First time at a ISBE meeting and overwhelmed by the range of fascinating topics, great organisation and so many nice people at #ISBE2026 in Torino @isbe2026.bsky.social

David Labonte elegantly showing how math and physics tools can empower biomechanics to tackle big questions about animal diversity. #SEBConference @sebiology.bsky.social

Really excited to share that my first PhD chapter is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! 🕷️👀 We show that visually hunting spiders have repeatedly evolved forward-facing eyes, highlighting the remarkable evolutionary flexibility of their modular visual system. doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Hunting ecology predicts eye arrangements in the modular visual system of spiders

Pande et al. show that visually hunting spiders have convergently evolved forward-facing eyes. The positions and orientations of the eyes show the greatest morphological disparity and fastest evolutio...

cell.com

This was a fun collaboration!

Evolutionary Biomechanics lab Greifswald@evoimec.bsky.social · last mo.

Spider running performance varies enormously. We joined forces with David Labonte's Evolutionary Biomechanics lab in London for the broadest spider speed assay so far: 258 spp / 139 families Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202... Press coverage by the New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

Wow, our ballista spider study was literally catapulted across the media, e.g. BBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, New Scientist, Spiegel and a lot of regional newspapers, radio and tv stations. We were also highlighted by Nature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Daily briefing: Humans and great apes giggle in the same rhythms

The findings hint that vocal motor control might have evolved from a shared ancestor. Plus, sea turtles’ navigation skills are only so-so and what’s next for the International Space Station.

nature.com

A silk catapult for accelerating ants (with up to 130 x G) ?! Wonderful #biomechanics publication by @ercgrantees.bsky.social awardee @wolffspider.bsky.social @evoimec.bsky.social & colleagues in @currentbiology.bsky.social; see doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...; also check out videos at bit.ly/4cKtVGT

The #Australian ballista #spider (Propostira sp.) uses its silk's elastic energy storage capacity to build the most powerful snare and selective in the #animal kingdom. Read about our discovery here: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... Video by Ajay Narendra. Recorded with 3,000 fps, playback 100x slowed down!

This was possible due to a fantastic collaboration with passionate researchers @wolffspider.bsky.social @pranavjoshi8.bsky.social Greg Anderson and Danielle Liprandi. Links to video summary and paper (open access) here: www.cell.com/current-biol... @animbehav.bsky.social @austentsoc.bsky.social

Ballistic high-powered spider webs overcome dangerous prey defenses

Narendra et al. describe in an Australian ballista spider a spring-actuated snare that is triggered by green tree ants. They show that the snare’s architecture delivers exceptionally high instantaneou...

cell.com

Very excited to share our discovery of an engineering masterpiece from the Australian rainforest! In our latest paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social we report a hunting strategy in a spider, whose web outperforms every known biological catapult system.

Tired: Spinning a web and waiting for prey to get stuck Wired: Using your webbing like a net and tossing it at prey Inspired: Building a spring-loaded silk death trap that yeets ants directly into your web faster than a Formula One race car 🧪🕷️ My latest for @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/s...

„Jeden Euro, den man in der Bildung spart, muss man später vielfach für Sozialleistungen ausgeben.“ Auf den Punkt. www.zeit.de/familie/2026...

Kindeswohl in Deutschland: Deutschland kümmert sich nicht um seine Kinder – das wird sich rächen

Im Kindeswohl-Ranking von Unicef liegt Deutschland hinter Portugal und Rumänien – und will weiter bei Familien sparen. Doch so wird es erst richtig teuer!

zeit.de

zoologie.uni-greifswald.de/en/organizat... We have an open PhD position in my group for someone interested in functional morphology, biology of reproduction and evolutionary biology. Please spread the word!🧪🕷🧪🕷🧪🕷🧪

Scientific conferences can be a bore. Can jokes liven them up? Science Careers speaks with ecologist @stefanomammola.bsky.social about the power of humor to enhance science communication. https://scim.ag/4uCVf1N

Scientific conferences can be a bore. Can jokes liven them up?

Science speaks with ecologist Stefano Mammola about the power of humor to enhance science communication

science.org

Biggest spider web in the world: the area of a flat. Found in a sulphur-smelling cave in the Balkans, this ~100m² spongy web is maintained by two species of solitary 🕷️. The 110K inhabitants feed on midges, probably because they can't see the other spiders. 🧪 subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/1623...

