#evolutionarybiology — Public Fediverse posts

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria possess a critical vulnerability within their cell wall transport systems that, when disrupted, drastically reduces their resistance. This discovery reveals an evolutionary trade-off where the genetic mechanisms bacteria use to survive antibiotic exposure can simultaneously be exploited to make them susceptible to existing treatments.
#MolecularBiology #Microbiology #Bacteriology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/mbio09102601.html

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria possess a critical vulnerability within their cell wall transport systems that, when disrupted, drastically reduces their resistance. This discovery reveals an evolutionary trade-off where the genetic mechanisms bacteria use to survive antibiotic exposure can simultaneously be exploited to make them susceptible to existing treatments.
#MolecularBiology #Microbiology #Bacteriology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/mbio09102601.html

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria possess a critical vulnerability within their cell wall transport systems that, when disrupted, drastically reduces their resistance. This discovery reveals an evolutionary trade-off where the genetic mechanisms bacteria use to survive antibiotic exposure can simultaneously be exploited to make them susceptible to existing treatments.
#MolecularBiology #Microbiology #Bacteriology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/mbio09102601.html

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria possess a critical vulnerability within their cell wall transport systems that, when disrupted, drastically reduces their resistance. This discovery reveals an evolutionary trade-off where the genetic mechanisms bacteria use to survive antibiotic exposure can simultaneously be exploited to make them susceptible to existing treatments.
#MolecularBiology #Microbiology #Bacteriology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/mbio09102601.html

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria possess a critical vulnerability within their cell wall transport systems that, when disrupted, drastically reduces their resistance. This discovery reveals an evolutionary trade-off where the genetic mechanisms bacteria use to survive antibiotic exposure can simultaneously be exploited to make them susceptible to existing treatments.
#MolecularBiology #Microbiology #Bacteriology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/mbio09102601.html

Local evolutionary adaptation occurs when populations of a single species develop heritable, genetic traits that are finely tuned to the highly specific conditions of their immediate environment.
#EvolutionaryBiology #Ecology #ConservationBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/ebio09102601.html

https://www.europesays.com/ie/681036/ Adaptive zones of feliforms and evolutionary regimes within terrestrial mammalian carnivores #BiologicalAndPhysicalAnthropology #Ecology #Éire #EvolutionaryBiology #EvolutionaryEcology #general #IE #Ireland #LifeSciences #Palaeoecology #palaeontology #paleontology #Science #Zoology

Coevolution (Habitat 🌄)

In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well as gene-culture coevolution. Charles Darwin mentioned evolutionary i...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coevolution

#Coevolution #Habitat #EcologicalProcesses #EvolutionaryBiology #EvolutionOfTheBiosphere #EnvironmentalTerminology

Coevolution (Habitat 🌄)

In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well as gene-culture coevolution. Charles Darwin mentioned evolutionary i...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coevolution

#Coevolution #Habitat #EcologicalProcesses #EvolutionaryBiology #EvolutionOfTheBiosphere #EnvironmentalTerminology

It is a remarkably humbling realization that a single, unnoticed bite from an arthropod the size of an apple seed can completely rewrite an individual's relationship with the global food chain. Alpha-gal syndrome reminds us that the human immune system, for all its staggering sophistication and atomic-level precision, remains intimately and sometimes precariously tethered to the natural world.
#WhatIs #Immunology #MolecularBiology #EvolutionaryBiology #Entomology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/09/wi09102601.html

Parasitic plants, such as dodders, acquire and permanently integrate functional foreign genes from their host plants through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Instead of merely preserving these stolen genes, the parasites structurally remodel them over millions of years while retaining their original biological functions.
#PlantGenetics #EvolutionaryBiology #MolecularBiology #PlantPhysiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/bot08272601.html

A cognitive study using non-invasive eye-tracking technology to quantify how gibbons visually process faces, revealing a strong preference for looking at the eyes, particularly those of their own species.
#Ethology #Primatology #EvolutionaryBiology #CognitivePsychology #BehavioralEcology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ebio08262601.html

