Current Biology

How a sweet treat can change memories Memories must be flexible so animals can adapt when the world changes. FMI neuroscientists found that in fruit flies, simply tasting a sugar reward again can weaken all previous associated memories. T...

Now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social: neuroscientists in the lab of @felsenberg.bsky.social found that in fruit flies, re-tasting a sugar reward can weaken past memories, pointing to new ways to safely update harmful ones. www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

We get slight cover envy...

"Saw her in the Amazon
With the voltage runnin' through her skin
Standin' there with nothin' on
She gonna teach me how to swim"

for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol...

(and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)

This is who runs this account

Evolution and development: What makes a merry stem? From tiny mosses to giant redwoods, around 450,000 species of land plants show a huge variety of forms, yet all land plants develop from stem cells in proliferative meristems. What makes a meristem? T...

It was good to catch up on my reading for this dispatch in Current Biology. Sjoerd Woudenberg in the Weijers lab, Wallner et al. In the Dolan lab and Flores Sandoval et al. In the Bowman lab have done a great job! Evolution and development: What makes a merry stem?: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Iranians are experiencing a collective trauma. Thousands have been killed/injured in recent events, the economy is crippled & the threat of a wider conflict is real. This is especially difficult for those living in Iran, as many have lost (or fear losing) loved ones. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Latest issue is out!
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Rather than a charismatic cow, this time we feature a cryptic beauty & unsung hero —the detritivore— vital for soil-related ecosystem function.

An orange springtail, devouring detritus in its native edaphic habitat. 👉 www.cell.com/current-biol...

While medicine and technology have thrived over the last 50 years, treatments in mental illness and brain disease have with few exceptions stalled. In the new book Elusive Cures, Nicole Rust explains why the current Grand Plan of identifying single causes at the molecular level has failed to deliver new treatments and proposes a new Grand Plan based on a big rethink not only about how we approach brain disorders but also how we think about brain research at all. It is a bold, stimulating and serious attempt to shake things up. Rust begins by detailing the enormity of the problem and the different costs of failure. The financial cost is stated humbly by Thomas Insell, who was Director of NIMH for 13 years. He led the spending of approximately $20 billion on the neuroscience and genetics of mental disorders and conceded that “I don’t think we moved the needle in reducing suicide, reducing hospitalisations, improving recovery for the tens of millions of people who have mental illness. I hold myself accountable for that.” Rust makes clear that working neuroscientists share that accountability and invites us to rethink our processes from the bottom up (or rather the top down as we shall see). Another cost is that of losing momentum in research and development. In 2011 several of the major pharmaceutical companies discontinued the drive for new brain drugs. It’s fashionable to demonise Big Pharma (Rust doesn’t), but if they aren’t pursuing new drug development we have to be smarter with fewer resources. And there is of course the human and economic costs. Almost a billion people suffer from brain-related illnesses, and the economic costs in developed nations are estimated to be between 5 and 10% of GDP. By any measure, the book has identified an important problem.

A new review of Elusive Cures is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social. Thoughtful and thought-provoking. Appreciated!

I'd love to see it inspire other researchers to spell out their ideas about the "Grand Plan". Progress in our next steps depends on such discussions.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Here, researchers Sarah Shipley, Caswell Barry, et al. investigated how disruptions in hippocampal reactivations relate to place cell stability and spatial memory deficits in #AlzheimersDisease mouse model. @ucl.ac.uk @currentbiology.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social 👉 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Experience-dependent reconfiguration of thermoreceptors regulates neuronal response plasticity Harris, Dutta, et al. find that experience-dependent plasticity in the activation threshold of the AFD thermosensory neurons is mediated by modulating warm and cold thermoreceptor levels at the sensor...

Our first 2026 paper is out @currentbiology.bsky.social!
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.

Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Using #FungiFriday to plug our special issue from last summer, packed with interesting mycology reviews, primers and other pieces...🍄👇

www.cell.com/current-biol...

"how your email finds me"🐍

Shifting leaf fall #phenology disrupts #ecosystem #function.

Out now @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

➡️ Leaf litter fall 🍂 and processing in temperate streams is one of the most pervasive resource subsidies and ecosystem functions globally 🌍 .

New paper by @pimientoc.bsky.social & team: #biodiversity of sharks and rays over time.

As predators they shape marine ecosystems.

Many of the ~1200 living species are in danger, mainly from overfishing, and in need of conservation action.

more on shark conservation👇 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Revealing the hidden patterns of shark and ray diversity over the past 145 million years Gardiner et al. reconstruct the diversity of sharks and rays across the past 145 million years using deep learning and an extensive dataset. Their results unveil previously hidden patterns, including ...

Our new paper is online! We found that 1) today's shark & ray diversity was already reached ~100Ma; 2) that the K/Pg extinction was not catastrophic; 3) that the max diversity was reached ~50Ma; and 4) that today's diversity is depleted compared to the past.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

In the US, there is about one 'head' of cattle for every four people, so that could work out.

Cover girl Veronika is making headlines across the globe🐂
(animal cleverness trumps human stupidity)

Notably, she is a 'companion cow' not used for meat or dairy.

Maybe if we saw other creatures less as a means to an end, we could appreciate their richness better...

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Advice from Pat Izar: "First, trust your own perspective. Your experiences, your landscape, your languages: these are forms of knowledge. Science needs them. Second, seek community. [..] And finally, remember that building a more equitable science is a collective effort. We advance together."
WORD!

Quite. By the same token, weird glasses only allowed if worm by mantises or other insects...

Ecology of animal migration Alerstam and Bäckman introduce the ecological factors influencing the way animals migrate and how this branch of ecology has developed and grown.

Here a nice primer on migration ecology from our archive
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Long distance migration provides food benefits for mule deer.🦌🦌🦌

New Study by Anna Ortega and colleagues:

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Patrícia Izar Interview with Patrícia Izar, who studies the behavioral ecology, plasticity, and cognition of Platyrrhine primates at the University of São Paulo.

Q&A with Patrícia Izar, who is a Professor of Ethology at the University of São Paulo, where she studies the behavioral ecology, plasticity, and cognition of Platyrrhine primates, especially robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus). www.cell.com/current-biol...

But can they scratch their backs with them?😂

Co-loquial literally refers to speaking together, what more could behoove a journal?🤷‍♂️

Bacterial metabolites induce cell wall remodeling, antifungal resistance, and immune recognition of commensal fungi Davis et al. demonstrate that common gastrointestinal bacteria secrete metabolites that induce global cell remodeling in Candida albicans. C. albicans uses the HOG cascade, a central stress pathway, t...

Bacterial metabolites induce cell wall remodeling, antifungal resistance, and immune recognition of commensal fungi

@currentbiology.bsky.social from @teresaomeara.bsky.social

E.coli vs C.albicans

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Thrilled to share my latest Dispatch covering two beautiful papers from Dahmann and Boulan's groups. They use Drosophila to shed light on tissue growth regulation and proliferation control @currentbiology.bsky.social
www-cell-com.sire.ub.edu/current-biol...
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‘Shattered’: US scientists speak out about how Trump policies disrupted their careers Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House.

“The speed, the scope and the severity of the attacks on science are beyond anything we’ve ever seen,” says @gretchentg.bsky.social.

My @nature.com story on the human toll of the 2nd Trump presidency.

Thx to @dochfroehlich.bsky.social, @briannosek.bsky.social, @katharinehayhoe.com & others.

No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools First evidence for tool use in cattle includes a skill previously seen only in humans and chimpanzees

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual... My latest for @science.org about the first documented case of tool use in cattle!