Spiders possess multiple types of silk glands, which produce silk materials with contrasting properties. What happens if they combine different silks into a single line - Does this reinforce, even toughen, the silk thread? We got some answers from cellar and cave spiders: doi.org/10.1039/D5SM... 🔓

Netcasting spiders modulate silk thread stiffness via a tailorable multi-fibre meta-structure to construct a web that is hyperelastic and high load-bearing at the same time. Read about our discovery in PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas... 🔓 & with video content!

Just back from a productive writing retreat of @evoimec.bsky.social and @multipleye-lab.bsky.social on the remote island of Hiddensee. Look out for new papers coming up from our labs!

Lauren Sumner-Rooney@laurensr.bsky.social · 8mo ago

On the beautiful island of Hiddensee for a writing retreat with @evoimec.bsky.social @multipleye-lab.bsky.social ✍🏼👩🏼‍💻 enormous thanks to @wolffspider.bsky.social for the invitation (and his trusty suitcase full of snacks...) #outofoffice

Wow! Our long-term collaborator and friend Martín Ramírez is the winner of the @royalsocietypublishing.org photo competition, with a SEM image from our joint research on spider silk!! royalsociety.org/journals/pub...

Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition | Royal Society

Celebrating the power of photography to communicate science.

royalsociety.org

This is the Sunburst Candy Spider from Thailand. Not AI (sucks to have to declare this). Very real and had been on my wish list for a long time. The taxonomic placement is unclear, so we are leaving it at Cyrtarachninae.

This is a "reindeer cyclone", a defensive behavior that has been observed in herds of reindeer, even in captivity. The fawns and older animals are at the center, the strongest animal in the outer lanes. The point is to confuse the brains of predators accustomed to stalking a single outlier.

@maitryjani.bsky.social from my lab @evoimec.bsky.social talks about her scientific journey and newest paper in @jexpbiol.bsky.social ERC Spotlight: journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

#LIBresearch: A new study introduces the Global Repository of Insect Traits (GRIT) — a worldwide initiative integrating insect trait data to make insects more understandable and comparable across ecosystems. → doi.org/10.1111/icad.70035 @cscherber.bsky.social

Toward a global repository of insect traits (GRIT)

Biodiversity loss is accelerating, yet insect conservation is hindered by the absence of a centralised, comprehensive trait database. We propose the GRIT, a FAIR, open-access platform uniting datase...

doi.org

Reposting for the Monday morning scrollers! Funded PhD opportunity with me @multipleye-lab.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - spiders, their eyes, and their babies under long- and short-term light pollution!

Lauren Sumner-Rooney@laurensr.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Exciting times ahead - I'm beyond delighted to be joining @bristolbiosci.bsky.social in 2026! 🎉🕷️🎉🐌🎉 I'm also looking for a PhD student to join @multipleye-lab.bsky.social in our new home! Come and study the effects of light pollution on the evolution and development of spider eyes with us 🌃🕷️👀 👇

www.nickybay.com/ai-abuse-to-... AI abuse on macrophotography and AI generation of incorrect captions. Here are examples compiled by wildlife photographer Nicky Bay.

AI Abuse to Skirt Copyright Law - Macro Photography by Nicky Bay

In the past week, a number of prominent nature photographers showed how their photographs were being stolen and mangled into "AI-nonsense", deceiving countless others into believing the made-up storie...

nickybay.com

Our second invited #morphology speaker @wolffspider.bsky.social from @unigreifswald.bsky.social presented on the amazing biomechanics of #spider extended phenotypes and their ecolution

It was an absolute joy sharing this amazing web of brilliant people here in Zadar. Thank you all for coming and making it so special! 🕷️❤️

Happy to say the 35th ECA in Zadar has officially started!

Dear all, the registration and abstract submission deadline is approaching in a few days! Friday June 20th at midnight!!! 🚨 Don't miss the chance to join us in a beautiful Zadar! 🌞https://event.fourwaves.com/eca2025/pages

🕷️🌍🕸️ Spiders aren't creepy crawlies—they're ecosystem heroes! From pest control to biotech inspiration to key figures in our collective culture, a new review reveals the many services spiders provide: 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/brv.... (drawing by @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social)

Our latest paper on the jump kinematics and choreography in the Oz Splendid Peacock spider. We filmed & analysed locomotory jumps in male & female spiders. The males are incredibly light - measuring just 2mg - and oh they can jump! Videos in the thread. Open Access - read here: tinyurl.com/4bnpz9tz