Dogs possess specific neural mechanisms that allow them to process and distinguish between various human facial expressions, such as happiness, fear, anger, and sadness.
#Neuroscience #Ethology #EvolutionaryBiology #Psychology #Dogs #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ns08112601.html

This week's #NewBooks at the library:
- Another second-hand volume to my growing collection of The Correspondence of #CharlesDarwin, this one Volume 26: 1878, published by Cambridge University Press.
- #Warhammer: The Art of #GamesWorkshop, a rather rare exhibition catalogue of grimdark artwork that I bought via eBay.
- I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in #NaturalHistory, the final of the essay bundles from #StephenJayGould, published by Harmony Books.

#Books #Bookstodon #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #Scicomm @bookstodon

This week's #NewBooks at the library:
- I found a much reduced copy of Contesting Earth's History in Transatlantic Literary Culture, 1860–1935: Believers and Visionaries on the Borderlines of #Geology and #Palaeontology, published by Oxford University Press
- I was so taken with Guillermo del Toro's visual take on #Frankenstein, I bought the book on the making of the movie by Sheila O'Malley, published by Titan Books.
- I found a second-hand copy of The Spirit of System: #Lamarck and #EvolutionaryBiology, published by Harvard University Press, which should come in handy for a future review on Lamarck.

#Books #Bookstodon #Paleontology #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Evolution #Scicomm @bookstodon

A recently re-evaluated moss gene, PpWOX13LC, actively regulates plant reproduction by acting as a genetic brake to limit sporophyte development and ensure efficient parental resource allocation.
#EvolutionaryBiology #PlantGenetics #MolecularBiology #Botany #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/06/ebio06182601.html

Graduate position:Simulating evolution under complex genotype-phenotype map
Genetics and Microbiology Deparment

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/genetics-and-microbiology-deparment-27778-graduate-positionsimulating-evolution-under-complex-genotype-phenotype-map/

#developmentalbiology #EvolutionaryBiology ...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/genetics-and-microbiology-deparment-27778-graduate-positionsimulating-evolution-under-complex-genotype-phenotype-map/?fsp_sid=12701

Postdoctoral position in the Perry Lab, UC San Diego
University of California, San Diego

Join the Perry Lab as a #neural #evolution Postdoc.

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-california-san-diego-27778-postdoctoral-position-in-the-perry-lab-uc-san-diego/

#animalbehavior #developmentalbiology #EvolutionaryBiology #g...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-california-san-diego-27778-postdoctoral-position-in-the-perry-lab-uc-san-diego/?fsp_sid=12680

#bodyfat #evolutionarybiology #health #menshealth #womenshealth #fitness #wellnessgoals #wellnessadvocate #wellnesscoaching #wellnessfitness #wellnesscenter #science #bodypositivity #epndha #naturalbody https://mastodon.social/@biohackingpathway/116676668138963505

Xenobots are microscopic, programmable biological machines constructed entirely from living cells without any genetic modification. Measuring less than a millimeter, they lack traditional mechanical parts and are entirely organic, biodegradable, and derived primarily from embryonic stem cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis).
#WhatIs #EvolutionaryBiology #DevelopmentalBiology #SyntheticBiology #ComputationalBiology #SoftRobotics
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/wi05172601.html

Postdoctoral position in the Perry Lab, UC San Diego
University of California, San Diego

Join the Perry Lab as a #neural #evolution Postdoc.

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-california-san-diego-27778-postdoctoral-position-in-the-perry-lab-uc-san-diego/

#animalbehavior #developmentalbiology #EvolutionaryBiology #g...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-california-san-diego-27778-postdoctoral-position-in-the-perry-lab-uc-san-diego/?fsp_sid=11073

“Unhappy is the land that needs a hero”*…

To the extent that evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist Robert Trivers has been in the news over the last decade, it has been for his entanglement with and highly-questionable defense of Jeffrey Epstein. But as Lionel Page reminds us, two decades before that– well before he could have known the execrable “financier”– Trivers made hugely important contributions to his field…

Steve Stewart-Williams announced… that Robert Trivers passed away.

