katja heuer
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k4tj4.bsky.social
katja heuer
@k4tj4.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.9K following 140 posts
into brain evolution & development, open science, art & science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hMNZHsrNHw, music, making, javascript, contemporary dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfHj7F2FzQ
website: katjaq.github.io
Posts Replies Media Videos
k4tj4.bsky.social
Fantastic talk by @aigverte.bsky.social on genomic & developmental foundations of adaptive tooth shape evolution. One ancestral developmental rule along which phenotypes evolve&converge; rule is broken when colonising new ecol. niche
#ESEB2025 Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 9:38 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Next, @evazaffarini.bsky.social showing how prenatal hormones shape maternal–fetal morphological integration in a model of cephalopelvic covariation.
#ESEB2025 Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates symposium
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 9:28 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Ricardo Ely continues our journey through bird beak diversity with a great talk showing high influence of morphological integration on evolutionary rates and disparity of bird beaks, and no effect of degree of modularity.
#ESEB2025 Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates symposium
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 9:21 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Carmen Sánchez Moreno giving a fantastic talk showing how reconciling stemness and specialization in neural crest cells drives avian beak diversification. Beaks are made by long-distance travelling stem cells.
#ESEB2025 Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates symposium
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 8:56 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Next at Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates symposium, great talk by Quentin Horta-Lacueva showing that neural crest biology shapes evolutionary dynamics of lacertid skull across evolutionary scales. Face diversity of 170 species aligns w/ axis of shape green to brown #ESEB2025
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 8:40 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Great symposium on Craniofacial Evolution in Vertebrates at #ESEB2025 kicked off with fantastic talk by ‪@grumpydrfabre.bsky.social on the metamorphic blueprint,how life cycle type shapes salamander skulls. Is there an advantage of complex life cycle to create novel morphologies?
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Fantastic keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 taking us on a journey through zombie-making strategies of Ophiocordyceps fungi to hijack ant behaviour, with lots of amazing new data, behaviour, functional genetic essays..
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 7:42 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Fantastic keynote by @lovedalen.bsky.social taking us on a ride through evolutionary insights from deep-time palaeogenomes. Recalibrating the molecular clock, range dynamics, ghost lineages; collared lemmings, mastodons, mammoths, at #ESEB2025

@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 20, 2025 at 10:31 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
‪Next, @posnienlab.bsky.social taking us on a beautiful journey showing that ‬heterochrony in orthodenticle expression is associated with ommatidial size variation between Drosophila species.
at #ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 2:12 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
@borreroja.bsky.social shows how ecological divergence & post-eclosion brain dev shape visual performance in Heliconius butterflies. Speciation often related to transitions closed /open forest
#ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 1:58 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Amaia Alcalde Anton sharing her insights on How to build a bigger brain–cellular basis of expanded mushroom bodies in Heliconius butterflies. Beautiful images. Proliferating cells into adulthood!
#ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Francesco Cicconardi presenting how Single-nuclei transcriptomics reveals neural cell type innovation associated with mushroom body expansion in Heliconiini Butterflies,+ link to cognitive innov.
#ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Alex Kirschel taking us to African song birds, showing how genetics and environment shape vocal frequency variation in birds, including the effects of temperature, body size and beak length.
At #ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Ximena Leon continues our sound journey into birds showing the evolution of diversity in rhythm & assessing evolutionary dynamics of rhythm and syntax in birdsong. Females prefer regular songs. #ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Now @emilylbehrman.bsky.social exploring the genetic basis of neural circuit evolution for Drosophila mate preferences, including what their interested song & their disinterested song sounds like #ESEB2025 @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Francesco Dionigi taking us back to water, counting neurons in fish brains for evol insights to comput. power, including amazing electric fish with its gigantic cerebellum #ESEB2025
@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social @kkverkova.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 1:22 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Alizée Delarue taking us on a journey through Chemosensory evolution at the origin of inquilinism in the bee louse fly at #ESEB2025

@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 10:25 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Now @mendezaranda.bsky.social showing us Convergent evolution of pain insensitivity in a new(?) species of African mole-rat
#ESEB2025
@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 10:19 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Roman Arguello presenting his work on evolution of taste neurones &behaviour, showing divergence of cell populations, accelerated rates mostly in chemosensory neurones; and sex-biased expression #ESEB2025
@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 10:02 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Yuki Ishikawa presenting her work on Visual System Adaptations Underlying the Evolution of Flower-Visiting Behavior in Drosophila at #ESEB2025

@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 9:54 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Elizabeth Hodge showing that modality-specific memory enhancements in Heliconius butterflies result from specific mushroom body expansion, rather than increased investment in sensory pathways at #ESEB2025
@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 9:45 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Lily Fogg taking us on a dive into Life in dim light and the surprises of the evolution of vision in deep-sea fishes, the developmental events, at #ESEB2025 symposium on evolution of behavioural diversity

@tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social @ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 9:41 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Isabela Almudi Cabrero kicking off @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social symposium on Evolution of behavioural diversity at #ESEB2025 talking about how new &old genes generate novel neural systems and the origin of Turbanate eyes in mayflies
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social
@r3rt0.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 8:52 AM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Thank you, that's great. It is long time after the New World monkey/Old World monkey split (~twice as long as the human–chimp divergence) and its brain volume and the associated expected folding correspond very well with our estimations based on phylogenetic comparative analyses.
July 31, 2025 at 1:43 PM
k4tj4.bsky.social
Good question! Neuro & physiology are indeed very correlated. I included body weight, birth & weaning weight, age at sexual maturity, gestation &weaning time, maximum longevity, litter size and did partial correlations: Neuro significantly correlates with behaviour; but physio and phylogeny do not 🤓
July 30, 2025 at 8:46 PM