.gle/jUC2tnsa5Cs8...

#Cilia2027 #Microscopy #SciArt #Cilia

A year ago I participated in a Strüngmann forum on Navigation Research, a truly fascinating meeting of minds from across #navigation research, from animal to human #behaviour to robotics and healthy aging.

Our (heated) discussions resulted in this fun book chapter (free ⬇️)
doi.org/10.1007/978-...

#Cilia are beautiful!

That's it, that's the tweet.

Oh, and Happy #FluorescenceFriday 🔬

Many other cool talks and discussions.. Including a nice walk in the woods to admire century-old sequoias.. The walk started with a few snowflakes and ended with the sun.. The trees heard about very diverse science as we walked by
@events.embl.org #EESBioOsc

And it's a wrap for #EESBioOsc.. Today we heard about oscillations in cilia, scRNA, singing mice or reptiles among others
@micromotility.bsky.social @events.embl.org

When conference participants take part in a human experiment...

How to get a group of humans to spontaneously synchronize their walking behaviours in the absence of "leaders" (watch out for the one who was attempting to cheat the system!)

What are the most important cues here? 😏

#EESBioOsc

Known for being one of the most colourful sea creatures, they have bright, iridescent bodies with cerata (finger-like projections) that enhance their appearance and act as gills! 🌈

📸@guy_heath_ Olympus TG6

@therockpoolproject #rainbowseaslug #nudibranch #seaslug #rockpooling #cornwall

The largest and most beautiful #veliger I’ve ever seen!

Shot last week off Bali, far offshore, on scuba, at night, out over the deep abyss.

This is super cool!! This is a kind of ciliate called a suctoria (this one happens to be Acineta sp.) and it’s sucking up the contents of this egg! You can see it consuming the mush on the left hand side of the ‘martini glass’ (timelapse)
#marineplankton 🦑

Ah ha! Then you agree this is an example of 'behaviour'... Some people insist that to be capable of behaviour you must first possess neurons... 🤔

Excited to announce I’m starting a new lab at @gmivienna.bsky.social (Vienna BioCentre) in Sept 2026

We study how carbon fixation is inherited and maintained in algae using cryo-ET, imaging, environmental sampling&more

Looking for people who want to build the lab together, get in touch!

#teamtomo

I look at these kinds of protists ALL THE TIME. I have never seen them in situ like this. One cell. Absolutely remarkable. #protistsonsky

Morphological and behavioral diversity among Euplotes, as documented by the PhD students

thanks so much for the invitation and wonderful lab tour!! :P

Photo of 3 people standing in front of a building

I had the great pleasure to host plenary speakers @micromotility.bsky.social and @jensen-research.bsky.social at the Finnish Physics Days 2026 @aalto.fi

Ctenophore research points to earlier origins of brain-like structures New 3D reconstructions of a key sensory organ in ctenophores reveal an unexpected structural and functional complexity. The findings suggest that an elementary brain may have already appeared in our m...

New article from the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social group highlighted on the cover of Science Advances 🤩👏 The work, led by @annaferraioli.bsky.social, describes in unprecedented details the structure of the comb jelly's aboral organ (AO) 🧵 1/4

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. MicroSEA course integrates lectures, field sampling, and lab-based practicals in advanced techniques, such as flow cytometry, microscopy, culturing, and molecular analysis. The main objectives of MicroSEA course are: Fostering a deep understanding of marine protist diversity, ecology and biology; Providing hands-on training in advanced single-cell methods that are not commonly available in university programs; Building participants' confidence in designing and conducting research projects from field to data analysis; Promoting international collaborations and peer networking among students and speakers/trainers. The course will take place at the Station Biologique de Roscoff - SBR (France) - 7th to 12th of June, 2026 (arrival on the 6th, departure on the 13th). 20 participants will be selected, including 10 from EuroMarine member institutes. https://opbc.sciencesconf.org/

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing:

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org

#protistsonsky

(i first read that as a vertebrate menagerie and was briefly offended 😅)