Jerome Beetz
@beetzjerome.bsky.social
Neuroethologist studying spatial navigation in diverse species 🐝🦇🦋. Currently, launching my group to study spatial memory in 🐝.
https://www.spatial-navigation.com/
https://www.spatial-navigation.com/
Pinned
Jerome Beetz
@beetzjerome.bsky.social
· Mar 24
Beetz Lab
Our group studies the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memory in insects. As central place foragers, honeybees begin their foraging trip at a fixed location, i.e., their nest. This site fidelity.....
www.spatial-navigation.com
Let me introduce our new lab homepage.
www.spatial-navigation.com
We are looking for PhD students and one Postdoc that can start in November 2025.
Contact me if you are in to studying spatial memory of honeybees. @uni-wuerzburg.de
@neuroethology.org
www.spatial-navigation.com
We are looking for PhD students and one Postdoc that can start in November 2025.
Contact me if you are in to studying spatial memory of honeybees. @uni-wuerzburg.de
@neuroethology.org
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Come and work with us in our new home @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ! This fully funded PhD opportunity is open to anyone interested in spiders/eyes/light pollution/evolution/development! 🕷️👀
⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 24, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Come and work with us in our new home @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ! This fully funded PhD opportunity is open to anyone interested in spiders/eyes/light pollution/evolution/development! 🕷️👀
⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
How do insects use vision to interact with flowers? IMPRS-QBEE student @lochlanw.bsky.social, working with @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social tells us more about his work on hummingbird hawkmoths and how they interact with flower patterns
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/juEhw...
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/juEhw...
Lochlan Walsh | Insect sensory biology
YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM
How do insects use vision to interact with flowers? IMPRS-QBEE student @lochlanw.bsky.social, working with @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social tells us more about his work on hummingbird hawkmoths and how they interact with flower patterns
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/juEhw...
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/juEhw...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Praying mantises demontrate remarkable camouflage although they had been thought to be colorblind. A new ERG study reveals that 2 of 3 tested mantises species are trichromatic highlighting a physiological capacity for color vision.
@springernature.com
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@springernature.com
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Praying mantises possess multiple spectral photoreceptor classes - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Praying mantises often display elaborate camouflage, disappearing into the shapes, textures, and colors around them. But they have largely been thought to be monochromats, unable to perceive the color...
link.springer.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Praying mantises demontrate remarkable camouflage although they had been thought to be colorblind. A new ERG study reveals that 2 of 3 tested mantises species are trichromatic highlighting a physiological capacity for color vision.
@springernature.com
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@springernature.com
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Bats are highly social animals showing a huge vocal repetoire. A new study of the Simmons lab monitored vocalizations between pairs of 🦇 that were competing for food in the lab. Six social call types, e.g., frequency-modulated bouts (FMBs), were common.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
Frontiers | Social calls of big brown bats in a competitive feeding context
Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) have a diverse vocal repertoire. We tested the hypothesis that frequency-modulated bouts (FMBs) are male-specific calls pro...
www.frontiersin.org
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Bats are highly social animals showing a huge vocal repetoire. A new study of the Simmons lab monitored vocalizations between pairs of 🦇 that were competing for food in the lab. Six social call types, e.g., frequency-modulated bouts (FMBs), were common.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Our paper “Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness” is out in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B.
Together with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni, we suggest bringing Tinbergen’s framework into consciousness research.
Together with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni, we suggest bringing Tinbergen’s framework into consciousness research.
Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Understanding consciousness remains a significant challenge in science. What distinguishes
conscious beings from unconscious systems, such as organoids, artificial intelligence
or other non-sentient e...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Our paper “Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness” is out in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B.
Together with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni, we suggest bringing Tinbergen’s framework into consciousness research.
Together with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni, we suggest bringing Tinbergen’s framework into consciousness research.
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
her highness sleeps
Ammophila wasp on brittlebush (Encelia) distal twigs at night
take a close look ... she is SPECTACULAR!
Ammophila wasp on brittlebush (Encelia) distal twigs at night
take a close look ... she is SPECTACULAR!
October 27, 2025 at 3:06 PM
her highness sleeps
Ammophila wasp on brittlebush (Encelia) distal twigs at night
take a close look ... she is SPECTACULAR!
Ammophila wasp on brittlebush (Encelia) distal twigs at night
take a close look ... she is SPECTACULAR!
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
This week in Science, researchers demonstrate positive affective contagion—a core component of empathy—in bumble bees.
The discovery shows that even insects can share affective states, tracing the roots of affect and social cognition deep into evolution. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4oblMQq
The discovery shows that even insects can share affective states, tracing the roots of affect and social cognition deep into evolution. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4oblMQq
October 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
This week in Science, researchers demonstrate positive affective contagion—a core component of empathy—in bumble bees.
