Well deserved!!!

@shimaaebrahim.bsky.social · 3mo ago

news.yale.edu/2026/05/07/p...

Ever wondered how the #cuticle, a hallmark of land plants, was established? In our latest study, we show that the CUTIN SYNTHASE enzyme family was a key driver of this evolutionary innovation. #plantscience ▶️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A thread 🧵 [1/8]

For anyone wondering where modern #chemicalecology stands, here is an instant classic example 🤩 Small changes in the olfactory receptors of Drosophila suzukii agricultural pest explain its preference for laying eggs in ripe fruit instead of overripe fruit bc of detection of ester fruit volatiles 🤯

Hany K. M. Dweck (هاني دويك)@dwecklab.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I am very happy to share that the latest work from the lab, led by Dr. Qi Xue, has been published in PNAS and is now online: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Here is the Cornell Chronicle article about our PNAS paper on the evolution of milkweed toxins (N,S-cardenolides), to which the monarch butterfly is sensitive, despite being co-evolved with milkweeds! @cornellentomology.bsky.social news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

Milkweed evolves ‘mind-blowing’ tactic to fight monarchs | Cornell Chronicle

Milkweed has found a new strategy in its epic evolutionary battle with monarch butterflies: structurally upgrading its toxins to outmaneuver monarchs' resistance.

news.cornell.edu

My first podcast 😅 on how decoding the smell of organisms could help us to find solutions to protect crops in agriculture, and improve plant, animal, and human health by detecting diseases before symptoms appear! @Cornell @CornellEnto @CornellAgriTech youtu.be/szTAWwYC5bc

How can scent molecules identify stressed plants and offer clues about human and animal health?

YouTube video by Cornell University

youtu.be

The International Society of Chemical Ecology Conference will be hosted by Cornell (Ithaca, NY) this June 21-26! 🐛🧪🥀🦠🦇 Early Bird registration until April 7! Please spread the word! Lots of great talks and sessions! Post-conference Metabolomics Workshop! events.ces.scl.cornell.edu/event/ISCE20...

Our most accomplished work on chemical evolution 🥳 These N,S-cardeneolides have unique structures and bioactivities, and they also have divergent macroevolutionary histories 🤩 Structural innovation in the evolution of plant chemical defense | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Structural innovation in the evolution of plant chemical defense | PNAS

Chemical defenses are fundamental in organismal biology and widely used in medicine and agriculture. Plant defense chemistry evolves in response to...

pnas.org

Here is Petra testing her bee 🐝 cage experiment to assess biomiticide peptide against varroa mites as an alternative to chemical pesticides 🤩 Thanks to Project Apis m. for the support! @CornellAgriTech @CornellCALS @CornellEnto

Our paper on using #eDNA from rainwater to study hidden biodiversity in #tropical #forest #canopies is now out in Science Advances! This method is a major step forward for the study and #conservation of this inaccessible compartiment. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Photo: J. Raynaud

With a few chemical tweaks to a known metal-organic framework (MOF), researchers have developed a material that quickly detects and removes a common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) from contaminated water. cen.acs.org/environment/... #chemsky 🧪

This MOF offers a PFAS twofer: sensing and removal

Modified metal-organic framework glows when it captures perfluorooctanoic acid

cen.acs.org

Very excited about this paper led by Erika Castro. She has shown that Heliconius were ancestrally plastic in how they acquired their cyanogens, but some species have lost the ability to biosynthesise toxins, and have lost genes involved www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Gene loss associated with plasticity-first evolution in Heliconius butterflies

Phenotypic plasticity occurs when a genotype can produce more than one phenotype under different environmental conditions. Genetic accommodation allows plastic phenotypes to be tuned to new environmen...

biorxiv.org

Researchers have mapped the chemical pathway for 4-vinylanisole that causes locusts to swarm and figured out how to inhibit it: cen.acs.org/biological-c... #chemsky 🧪

How to break up a locust party? Disrupt their pheromones

Researchers have mapped the chemical pathway for 4-vinylanisole that causes locusts to swarm and figured out how to inhibit it

cen.acs.org

Excited to head to #Evol2025 next week! It will be my last year in a presidential role for The Society of Systematic Biologists @systbiol.bsky.social and as such I will be giving the SSB Presidential Address. www.evolutionmeetings.org/plenaries.html

