#evolutionarybiology — Public Fediverse posts

Doctoral Position in Evolutionary Genomics (Experimental/Computational)
Heidelberg University, ZMBH

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/heidelberg-university-zmbh-27778-doctoral-position-in-evolutionary-genomics-experimental-computational/

#EvolutionaryBiology #genomics #ScienceJobs #hiring #research
https://jobrxiv.org/job/heidelberg-university-zmbh-27778-doctoral-position-in-evolutionary-genomics-experimental-computational/?fsp_sid=14982

The curator of our university Entomology museum, John Marris, excitedly popped into my office earlier today to share this neat new study on ant-associated beetles, by
Yu-Cheng Feng and colleagues.

These small beetles live inside ant nests. Not only have they evolved cunning ways to co-exist with the ants, but they have also evolved *handles* to help the ants carry them about. The phyologeny of the subfamily Chlamydopsinae suggests that these beetles have independently evolved ant handles several times.

"Our findings provide direct evidence that the characteristic surface relief of chlamydopsines, at least partly or in some cases, serves as a mechanical adaptation for ant‑mediated transport"

Insect Systematics and Diversity, Volume 10, Issue 5, 2026
https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixag034

#entomology #ants #beetles #symbiosis #insects #NaturalHistory #EvolutionaryBiology

Multicellular cyanobacteria possess specialized cell-to-cell communication structures regulated by calcium signals, fundamentally mirroring the intercellular communication systems found in higher eukaryotic organisms.
#EvolutionaryBiology #PhototrophicMicrobiology #MolecularBiology #CellularBiology #StructuralBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ebio08312601.html

DATE: August 31, 2026 at 08:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Scientists challenge a 70-year-old “lizard brain” myth

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260829235958.htm

A long-standing picture of brain evolution as newer, rational layers stacked on top of an ancient “lizard brain” may be deeply misleading. Researchers found that evolution instead appears to balance two competing styles of brain wiring, expanding one while shrinking the other depending on what an animal needs to survive.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260829235958.htm

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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainEvolution #LizardBrainMyth #Neuroscience #BrainWiring #EvolutionaryBiology #ScienceNews #ResearchUpdate #AnimalBrains #NeuralNetworks #CognitiveScience

DATE: August 31, 2026 at 08:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Scientists challenge a 70-year-old “lizard brain” myth

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260829235958.htm

A long-standing picture of brain evolution as newer, rational layers stacked on top of an ancient “lizard brain” may be deeply misleading. Researchers found that evolution instead appears to balance two competing styles of brain wiring, expanding one while shrinking the other depending on what an animal needs to survive.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260829235958.htm

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainEvolution #LizardBrainMyth #Neuroscience #BrainWiring #EvolutionaryBiology #ScienceNews #Neurobiology #AnimalBrains #CognitiveScience #MythBusting

When an animal moves, its visual system adjusts its neuronal activity to process the changing environmental input, but this adjustment operates on the same mathematical evolutionary principles across both mice and primates despite differing sensory outputs.
#Neurobiology #ComputationalNeuroscience #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ns08312601.html

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen are studying the ancient stone jars on the Plain of Jars in Laos as miniature, 2,000-year-old freshwater ecosystems.
#Ecology #Limnology #EvolutionaryBiology #EnvironmentalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/eco08312601.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

Paleovirology is the study of ancient viruses and their evolutionary history, primarily conducted by examining endogenous viral elements (EVEs) that have integrated into the genomes of host organisms over millions of years.
#Paleovirology #Virology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/cat08232601.html

We are a species strictly engineered for deep, empathetic connection. Protecting the integrity of that connection—by understanding exactly how it functions, how it is genetically moderated, and how malevolent actors can exploit it—is arguably the most critical scientific and societal endeavor of our time.
#Neuroscience #CognitivePsychology #Neurobiology #BehavioralGenetics #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/wi08212601.html

Evolutionary genome topology is a new comparative framework that projects the structural evolution of animal chromosomes onto a single map. It reveals that animal genomes do not change at random, but rather evolve along distinct, irreversible pathways over millions of years.
#EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #MolecularGenetics #Zoology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ebio08202601.html

Institute of Evolutionary Biology (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

The Institute of Evolutionary Biology is a joint research center of Pompeu Fabra University and the Spanish National Research Council founded in 2008. IBE is the only research center in Catalonia and the rest of Spain that is entirely dedicated to evolutionary biology and ...

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

#InstituteOfEvolutionaryBiology #EvolutionaryBiology #EducationInBarcelona #PompeuFabraUniversity

Researchers have identified two new species of subterranean, shrimp-like amphipods, Bogidiella isajii and Bogidiella painushima, within the groundwater and cave systems of Japan's Ryukyu Islands.
#EvolutionaryBiology #SubterraneanEcology #Taxonomy #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ebio08172601.html

Parallel evolution (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

Parallel evolution is the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.

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

#ParallelEvolution #EvolutionaryBiology

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

Tetonius varleyorum is a newly identified, mouse-lemur-sized species of extinct omomyid primate that challenges the previously accepted step-by-step evolutionary model of early mammals.
#Paleontology #EvolutionaryBiology #BiologicalAnthropology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/pal08102601.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

Quantum evolution (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

Quantum evolution is a component of George Gaylord Simpson's multi-tempoed theory of evolution proposed to explain the rapid emergence of higher taxonomic groups in the fossil record. According to Simpson, evolutionary rates differ from group to group and even among closely related lineages. These different rates of evolutionary change were desi...

