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katja heuer

@k4tj4.bsky.social

into brain evolution & development, open science, art & science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hMNZHsrNHw, music, making, javascript, contemporary dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfHj7F2FzQ website: katjaq.github.io

1,272 Followers  |  1,600 Following  |  109 Posts  |  Joined: 11.11.2024  |  2.2227

Latest posts by k4tj4.bsky.social on Bluesky

Great question and discussion! Just to add – large and small monkeys can even share the canopy and live together, like capuchins and marmosets, and spider monkeys and tamarins, who have very different brain sizes and fall into the 2 different behavioural main clusters.

31.07.2025 17:48 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

absolutely!

31.07.2025 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thank you, that's great. It is long time after the New World monkey/Old World monkey split (~twice as long as the human–chimp divergence) and its brain volume and the associated expected folding correspond very well with our estimations based on phylogenetic comparative analyses.

31.07.2025 13:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Very interesting!

27.07.2025 20:40 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Comparative neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Iwaniuk revels in unlocking the what, how and why of bird behaviour | UNews

If you are interested in bird behaviour or animal brains, our book has you covered. Available next week, you can order direct from @mitpress.bsky.social (mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273...) or wherever books are sold.
#birds #neuroskyence πŸͺΆπŸ§ πŸ§ͺπŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦

See more on it here:
www.ulethbridge.ca/unews/articl...

31.07.2025 02:43 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1
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Good question! Neuro & physiology are indeed very correlated. I included body weight, birth & weaning weight, age at sexual maturity, gestation &weaning time, maximum longevity, litter size and did partial correlations: Neuro significantly correlates with behaviour; but physio and phylogeny do not πŸ€“

30.07.2025 20:46 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Highly recommend reading the whole thread, but I particularly love this bit

29.07.2025 17:50 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Very nice new study led by @k4tj4.bsky.social & @r3rt0.bsky.social

Brains, behaviors, phylogeny & developmental constraints πŸ§ͺ🧠

Thread πŸ‘‡

28.07.2025 05:35 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Very interesting thread!

29.07.2025 14:00 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Seeing truly novel hypotheses pop up is refreshing & exciting. Very curious as to how the idea takes root (or survives) in neuroscience.

29.07.2025 12:37 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Reconstruction and illustration of Mirasaura in its natural forested environment, hunting insects. Credit: Gabriel Ugueto

Reconstruction and illustration of Mirasaura in its natural forested environment, hunting insects. Credit: Gabriel Ugueto

A paper in Nature describes a Triassic reptile with a crest of appendages on its back, which are neither feathers nor skin. The findings demonstrate that feathers or hair-like protrusions are not unique to birds and mammals. go.nature.com/4nZCySR #Paleosky πŸ§ͺ

29.07.2025 01:31 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Such a great paper, blowing the false dichotomy of genes vs. environment. Primate brain folds, connectome and even behavior is better predicted by brain volume than genes. Folds appear as a result of development with mechanical constraints (big brains get folded). No map of the brain in the genome!

28.07.2025 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

Really, really interesting.

28.07.2025 13:43 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Neuroanatomical similarity due to mechanical morphogenesis should definitely be a component to take into account! We did test within humans and observed an effect in that direction (writing that up right ATM). But we may not have enough behavioural data for other hominins. Do you? πŸ˜ƒ

28.07.2025 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Lovely work and great thread. I just read another work today who needs to cite this already!

28.07.2025 13:54 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is a really cool lens for understanding changes in brain function and behavior across species. This concept of mechanical morphogenesis is not something I’d thought about in this way - really cool work and the 🧡 and illustrations are πŸ”₯!

28.07.2025 12:18 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Incredible. Beautiful work

28.07.2025 10:10 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Fascinating work but equally a masterclass in science communication

28.07.2025 07:51 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, could be! With a larger brain comes more folding, and hence there will be more U-fibers connecting these additional gyri as a result of mechanical morphogenetic processes, adding to the intrahemispheric connectivity. Also, the hypoallometry of the corpus callosum may add to the picture.

27.07.2025 21:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks πŸ₯° Yes, you can send an email if you like :) Looking forward to reading from you!

27.07.2025 21:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Really interesting work showing "behavioural similarity was substantially more correlated with brain similarity than with genetic similarity". Would be interesting to see if ontogenetic feedback processes also cause behavioral similarities to structure patterns of neural development (Γ  la Lehrman).

27.07.2025 20:46 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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Thanks so much again to everyone involved! Thanks also to
@pasteur.fr @mnhn.fr @institutducerveau.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu @agencerecherche.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu β€ͺ

27.07.2025 17:59 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Extra bonus: Fly-through of the whole-brain tractographies of the 4 large-brained species capuchin, colobus, macaque and mangabey. πŸ₯°

27.07.2025 17:51 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Principles of neocortical organisation and behaviour in primates: Evolutionary expansion trajectory Video 1 Evolutionary expansion trajectory across 54 primate species. The video shows a neocortical expansion trajectory across 54 primate species, based purely on brain size, starting from small lemur...

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If you’re interested in the videos or the brain surface poster, you can find them here zenodo.org/records/1603... and zenodo.org/records/1596...
Also, if you have a species we don’t yet have, say hi :D πŸ₯°

27.07.2025 17:48 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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This was a long, fantastic journey w/ an awesome team: @nicolas-traut.bsky.social , @leandrist.bsky.social , S. Faezeh Alavi, Marc Herbin, @neuroecologylab.bsky.social , @rajeevmsn.bsky.social , Shaghayegh Najafipashak, Tomoko Sakai, Mathieu Santin, @borrell-lab.bsky.social & @r3rt0.bsky.social

27.07.2025 17:48 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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Thank you for staying with us until now! What do you think? We’d love to hear from you and discuss. πŸ₯°

27.07.2025 17:47 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0
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Our observations represent an important challenge to purely gene-centric explanations, adding a new fundamental principle to the causal pillars supporting the development and evolution of neocortical organisation and behaviour: inheritance, experience and emergence.

27.07.2025 17:45 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

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The consequences of the emergent structures induced by mechanical morphogenesis can go well beyond folding, influencing also cytoarchitectonic development, connectivity and behaviour.

27.07.2025 17:44 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

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Mechanical morphogenesis provides a more parsimonious explanation for this similarity than the parallel evolution of identical genetic encodings in New World and Old World monkeys.

27.07.2025 17:44 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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All this suggests that mechanical morphogenesis may be a major 3rd causal determinant of the development and evolution of brain organisation in primates.

27.07.2025 17:43 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

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