Frédéric Silvestre

✅ Mission complete — and now it’s time for lab work!
With Justine Bélik, Noémie Buratto, Noëmie Guirandy

🌊 We also collected 30 jellyfish for behavior and microplastic analysis. Some were tested for their pulsing activity day and night, and others will be analyzed back in Belgium for microplastic contamination.

🐟 Why does it matter? We’re looking at epigenetic diversity, and as most of the fish are hermaphrodites, with very few males, we can investigate the role of epigenetic mechanisms in shaping personality traits.

We caught a total of 125 fish to study their behavior and biology. At Emerson Point alone, 44 fish were tested to see how bold they are : yes, we actually measure fish personality! 😄

Field trip in South Florida in July 2025 Scientific Mission to South Florida - Epigenetics and Environmental Stress in Mangrove Rivulus and Cassiopea Jellyfish - July-August 2025 From July 16 to August 6, 2025, members of the Research Unit i...

In last July, our team has been busy collecting and studying Kryptolebias marmoratus (the mangrove rivulus) in their natural habitat in South Florida, across 4 wild mangrove sites:
📍 Emerson Point Preserve📍 Fort de Soto📍 Long Key📍 Vero Beach

sciences-unamur.be/bio/system-e...

Thrilled to join the official Belgian economic mission in San Francisco and Los Angeles this week, representing the academic delegation and fostering new collaborations across research and innovation. #BEmissionUSA

Also, This article is the first to correlate the epigenetic clock with functional annotation in the brain, leading to new insights into the brain aging process.

Epigenetic aging in a self-fertilizing vertebrate, the mangrove rivulus Kryptolebias marmoratus Background: Since Horvath (2013) and Hannum (2013), DNA methylation has emerged as a reliable biomarker for estimating age. Predictive models, called epigenetic clocks, are being built across the tree...

Our PhD student Justine Bélik has published as a preprint the first epigenetic clock in the mangrove rivulus, and the first ever on a self-fertilizing species. With this clock, we're able to predict the chronological age of the fish with a mean absolute error of 28.7 days.

We're searching for 2 PhD candidates to work on our new project about the conservation of Beluga whales in the Saint-Laurent river. Two positions are open, in Montreal and in Namur. The candidates should show an interest in conservation biology, ecotoxicology, molecular biology and bioinformatics.

Happy to announce that we will start soon a new research project in collaboration with our colleagues from Montréal on the endangered population of the Beluga whale from the Saint Laurent river. Thanks to FNRS and FRQ 😀

A teaching assistant position in conservation biology is open in my research unit at UNamur. The deadline is soon (23rd of July). jobs.unamur.be/emploi.2025-...

YouTube video by Frédéric Silvestre Photography & Videography Iceland-Core Memories - A formative journey through Iceland

My last short film, on Iceland, is ready on Youtube. Don't hesitate to share and to leave a comment :-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZw7...

Stand up for Science day !!

For those who still doubts of the fascist ideas of the new US administration. The current VP concluded this 2021 speech with the sentence “Professors are the enemies”.

YouTube video by National Conservatism J.D. Vance | The Universities are the Enemy | National Conservatism Conference II

Cette vidéo date de 2021.
Il vous suffit d'écouter la 1ʳᵉ minute de cette vidéo pour comprendre que les US viennent de basculer dans une nouvelle ère, la pire de son histoire.

Et, ce faquin fera des émules, même chez nous ! J'entends déjà certains échos dans les médias.

youtu.be/0FR65Cifnhw?...

Protesters Display Upside-Down American Flag at Yosemite Organizers said the inverted flag, historically used as a sign of distress, was meant to draw attention to the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Park Service.

US national parks are among the most wonderful and spectacular of the planet. This action at Yosemite, a park that I know well and that I love, is a brilliant symbol of resistance against the fascism that has taken place at the WH. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/u...

Our former post-doc Anthony Mathiron published a new article in the Belgian Journal of Zoology. This article shows that cortisol (the stress hormone) level can predict behaviors associated with fish personality traits. belgianjournalofzoology.eu/BJZ/article/...

La science, une opinion comme une autre ? Déclic - Le Tournant · Episode

Excellent podcast du Tournant produit sur la RTBF par @ruyssen.bsky.social à propos de la défiance croissante vis-à-vis de la Science. A écouter !! open.spotify.com/episode/7020...

Going Green at the Department of Biology and Faculty of Medicine at the University of Namur! We've worked on it for a year, now it's time to go big 😁💚🔬 The initiative seems to be making some waves and it's great to see som much enthusiasm! @fsilvestrelab.bsky.social #sustainability #GreenLab

Thanks to you Alison and to the Team for this significant step ahead. It was a great afternoon 😀

Obama vs Trump in 2028? Social media users react to Rep introducing proposed change to allow third term in office - The Times of India US News: Representative Andy Ogles has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow President Donald Trump a third presidential term. The amendment seeks to ex

A conservative congressman, Andy Ogles, suggests to modify the 22nd amendment to allow President to run for a 3rd term. It's obviously dedicated to his mentor DT. However, I think it's a brillant idea and I'm ready to start the campaign: Obama 2028 !
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/oba...

Welcome immigrants from X interested in science to the friendlier skies of @bsky.app, as documented by a new @nature.com survey (but you already knew that 😉)
"Bluesky is much better for science. There is much less toxicity, misinformation, and distractions."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

...everything that is being hated by new fascism. I'm proud to work for Science, to develop new knowledge, to share this knowledge to students and to the general public. I will keep doing the same, but not on X. No pasaran !

I do believe that nothing is written and that the future is uncertain. It's nevertheless important to keep the direction towards more humanism, more equality and inclusivity, more freedom, more equity, more critical analysis, more reason, and more ecology,...

2° The algorithm used by X is totally biased towards the new fascism. Staying on X participates, in my opinion, to make these people great again, 100 years after their raise in Europe. Even if we use counter-arguments, I don't believe it can change anyone opinion on this media.

Nowadays, I'm overwhelmed with extremist, racist, supremacist, Trumpist, fascist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, Eurosceptic, antivax, antiscience, COVID-skeptic, and conspiracy posts all day long. As a result, the quality information I’m looking for has become more difficult to find.

1° I've been using Twitter and now X for professional purpose: to follow labs and scientists in my field, to share with them my research, and to connect with journalists.

I was thinking for a long time whether or not to leave X, like many of my colleagues and friends. I listened to several journalists arguing that it's better to stay and to keep providing a balanced information. However, 2 facts made me take the decision to quit.

I just made my #eXit! Thanks to #HelloQuitX, I’ve now moved to #BlueSky. Automatically reconnect with your communities on #January20 via app.helloquitx.com! It is an application developed by scientists from CNRS, France.