Trivers was one of the most—perhaps the most—influential evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. His work should be much more widely known in social and behavioural sciences, in particular in economics, as Trivers’ intellectual approach is very much in line with a game theoretic understanding of social interactions.

It is hard to overstate the importance of his work. Einstein famously published four groundbreaking papers in 1905, a year often referred to as his “Annus mirabilis”, during which he revolutionised physics. Trivers might be said to have had a “Quinquennium Mirabile” for the five years between 1971 and 1976, during which he produced a series of ideas that revolutionised evolutionary biology…

[Page unpacks four of those contributions: Reciprocal Alturism, Parental Investment, Parental Offspring Conflict, and Self-Deception, each fascinating…]

… Trivers has been one of the most influential evolutionary biologists, and his papers are still worth reading today. His insights, published more than 50 years ago, are fascinating. They often align very well with economic theories of behaviour, and it is therefore regrettable that his ideas are not more well-known in economics, and in particular in behavioural economics.

A key feature of Trivers’ take across these contributions was to see that beneath the world of social interactions we observe, there are deep structures in terms of incentives that shape the game we play. Understanding these games and their structures helps us make sense of the seemingly endless complexity of human psychology and social dynamics. In several key contributions, Trivers helped lift the veil on the underlying logic of human behaviour…

From cooperation to conflict: the evolutionary grammar of social interactions: “The fascinating insights of Robert Trivers” from @lionelpage.bsky.social.

For more on Trivers and the controversies in his life (Epstein, but also the Black Panthers and a Rutgers set-to), all of which followed the burst of productivity described above, see here.

And for some thoughts on how one might reconcile appreciation for a scientist’s work with abhorence of his later sins, see “Ghosts of Science Past Still Haunt Us. We Can Put Them to Rest.“

* Bertolt Brecht (through the mouth of Galileo, in The Life of Galileo)

###

As we linger over legacies, we might send material birthday greetings to a man who helped lay the groundwork for the field to which Trivers contributed, Ludwig Büchner; he was born on this date in 1824. A philosopher, physiologist, and physician, he became one of the leading exponents of 19th-century scientific materialism. Büchner was an early champion of Darwin’s theory of evolution, endorsing it within a decade of its first issuance, then did much to spread it by citing and building on it in his own books.

As far as we know, Büchner’s life was free of the scandal and conflict that plagued Trivers. He taught at the University of Tübingen and published dozens of books and papers. Later in his life he founded he “German Freethinkers League” (“Deutsche Freidenkerbund”) and served as a member of the second chamber of the Landstände of the Grand Duchy of Hesse as a representative of the German Free-minded Party from 1884 to 1890. He was the younger brother of Georg Büchner, a famous revolutionary playwright, and Luise Büchner, a women’s rights advocate; and he was the uncle of Ernst Büchner, inventor of the Büchner flask.

source

The history of life on #Earth is often viewed through a strictly #Darwinian lens of competition—a relentless, zero-sum struggle where every organism fights for a larger slice of a finite resource pie. In this narrative, nature is, as Alfred, Lord Tennyson famously wrote, "red in tooth and claw," dominated by predation, #parasitism, and the survival of the fittest.
#WhatIs #Ecology #EvolutionaryBiology #Biology #SocialScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/wi02142601.html

Mutation accumulation theory (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

The mutation accumulation theory of aging was first proposed by Peter Medawar in 1952 as an evolutionary explanation for biological aging and the associated decline in fitness that accompanies it. Medawar used the term 'senescence' to refer to this process. The theory explains that, in the case where harmful ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_accumulation_theory

