Jaap de Roode
@jaapderoode.bsky.social
Biology professor; Emory University;
monarch butterflies; infectious diseases; animal self-medication; host of Virulent Vortex podcast
monarch butterflies; infectious diseases; animal self-medication; host of Virulent Vortex podcast
So much fun to talk with Marty Martin and @jdrakephd.bsky.social at the @bigbiology.bsky.social podcast about how animals use medicine, what we can learn from them, and my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #DoctorsbyNature on this very topic. Thank you, Marty and John!
Episode 142 “Doctors by Nature” is out now! 🩺🦋🐻🐵
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jaap de Roode @jaapderoode.bsky.social, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University and author of the book "Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves".
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jaap de Roode @jaapderoode.bsky.social, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University and author of the book "Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves".
Doctors by Nature (Ep 142)
How do animals use medication and can humans learn from them?
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
So much fun to talk with Marty Martin and @jdrakephd.bsky.social at the @bigbiology.bsky.social podcast about how animals use medicine, what we can learn from them, and my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #DoctorsbyNature on this very topic. Thank you, Marty and John!
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
It was long thought that domestication leads to reductions in brain size. But as we understand dog brains better, the truth is proving more complicated—and more interesting.
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @erinhecht.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/of-breeds-an...
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @erinhecht.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/of-breeds-an...
November 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
It was long thought that domestication leads to reductions in brain size. But as we understand dog brains better, the truth is proving more complicated—and more interesting.
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @erinhecht.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/of-breeds-an...
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @erinhecht.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/of-breeds-an...
Great opportunity!
Neat opportunity at George Mason University for #consbio #consgen undergrads. Paid NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
NSF-REU - Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation
smconservation.gmu.edu
November 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Great opportunity!
Another great story on fANTastic biology.
You're a parasitic ant queen eyeing the colony of another species. You have a simple plan:
1. Hide your scent by rubbing workers on your body
2. Infiltrate the nest
3. Spray the queen with chemicals that goad her daughters into tearing her to bits
4. All hail the usurper!
(my latest for CNN) 🧪
1. Hide your scent by rubbing workers on your body
2. Infiltrate the nest
3. Spray the queen with chemicals that goad her daughters into tearing her to bits
4. All hail the usurper!
(my latest for CNN) 🧪
Parasitic ant queen chemically manipulates workers into killing their mother | CNN
Scientists newly described how a parasitic ant queen infiltrates another ant species’ colony and tricks the workers into killing their mother.
www.cnn.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Another great story on fANTastic biology.
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
New paper showing how immigration alters the ecological processes structuring the assembly and variation in #Monarch caterpillar gut #microbiomes.
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Experimental Immigration Mediates Ecological Selection and Drift in Monarch Microbiome Assembly
The distribution of biodiversity depends on processes operating across scales, yet multiscale paradigms have struggled to permeate host-microbiome research. By integrating multi-scale ecological theo...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
New paper showing how immigration alters the ecological processes structuring the assembly and variation in #Monarch caterpillar gut #microbiomes.
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
w/ @jaapderoode.bsky.social, @gabe-dubose.bsky.social, Joselyne Chavez, Lydia Fuller-Hall
Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Caterpillar guts are like grasslands: immigration and selection determine gut microbial communities. Thanks @chriscatano.bsky.social for leading this exciting project, and for showing that niche selection is important in caterpillar microbial ecology!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Experimental Immigration Mediates Ecological Selection and Drift in Monarch Microbiome Assembly
The distribution of biodiversity depends on processes operating across scales, yet multiscale paradigms have struggled to permeate host-microbiome research. By integrating multi-scale ecological theo...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Caterpillar guts are like grasslands: immigration and selection determine gut microbial communities. Thanks @chriscatano.bsky.social for leading this exciting project, and for showing that niche selection is important in caterpillar microbial ecology!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
What a wonderful overview of how basic science leads the way. World-changing innovation comes from curiosity-driven research. Basic research always leads to applications, we may just not be smart enough to know what those will be. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:53 PM
What a wonderful overview of how basic science leads the way. World-changing innovation comes from curiosity-driven research. Basic research always leads to applications, we may just not be smart enough to know what those will be. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Wow, nature is too cool! Structures on stinkbug hind legs that used to be interpreted as ears are actually chambers with fungi. The bugs coat their eggs in those fungi to protect them against parasitoid wasps. 🧪
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Dinidorid stinkbugs were reported to possess a conspicuous tympanal organ on female hindlegs. In this study, we show that this organ is specialized to retain microbial symbionts rather than to perceiv...
