For me this paper is a career highlight..truly astonishing biology! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A queen odour mediates reproductive suppression in a eusocial mammal - Nature

Naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) queens produce isopropyl myristate, a low-volatility ester that high-ranking animals detect and avoid, which alters prolactin and progesterone in other females t...

nature.com

Our new paper is out in @nature.com! We uncovered how a naked mole-rat queen 👑 controls an entire colony: a natural contraceptive scent that suppresses reproduction in other females! A remarkable mammalian parallel to bees and ants! 🐝🐜 @garyrlewin.bsky.social youtu.be/enfv3zJrWKM?...

Naked mole-rats are ruled by a queen: this chemical puts her in power

YouTube video by nature video

youtu.be

In a new study published in @currentbiology.bsky.social, researchers uncover how a dietary shift may have set the stage for one of nature’s most spectacular phenomena: the elaborate courtship displays of manakins. 🔗 Press release: www.bi.mpg.de/news/2026-06...

Happy to share this amazing work! We found lactase!? activity in birds, re-gaining of sweet-taste among other adaptations to frugivory in Manakins. This helped these birds evolve complicated and energetic mating behaviors! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Genomic and physiological changes in a sexually selected and frugivorous bird radiation

Balakrishnan et al. take an integrative approach to explore the evolution of manakins, a frugivorous bird lineage with elaborate courtship displays. They detect genome-wide signatures related to sexua...

cell.com

The Pride Symposium returns to the #mdcBerlin on June 12 with “Trans Pasts – Trans Futures.” Join the 5th annual LGBTQI+ symposium at #mdcBIMSB for talks, discussions, and a workshop on trans histories, healthcare activism, and community. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ More: 👉 www.mdc-berlin.de/news/events/... 👈

We made it to the front page of @science.org today!! 🎉 Some birds process sugar loads that would be devastating to human metabolism. Many bird groups independently evolved this ability — did they all get there the same way? /1

Happy to see this one out! Convergent and lineage-specific genomic changes shape adaptations in sugar-consuming birds | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Convergent and lineage-specific genomic changes shape adaptations in sugar-consuming birds

High-sugar diets cause human metabolic diseases, yet several bird lineages convergently adapted to feeding on sugar-rich nectar or fruits. We investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms in hummin...

science.org

Daniel Mendez Aranda on different Heliophobius variants sensitivity to acid and capsaicin and convergence with Heteroglobus @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social #ESEB2025 symposium 17

So happy to have joined this amazing symposium! So many great talks and posters! Thanks for including me!

katja heuer@k4tj4.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Now @mendezaranda.bsky.social showing us Convergent evolution of pain insensitivity in a new(?) species of African mole-rat #ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social

BEAST X v10.5.0 finally released – you can't just do beta releases forever. github.com/beast-dev/be... Details and instructions for installing on the BEAST website: beast.community

Excited to launch our AlphaGenome API goo.gle/3ZPUeFX along with the preprint goo.gle/45AkUyc describing and evaluating our latest DNA sequence model powering the API. Looking forward to seeing how scientists use it! @googledeepmind

Applications are now open for the Workshop on Genomics 2026 (11-24 Jan) in Cesky Krumlov, Czechia. For the first time, we are offering Early Bird Registration discounts! 🐣 Do not miss the chance! 🤩 Help us spread the word among friends and colleagues! 🙆🏽‍♀️ #evomics2026 evomics.org/apply-worksh...

Glad to see this paper finally out! An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids @natecoevo.nature.com @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @csic.es @erc.europa.eu www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids - Nature Ecology & Evolution

An analysis of annelid genomes reveals massive reshuffling of chromosomes in the ancestral lineage leading to clitellates, a clade composed of non-marine annelids, with potential implications for the ...

nature.com

It was a pleasure and very inspiring having @theafrogers.bsky.social and @mendezaranda.bsky.social at our institute this week giving a talk about their research! 🧬 Comparing Hi-C contact maps from our different study organisms and learning so much more! 😎

Thea F. Rogers@theafrogers.bsky.social · last yr.

Had a great time speaking at KU Leuven and at the University of Münster in the last week! Thank you @eveseuntjens.bsky.social and @jannelrinke.bsky.social for the invites, city tours and great company! And so nice to see @mendezaranda.bsky.social as well 😊

Applications for MEME are open! It's a research- and mobility-oriented Evolutionary Biology Master's Programme, where students have the opportunity to visit 4(+2) different universities in two years. Please spread the word! www.evobio.eu #EvoBio

Recordings from the 2024 @evolmtg.bsky.social Story Collider event are online thanks to @sse-evolution.bsky.social, so if you couldn't make it to Montréal you can hear some terrific tales of personal challenge and growth, and also me whinging about fieldwork 🌿 soundcloud.com/sse-communic...

Story Collider at Evolution 2024

Five speakers share their true, personal stories about their experiences in the field of evolutionary biology. Organized by Story Collider and the SSE/ASN/SSB diversity committees.

soundcloud.com

Ever wondered how bats develop wings from their hands? 🦇✨ Check out our new preprint and the thread below! 🤓 👏Big applause to our amazing first authors Magdalena Schindler and Christian Feregrino and thanks to all our co-authors for their help! 🥂 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Comparative single-cell analyses reveal evolutionary repurposing of a conserved gene program in bat wing development

Bats are the only mammals capable of self-powered flight, an evolutionary innovation based on the transformation of forelimbs into wings. The bat wing is characterized by an extreme elongation of the ...

biorxiv.org