At the RVC we are grieving the death of the Structure & Motion Lab's creator, and stalwart comrade, Professor Alan Wilson FRS, from a plane crash in Namibia on Wednesday. He was a giant in comparative biomechanics and an amazing scientist. I'm still reeling. It is utterly shocking and deeply sad.

From Tiny Spines to Sticky Toes: What <i>Cyrtodactylus</i> Geckos Can Tell Us about the Evolution of Stickiness in Lizards www.anoleannals.org/2026/02/03/f...

From Tiny Spines to Sticky Toes: What Cyrtodactylus Geckos Can Tell Us about the Evolution of Stickiness in Lizards

Like anoles, geckos are famous for their adhesive toepads, enabling astonishing climbing abilities. Since adhesive toepads evolved independently in geckos and anoles, these two rather distantly rel…

anoleannals.org

As part of the upcoming 2nd edition of Fish Biomechanics (co-edited with @georgelauder.bsky.social ), our chapter on the ecology and biomechanics of locomotion and feeding in fishes is now available www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #fish #biomechanics #ecology

Very exciting to have this out to bridge physiology and physics. #biology #collectivebehaviour #fish #metabolism

Newton@cp-newton.bsky.social · last yr.

⚠️ NEW PERSPECTIVE ⚠️ @yangfan-zhang.bsky.social and George Lauder discuss the physics of energy saving when fish swim in a group. Read more www.cell.com/newton/fullt...

More than one way to be a planktivore: the vast morphospace of plankton-feeding reef fishes Ng, I., Bellwood, D.R., Strugnell, J.M. et al. More than one way to be a planktivore: the vast morphospace of plankton-feeding reef fishes. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s111...

New paper led by Alexandra McInturf & @physiologyfish.bsky.social We present a methodological framework for analysing catch data to infer aggregation behaviour. We outline key metrics to explore and apply this framework in a case study of juvenile sharks. 🦈 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🚨 New plesiosaur paper 🚨 I'm pleased to announce that our paper on the plesiosaur Plesiopterys wildi has been published today in PeerJ: peerj.com/articles/189... In our study, led by @miguelpmarx.bsky.social, we describe a new and previously undescribed specimen. #science #research 1/4

😃 A new article published in J Biomech by Kovács et al suggest sprint runners have longer Achilles tendon moment arms than distance runners in absolute terms, but this does not seem to impact running performance in either group. 👀 buff.ly/UrxOPIR #BiomechSky

Heather F. Smith & Jeffrey T. Laitman (2025) Paleoherpetology and The Anatomical Record The Anatomical Record (advance online publication) doi: doi.org/10.1002/ar.2... anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Paleoherpetology and The Anatomical Record

Click on the article title to read more.

doi.org

Great opportunity for a Vertebrate Paleontologist - Collections Manager at the Los Angels County Museum. workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

Howdy members of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH). The JMIH 2025 (#JMIH2025) meeting website is now active, and the deadline for submitting abstracts is March 25th. The meetings are in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 9-13 Please share burkclients.com/JMIH/meeting...

New paper with colleagues! Bagchi et al published work in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 😃 This ML model automatically extracts whale body length & volume from aerial images! Using Mask R-CNN, it detects whales, traces their body shape, and estimates the body axis. 🧵

New collaborative paper on the biology of megalodon. @ucriverside.bsky.social @scinews.bsky.social #shark #paleontology palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...

Biology of Otodus megalodon

Reassessment of the possible size, form, weight, cruising speed, and growth parameters of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontida

palaeo-electronica.org

Hi folks, we have a full time lecturer position in our department at BU! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/29783 We are a fun group of people, dedicated to creating an inclusive space! Consider joining us! Please share widely!

Very excited for our new review paper (with Tony Russell) on gecko adhesion, locomotion, and ecomechanics. This stemmed from the JEB symposium last year. @jexpbiol.bsky.social @ucriverside.bsky.social #gecko #ecomechanics #adhesion journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Geckos running with dynamic adhesion: towards integration of ecology, energetics and biomechanics

Summary: We propose a set of lab and field experiments to further investigate adhesively assisted gecko locomotion, which is controlled by a hierarchical system including muscles, vascular tissue, tendons and hair-like adhesive structures.

journals.biologists.com

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 Fishes don’t just swim harder—they swim smarter. 🐟⚡ In our latest paper in @jexpbiol.bsky.social, Elsa Goerig and I show how fishes use habitat complexity to reduce the energetic cost of swimming. 🧵 🧪 journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Swimming smarter, not harder: fishes exploit habitat heterogeneity to increase locomotor performance

Summary: Fishes actively exploit complex environments to enhance locomotor efficiency, revealing sophisticated strategies to navigate diverse hydrodynamic landscapes and highlighting the need for habi...

journals.biologists.com

Excited to see this paper finally come out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social - I found that frictional adhesion predicts maximum acceleration (but not speed) in nature in a rock-dwelling gecko from Namibia. #gecko @ucriverside.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

I look forward to catching up with friends and colleagues at #sicb2025. Our lab will be giving 3 talks. The first will be given by Erik Axlid (Jan 4th, 8:30am): The effects of flow on prey capture in largemouth bass. #fish

The lab is excited for SICB!!! Check out this talk by Marina on Saturday!! #gecko #sicb2025

Marina Vollin@mfvollin.bsky.social · 2y ago

OMG, #SICB2025 is in less than a week! Looking forward to seeing everyone soon in Atlanta. I will be presenting on my work examining gecko locomotion and prey capture following autotomy on Saturday (1/4) at 1:30 PM. Stop by International Salon 10 and say hi! 🦎

Super excited for my PhD student's (Seth Shirazi) first manuscript - investigating the drivers of failed strikes in stickleback @jexpbiol.bsky.social #fish @ucriverside.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...