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

#QuantumEvolution #RateOfEvolution #EvolutionaryBiology

Ring species (Evolutionary biology 🧬)

In biology, a ring species is a connected series of neighbouring populations, each of which interbreeds with closely sited related populations, but for which there exist at least two end populations in the series which are too distantly related to interbreed, though there is a potential gene flow between linked neighbouring populations. Such non-breeding, though genet...

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

#RingSpecies #Species #EvolutionaryBiology

An international research team utilized advanced genomic sequencing to construct the first comprehensive evolutionary map of Hawaiian honeycreepers, resolving the complex relationships among living, extinct, and fossilized species.
#EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #Paleontology #ConservationBiology #Ornithology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ebio08042601.html

A highly contagious avian herpesvirus that causes Marek's disease, which manifests as tumors and paralysis in poultry, and has progressively evolved to evade multiple generations of vaccines.
#Virology #EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/vi08032601.html

Bacteriophages are the most abundant and diverse viral entities on Earth, functioning as microscopic apex predators that exist exclusively to infect, replicate within, and ultimately lyse bacterial populations.
#WhatIs #Virology #Microbiology #EvolutionaryBiology #MolecularBiology #Biophysics #Biogeochemistry #ClinicalImmunology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/wi07312601.html

A 113-million-year-old mass extinction event of marine planktic foraminifera was driven by severe ocean acidification caused by massive volcanic carbon dioxide emissions. Microscopic fossil evidence confirms that acidic surface waters dramatically reduced the ability of these organisms to build calcium carbonate shells.
#IsotopeGeochemistry #Paleoclimatology #EvolutionaryBiology #MarineBiology #EarthScience #PlanetaryScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/es07302601.html

Nitrogenases containing the metal molybdenum are the most efficient enzymes for converting atmospheric nitrogen gas into biologically usable ammonia.
#Biochemistry #InorganicChemistry #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/bchm07302601.html

A recent morphological study of fossilized skulls reveals that archaic humans, including Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis, birthed physically helpless infants that required intensive, constant parental care similar to modern human babies.
#EvolutionaryBiology #Anthropology #Paleontology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/ebio07292601.html

Deletions in genes that regulate early brain and neuron development are associated with more severe features of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, specifically diminished cognitive abilities.
#Neurogenetics #Psychiatry #Neuroscience #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/psyc07282601.html

My 10yo son proposed that Hutts evolved from legged ancestors and lost their hindlimbs rather than evolving from legless slug-like ancestors and gaining forelimbs, which I think is far more plausible, given multiple patterns of limb loss in lizards.
#zoology #starwars #evolution #evolutionaryBiology

Behavioral ecology is the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures. It examines how behavior evolves, functions, and adapts in response to an organism's environment.
#BehavioralEcology #evolutionarybiology #ethology #ecology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/06/cat06212601.html

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

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal networks are vast underground systems that form symbiotic relationships with the majority of Earth's plant species, exchanging water and nutrients for plant-fixed carbon. A recent global mapping effort revealed these living infrastructures possess a total length of approximately 110 quadrillion kilometers and a mass of roughly 300 megatons of carbon.
#Mycology #SoilEcology #Biogeochemistry #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/06/bio06142602.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

#HumanEvolution #FatStorage #BrainEnergy #Podcast #Science #EvolutionaryBiology #Survival #HumanBody #EnergyMetabolism #wellnessliving #wellnessatwork #wellnessquotes #physicalwellbeing #Health https://mastodon.social/@biohackingpathway/116682332272162903

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

Island rule (Ecogeographic rules 🌍)

Foster's rule, also known as the island rule or the island effect, is an ecogeographical rule in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment. For example, it is known that pygmy mammoths evolved from normal mammoths on small i...

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

#IslandRule #AnimalSize #InsularEcology #EcogeographicRules #EcologyTerminology #EvolutionaryBiology

Island rule (Ecogeographic rules 🌍)

Foster's rule, also known as the island rule or the island effect, is an ecogeographical rule in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment. For example, it is known that pygmy mammoths evolved from normal mammoths on small i...

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

#IslandRule #AnimalSize #InsularEcology #EcogeographicRules #EcologyTerminology #EvolutionaryBiology

Everything evolves, even if it's not obvious in morphology.

#evolution #livingfossils #adaptation #morphology #genetics #immunesystems #evolutionaryhistory #evolutionarybiology

Living Fossils Revealed: The Hidden Evolution of These 4 Ancient Species | Discover Magazine https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/living-fossils-revealed-the-hidden-evolution-of-these-4-ancient-species?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

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

Island rule (Ecogeographic rules 🌍)

Foster's rule, also known as the island rule or the island effect, is an ecogeographical rule in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment. For example, it is known that pygmy mammoths evolved from normal mammoths on small i...

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

#IslandRule #AnimalSize #InsularEcology #EcogeographicRules #EcologyTerminology #EvolutionaryBiology

Cool #preprint of #EvolutionaryBiology by Bohutínská et al: "Repeated adaptation to whole genome duplication in outcrossing Arabidopsis is mediated by mosaic adaptive haplotypes" #EvolgenPaper
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.11.523565v1