The discovery shows that even insects can share affective states, tracing the roots of affect and social cognition deep into evolution. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4oblMQq
The discovery shows that even insects can share affective states, tracing the roots of affect and social cognition deep into evolution. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4oblMQq
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
🚨 New paper out in #JCP-A @springernature.com "Divergent sensory transcriptomic profiles in positive and negative learning in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies" by Yi Teng Ter & Erica Westerman #Neurogenomics #VisualLearning #Lepidoptera 🧪🧠🦋
↘️ link.springer.com/article/10.1... ↙️
↘️ link.springer.com/article/10.1... ↙️
Divergent sensory transcriptomic profiles in positive and negative learning in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Journal of Comparative Physiology A - Mate preference learning, where individuals learn to prefer or avoid specific phenotypes during mate selection, is pervasive across animal taxa and influences...
link.springer.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:06 AM
🚨 New paper out in #JCP-A @springernature.com "Divergent sensory transcriptomic profiles in positive and negative learning in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies" by Yi Teng Ter & Erica Westerman #Neurogenomics #VisualLearning #Lepidoptera 🧪🧠🦋
↘️ link.springer.com/article/10.1... ↙️
↘️ link.springer.com/article/10.1... ↙️
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Neuroscience projects last several years, and you are usually a bit jaded by the time you wrap it up. Not this one– spending several months on an island in the middle of nowhere, away from all the craziness of the world reminds you how beautiful the world really is.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
Bat Island: The New Era of Science
YouTube video by Weizmann Institute of Science
www.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Neuroscience projects last several years, and you are usually a bit jaded by the time you wrap it up. Not this one– spending several months on an island in the middle of nowhere, away from all the craziness of the world reminds you how beautiful the world really is.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Thrilled to announce I'll be joining the Division of Neuroscience at @manchester.ac.uk as a Lecturer in Feb '26!
The DuLab will explore how the brain integrates sensory streams into internal maps 🌐 using the rodent head-direction circuit, the 'neural compass', as a starting point for the journey 🧭
The DuLab will explore how the brain integrates sensory streams into internal maps 🌐 using the rodent head-direction circuit, the 'neural compass', as a starting point for the journey 🧭
October 20, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Thrilled to announce I'll be joining the Division of Neuroscience at @manchester.ac.uk as a Lecturer in Feb '26!
The DuLab will explore how the brain integrates sensory streams into internal maps 🌐 using the rodent head-direction circuit, the 'neural compass', as a starting point for the journey 🧭
The DuLab will explore how the brain integrates sensory streams into internal maps 🌐 using the rodent head-direction circuit, the 'neural compass', as a starting point for the journey 🧭
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Interested in the brain, circuits, and behavior?
Enjoy tinkering and asking bold questions in neuroscience?
The Forli Lab (IIT, Genova, Italy) is hiring!
🧠 🔬 🟩◻️🟥->🍕🚫🍍
Check out our website for updates:
sites.google.com/view/forli-lab
Enjoy tinkering and asking bold questions in neuroscience?
The Forli Lab (IIT, Genova, Italy) is hiring!
🧠 🔬 🟩◻️🟥->🍕🚫🍍
Check out our website for updates:
sites.google.com/view/forli-lab
September 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Interested in the brain, circuits, and behavior?
Enjoy tinkering and asking bold questions in neuroscience?
The Forli Lab (IIT, Genova, Italy) is hiring!
🧠 🔬 🟩◻️🟥->🍕🚫🍍
Check out our website for updates:
sites.google.com/view/forli-lab
Enjoy tinkering and asking bold questions in neuroscience?
The Forli Lab (IIT, Genova, Italy) is hiring!
🧠 🔬 🟩◻️🟥->🍕🚫🍍
Check out our website for updates:
sites.google.com/view/forli-lab
A textbook example what the field of neuroethology is about. Studying the brain in the wild. Congrats to these awesome findings. 🥳😃
I am excited to share my PhD work on head-direction cells recorded in the wild, now published in @science.org, where we recorded neurons in bats flying outdoors on an island.
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
doi.org/10.1126/sci...
With @ray-neuro.bsky.social, Shir Maimon, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky and many others
October 20, 2025 at 7:39 PM
A textbook example what the field of neuroethology is about. Studying the brain in the wild. Congrats to these awesome findings. 🥳😃
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
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!
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 🌃🕷️👀 👇
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 🌃🕷️👀 👇
October 20, 2025 at 7:37 AM
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!
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Paper & incredible science alert: Our assistant professor @laurastidsholt.bsky.social & a passionate team @elena-tena.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social found proof for greater nocturnal #bats 🦇 preying on migratory birds 🐦 AND devouring them in flight! #bioacoustics
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Paper & incredible science alert: Our assistant professor @laurastidsholt.bsky.social & a passionate team @elena-tena.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social found proof for greater nocturnal #bats 🦇 preying on migratory birds 🐦 AND devouring them in flight! #bioacoustics
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
New preprint from the lab: A reference brain for the clonal raider ant.
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
New preprint from the lab: A reference brain for the clonal raider ant.