#MutationAccumulationTheory #Genetics #Senescence #EvolutionaryBiology

#EukaryoticCells emerged as #evolutionary algorithmic phase transition: #Eukaryogenesis happened abruptly, led by the tension of increasing gene length and the constraints on producing longer #proteins // #EvolutionaryBiology #ComputerBiology #evolution

https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2025/04/17/the-eukaryotic-cell-emerged-as-an-evolutionary-algorithmic-phase-transition

The eukaryotic cell emerged as an evolutionary algorithmic phase transition / Eukaryogenesis happened abruptly, led by the tension of increasing gene length and the constraints on producing longer proteins / Evolvement of the eukaryotic cell is the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life's evolution on Earth 👉 https://press.uni-mainz.de/eukaryotic-cell-emerged-as-evolutionary-algorithmic-phase-transition/

#EvolutionaryBiology #ComputerBiology #eukaryotic #genes #proteins #evolution #EukaryoticCells #eukaryogenesis #biology #physics

Antimicrobial resistance (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi. Together, these adaptati...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_resistance

#AntimicrobialResistance #GlobalIssues #HealthDisasters #VeterinaryMedicine #EvolutionaryBiology #PharmaceuticalsPolicy

Antimicrobial resistance (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi. Together, these adaptati...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_resistance

#AntimicrobialResistance #GlobalIssues #HealthDisasters #VeterinaryMedicine #EvolutionaryBiology #PharmaceuticalsPolicy

#RobertTrivers - #Mathematics and #Evolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s9bGGB_zd0

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfBiology #Biology #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #EvolutionaryBiology #Evolution #Kinship #Altruism #Parent #Offspring #Child #Children #Family #Mammals #Competition #Conflict #Islam #Hinduism #Muslim #Hindu #Caste #CasteSystem #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

#MichaelRuse - Why #PhilosophyOfBiology?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciCkv6r2Whc

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfScience #Biology #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #DNA #MolecularBiology #DoubleHelix #ThomasKuhn #Paradigm #Paradigms #Darwin #Genetics #Populations #PopulationGenetics #Teleology #GAIAHypothesis #GAIA #GMO #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

Why #PhilosophyOfBiology? - Episode 2301 - #CloserToTruth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZ-8RVaUlM

#Philosophy #Biology #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #Life #Darwin #CharlesDarwin #Selection #Adaptation #Theory #Theories #Metaphysics #Genetics #Genes #Kuhn #ThomasKuhn #Paradign #Paradigms #MassimoPigliucci #RobertKuhn

Excited to have been interviewed about my research in "Big Biology" - my favourite biology podcast! A nice conversation between myself and my colleagues Cameron Ghalambor and Marty Martin.

FYI: this is my first podcast ever! Check it out:

https://www.bigbiology.org/episodes/2023/10/19/ep-108-the-dialectical-biologists-challenges-of-studying-evolution-in-nature-with-erik-svensson?fbclid=IwAR1chACvVMdaHVL_RrMGETR6-Glxn6kT4QfAFd3fyozYIeR-3bsu9u4-dRM

#evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #ecology #damselflies #PhenotypicPlasticity

Now published in its final form: Parallel evolution of amphioxus and vertebrate small-scale gene duplications by Brasó-Vives et al
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-022-02808-6
#EvoDevo #EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #Amphioxus #Chordate #ortholog #paralog #GeneDuplication

#job #fellowship #postdoc

Please help spread the news!

Open call for 3 #postdocs at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research #KLI #KLIAustria

Theme: “Evolutionary theory in #interdisciplinary context”

https://kli.ac.at/content/en/the_kli/open_calls/view/10

#EvoMed #EvoBio #PublicHealth #EvoEco #Conservation #EvoNeuro #neuroscience #psychology #BioculturalEvolution #PhilSci #PhilBio #Histbio #EcoEcon #CulturalEvolution #KLIFellowships #EvoTheory #EvolutionaryBiology