www.science.org
October 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Wow, nature is too cool! Structures on stinkbug hind legs that used to be interpreted as ears are actually chambers with fungi. The bugs coat their eggs in those fungi to protect them against parasitoid wasps. 🧪
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Ants - and the researchers studying them - just keep on amazing! 🧪
Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics
In animal groups, spatial structure shapes social interaction patterns, thereby influencing the transmission of infectious diseases. Active modifications to the spatial environment could therefore be ...
www.science.org
October 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Ants - and the researchers studying them - just keep on amazing! 🧪
Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Just finished an amazing trip to Paris to promote my Les Liens Qui Liberent book #nos_grands_medecins, translated from my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature. My first time doing radio interviews with live interpretation: a great and fun experience. @emorybiology.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Just finished an amazing trip to Paris to promote my Les Liens Qui Liberent book #nos_grands_medecins, translated from my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature. My first time doing radio interviews with live interpretation: a great and fun experience. @emorybiology.bsky.social
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
Next week, Oct 21 at 5:30 pm BST, @newcastleuni.bsky.social hosts @jaapderoode.bsky.social for a discussion of his book, Doctors by Nature, exploring how animals use medicine and what it can teach us about healing ourselves.
This event is free and open to the public. Save your spot: buff.ly/vjs1oVE
This event is free and open to the public. Save your spot: buff.ly/vjs1oVE
October 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Next week, Oct 21 at 5:30 pm BST, @newcastleuni.bsky.social hosts @jaapderoode.bsky.social for a discussion of his book, Doctors by Nature, exploring how animals use medicine and what it can teach us about healing ourselves.
This event is free and open to the public. Save your spot: buff.ly/vjs1oVE
This event is free and open to the public. Save your spot: buff.ly/vjs1oVE
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
Next week, on Oct 18, go to @newscientist.com Live to see @jaapderoode.bsky.social discuss his book, Doctors by Nature, and the fascinating ways in which animals practice medicine. Among many excellent speakers, be sure to see Jaap at 2:35pm BST!
Explore the lineup and book tickets: buff.ly/4YBFj1U
Explore the lineup and book tickets: buff.ly/4YBFj1U
October 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Next week, on Oct 18, go to @newscientist.com Live to see @jaapderoode.bsky.social discuss his book, Doctors by Nature, and the fascinating ways in which animals practice medicine. Among many excellent speakers, be sure to see Jaap at 2:35pm BST!
Explore the lineup and book tickets: buff.ly/4YBFj1U
Explore the lineup and book tickets: buff.ly/4YBFj1U
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
🌿 Nature lifts mood all day
Surveying over 2,000 adults, researchers found that visiting parks or watersides boosts happiness for everyone, including those with depression or anxiety.
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1743...
#MentalHealth #SciComm 🧪
Surveying over 2,000 adults, researchers found that visiting parks or watersides boosts happiness for everyone, including those with depression or anxiety.
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1743...
#MentalHealth #SciComm 🧪
Happy days are nature days: visiting nature has positive spill-over effects for the entire day among people with and without common mental health disorders
Recreational time in nature is linked to greater positive and fewer negative emotions than time in built settings, but it is unclear whether benefits: a) are short-lived or ‘spill-over’ across the ...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 6:30 AM
🌿 Nature lifts mood all day
Surveying over 2,000 adults, researchers found that visiting parks or watersides boosts happiness for everyone, including those with depression or anxiety.
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1743...
#MentalHealth #SciComm 🧪
Surveying over 2,000 adults, researchers found that visiting parks or watersides boosts happiness for everyone, including those with depression or anxiety.
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1743...
