Krish Sanghvi

Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...

Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵

Great to see that our mosquito cell atlas is now out in Cell. Amazing work from @oliviagoldman.net and @nadavshai.bsky.social to organise so much data and so many interesting stories into a single paper!

Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...

Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.

But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!

doi.org/10.1126/scie...

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New preprint! We unexpectedly discovered that some Caenorhabditis species delete parts of their somatic genome early in development, which fragments their chromosomes and eliminates key germline genes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest this bizarre process was present in the ancestors of C. elegans

Telomerase Depletion Accelerates Ageing of the Zebrafish Brain
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Evidence for improved DNA repair in long-lived bowhead whale - Nature Analysis of the longest-lived mammal, the bowhead whale, reveals an improved ability to repair DNA breaks, mediated by high levels of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein.  &nbs...

What do the naked mole rat and bowhead whale (lives to ~200 years) have in common to explain their remarkable longevity?
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...

In accidental discovery, scientists find flatworm can grow two heads and flip its body axis The microscopic flatworm (Stenostomum brevipharyngium) is one of nature's weirder creatures. Chop off its head, and it'll grow one back.

A flatworm species has been observed naturally developing two heads and reversing its body axis, demonstrating notable developmental flexibility without genetic changes. doi.org/g98f7g

Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes Abstract. Fundamental traits of genes, including function, length, and Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content, all vary with gene age. Pleiotropy, where a single ge

Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Reese Martin and Ann T Tate

The minimal circuit of the circadian clock: Just four neurons keep fruit flies on schedule, study finds A tiny neural network is sufficient to control the daily rhythm of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Researchers at the University of Würzburg have shown that only four specialized nerve cells are necessary to drive the animals' endogenous clock.

A network of just four neurons is sufficient to maintain the circadian rhythm in fruit flies, suggesting a minimal core clock that operates independently of environmental cues. doi.org/g98gpf

What we got wrong about mosquito mating—researchers explain why females are in charge The female mosquito only mates once in her lifetime, and yet she can develop many hundreds of eggs from this single event.

Female mosquitoes control mating through subtle genital movements, determining if and when copulation occurs—a key factor in their reproductive success and the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. doi.org/g98bcr

Correlated Gene Copy Number Changes in a Seminal Fluid Protein Network in Drosophila https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.27.684572v1

The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience

Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E

@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Nested Male Reproductive Strategies in a Tolerant Multilevel Primate Society https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.27.684814v1

How missing nutrients rewire fly brains to seek out beneficial microbes New research from the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) reveals how missing just one essential amino acid can change gene expression and the brain's sensory systems, prompting animals to seek out protein-rich yeast and gut bacteria that help them restore nutritional balance and survive in times of need.

When fruit flies lack essential amino acids, their brains alter gene expression and sensory receptors, enhancing their ability to detect and seek out protein-rich yeast and beneficial bacteria. doi.org/g977t2

Talk about an in-flight meal.

For the first time, researchers have captured rats hunting bats by grabbing them from the sky. Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Jqldmn

Estimating (Non)Linear Selection on Reaction Norms: A General Framework for Labile Traits Ecology and Evolution, Volume 15, Issue 10, October 2025.

Estimating (Non)Linear Selection on Reaction Norms: A General Framework for Labile Traits Ecol&Evol

Discrimination against foreign male and female reproductives in complex insect families Animals often rely on kin discrimination to direct altruism towards relatives. Ants are a well-known example, because they ordinarily target aggression towards non-nestmate conspecifics. Many ant species can form multi-queen nests, in which relatedness between nestmates may be very low, raising questions about their origin and maintenance under inclusive fitness logic. Using the socially polymorphic ant Formica exsecta we tested if workers from single queen and multi-queen nests differed in discrimination against young queens of different origin in experimental bioassays. We also studied, for the first time, how workers respond to males from different origins. Together these also allowed testing whether outsiders of either sex were accepted as potential mating partner for residents. Workers from both single queen and multi-queen nests show high levels of aggression towards individuals from foreign colonies, but workers in multi-queen nests that are parts of multi-nest colonies readily accept both young queens and males from other nests within their own multi-nest colony. Discrimination by workers was not complete as some foreigners were occasionally accepted. This was not, however, dependent on the presence of potential mating partners in recipient nests, suggesting such acceptance was erroneous rather than adaptive. Our results suggest that differences in social organization between single queen and multi-queen nests are not associated with differences in nestmate discrimination. The causes and consequences of discrimination errors warrant further long-term studies.

Discrimination against foreign male and female reproductives in complex insect families BES

Kin selection and sexual conflict drive the duration of breastfeeding
doi.org/10.32942/X23...

A universal thermal performance curve arises in biology and ecology | PNAS Temperature has strong impacts on all biological and ecological processes, and thermal performance curves (TPCs) have been employed recurrently to ...

A universal thermal performance curve arises in biology and ecology doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

New research from #BiologyLetters: Identification of a sex-determining region potentially involved in resolving genetic conflicts over sex ratio buff.ly/CKjsLBw | #Evolution #Chromosomes #Crustaceans

Hibernating bumblebee queens can survive up to a week underwater. Watch a video about this #BiologyLetters research article on the Royal Society YouTube channel: buff.ly/vrlrKFn #bees 🧪

Simple maternal effect animal models may provide biased estimates of additive genetic and maternal variation:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@joelpick.bsky.social et al. 2025

A pair of canaries from the canary breeding colony of the Max Planck Institute of Biological Intelligence in Seewiesen, Germany. CREDIT: Stefan Leitner

Researchers gave female canaries testosterone, which causes them to sing. Two-photon in vivo imaging reveals that songs emerge due to changes in brain cell function rather than by increasing the size of a key brain region, as was once thought. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/pn1750XhFL5

Several supersedure cells on a honey bee frame, in which worker bees are rearing replacement queens. CREDIT: Abigail Chapman and Shelley Hoover.

Viral infections in honey bee queens diminish their reproductive capacity and trigger chemical signals that prompt worker bees to rear a replacement queen, eroding social cohesion. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/xCaP50Xh0l4

The search for mutations that sperm acquire as men age Age-related mutations give sperm-forming stem cells a selective advantage during sperm production, shaping disease risk and genetic variation in offspring.

Age-related mutations give sperm-forming stem cells a selective advantage during sperm production, shaping disease risk and genetic variation in offspring

go.nature.com/4hlCBFH

Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...

One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

They might not be giants: The genetics behind why some fish remain tiny Imagine you are a kind of fish called a goby, part of a huge family of more than 2,000 species. Maybe you're of average size for a goby, about three to four inches long.

Certain goby fish species remain miniature by overexpressing genes that inhibit growth, a genetic mechanism conserved for over 50 million years and shared across diverse vertebrates. doi.org/g97pqp

Scientists have uncovered how social life shapes aggression in fruit flies: while loners rely on quick jabs, group-raised males prefer intense, full-on tussles, a shift that helps them win territory and mates.
buff.ly/7FaSDNH

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...

Cryptic female choice can maintain reproductive isolation Abstract. Sexual selection has long been considered an important mechanism of speciation. Despite growing empirical evidence that postmating sexual selecti

My latest paper, Cryptic female choice can maintain reproductive isolation, with @servedio.bsky.social and Suzanne Alonzo is now out in the October issue of @journal-evo.bsky.social ! (1/3)
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...