Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · 19h

I'm very excited to work on this with an amazing team including @rnf.bsky.social @nathanj.bsky.social @apwoodbailey.bsky.social and @lucyhholmes.bsky.social

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · 20h

Marsupial megafauna might be an extreme example, but we don’t really know 🤷‍♀️ so I’ve been thinking about the relationship between cranial sinuses, brain size, skull shape, and jaw muscles for a long time 👀😬

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · 20h

My PhD was on the cranial sinuses of the largest ever marsupial, Diprotodon - literally airheads. Blue in these figures are sinuses and pink is the brain - the bigger an animal gets, the more of an airhead they become 🤔😅

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · 20h

I’m very excited to welcome @lucyhholmes.bsky.social to the lab! Lucy will be working on Building Giants, funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk to investigate cranial sinuses in large mammals 🦓🐘🦛🦏🐪🦒🦬🐂🦌
This project is something I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade …

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Sep 6

I’m coming to #SVP2025 in Birmingham! Very excited to see many friends again after so long. My last SVP was 2017 👀🤯
#2025SVP #skulls #biomechanics

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Liverpool EMB lab @livevobiomech.bsky.social · Sep 3

BREAKING: Traitorous Liverpool PhD student lured to co-supervising institution with the promise of sloth chat and YouTube views 🦥🎥

⭐️ sidney ⭐️ @sidneyleedham.bsky.social · Sep 3

got to talk about sloths! at the NHM!

Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · Aug 31

Lots of people like a long nail - but there’s something slightly spooky about the sloth’s full set… 🦥

Long, curved and strong enough to help them hang from branches. Discover the secret behind a sloth’s tough talons in this week’s #SurprisingScience 💅🏽

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Aug 21

📣Postdoc in whale biomechanics and evolution based in Bristol and Oxford, UK, with Dr Katrina Jones and Prof. Erin Saupe 📣🐋 #evolution #biomechanics #CFD

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · Aug 18

Our new paper led by recent lab alumni Hannah Shideler and postdoc Elska Kaczmarek is out in ICB @sicbjournals.bsky.social! For the first time ever, we reconstructed the volume of the oral cavity during suckling, and found that nipple design impacts tongue function.
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Dr Elsa Panciroli @elsa-panciroli.bsky.social · Aug 14

Rare as hen's teeth: an Assistant Curator job, with our fantastic team at National Museums Scotland! Closing date 24th August #museums #museumjobs
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553

Assistant Curator (Vertebrates)

careers.nms.ac.uk

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Z. Jack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social · Aug 14

The Department of Integrative Biology @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social is hiring an Assistant Teaching Professor of Human Anatomy! Open until September 19. Please share with anatomy/paleo/func-morph colleagues and friends. Happy to answer any questions. aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05053

Assistant Teaching Professor - Human Anatomy- Department of Integrative Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Liverpool EMB lab @livevobiomech.bsky.social · Aug 12

What makes the skulls of rabbits and hares so special? Find out in this new paper from our very own @apwoodbailey.bsky.social @acsharp.bsky.social & others! 💀🐇📝

Dr Amber Wood-Bailey @apwoodbailey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Check out our new paper in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social!

🐇💀

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Factors impacting the complexity of the leporid intracranial joint

Anatomy of the intracranial joint and the 2D semi-landmarks used to capture complexity in the intracranial joint. (a) The intracranial joint can be seen here (in red) between the parietal and occipit....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

UCL Centre for Integrative Anatomy @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social · Aug 11

A study (with our @drphilcox.bsky.social) in #rabbits & #hares, found: those adapted for running have greater facial tilt & simpler #skull joints versus those with scrambling or hopping-based #locomotion, which could help with hinge-like mobility. @ucl.ac.uk onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Factors impacting the complexity of the leporid intracranial joint

Anatomy of the intracranial joint and the 2D semi-landmarks used to capture complexity in the intracranial joint. (a) The intracranial joint can be seen here (in red) between the parietal and occipit...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Aug 11

Last day to apply! 📣
Come and join my lab in Liverpool @livevobiomech.bsky.social for a PhD on the skulls of giant mammals! Full funding for 4 years (UK Home rates) 🐘🦌🦘🐂🐪🦏
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Building giants: tissue relationships during skull growth in large mammals at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Building giants: tissue relationships during skull growth in large mammals at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Aug 9

The virtual #ICVM conference is happening now. I can’t attend live, but I’m looking forward to catching up on the recordings over the next week or two! #vertebrate #morphology

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

drphilcox.bsky.social @drphilcox.bsky.social · Aug 7

New paper out today with the amazing @apwoodbailey.bsky.social all about the unusual leporid intracranial joint.

