Jeff Riffell

The first paper from the lab is now out in Science Advances: Multimodal social context modulates larval behavior in Drosophila
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We find that fly larvae keep their distance to conspecifics in the absence of food, enjoy reading! @cbehav.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

My department at Washington State University is recruiting an Assistant or Associate Professor in vector-borne disease 🕷️🦟🦠

Full job description is linked below.

Come join us on the Palouse!

Episode 7: Sweet Dreams What are they really made of?

@chantelpratphd.bsky.social and I found a welcome moment of joy in recording this episode of Brains for Dinner, where we got to geek out about the neuroscience of dreams. Hope you all can enjoy it too: substack.com/@chantelprat...

New preprint from our group (collaboration with @sueyeonchung.bsky.social) showing that discriminating odor components within a complex mixture is constrained by neural sensitivity rather than background interference - likely due to sparse representations at the front end.

Novel behavioural assays to study mosquito pheromone signalling at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Novel behavioural assays to study mosquito pheromone signalling at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

We have a fully-funded PhD project on mosquito behaviour and AI, based at @durham.ac.uk and supervised by Amir Atapour Abarghouei (Durham Computer Science), @viveknityananda.bsky.social and myself. Check the project description here tinyurl.com/2hven83a and apply here: www.needl.org.uk/apply/.

Several fly larvae are crawling on an agar surface.

The second paper from the lab is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We discovered that cannibalistic behavior in fly larvae is social-context dependent. Larval groups avoid dead conspecifics; individuals show high attraction. They only do it when no one is watching 😉

Are you an early-stage graduate student (2nd or 3rd year) or early-stage postdoc based in the US or Canada, working primarily in Drosophila? Would you like to help improve the experience of all trainees working in Drosophila research? If so, read on.

(Please repost to reach a broad audience.)

Probationary (TenureTrack) Faculty Position-Systems Neuroscience in Higher Order Cognitive Circuits - London, Ontario (CA) job with Western University - Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry | 128... Full-time probationary faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of neural circuits in non-human primates.

Come join us. Western University invites applications from outstanding early career investigators for a full-time probationary faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of neural circuits in NHPs. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Neuronal calcium spikes enable vector inversion in the Drosophila brain In the fly central complex, PFNa neurons switch from firing classical sodium spikes when depolarized to firing non-canonical T-type calcium spikes when hyperpolarized. This bidirectional spiking allow...

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

We had a lot of fun working on this project (led by Itzel Ishida, not on bluesky). Some interesting highlights from the paper -

🐜 4-year #postdoc position in the @socialfluids.bsky.social lab @camzoology.bsky.social investigating metabolic cooperation between bodies in a BBSRC-funded project.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...

#ants #socialtransfers #sociallytransferredmaterials #autophagy #socialinsects #aging #job (🧵1/n)

Impeachment.

Now.

@jayapal.house.gov

2025 RECAP: From installing an anti-vax conspiracy theorist as our nation's top health care official to taking an axe to lifesaving biomedical research, the Trump administration has systematically put politics over science.

Nice work Stanley! Can’t wait to dive in

Very proud of this new paper from the lab! Work by the magnificent Andrea Adden and many brilliant collaborators illuminate how moth and butterfly brains have evolved in light of different ecologies. Freely available here: rdcu.be/eVR3B; @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social

414 S Main St #10, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 - 3 beds/3.5 baths (SW Michigan MLS) For Sale: 3 beds, 3.5 baths ∙ 5000 sq. ft. ∙ 414 S Main St #10, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 ∙ $7,000,000 ∙ MLS# 25062388 ∙ This Downtown Ann Arbor penthouse stands among the finest residence...

I've never lived so close to a What Are We Even Doing Here real estate listing, and I am here, gifting you this experience, make sure to open the pictures

www.redfin.com/MI/Ann-Arbor...

Ever wanted to know how the visual system of a long distance migratory moth looks like? Then you'll find your answers in our new paper. Finally out, after about a decade of collecting data by a group af amazing co-authors. Find it here, open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

As a both a PI that received a Diversity Supplement to support a student on my R01, and a PO that reviewed them, they were never about "handing out money at the end of the year based on race" and always about the training potential and commitment.

A Hot Plant’s Mysterious Signal Makes Beetles Pollinate It

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

This musician taught an octopus to play the piano The task required hundreds of hours of problem-solving and patience. Musician Mattias Krantz said it was worth it.

This is a really fun news story.
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...

Awesome work Andrew!!

Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!

preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵

Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking

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

1/9

The cognitive ecology of wild bumblebees

New #PhD ad alert!
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?

Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.

iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

World-models in your head Talking with a lot of people, they have rather shocking different kinds of world-models. I believe that people have somewhat specialized simulators. Let me list some and then give you the chance to ad...

Let's compare our world models. I find that different people seem to have rather distinct internal world models. E.g. I personally have neither visual imagination nor an inner voice, found it weird others do. Here is a quick google forms to check idea:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

The fuck? Hard to even know where to start with all the things wrong here. (Also hope Glenn Northcutt doesn't see it -- he'll have a stroke.) Just appalling. not #neuroethology

I Dream of Theresa May – Tara Theatre

Under two weeks before my #play hits the stage @taratheatre.com ! Can't wait!
Come see it if you're in London- it'll be great to have tons of people there.

Book here: taratheatre.com/whats-on/i-d...

A video of me wittering on about the play in the post below ⬇️

#theatre #newWriting #immigration

For those of you at the SfN conference...
Stop by the Neuroethology Social & Networking event on Sunday, 7-9 at the Grand Ballroom 1/2, Marriot Marquis!

This year is the first year I am not giving a talk at #entsoc2025. But I have 1 postdoc and 4 PhD students giving talks, and 3 undergrads giving posters. Please check out what we’ve been doing!! 🥳🐝

Joshua Sanes Receives Society for Neuroscience’s Highest Honor - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Joshua Sanes, PhD, the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, emeritus, and founding director of Harvard’s Center for Brain Science (CBS), has been awarded the […]

Joshua Sanes Receives Society for Neuroscience’s Highest Honor 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu @sfn.org

Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d

Combining genomic and neuroanatomical data shows that #Heliconiini olfactory systems vary in their #olfactory receptor diversity and investment in individual brain structures, but are developmentally plastic in responsive to environmental conditions:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Yi Peng et al. 2025