Never too late! From a hot summer in 2009 spent in the lab molecularly sexing pied flycatchers to a 2026 paper π¦
Using 2,759 sexed nestlings (1997β2018) tracked through 2023, we show male attractiveness & annual rearing conditions increase the proportion of sons in broods
π doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
Check out our new paper on clingfishes led by @fishtide.bsky.social!
Whatβs the point of deadlines if students just ignore them and apply for SCs. More than half my module just breezed past their deadline.
Flyer for the 2026 IMSI Summer Institute: Recruiting research interns. Join our interdisciplinary research training internship and study biomechanics, muscle physiology, biophysics, neurosciences, rehabilitation sciences and engineering. All career stages welcome, undergraduates especially encouraged to apply. Full time paid opportunity. Intensive research experience, practical skills development, supportive mentorship. Learn more at CIMS.uci.edu. One photo show a lab member collecting motion capture data as a person jumps. Another photo shows IMSI researchers setting up a camera for data collection in at a field research location showing a desert landscape in the foreground and a mountain range in the background.
Call for applications to the 2026 Integrative Movement Sciences Summer Institute!β¨β¨ This is a funded research internship, open to all career stages.
We especially encourage undergraduates to apply. β¨
Application deadline is March 21.β¨
More details here: cims.uci.edu/imsi-si-2026/
Please share!
π‘βοΈEver wondered how a pufferfish inflates? Very excited to announce that Drs Rachel Tran and Ariel Camp will be giving a FREE TALK/WORKSHOP on this very topic on the 10th March at Storyhouse in Chester with Chester SciBar!
(details below)
The Vatican Museums' Bramante Staircase provides a striking visual metaphor for a vicious feedback cycle in scholarly publishing: rising paper submissions across an expanding landscape of journals strains the limited supply of volunteer peer review labor, which in turn makes editorial decisions less predictable and encourages authors to submit their work more ambitiously, increasing the burden on peer reviewers further still. Image credit: Carl T. Bergstrom
The process of #PeerReview is vital to contemporary science, but is also under enormous strain. @carlbergstrom.com & Kevin Gross use mathematical models to dissect the threats to the long-term viability of peer review, suggesting ways to stabilize it @plosbiology.org π§ͺ plos.io/4kR02bo
Month two back at work: short run before the nursery pickup. Am i crushing this work life balance stuff or what? Feels like a what.
I LOVE when science is applied to "toddler questions" like "Why is the sky blue?" or "Why is ice slippery?"
Because the answers can be so SUPRISING.
Let's dig into recent revelations about how ice skates work & why tires skid across black ice.
First, we'll dismiss 3 VERY GOOD hypotheses as wrong.
Excited to share our new review in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com, coauthored w/allstar postdocs @vale-alaasam.bsky.social @annainthefield.bsky.social @anthonysnead.bsky.social Bridging island biogeography & evolutionary processes, we explore how eco-evo dynamics play out in the urban mosaic rdcu.be/e4tcj
On this day that supports inclusive futures for women and girls in science, let's not forget all the women that were sidelined, ignored, or forced out of science because they:
- had children
- prioritised family/caring
- did science differently
- questioned boundaries & norms
- fought the patriarchy
![Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: donβt seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: donβt seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihcxd5wcrrf5nxz3g4riglsrccbucmdns6kxrtmtj6gjgwqibp3fi@jpeg)
Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: donβt seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: donβt seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]
Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
xkcd.com/3204/
Piranha bite force and tooth stress are fantastically high for their size! Check out our new paper on computational modeling of the cranial muscles and bite mechanics of the amazing piranhas. #biomechsky ππ§ͺπΏ
link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...
i got curious why Panopto was called Panopto -- and my computer suggested 'panopticon' (a system of constant surveillance in jail systems) .. and somehow, yeah, checks out. (although, fingers crossed, isn't the name's inspiration)
Students still have some days left to aplply for the first round of mcirogrants of 2026 :) Please share
Striking paper from researchers at Anthropic using a randomised control trial to look at the effects of AI use on skills acquisition.
