Lochlan W

Synchronization of visual perception within the human fovea - Nature Neuroscience Combining behavioral data, electrophysiology and modeling, the authors show that the human brain synchronizes visual signals by adjusting axonal conduction speed in the retina, revealing a previously ...

The human brain synchronizes visual signals by adjusting axonal conduction speed in the retina—revealing a previously
unknown mechanism for precise perceptual timing

@anbucci.bsky.social @ffranke.bsky.social @iobswiss.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Move over chimps, it's the mountain gorillas' time to slide (carefully) into action as the true gesture gods they are!

Huge congrats to Charlotte Grund on the 1st moutain gorilla gesture repertoire 🦍🤘🦍👏🦍

link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...

🧪 @erc.europa.eu @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 1/6

MBL Announces Largest Ever Gift for Its Renowned Biological Education and Research Programs | Marine Biological Laboratory Cell Biology Researcher Mark Terasaki’s $25 Million Unrestricted Gift Will Support Operations and Infrastructure Contact: Samantha Cummis scummis@mbl.edu; 973.800.4119

We're thrilled to announce the largest private gift in our 137-year history: a $25 million unrestricted donation from MBL Whitman Scientist Mark Terasaki.

His extraordinary generosity will bolster our renowned research and education programs. 🔬

Learn more: bit.ly/452WL1m

Check out the newest episode of our podcast "In the Swarm"!

Have you ever wondered how tiny insects navigate the world? In this episode, @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social explains how the tiny but mighty insect brain controls behaviour of stunning complexity.

www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/collective-b...

@katrinvogt.bsky.social representing @uni-konstanz.de at the #KITP Neurosensing/QBio program, presenting work on the social life of fly larvae! 🪰🪱

Winter ASAB 2025 December 15th-16th Edinburgh ASABwinter.github.io/2025/ How sensory information affects behaviour Logo of a moth

Join us for #ASABWinter2025 in Edinburgh Dec 15-16 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Abstracts for posters/talks due Aug 29

More details here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Captured a couple shots of this cool lady today. No idea the species though 🕷️

Systems and circuit neuroscience need an evolutionary perspective To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, neuroscientists must frame their research through an evolutionary lens.

To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, systems and circuits, neuroscientists must embrace an evolutionary perspective, argue Karl Farrow and @katjareinhard.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

A photo of a female yellow fever mosquito. Photo credit: Adam J. Blake.

We all have our favourite colours, but Adam Blake & Jeff Riffell have discovered that mosquitos can change their favourite colour, preferring to land on green when they smell flowers or dirty pond water, but love every colour when they smell dirty socks

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

A bar graph showing a greater prevalence of left-sleeping cats than right-sleeping cats. The category labels are pictures of cats.

Cats like to sleep on the left

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

two 4-year PhD positions in the Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich, and the Wild Minds Lab of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, to study wild chimpanzees and bonobos. The PhD candidates will work within the Creative Ape Project. The overall goal of the project is to enhance our understanding of the evolution of creativity, and to shed light on whether humans are a uniquely 'creative ape'. To do so we will apply a comparative approach, quantifying the creative capacities of wild non-human apes to investigate the underlying drivers that shape creative expression across species. The project explores four interconnected topics: i) Making mavericks, ii) Funny guys and arty-types, iii) Lone ape geniuses, and iv) Creative ape economies. We employ a comprehensive approach that leverages long-term datasets, new field data, detailed manual video-coding, bespoke automated deep-learning models, and advanced modelling, to extract rich information on the ways in which apes solve problems in their daily lives. Excellent collaborative, independent working and time management skills are essential. Previous field experience (incl. behavioural data collection) is required, and experience working in remote places under difficult living conditions is highly recommended. The project will require strong data management and data analysis skills, and 12-18 months of field work split into 2-3 periods. Please submit your application in a single PDF to kathelijne.koops@iea.uzh.ch and clh42@st-andrews.ac.uk – by 4th of August 2025. Feel free to get in touch if you have any inquiries about the positions. Applications should include: 1) cover letter stating your motivation and how your expertise fits the project (max. 1 page), 2) Curriculum Vitae, 3) copy of the highest degree obtained, 4) names and contact details of two referees, and 5) reprints of 1-2 selected publications

A tiny chimpfant looks at the camera with surprise

📣 Join the K/Creative Ape Team 🤓 2 PhDs on Creativity in Wild Chimpanzees & Bonobos; w myself & the v awesome @kathelijnekoops.bsky.social

@snf-fns.ch Uni Zurich @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @efp2026.bsky.social @ips-primatenews.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @primbehavecol.bsky.social 🐵🧪

Sensory eye dominance varies over the horizontal axis of the visual field: left eye dominance for the right visual field; right eye dominance for the left visual field.

