Melvin Williams

One of the coolest stories I’ve seen in a while

A global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon brain How animals detect the Earth’s magnetic field remains a mystery in sensory biology. Despite extensive behavioral evidence, the neural circuitry and molecular mechanisms responsible for magnetic sensin...

How animals detect the Earth’s magnetic field remains a mystery in sensory biology.

In Science, researchers used whole brain activity mapping, tissue clearing, and light sheet microscopy to identify neuronal populations activated by magnetic stimuli in the pigeon. https://scim.ag/48szWXT

A Hot Plant’s Mysterious Signal Makes Beetles Pollinate It

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/s...

Can adding light sensors to nerve cells switch off pain, epilepsy, and other disorders? Optogenetics is poised to move from a research tool to new therapies—if scientists can show it’s safe

Optogenetics is poised to move from a research tool to new therapies—if scientists can show it’s safe. https://scim.ag/48VQ7gt

I am thrilled to share our latest work led by @zurisullivan.bsky.social in collaboration with @moffittlab.bsky.social ! We find that the brain encodes distinct, pathogen-specific sickness states across behavior, physiology, neural activity, and gene expression 1/6

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Canada’s largest marine university research facility opens at Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity The Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity opens its doors to the public Saturday in Halifax.

Canada’s largest marine university research facility opens at Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity #Halifax #NovaScotia

www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nov...

The final version of the clonal raider ant reference brain is now out OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social:

🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Unimaginable cruelty

A bubble coral shrimp (Hamopontonia physogrya).

This species is very small, typically less than 1 cm long. It is often found in bubble corals. The shrimp helps clean the corals of parasites and debris, while being provided with shelter in return.

#marinelife #macrophotography

A shorthair domestic cat gazes upward.

The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S

Thats 216 biomedical PhD students for their whole degree, or 140 2 year R21 grants, or 30 5 year R01 grants, or one fired football coach...

Pablo Villar and team uncover molecules and receptors underlying octopus mating.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolution of taste processing shifts dietary preference - Nature Calcium imaging of taste neurons and the ventral brain provides insight into evolutionary divergence of food choice in Drosophila species, supporting a role of sensorimotor processing in addition to p...

Thrilled to share our new paper!
With @tomtom-auer.bsky.social team, we asked how #evolution reshapes what animals #eat to match their ecological niches. Using pan-neuronal Ca2+ imaging, we show that the changes are in how the brain processes #taste.
Link @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...

Some archaea—an ancient group of microorganisms—have an entirely novel genetic code, according to a new study in Science.

The findings expand our understanding of how alternative genetic codes evolve and hint at new molecular tools for biotechnology applications. https://scim.ag/4omApQ7

Public servants, artists, cultural figures, heads of nonprofits and industry. Meet our Transition Committees:

So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵

Check out that spindle 🤩🔥

At 63C, most eukaryotic cells would be busy exploding noisily, forget even trying to divide.

The microbial universe never ceases to astound 😍

Thanks for letting us be a tiny part of this! #ExpandThemAll

In a massive backlash against MAGA fascism, Democrats have now swept school board elections in Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio and defeating all terrorist Moms For Liberty candidates in the process. Much more of this please, we have a democracy to rescue. 💙👊

Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.

Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

WOW can not wait to deep dive into this one absolutely insane!!

A global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon brain How animals detect the Earth’s magnetic field remains a mystery in sensory biology. Despite extensive behavioral evidence, the neural circuitry and molecular mechanisms responsible for magnetic sensin...

A global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon brain www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... - so cool! 🐦🧠

Rewiring an olfactory circuit by altering cell-surface combinatorial code - Nature In Drosophila, changing the expression of a small set of cell-surface proteins in just one type of olfactory neuron rewires its connections almost entirely to a new postsynaptic partner neuron type, altering the fly’s odour response and courtship behaviour.

Nature research paper: Rewiring an olfactory circuit by altering cell-surface combinatorial code

go.nature.com/3MbCoZT

Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...

After analyzing the DNA sequences from 357 modern and 22 historic specimens, new research led by @yukihaba.bsky.social and @lindymcbr.bsky.social at @science.org uncovers the true, ancient origin of the "London Underground mosquito."

How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926

From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution The vast diversity of animal behaviors has long inspired ethologists and neuroscientists, but circuit mechanisms driving this variation remain elusive…

@rorycoleman.bsky.social and I wrote an opinion piece called

'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'

We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Axonal pathfinding of zebrafish retinal ganglion cells forms the optic nerve. Credit to Dr. Matthew Bostock @houartlab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of seahorse male pregnancy - Nature Ecology & Evolution Seahorses have a unique sex role reversal with male pregnancy involving the brood pouch, an evolutionarily novel organ. This study uses single-cell genomics and in vivo experiments to reveal the cellu...

Seahorses have a unique sex role reversal with male pregnancy involving a brood pouch, an evolutionarily novel organ. This study uses single-cell genomics and in vivo experiments to reveal the cellular basis and molecular mechanism of pouch development and diversity 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Right wing fascists would have us believe that hatred of Netanyahu and his government is antisemitic. It isn't, any more than hatred of Trump and his catch-farts is hatred of all Americans. Evil should be called out wherever it appears.

Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...

Really cool new tech to engineer native gut bacteria inside living animals using mobile CRISPR-associated transposases!
Non-engrafting donor E. coli + broad-host-range conjugation system + guide-RNA–directed targeting
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪

Just gonna put this here for now
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
bsky.app/profile/jlst...