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ebablab.bsky.social
Stephen Montgomery
@ebablab.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.2K following 420 posts
Evolutionary Neurobiology and Behaviour
www.shmontgomery.co.uk
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ebablab.bsky.social
Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · 2d
🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
ebablab.bsky.social
🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth
November 21, 2025 at 2:31 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
And apparently #Heliconius live in Kent now
November 22, 2025 at 7:37 AM
ebablab.bsky.social
🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth
November 21, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
alielw.bsky.social
Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬

We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.

Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!
November 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
“..equipped with an open mind and constitutional decency” - if ever there was a compliment to aspire to
genesdev.bsky.social Genes & Development @genesdev.bsky.social · 9d
IN MEMORIAM: A totipotent embryologist: John B. Gurdon
(1933–2025)
By Thoru Pederson
➡️ https://tinyurl.com/gd353471OA

*Photo courtesy of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives.
November 14, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
biologists.bsky.social
Thank you Denise Dalbosco Dell'Aglio @ficusorganensis.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social for sharing your experience of fee-free #OA publishing @jexpbiol.bsky.social via our #ReadAndPublish agreement @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
Read Denise’s paper: bit.ly/4977c7N
See all institutions bit.ly/3O7BxGi
We are grateful to The Company of Biologists for publishing our article on behaviours reminiscent of orientation flights in Heliconiini butterflies in Journal of Experimental Biology. As an early-career researcher, I am very pleased by the Open Access publication. University of Bristol has a Read & Publish agreement which facilitates the publication process and allows us to share our findings with a wide audience without financial barriers. We are excited with the opportunity of sharing our science with everyone. Phot of Denise Dalbosco Dell'Aglio, University of Bristol, UK
November 14, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
tommaso-jucker.bsky.social
🚨Job opportunity🚨

We are hiring a 3yr research technician. If you love fieldwork, are passionate about forests & mountains, and want to up-skill in remote sensing, sensor networks and running field experiments this could be the dream job for you!
🧪🌳⛰️🛰️🌡️🍄

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
Details | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol
www.bristol.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
eseb.bsky.social
📣CALL FOR APPLICATIONS!!

The next deadline for the #GodfreyHewitt mobility award is 31st January 2026. Open to ECRS in support of research trips or lab visits.

For more information, eligibility and how to apply: eseb.org/prizes-fundi...
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
donyaniyaz.bsky.social
Minos transgenesis enables robust, stable germline integration of transgenes in Lepidoptera; providing a reliable alternative to piggyBac, whose native transposases can cause transgene remobilization or instability in moths and butterflies:
evolvwing.bsky.social Arnaud Martin @evolvwing.bsky.social · 11d
It's out, Minos transgenesis in the pantry moth by
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social

High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers

peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
evolvwing.bsky.social
It's out, Minos transgenesis in the pantry moth by
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social

High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers

peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
🌟 Ready to take the next step in your career?

Applications are open for the Cambridge Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme! 🔬

➡️ Fully funded opportunities: supported by the BBSRC

Learn more and apply now: bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/how-apply

#Postgraduate #Cambridge #PhD
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
This would be a great way to spend three years of your life! 🌅🐬
November 11, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
amcell.bsky.social
2025. #DEI. Low socioeconomic status is an under‐recognised source of challenges in academia. zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... via @jzoology.bsky.social
Low socioeconomic status is an under‐recognised source of challenges in academia
The iconic ‘class sketch’ from the 1960s satirical series ‘The Frost Report’ illustrates the longstanding and deep cultural importance of social class in the UK. In this perspective, a diverse author....
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
samjakeengland.bsky.social
Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...
The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
sciencetopolitics.bsky.social
Want to #BringScienceToPolitics?

Scientists can support the National Emergency Briefing on Climate & Nature by signing this Open Letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
nebriefing.bsky.social National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 14d
We're delighted that tireless advocate for the natural world, @chrisgpackham.bsky.social CBE, will be opening the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster Central Hall on 27th November.