Surely you know about eye dominance. You probably don’t know it’s not a unitary phenomenon: in this paper I show that sensory eye dominance varies over the visual field. In the Discussion I propose an explanation for why this variation might exist. Curious? Read it here: doi.org/10.1167/jov....

A professional job announcement flyer from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertising the position of Assistant Professor in Insect Systematics. The flyer is divided into sections detailing the job description, required qualifications, and responsibilities, including research, teaching, service, and collaboration. The layout uses red and grey colors, includes a university logo, and prominently features a vibrant photo of an orange and black butterfly resting on a plant. A QR code is present for easy access to application details.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring an Assistant Professor specializing in insect systematics. Opportunities like this are rare and valuable! (Not many jobs like this out there!) Spread the word to anyone who might be interested or benefit.
#entomology #science #sciencejobs #bugsky 🧪

Very cool brief visit with the @multipleye-lab.bsky.social 🕷️👁️ forgot to take a spider photo but the fish collection was quite cool 🐟

Discovering search behaviour in black garden ant trajectories https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.25.661660v1

Can we study whisker movements to gain insights into the natural sensory behaviours of mammals? Abstract figure legend The recommended future of whisker science research is integrating findings from the laboratory with studies from other captive institutions (such as zoos, rehabilitation centre...

Excited to share my review @jphysiol.bsky.social :
Can we study whisker movements to gain insights into the natural sensory behaviours of mammals?
doi.org/10.1113/JP28...
I recommend developing more social and active foraging tasks and including a wider variety of species in lab studies

A connectomics-based analysis of lamina monopolar cells reveals mechanisms of spatial processing in insect motion vision https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.19.660550v1

Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night - Nature Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.

cool new paper in @nature.com about moth migration, showing they use the stars to navigate up to the mountains in the summer 🧪🌍🐙

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📖Published📖

Chimento et al., develop a 3D Synchronized Outdoor Camera System (3D-SOCS): an inexpensive, mobile and automated method for collecting behavioural data on wild animals using synchronized video frames from Raspberry Pi controlled cameras 📸 🌍 🧪

buff.ly/4nr5m4y

A female African praying mantis standing on a branch. Photo credit: Hugo Le Lay.

Mantises use their 3D vision to hunt, but which target do they choose if more than one tasty treat shows up? Recently, Robert &co showed that mantises might use cues to choose their target, but cues can also distract them if the contrast is high enough

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

My latest Aronov lab paper is now published @Nature!

When a chickadee looks at a distant location, the same place cells activate as if it were actually there 👁️

The hippocampus encodes where the bird is looking, AND what it expects to see next -- enabling spatial reasoning from afar

bit.ly/3HvWSum

I first interpreted the image as using spiders as food leads to technological innovation 😅 but I assume only the colour of the section matters, not the order

Congratulations to @ronjabigge.bsky.social to an awesome #PhD and a great defense at Würzburg University! #proudPI
She was welcomed home and celebrated in style with @insect-vision.bsky.social and the whole neurobiology community in Konstanz.

Is the call only open to conference attendees? I sadly won’t make it this year 😣

New idtracker.ai: rethinking multi-animal tracking as a representation learning problem to increase accuracy and reduce tracking times https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.30.657023v1

big if true

I did it😭
I'm thrilled, relieved, and so excited to announce that I have successfully defended my PhD!
Endless thanks to everyone who supported me along the way - mentors, labmates, friends, and family.
I couldn't have done it without you❤️
#PhDone

I had a lot of fun giving this interview - I wish my research always had dramatic music in the background

Bumblebees flexibly adjust learning and decision strategies to sensory information content in a foraging task - preLights so many features…so little time: bumblebees show optimization of cue integration in a memory task.

So many features…so little time: bumblebees show optimization of cue integration in a memory task. 🐝🐝

Really entertaining #preLight prepared by Tim Schwanitz & Cemre Coskun in which they highlight recent work from @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social & team ⬇️ 👀

prelights.biologists.com/highlights/b...