#MentalHealth #SciComm 🧪
We live in divided times. But most of us agree that we dislike mosquitoes. In the latest episode of the Virulent Vortex, I talk with Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec. As he explains, going back to basic mozzie biology could go a long way in controlling mosquito-borne diseases.🧪
youtu.be/sm5iz48-faA?...
youtu.be/sm5iz48-faA?...
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec
YouTube video by The MP3 Initiative & IDASTP
youtu.be
October 2, 2025 at 12:24 PM
We live in divided times. But most of us agree that we dislike mosquitoes. In the latest episode of the Virulent Vortex, I talk with Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec. As he explains, going back to basic mozzie biology could go a long way in controlling mosquito-borne diseases.🧪
youtu.be/sm5iz48-faA?...
youtu.be/sm5iz48-faA?...
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
Our MARC T34 got a new NOA today- also reinstated the IMSD T32 and a summer program- INSPIRE R25- we were reinstated due to involvement with ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of the American Public Health Association-
July 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Our MARC T34 got a new NOA today- also reinstated the IMSD T32 and a summer program- INSPIRE R25- we were reinstated due to involvement with ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of the American Public Health Association-
Our latest research, with @iragonese.bsky.social, @saltidog.bsky.social and @richardlovesbirds.bsky.social, shows that elevated temperature can increase monarch butterfly susceptibility to parasitism by reducing the medicinal properties of milkweed. #plant-insect #plant-herbivore 🧪
New #OpenAccess research in #RESEcolEnt reports on how host plants & experimental #warming impact fitness and infection outcomes in a migratory butterfly
doi.org/10.1111/een.70010
#Danaus #MonarchButterfly
Photo credits: Isabella Ragonese
doi.org/10.1111/een.70010
#Danaus #MonarchButterfly
Photo credits: Isabella Ragonese
September 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Our latest research, with @iragonese.bsky.social, @saltidog.bsky.social and @richardlovesbirds.bsky.social, shows that elevated temperature can increase monarch butterfly susceptibility to parasitism by reducing the medicinal properties of milkweed. #plant-insect #plant-herbivore 🧪
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
“De ware dierendokters: hoe dieren elkaar medisch behandelen. Chimpansees die verbanden aanleggen, muizen die EHBO verlenen: ook dieren verzorgen elkaar, blijkt uit groeiend stapel studies.” #wetenschap #biologie #diergedrag #boek Dokters van nature van @jaapderoode.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/4b8eua9h
tinyurl.com/4b8eua9h
De ware dierendokters: hoe dieren elkaar ‘medisch’ behandelen
Chimpansees die verbanden aanleggen, muizen die EHBO verlenen: ook dieren verzorgen elkaar, blijkt uit een groeiende stapel studies. Vier opmerkelijke voorbeelden.
tinyurl.com
September 15, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“De ware dierendokters: hoe dieren elkaar medisch behandelen. Chimpansees die verbanden aanleggen, muizen die EHBO verlenen: ook dieren verzorgen elkaar, blijkt uit groeiend stapel studies.” #wetenschap #biologie #diergedrag #boek Dokters van nature van @jaapderoode.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/4b8eua9h
tinyurl.com/4b8eua9h
In many cases, crowding results in greater disease transmission. However, in monarch butterflies high host density can reduce per capita infection risk. This happens when caterpillars gobble up parasites on milkweed, removing them from the environment.🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
Crowding reduces per-capita parasite infection risk in a butterfly host | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Crowding can result in greater disease transmission, yet crowded hosts may also remove
infectious propagules from the environment, thereby lowering the encounter rate and
infectious dose received by c...
royalsocietypublishing.org
September 14, 2025 at 8:57 PM
In many cases, crowding results in greater disease transmission. However, in monarch butterflies high host density can reduce per capita infection risk. This happens when caterpillars gobble up parasites on milkweed, removing them from the environment.🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
From a grant rejection: "I would recommend finding a more cost effective way to conduct the study, such as using labor of a graduate student, which could reduce the overall cost by 80%." To clarify: that would leave $9,856 for 2 years. Shocking! Graduate students are NOT free and forced labor! 🧪
September 8, 2025 at 1:25 PM
From a grant rejection: "I would recommend finding a more cost effective way to conduct the study, such as using labor of a graduate student, which could reduce the overall cost by 80%." To clarify: that would leave $9,856 for 2 years. Shocking! Graduate students are NOT free and forced labor! 🧪
Mijn @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social boek ‘Dokters van nature’ is genomineerd voor de shortlist van de Natuurboekenprijs 2025!