Chris speaking with @bbclaurak.bsky.social earlier👇

Please make sure your MP is attending: nebriefing.org
#NEB
November 10, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@ebablab.bsky.social and I helped a bit in this really informative article by Robin Grob in the el Jundi lab on spatial orientation strategies in Lepidoptera. Have a read :-)
The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies – neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
The Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, display an astonishing diversity of spatial orientation strategies essential for survival, reproduction, and ecological success. These spatial orientation strat...
link.springer.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
ebablab.bsky.social
“AI as it’s imagined and dreamed of being is this quest to give machines intelligence of different forms, the ability to communicate, to perceive the world, to make judgments,” Buolamwini says. “But once you’re making judgments, judgments come with responsibilities.”
November 7, 2025 at 10:41 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
Hashtag sorrynotsorry
November 7, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
fletcherecology.bsky.social
Please repost!

I am looking for a passionate and hard-working PhD student to work in southern Africa on experimental defaunation and rewilding of megafauna. See the link below for more information:

@camzoology.bsky.social @conservation.cam.ac.uk
Reversing defaunation through rewilding and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function | Department of Zoology
Reversing defaunation through rewilding and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function Supervisor: Professor Rob Fletcher The world is facing several global challenges that are transform...
www.zoo.cam.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
joledamoisel.bsky.social
My first paper as a first author is officially out 🎉 @elife.bsky.social

We show that the iridescent colour of Morphos 🦋 tends to converge in sympatry while their chemical signals diverge, illustrating the constrasting effect natural and sexual selection on trait evolution.

doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Convergent iridescence and divergent chemical signals in sympatric sister-species of Amazonian butterflies
Ecological interactions exert contrasting evolutionary pressures on sympatric Morpho butterflies, promoting convergence in iridescence but divergence in chemical cues, illustrating how ecological inte...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
ebablab.bsky.social
Now in its birthday suit with videos

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

And an interview with @ficusorganensis.bsky.social!

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
plosbiology.org
#Evolution of complex adaptations can involve changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function. @benitoexplains.bsky.social &co show that leaf masquerade in #katydids evolved via concurrent modification in wing colour & shape, driven by evolutionary synergy @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4oUE741
Functional synergy underlies effective leaf masquerade in the wild. Top: Photographs of Itarissa costaricensis (left) and Aegmia maculofolia (right), leaf-masquerading katydid species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) found at the field site in Panama. Photos courtesy of Dr Hannah ter Hofstede and Dr Laurel Symes. Bottom: All experimental color × shape treatment combinations in situ, pinned to tree bark with a mealworm (Tenebrio molitor larvae) as bait. From left to right: “green oval,” “green elongated oval,” “green rectangle,” “brown oval,” “brown elongated oval,” “brown rectangle,” “blue oval,” “blue elongated rectangle,” “blue rectangle.”
November 4, 2025 at 1:55 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
My 4 year old is still a big fan of biphasic sleep 🫠
russellengland.bsky.social Russell England @russellengland.bsky.social · 21d
Doomscrolling break...

This is fascinating stuff

Humans used to have 2 sleeps (biphasic)

It's normal to wake up in the middle of the night!

Our sleep patterns changed during the industrial revolution, because of artificial light and our working hours

Research by Professor Roger Ekirch
The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'
For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why? And how did the habit disappear?
www.bbc.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
ebablab.bsky.social
Looks cool 👀
biorxivpreprint.bsky.social bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 23d
Sensory receptor expansion and neural accommodation in butterfly color vision https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685642v1
November 1, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
jevbio.bsky.social
Combining genomic and neuroanatomical data shows that #Heliconiini olfactory systems vary in their #olfactory receptor diversity and investment in individual brain structures, but are developmentally plastic in responsive to environmental conditions:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Yi Peng et al. 2025
Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies
Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d
doi.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM