Dr George RA Hancock 🦋🦎

New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me,
@iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.

An awesome talk by @matteosanton.bsky.social showcasing his research at the University of Exeter.

It’s such an incredible find and tears the scales and feathers can’t overlap statement apart. Lots of implications for integument across dinosauria!

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Artificial nighttime lighting is suppressing moth activity Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research shows. Moths’ attraction to artificial light, such as streetlights, is common knowledge and has been much studied...

Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, Cornwall shows.
Read More: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

@uniexecec.bsky.social #ExeterEcology

Excited to recruit a 🚨 postdoc 🚨 for projects on #AI and evolving scientific practice, norms, and impact! Interdisciplinary work across science of science, philosophy of science, math with creative Purdue/Argonne/CMU/Chicago/Princeton collaborators! *pls repost*! careers.purdue.edu/job/Postdoc-...

The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be…

The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…

The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.

It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.

A u shaped structure made out of sticks called a bower, built under a small tree. In front of the bower is a pile of grey, white and green objects that make up the display court. The whole scene is in dappled sunlight and shade created by the tree above.

New bowerbird paper out, we asked whether male great bowerbirds care about the light environment around the bower where they display to females. Short answer: not really. What they do care about is having a display arena with strong visual contrast on the ground. 🐦 tinyurl.com/2v7rycdz

I’ve recently decided to get back into digital art starting with my most ambitious project. Depicting some key life history and anatomical elements of one of my favourite animals. The secretary bird.

Great new research shows that light pollution prevents activity in the critical twilight period (just after sunset) in a moth and spider species. 🕷️🦋💡- this calls for mitigations targeting this critical time period. Read more in our dispatch:
www.cell.com/current-biol...

My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here:
candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

Aurora visible in Penryn, Cornwall.

Any ECRs (must have PhD by deadline) want to chat about joining my group at Bangor? Get in touch!
Maternal effects, stress, sociality, thermal ecology and intersection of all the above… we cover a broad behavioural/ecological/physiological remit and are interested in adding skills to this portfolio!

We are hiring – postdoc position exploring how kinship shapes social ageing in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social and Prof Rufus Johnstone (Cambridge) starts 1st April 2026 and ends 31st March 2029. Apps close 2nd Feb. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPZ788/p...

Apply for this fully funded PhD studentship in Tropical mountain forest ecology! Join us at University of Liverpool to carry out research on plant range shifts in the cloud forests. With: @fdraper.bsky.social @funkyant.bsky.social @jhomeier.bsky.social. Applications due Jan 21. tinyurl.com/23ary845

Join us Opportunities Below are the positions currently open in our lab. Fully-funded PhD position The project aims to understand rapid evolution and adaptation in white butterflies flying at high elevatio…

New PhD position: Butterfly Evolution at High Elevations 🦋⛰️
The project aims to understand the rapid evolution and adaptation of white butterflies at high elevations.
DEADLINE: January 11, 2025
More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/

🚨Roll up, roll up, fully-funded #PhD deadlines approaching...

6th Jan: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6

8th Jan: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp

Social monitoring & manipulation
#meerkats #mongooses #macaques #fieldwork #long-termdata

@patrick-kennedy.bsky.social @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Butterfly Patterns are Amazing! Hugely researched warning signals and mimicry sexual signals thermoregulation camouflage, ...and the underlying genetics and evolution

Butterfly patterns aren’t just pretty, theyre motion confusing 😵‍💫🦋 Some traits more than others! #ASABWinter2025

Currently recruiting PhD students to follow up on this result - please come to have a chat if interested #ASABWinter2025

I feel like @grahancock.bsky.social should win some sort of award for best shirt !!!! #ASABWinter2025

Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026:
1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD
2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD
#AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social

And here is the working link: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas.
Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...

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...

A week ago, I made the point that films/tv etc focus on cars, normalising car-filled city streets. I asked for examples highlighting bikes/trams/buses/walking, and got 1.1k replies. Data!
Here is my unscientific analysis of those suggestions (and no, I can’t believe I did this either). [1/n] 🧵

Cover slider for presentation, showing butterflies alongside a phylogeny.

For those of you attending @asab.org Winter, be sure to check out my talk on how butterfly wing patterns create motion confusion effects!

🚨Two funded PhDs on the evolutionary ecology of antipredator colouration 🦋 with myself and Iliana Medina.

One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social

The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st

Please share among potential students!

Interested in #RaptorResearch and #MovementEcology? 🧪
The #AnimalEcology Lab at @utu.fi has an open #PhDposition!

We’ll be tagging WTEs with cutting-edge #GPS devices to study their early-life journeys.

Curious to learn more? See the advert: shorturl.at/HMZ84

#PhDOpening #PhDChat #BioLogging

We had a new paper out yesterday in @royalsocietypublishing.org Biology Letters. About how the cranial feathers of male Golden and Lady Amherst’s Pheasants affect their visual fields. Nice to see it picked up The New York Times and Science. Paper link below.