Felix Zajitschek

Parental age effects on offspring fitness in a wild population of a short-lived reptile Abstract. As organisms age, the fitness of the offspring they produce can decline, which is often attributed to parental senescence. However, few studies h

By combining mark-recapture and genetic parentage data from wild #lizards, we show that the offspring of older parents do not have lower survival or reproductive success than the offspring of younger parents:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Crain et al. 2025

Broadcasting for Democracy: Reimagining Official-Citizen Communication. Preprint.
My take on strengthening the connection between representatives and the represented: individual, verified information channels for every elected official. osf.io/preprints/so...
via @socarxiv.bsky.social on OSF

What is Git/Github, and how do I use it with R?

A Git/GitHub Desktop/GitHub/RStudio Open Research tutorial: zajitschek.github.io/git_workshop...

Part of the LJMU R Community's LJMU Bag of tRicks ljmutricks.github.io/bag-of-tricks

ATP synthesis driven by atmospheric hydrogen concentrations | PNAS All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The un...

Crazy: Microbes can consume hydrogen from air to synthesize ATP www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Vortex Bladeless | Innovative Wind Power Vortex is a radically new form of wind energy without rotation or blades, simpler, low-maintenance and bird-friendly.

I ❤️ inventions like that: bladeless wind power. ‘Instead of blades, these turbines use a tall, mast-like structure that oscillates or vibrates due to the aerodynamic phenomenon of vortex shedding. This oscillation is then converted into electricity.’
vortexbladeless.com

Why does eating less extend lifespan? 🧬

Mutation accumulation underpins evolution of lifespan extension by dietary restriction

We often think about saving energy or recycling waste - but we show how evolution acting on mutation load can generate longer life on low food 🧵

🔗 tinyurl.com/jn5ryhxv

This is wild!
Engineering E. coli bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol (Tylenol)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Instead of only reacting when local special places are at risk, let's remind ourselves what we love about our community: localglow.uk ⭐️
To protect and improve, we can mobilize for action: act.localglow.uk ⭐️
🏡🌳🍔🤼‍♀️🏀👍 #Community #MakingADifference #SupportLocal

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4

Maths gender gap emerging in first school year. Data of children who started first year of school in France 2018-2021 (almost 3 million 5-7 year olds). Gap showed in all cohorts, socioeconomic groups, regions of France & school types. Martinot, P. et al. Nature 2025. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Great paper👍👍

A century of theories of balancing selection Traits that affect organismal fitness are often very genetically variable. This genetic variation is vital for populations to adapt to their environments, but it is also surprising given that nature (...

A review of balancing selection
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Life-history adaptation under climate warming magnifies the agricultural footprint of a cosmopolitan insect pest Nature Communications - Current statistical projections of pest impact under climate change neglect the role of rapid genetic adaptation. Here the authors show that evolutionary responses in pest...

Models of pest impact predict that climate warming will alter growth rates and distributions of insect pests.
🐞🌱🐞🌱🐞🌱🐞🌱🐞🌱🐞🌱🐞🌱
How do trait-specific evolutionary responses affect predictions?

Have a look at our new paper rdcu.be/d6G2u in @naturecomms.bsky.social to find out. Short summary below.

Phase behavior of Cacio and Pepe sauce "Pasta alla Cacio e pepe" is a traditional Italian dish made with pasta, pecorino cheese, and pepper. Despite its simple ingredient list, achieving the perfect texture and creaminess of the sauce can ...

Cacio e Pepe for everyone: “…a scientifically optimized recipe based on our findings, enabling a consistently flawless execution of this classic dish.” Will try it this week 🥰 ‘Phase behavior of Cacio and Pepe sauce’ arxiv.org/abs/2501.00536

Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat Incorporation of animal-based foods into early hominin diets has been hypothesized to be a major catalyst of many important evolutionary events, including brain expansion. However, direct evidence of ...

from the editor’s summary: “Thus, consumption of meat in these early hominins did not pave the way to humanizing traits such as larger brains.“

Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Isn't this great: description of new species, especially of 'common' organisms, such as Sydney funnelwebs and, just recently, a new earthworm endemic to Bavaria: zenodo.org/records/1451...

Nothing against cat videos (I'm more of a dog person, but hey), but this makes me much much happier!!

"Fruit flies dosed with lithocholic acid survived about 7% to 10% longer [...], and it extended nematodes’ life span by more than 20%. But the benefits for mice were less clear, producing a slight but statistically insignificant boost to longevity." www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08329-5

Awww... why not start 2025 with getting mesmerised by some Rtistry 😎