Hiernaast is er dit jaar een publieksprijs. Mocht je het leuk vinden op mijn boek te stemmen, dan kan dat hier:
meedoen.bnnvara.nl/.../publieks....
🧪
Hiernaast is er dit jaar een publieksprijs. Mocht je het leuk vinden op mijn boek te stemmen, dan kan dat hier:
meedoen.bnnvara.nl/.../publieks....
🧪
September 1, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Mijn @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social boek ‘Dokters van nature’ is genomineerd voor de shortlist van de Natuurboekenprijs 2025!
Hiernaast is er dit jaar een publieksprijs. Mocht je het leuk vinden op mijn boek te stemmen, dan kan dat hier:
meedoen.bnnvara.nl/.../publieks....
🧪
Hiernaast is er dit jaar een publieksprijs. Mocht je het leuk vinden op mijn boek te stemmen, dan kan dat hier:
meedoen.bnnvara.nl/.../publieks....
🧪
Wound care in chimpanzees! Like chimpanzees in Central Africa, scientists have now shown that East African chimpanzees also apply flying insects to their own and each other's wounds. This is likely some form of medication, which is more widespread than we thought. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Insect applications to open wounds by chimpanzees in the wild: first insights from East African chimpanzees - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Insect applications to open wounds by chimpanzees in the wild: first insights from East African chimpanzees
www.nature.com
August 31, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Wound care in chimpanzees! Like chimpanzees in Central Africa, scientists have now shown that East African chimpanzees also apply flying insects to their own and each other's wounds. This is likely some form of medication, which is more widespread than we thought. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
So excited and honored that my @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social book #doktersvannature, translated from my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature made it to the shortlist for best Netherlands nature book of 2025. Fantastic how many people appreciate nature. 🧪
www.bnnvara.nl/vroegevogels...
www.bnnvara.nl/vroegevogels...
Deze vijf boeken maken kans op de Natuurboekenprijs 2025 - Vroege Vogels - BNNVARA
Het winnende natuurboek wordt op zondag 28 september bekendgemaakt tijdens de radiouitzending van Vroege Vogels, voorafgaand aan het Vroege Vogels Festival..
www.bnnvara.nl
August 24, 2025 at 1:42 PM
So excited and honored that my @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social book #doktersvannature, translated from my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature made it to the shortlist for best Netherlands nature book of 2025. Fantastic how many people appreciate nature. 🧪
www.bnnvara.nl/vroegevogels...
www.bnnvara.nl/vroegevogels...
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
De shortlist voor de Natuurboekenprijs 2025 is bekend, met de boeken van Eva Meijer, Nikki Dekker, Jeroen Helmer, @jaapderoode.bsky.social en Geert-Jan Roebers & Merlijne Marell. Bekijk de hele lijst, lees meer, bestel: athenaeumscheltema.n...
August 24, 2025 at 7:56 AM
De shortlist voor de Natuurboekenprijs 2025 is bekend, met de boeken van Eva Meijer, Nikki Dekker, Jeroen Helmer, @jaapderoode.bsky.social en Geert-Jan Roebers & Merlijne Marell. Bekijk de hele lijst, lees meer, bestel: athenaeumscheltema.n...
Reposted by Jaap de Roode
The only way back to normalcy is through, and that means getting these people out of power. I'm not going to get an NIH grant to do the work I care about until RFK and Jay are out anyway. So I hope you'll read and share our piece. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...
The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6
“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.
www.statnews.com
August 15, 2025 at 8:44 PM
The only way back to normalcy is through, and that means getting these people out of power. I'm not going to get an NIH grant to do the work I care about until RFK and Jay are out anyway. So I hope you'll read and share our piece. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...