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With this resource, which is based on 40 individual brains, you can register and compare all kinds of samples in a common space. It comes with lots of detailed protocols and a user-friendly GUI.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
New study @jexpbiol.bsky.social on local search behavior in Drosophila larvae. Results suggest that local search is mainly mediated by idiothetic cues. journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Finding a path: Local search behavior of Drosophila larvae
Orientation and navigation are essential features of animals living in changing environments. Typically, animals integrate a variety of allothetic and idiothetic cues to achieve their navigational goa...
journals.biologists.com
October 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
New study @jexpbiol.bsky.social on local search behavior in Drosophila larvae. Results suggest that local search is mainly mediated by idiothetic cues. journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Vector navigation is common in insects. While directional coding has been studied in great detail, we know less about how distances are represented in the brain. @idatri.bsky.social & S. DasGrupta study the neural mechanisms of odometry in flies.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Neural Basis of Odometry in Drosophila
Path integration is a mode of navigation in which travel distance and direction are integrated to calculate position. Estimating travel distance, or ‘odometry,’ requires the summation of translational...
www.biorxiv.org
October 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Vector navigation is common in insects. While directional coding has been studied in great detail, we know less about how distances are represented in the brain. @idatri.bsky.social & S. DasGrupta study the neural mechanisms of odometry in flies.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Thank you to everyone for their support over the past 100 years, and for helping us celebrate this year. You can catch up with all our 100-year content on our special anniversary page bit.ly/4naj8Jr
October 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Thank you to everyone for their support over the past 100 years, and for helping us celebrate this year. You can catch up with all our 100-year content on our special anniversary page bit.ly/4naj8Jr
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
We're very proud to be releasing the complete male fly CNS connectome!
It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.
More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.
More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
Male CNS Connectome
A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...
www.janelia.org
October 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
We're very proud to be releasing the complete male fly CNS connectome!
It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.
More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.
More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
Only one day left to apply for this 5 year Postdoc. Everyone with experience in electrophysiology and a keen interest in #neuroethology is welcomed to apply. More infos about our lab can also be found here: www.spatial-navigation.com
🐝🧠🇩🇪
🐝🧠🇩🇪
We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees.
This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees.
Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025.
More details:
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...
This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees.
Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025.
More details:
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...
Postdoctoral Position (f/m/d) at the Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology
Biocenter of the University of Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de
September 29, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Only one day left to apply for this 5 year Postdoc. Everyone with experience in electrophysiology and a keen interest in #neuroethology is welcomed to apply. More infos about our lab can also be found here: www.spatial-navigation.com
🐝🧠🇩🇪
🐝🧠🇩🇪
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
🐝 Can #ElectricFields from #powerlines disrupt #honeybee foraging? A new #iScience study says yes — AC & +DC fields cut landings by 71% 🌸⚡
🧾Read here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#ElectricPollution #PollinatorHealth #Entomology #Agroecology #EcoResearch #InsectScience #SaveTheBees #FieldEcology
🧾Read here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#ElectricPollution #PollinatorHealth #Entomology #Agroecology #EcoResearch #InsectScience #SaveTheBees #FieldEcology
May 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
🐝 Can #ElectricFields from #powerlines disrupt #honeybee foraging? A new #iScience study says yes — AC & +DC fields cut landings by 71% 🌸⚡
🧾Read here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#ElectricPollution #PollinatorHealth #Entomology #Agroecology #EcoResearch #InsectScience #SaveTheBees #FieldEcology
🧾Read here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#ElectricPollution #PollinatorHealth #Entomology #Agroecology #EcoResearch #InsectScience #SaveTheBees #FieldEcology
Insect spatial memory is thought to be based on panoramic snapshots that are modelled as retinotopic images. This idea won't allow a distinction of landmarks from the scene. Unexpectedly, our data suggest that 🐝 learn 3D-objects as individual landmarks. #neuroethology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 28, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Insect spatial memory is thought to be based on panoramic snapshots that are modelled as retinotopic images. This idea won't allow a distinction of landmarks from the scene. Unexpectedly, our data suggest that 🐝 learn 3D-objects as individual landmarks. #neuroethology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Check out new research into the fascinating and challenging world of #AvianNavigation! 🦉 'How Birds Find Their Way', by Helmut Satz, describes our current understanding of the navigation of birds, their methods, capabilities, and achievements. bit.ly/42bC5Um #BookSky
September 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Check out new research into the fascinating and challenging world of #AvianNavigation! 🦉 'How Birds Find Their Way', by Helmut Satz, describes our current understanding of the navigation of birds, their methods, capabilities, and achievements. bit.ly/42bC5Um #BookSky
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions
A key function of the brain is to categorize sensory cues as repulsive or attractive and respond accordingly. While we have some understanding of how sensory information is processed in the sensory pe...
www.biorxiv.org
September 27, 2025 at 5:46 AM
How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jerome Beetz
Now out in @nature.com: Our study discovering a neural circuit in Drosophila that predictively inhibits proprioceptor axons during voluntary leg movements, such as walking and grooming. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Now out in @nature.com: Our study discovering a neural circuit in Drosophila that predictively inhibits proprioceptor axons during voluntary leg movements, such as walking and grooming. www.nature.com/articles/s41...