I went as an AI hallucination this year. I actually felt very dated because I was trying to get the LLMs to build the messed up text characteristic of a year or so ago and they won’t do it anymore!

Very neat talk by @kaksonen.bsky.social on collective behavior in Fonticula alba, a different kind of social amoeba! #ESEB2025

Fun and valiant talk by Dylan Thatcher about theory of larval altruism through #socialfluids in #wasps #ESEB2025 #wasplove

Amazing talk by @jennyperry.bsky.social bringing together signalling theory and socially transferred materials. Keep your eyes peeled for the eventual paper with @steveramm.bsky.social @elvarobinson.bsky.social and myself #ESEB2025 @socialtransfernet.bsky.social

Continuing the S08 session on socially transferred materials, Axel Wiberg talks about sexually antagonistic #coevolution in populations of Drosophila #ESEB2025

Super cool talk by Garcia-Lozano from @hassansalem.bsky.social lab on yellow aiding transmission of their Stammera symbiont. Exciting implications for insects and their friends! #ESEB2025

@berasymbionts.bsky.social speaking about socially transferred materials and her amazing beetles and fungal symbiont transfer opening the @socialtransfernet.bsky.social symposium at #ESEB2025

@arthurmatte.bsky.social describes the molecular evolution during the rise of #socialfluids #ESEB2025 @socialtransfernet.bsky.social @socialfluids.bsky.social

Ellie Bladon tells us about #plasticity in metabolic division of labour during #parentalcare #socialfluids @socialtransfernet.bsky.social #ESEB2025

@joriskoene.bsky.social of the @socialtransfernet.bsky.social talking about his amazing snail system of simultaneous hermaphroditism #socialfluids

Wow! Just read a super fun kids book with my daughter about going on an expedition to find giant squid! Well done @dannastaaf.bsky.social and @sarahmackattack.bsky.social ! Such a treat to see your names. I want MOAR like this.

I’m speaking today at @camzoology.bsky.social International Women’s Day celebration. Come listen to the amazing research stories from my fellow #womeninscience!

Here is the paper itself: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

This paper shows how the combination of ecological opportunism and reduced social conflict can spark social innovations, offering broader insights into the evolution of complex social systems. (incredible trophallaxis photos by François Brassard)

The evolution of trophallaxis enabled ants to develop larger colonies and it accelerated net diversification, paralleling how resource sharing drove other major evolutionary innovations like the emergence of complex multicellular life.

Using Bayesian neural networks and evolutionary modelling, we show that trophallaxis evolved twice in ants: 130 million years ago when flowering plants became more abundant and ants began harvesting sugary liquids from plants and their insect partners, and again in others ~90 million years ago.

How do complex social behaviors evolve and shape species' success? Here doi.org/10.1038/s420... we reveal how a key social behavior in ants - mouth-to-mouth food sharing #trophallaxis - emerged as ants opportunistically exploited new ecological niches as terrestrial environments changed.

Thanks so much to the Lorentz Center and everyone that came for the #sociallytransferredmaterials meeting. It was great fun working with you all. I can’t wait to see the outputs of this meeting. Hint: #principles of #milkcus during #globalchange 😉

Aurora in Cambridge, UK! Even with light pollution!