Matilda Brindle

Superstar researcher @averymaune.bsky.social on her awesome new paper! 🤩

This looks like a great resource, please could you add me to the list?

Have had a very exciting and unexpected start to this week, travelling to Salford for an interview with BBC Breakfast talking all things #wasps! Many thanks to @waspwoman.bsky.social for trusting me with this opportunity, and the fantastic #WorldOfWasps at @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social for the props!

Everyone isn’t ‘a little bit autistic’ – here’s why this notion is harmful This casual phrase might seem harmless but it misunderstands what autism really is and can do real harm to autistic people.

This casual phrase might seem harmless but it misunderstands what autism really is and can do real harm to autistic people.

🚨🐜!!! Check out our new paper where we investigate the impact of a soil level (SoilTemp) dataset on niche shifts of introduced ant species globally — using soil temperatures often lessens the extent of niche shifts between native and introduced ranges! 🐜 🐜 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Ten quick tips to get you started with Bayesian statistics

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Professor Stuart West

The ASN Distinguished Achievement in the Conceptual Unification of the Biological Sciences is for a senior (but still active) investigator who has made major contributions that relate to the goals of ASN. This year’s awardee is Stuart West (Oxford) www.biology.ox.ac.uk/people/stuar...
11/N

Anna Dewar Dr Anna Dewar Career Development Research FellowSt John's College & Department of Biology, University of Oxford Honorary Research FellowDepartment of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University C...

The ASN Early Career Investigator Awards recognize outstanding work by 4 researchers who have received their doctorates in the past 3 years. Recipients include:
d. Anna Dewar www.anna-dewar.com
5/N

Great, thanks!

Sounds great Kit, sorry I can't make it! ☹️

Really looking forward to this talk at @radicalanthro.bsky.social where I’ll argue that the evolution of menopause is crucial to an understanding of the evolution of modern humans and language. @bristolantharch.bsky.social

Study shows plants are more likely to be ‘eavesdroppers’ than A new study led by the University of Oxford has used a modelling approach to show that it is unlikely that plants would evolve to warn other plants of impending attack. Instead of using their

Write-up of our new paper on information transfer in plant-fungal networks: "Study shows plants are more likely to be ‘eavesdroppers’ than altruists when tapping into underground networks".

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-01...

@tobykiers.bsky.social
@stuwest.bsky.social

Super important new research out today by @josephwilliamson.bsky.social, @alexpigot.bsky.social & @jonbridle.bsky.social et al. shows diverse communities of species have worryingly similar heat tolerance 🔥🪲🦜🦎. Read more about it in Joe's piece for @theconversation.com

screenshot of the article in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B titled 'Clustered warming tolerances and the nonlinear risks of biodiversity loss on a warming planet'

🚨New paper 🚨We argue that abrupt biodiversity losses can be driven by populations sharing similar tolerances to warming 🦋🌎🥵. Out now in @royalsocietypublishing.org. Summary thread below 🧵
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1917

‘Bending the curve towards nature recovery: building on Georgina Mace's legacy for a biodiverse future’ - a special issue of Phil Trans R Soc B in honour of a very special biodiversity scientist - is published today by @royalsociety.org. royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...

A phylogenetic approach to comparative genomics Nature Reviews Genetics - Controlling for phylogeny is essential in comparative genomics studies, because species, genomes and genes are not independent data points within statistical tests. The...

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2

We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets.

These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit.

@lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

UNIQ University of Oxford

Applications are currently open for UNIQ 2025.

UNIQ helps support UK state-school students from underrepresented backgrounds prepare for university, with support through the application process to help take those first steps to university life.

www.uniq.ox.ac.uk

Reproductive output of old males is limited by seminal fluid, not sperm number What causes an old male to reproductively fail? Is it his sperm or seminal fluid? In fruit flies, old males produce fewer offspring than young males. But s

Is low fecundity of old males a consequence of seminal fluid or sperm declines, or female post-mating responses? Our new paper in evolution letters finds some surprising answers!

academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Evolutionary Anthropology seminars

New year, new term, new list of evolutionary anthropology seminars, starting Tuesday Jan 14th @uclofficial.bsky.social Anthropology dept. 14 Taviton St. Come along.
www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology...

Excited to have presented my poster at #BES2024 @britishecolsoc.bsky.social 🍀 I am grateful for the amazing opportunity to share my master’s research on spatiotemporal shifts in butterfly reflectance and trade-offs in thermal tolerance and UV protection 🦋 (Part 1/2)

Spontaneous nocturnal erections and masturbation in captive male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes):

brill.com/view/journal...

Postcopulatory sexual selection influences baculum evolution in primates and carnivores | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences The extreme morphological variability of the baculum across mammals is thought to be the result of sexual selection (particularly, high levels of postcopulatory selection). However, the evolutionary t...

Postcopulatory sexual selection influences baculum evolution in primates and carnivores: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

The evolution of masturbation is associated with postcopulatory selection and pathogen avoidance in primates | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Masturbation occurs throughout the animal kingdom. At first glance, however, the fitness benefits of this self-directed behaviour are unclear. Regardless, several drivers have been proposed. Non-funct...

If you want to know the answer to those questions, here are the papers!

The evolution of masturbation is associated with postcopulatory selection and pathogen avoidance in primates:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

Great to see so many people here – now seems like a good time to reintroduce my research!

I explore the evolution of behaviour, especially all things sexy ❤️‍🔥🌮👈🐒🍆 & answer the big questions: why do primates spank the monkey 🍌? Do chimps have wet dreams 💦? Why do some mammals have a penis bone 🦴?

I have some PhD projects now available for application if you are interested in insect biodiversity change. Please check out the links below and shout if you have questions!

Wowzer Laurie 😂👏👏

What’s wrong with evolutionary biology? - Biology & Philosophy There have been periodic claims that evolutionary biology needs urgent reform, and this article tries to account for the volume and persistence of this discontent. It is argued that a few inescapable ...

I keep finding myself suggesting this brilliant paper by John Welch, about why pointless debates in evolutionary biology + behavioural ecology. Maybe it is easiest if I just repost it here every so often?
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Please could you add me? Thanks!

go.bsky.app/QKajPgc
A starter pack for social evolution! Lots of space left for anyone who would like to be added

Starter packs BIOLOGY Ecology Macroecology https://go.bsky.app/GBn9pNZ Global ecology https://go.bsky.app/V6tN4cv Trait based ecology and evolution https://go.bsky.app/PThMXeX Invasion biology https://go.b...

hey everyone! i made a list of some useful starter packs (primarily biology/earth sciences with a few bonus things thrown in) to share with friends who have joined bsky in the last week and thought it may be useful for some people here too! 🌍🧪 #SciSky #BioSky docs.google.com/document/d/1...