Please share, I am hiring an evo devo postdoctoral research fellow! 📍: The Sleight Lab, University of Aberdeen, Scotland (5th oldest University in UK & English-speaking world) 📅: start after 1st December 2026 🐌: Evolution and Development (molluscs) ⌛: 3 year contract sleightlab.com/vacancies/

Hey look: A job! @echinerd.bsky.social and I are looking for a research technician to work on sea urchin development. If you are good at segmenting CT scans and want a chance to work on some super cool organisms, this job here at UCL is for you! apply now: bit.ly/4o2qccY

I am looking for a Post-doc in Oxford to work with me on morphogenesis at the cellular scale, with particular emphasis on growth processes and their mechanical and dynamical consequences. Please circulate my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... This bristle is created by a single cell! Let's model it.

New Pre-Print Alert! Evolving initial conditions: an alternative developmental route to morphological diversity with Shannon Taylor and @jamesehammond.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Postdoc advert now live! Come and work with me at the UCL Centre for Integrative Anatomy @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social on the Mediterranean Neogene insular giant fauna. You'll also get to work with a great team: @toriherridge.bsky.social @nannonstevens.bsky.social and Jesse Hennekam

I talked with Jorge Cham (!) about synovial joints, and considering how much I enjoyed reading PhdComics during my early career, it was a real treat to talk with him ✨:

@drphilcox.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My new(ish) colleague at @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social , @neelimasharma.bsky.social, was on the ScienceStuff podcast talking about synovial joints and rather impressively cracking her knuckles: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Spring PhD recruitment round @crick.ac.uk is now open and we have a project on offer: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud.... If you have a background in maths or physics and are curious about patterning and growth in biology this could be the project for you! Please help us spread the word 💥

The Francis Crick Institute@crick.ac.uk · 6mo ago

Motivated graduates with backgrounds in biological or biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and/or computer science are invited to apply to our 4-year fully funded PhD programme. Apply by 17 March 2026. www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Why is it that small animals like insects have a landspace body plan when viewed head-on, but larger animals like elephants are taller than wide? With @m-v.bsky.social, we find out in our new preprint titled 'Size and shape of terrestrial animals' - arxiv.org/html/2602.00...

1) I am delighted to present this terrific tour de force research conducted by my post-doc Dr. Gayani Senevirathne @gayani.bsky.social and published today in Nature - www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The evolution of hominin bipedalism in two steps - Nature

The human pelvis exhibits distinct spatiotemporal ossification patterns and an ilium cartilage growth plate that is shifted perpendicularly compared with those of other mammals and non-human primates—...

nature.com

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS

The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

doi.org

Thrilled to share that our latest work on marsupial heterochrony is now online at @cp-devcell.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social @lab-turner.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk We used scRNAseq to understand the asynchronous progression of developmental programmes in marsupials www.cell.com/developmenta...

Marsupial single-cell transcriptomics identifies temporal diversity in mammalian developmental programs

Menchero et al. generate a single-cell transcriptomic atlas in the opossum and show rapid progression of transcriptional programs in specific tissues relative to morphological landmarks. This shift in...

cell.com

New paper in @nature.com! With @kiseokmicro.bsky.social , Siqi Liu, Kyle Crocker, Jojo Wang, Mikhail Tikhonov & Madhav Mani — a massive dataset and simple model reveal a few conserved regimes that capture how soil microbiome metabolism responds to perturbations. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper today about the evolution of the wrist along the dinosaur to bird transition: a bird-like configuration appeared in predatory dinosaurs first, as suggested by new exceptionally preserved hands of oviraptors and troodontids www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reorganization of the theropod wrist preceded the origin of avian flight - Nature

The forelimbs of two Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs show the presence of the pisiform bone, previously thought to have been lost early in theropod evolution and regained in birds during the evolut...

nature.com

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team! Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05... Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish, fossil scans find

Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew ...

phys.org

1/n 🧵 Excited to share our new paper! We developed a framework to reveal hidden simplicity in how organisms adapt to different environments, particularly focusing on antibiotic resistance evolution. #EvolutionaryBiology #MachineLearning

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · last yr.

Learning the Shape of Evolutionary Landscapes: Geometric Deep Learning Reveals Hidden Structure in Phenotype-to-Fitness Maps https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.07.652616v1

Got the opportunity to write a `behind the paper' story for @the-node.bsky.social about our work on the evolution of synovial joints, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here it is, for some leisure reading:

the Node@the-node.bsky.social · last yr.

When did our flexible and lubricated joints evolve? 🤔 Read this 'Behind the paper' story from Neelima Sharma @neelimasharma.bsky.social to find out 👇 thenode.biologists.com/when-did-our... #EvoDevo @neilshubin.bsky.social

The incredible Henry Bennet-Clark passed away recently, but his wonderful science will continue to inspire. www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/dr-henry-ben... He wrote numerous amazing papers, including on how fleas jump so high: scholar.google.com/scholar?q=au... #biomechanics #obituary #stcatz

Dr Henry Bennet-Clark (1934–2025) - St Catherine's College

Dr Henry Bennet-Clark (1934–2025) St Catherine’s College is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Dr Henry Bennet-Clark, Emeritus Reader...

stcatz.ox.ac.uk

Started from ontogenetic and molecular studies of living lineages, authors found reciprocally cavitated joints in placoderms. Placoderms can move pectoral fins very smoothly!! Congrats @neelimasharma.bsky.social @neilshubin.bsky.social Yara Haridy! #Teamfish #evodevo

Neelima Sharma@neelimasharma.bsky.social · last yr.

Super excited to share our @plosbiology.org paper with @neilshubin.bsky.social and Yara Haridy, “Synovial joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fish but lacking in jawless fish” Paper: plos.io/3CTC8La Primer by @crumplab.bsky.social: plos.io/4kkhXa6 I hope you enjoy reading it!

When did the lubricated joints that allow our skeleton to swivel, rotate and bend evolve? @crumplab.bsky.social explores a new @plosbiology.org paper by @neelimasharma.bsky.social &co that pinpoints their origin to the earliest jawed vertebrates 🧪 Paper: plos.io/3CTC8La Primer: plos.io/4kkhXa6

Super excited to share our @plosbiology.org paper with @neilshubin.bsky.social and Yara Haridy, “Synovial joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fish but lacking in jawless fish” Paper: plos.io/3CTC8La Primer by @crumplab.bsky.social: plos.io/4kkhXa6 I hope you enjoy reading it!

Synovial joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fish but lacking in jawless fish

Synovial joints are characterized by lubricated articular surfaces separated by a cavity, providing mobility and load-bearing, but when did they evolve? This comparative and developmental study reveal...

plos.io

When did synovial joints evolve? @neelimasharma.bsky.social @neilshubin.bsky.social &co reveal that stable, mobile & lubricated joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fishes but lacking in jawless ones 🧪 @plosbiology.org plos.io/3CTC8La

New paper led by @neelimasharma.bsky.social on the lab! The evolutionary origin of highly mobile joints!

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · last yr.

When did synovial joints evolve? @neelimasharma.bsky.social @neilshubin.bsky.social &co reveal that stable, mobile & lubricated joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fishes but lacking in jawless ones 🧪 @plosbiology.org plos.io/3CTC8La