TL:DR βWe found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.β
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
The Field Station Perspective series logo. The logo shows four images arranged in four quarters of a circle. The top right quarter shows a cartoon of a seal with icy mountains behind. The quadrant is coloured in shades of blue and white. The bottom right quadrant shows a beetle (black), the quadrant is yellow. The bottom left quadrant shows a salmon leaping above a wave; the quadrant is coloured shades of teal. The top left quadrant shows an emu running across savannah with the sun behind in the sky; the quadrant is in shades of red.
We are delighted to introduce a new Perspective series highlighting the important role that field stations have played, and continue to play, in comparative physiology and biomechanics
To find out about Harvard's Concord Field Station & more go to
journals.biologists.com/jeb/collecti...
Award issue cover with an illustration by Bertille Mohring of a pair of female Laysan albatrosses.
π¨ Now out: Award Issue, collecting all seven mini-reviews included in the 2025 Review Competition written by early career researchers. Highlighting emerging or less explored topics in avian biology
β‘οΈ vist.ly/4pzxr
Cover: pair of female Laysan albatrosses by Bertille Mohring
#ornithology
:)
unrelated, know anybody who needs a stapler?
You mean the staplers you left out in the open at eye level which couldnβt have been more obvious? Totally.
return from mat leave, day 12: I have spent several days looking for my stapler. finally went to the supply closet today for another one. immediately found original stapler. two of them.
Second PhD paper is out! We find: 1) aquatic and terrestrial salamanders have different limb bone adaptations, 2) complex life cycles promote different traits, 3) decoupling of external and internal bone traits increase diversity.
Thread (1/8) and FREE link below! π¦π§ͺ
doi.org/10.1111/joa....
Uppsala in late autumn
Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Weβre searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Just a few days to go until our next deadline. Apply at the link below. #ornithology
i exude adorable and relatable energy. competency, maybe less so :)
return from mat leave, day 10(?): said "birdies" in my first lecture back.
i suppose being transparent about return to work & lack of sleep extends to transparency around my students, but gosh i would like to feel a bit more competent.
day 7 back from maternity leave: oh, i'm ill already.
π¨ PhD offer (please share)
Fascinated by bird migration and movement ecology? π¦π Join us at @vogelwarte.bsky.social to study annual cycle energetics with multi-sensor loggers in multiple species
Deadline: 20 Feb 2026
Starting: June 2026
Supervision: Martins Briedis & me
Info: tinyurl.com/2dbv9nzh
We are seeking to appoint four full-time field assistants to work on the Wytham Tit Project for 4-8 weeks in spring 2026. Two 8-week field assistants will join the nest monitoring team; duties for these posts will include (i) collecting standardised data from nest-box breeding populations of blue and great tits, (ii) catching and ringing parent birds, (iii) ringing nestlings, and (iv) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with run from approximately Tuesday 7th April to Monday 1st June. Successful candidates for these positions must have (or be qualified to obtain) a BTO permit to ring adult great tits and blue tits. A further two field assistants will be hired to support a project collecting behavioural (foraging) data for great tits breeding in the Wytham population. These roles will involve a significant amount of nightwork. Duties will include (i) setting up and calibrating electronic tracking equipment and nest box cameras in the field, (ii) mapping tracking equipment locations using GPS, (iii) helping with catching and ringing parent birds and fitting tracking devices, (iv) assisting with mistnetting to re-trap tagged parents, and (v) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with be approximately 7 and 4 weeks in duration, starting from 13th April and 4th May, respectively. Possession of a BTO ringing permit with misnet endorsement and driving license are highly desirable for these roles. All fieldwork will take place in Wytham Woods, near Oxford. All Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate skill and enthusiasm for biological research as well as experience of fieldwork under arduous conditions, and both lone work and working as part of a team. Due to the short-term nature of these posts, successsful applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Salary & Accommodation: Field assistants will be paid at grade 5.2 (Β£17.37/hour). Contact eleanor.cole@Biology.ox.ac.uk
We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing
Love this from @stephenbheard.bsky.social on how to prioritize learning and useful discussion over tearing apart papers, and look forward to using some of these question prompts in future lab meetings: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2026/01/13/h...
CLOSING SOON: Join us as Technical Facility Manager of our new digitisation centre @manmetuni.bsky.social. Run our new Neoscan microCT with loading rigs and autochanger. Plus LEICA BLK360 laser scanner, Creaform HandyScan, Olympus DSX microscope, Resonon Hyperspectral camera: tinyurl.com/y8x596hd