Plenaries

FRiday 6/20 - IDEA prize LECTURE (7:00 - 8:00 PM) - Jeremy Yoder

evolutionmeetings.org

A coalition of 36 chemistry department chairs from US universities has published an open letter in Science highlighting their concern over recent federal policy decisions impacting science. cen.acs.org/policy/resea... #chemsky 🧪

Chairs of 36 US chemistry departments call to restore funding

Open letter in <i>Science</i> says federal policy decisions ‘threaten the strength of the US research enterprise’

cen.acs.org

Apologies for missing the last few weeks for themes! In light of our new article www.nature.com/articles/s41..., the #Sundayfishsketch #Fishytheme is biofluorescent fishes! #sciart 🦑

Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes - Nature Communications

Biofluorescence is widespread in fishes. Here, the authors compile data on biofluorescence presence across teleost fishes and demonstrate that it may have originally evolved in eels 112 million years ...

nature.com

Sharing this fluidic excretion alignment chart you did not know you needed. #TheMoreYouKNow www.usatoday.com/story/graphi...

🎉 We’re hiring! Two ERC-funded #PostdocJobs on insect–phytopathogen mutualisms are available in my lab. Explore the chemical and molecular evolution of symbioses! 🧪Chemical ecology: tinyurl.com/chem-ecol-symb 🦠Phytopathology & mutualisms: tinyurl.com/symb-plantpath #SymbioSky #PlantPathology

Travel 400M years in a flip. FERNS explores the evolution, survival, and modern ties of Earth’s most adaptable plants. By @fernway.bsky.social & Jacob Suissa, illustrated by Laura Silburn. Out May 6: go.btiscience.org/ferns #FernsBook #PlantScience

Out today, we report how small chemical modifications in the metabolism of ergosterol are needed for yeast membranes to phase seperate into ordered yet fluid domains www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (1/n)

Structural dissection of ergosterol metabolism reveals a pathway optimized for membrane phase separation

The metabolism of ergosterol shapes this lipid to allow the formation of fluid membrane domains in yeast cells.

science.org

Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF: Dear members: The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.

I did a podcast interview for Voyage to the Wild with Charlie Young about Ants in the Amazon! You can listen to it here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Ants in the Amazon! with Dr. Corrie Moreau | Cabin of Curiosities

Podcast Episode · Voyage to the Wild · 22/04/2025 · 21m

podcasts.apple.com

Remember when you first learned about genetics at school? All those fascinating examples of human traits that are each apparently determined by just a single gene? Time to check in on some of your favourites to see how they’re doing. 🧬🧵🧪 1/n

I am so excited about this upcoming publication about the Bees of Pennsylvania! 🐝 Stay tuned; we will have a page online where you can purchase this book in July! @nashturley.bsky.social @napoleonicento.bsky.social @stephanidae.bsky.social

Kicking off my Bluesky account by sharing a new review I wrote with @lindymcbr.bsky.social for @currentbiology.bsky.social! If you’ve ever wondered about the source of your stank or just want to learn why humans smell weird (it's true!), then this review is for you! 👃🧪🤔 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Complex signals, complex defences: there’s more to defences than meets the eye. New from @amatageorgeii.bsky.social & @liisahamalainen.bsky.social @kateumbers.bsky.social @mherberstein.bsky.social @jmappes.bsky.social @mpic.de royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #aposematism #chemecol

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.” A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN

Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

cnn.com

👀🦋🐝🐞🐜🦗🪲🕷️Ento-Education Job alert!!👀

Formal & Informal Teaching | Entomological Society of America@fitentsocamerica.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 Job Alert! 🚨 UF Entomology & Nematology is hiring an Assistant Prof of Informal #Entomology #Education! 🔎 Interested in a faculty position leading innovative, evidence-based engagement outside the classroom? 🪲 Passionate about #insects & #outreach? 🧪 Learn more and apply! bit.ly/uflentojob

With my neighbors we had the #Ithaca’s best croissant 🥐 and butter 🧈 competition 😅 Tied for first place (out of 5 contenders)🥇 for croissant Bank coffee & gimme coffee for butter Minerva Amish style butter & Isigny butter (France)

#HandsOff in Ithaca, New York