Dr Amber Wood-Bailey @apwoodbailey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Check out our new paper in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social!

🐇💀

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Factors impacting the complexity of the leporid intracranial joint

Anatomy of the intracranial joint and the 2D semi-landmarks used to capture complexity in the intracranial joint. (a) The intracranial joint can be seen here (in red) between the parietal and occipit....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Aug 8

New paper where we look at complexity of the intracranial joint in rabbits and hares.
Second paper from @apwoodbailey.bsky.social PhD work 🎉🐇

Dr Amber Wood-Bailey @apwoodbailey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Check out our new paper in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social!

🐇💀

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Factors impacting the complexity of the leporid intracranial joint

Anatomy of the intracranial joint and the 2D semi-landmarks used to capture complexity in the intracranial joint. (a) The intracranial joint can be seen here (in red) between the parietal and occipit....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Robyn Grant @robyngrant.bsky.social · Aug 3

Harry Gill first PhD paper is out, applying @deeplabcut.bsky.social to dog gait analyses ... and it worked pretty well :)
You can access the paper here:
authors.elsevier.com/c/1lXNEcF2Ow...
@cbrassey.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · Jul 31

Y’all!!! Our comparative anatomy textbook is out!!! Free, open access, and just in time for the fall semester!

Bill Ryerson @billryerson.bsky.social · Jul 30

New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access!

doi.org/10.59319/YHF...

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Jul 31

📣evolutionary biomechanics job!
This sounds like a fun project on the skull of head-first burrowers, working in @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social

Mehran Moazen @mmoazen.bsky.social · Jul 22

POST-DOC #JOB ADVERT – DEADLINE 20th Aug 2025
@ucl.ac.uk @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social @moazenlab.bsky.social
To work on a #HFSP funded project that aims to understand the musculoskeletal system of head-first burrowers; leading computer simulation aspects of the project see moazenlab.com/vacancies/

Moazen Lab – to advance understanding & repair of bones & joints

moazenlab.com

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

arielcamp.bsky.social @arielcamp.bsky.social · Jul 30

Here come the science sketchnotes from @sebiology.bsky.social Meeting in Antwerp this July! These are shared with the presenter's permission (but all mistakes, especially spelling, are mine).

First, @sharrison09.bsky.social on the jumping kinematics and power of monkey grasshoppers

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Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Jul 28

📣I’m hiring!
Two weeks to apply for an October start.
Start date is also flexible.
#PhD #Morphology #evolution

Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Jul 3

Are you looking for a PhD project starting this year?

I have a funded (UK rates) project on mammal skull diversity and function, looking at skull allometry and how mammal heads adapt to trade-offs in tissue demands during growth 🦌🦘🐘🦥

Please share and apply: www.liverpool.ac.uk/courses/buil...

Building giants: tissue relationships during skull growth in large mammals | Courses | University of Liverpool

From elephants to rhinos to bison, enormous increases in body mass have repeatedly evolved within Mammalia over relatively short timescales, leading to a diversity of size and shape. In this project, ...

www.liverpool.ac.uk

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Jul 23

Curator job available at Queensland Museum!
smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-QM6...

Senior Scientist and Curator, Vertebrate Zoology | Brisbane Inner City |

The Senior Scientist and Curator, Vertebrate Zoology will undertake original research and collection development in a field of expertise relevant to terrestrial vertebrate zoology (i.e., herpetology, ...

smartjobs.qld.gov.au

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Liverpool EMB lab @livevobiomech.bsky.social · Jul 17

Posters, talks, medieval manuscripts, getting lost in the NHM and writing about themselves in the third person! It's all here in a new blog post by PhD students Sidney and Harrie!📝

embliverpool.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/t...

The Natural History Museum Student Conference: getting lost in the science

Sidney Leedham and Harrie Williams The iconic entrance of the Natural History Museum, London. In June, the two of us attended the Natural History Museum’s Student Conference in London, as both our …

embliverpool.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Liverpool EMB lab @livevobiomech.bsky.social · Jul 17

Interested in the functional morphology of mammal heads and want to come join us in Liverpool? Apply for this exciting new PhD project with Alana!

Dr Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · Jul 3

Are you looking for a PhD project starting this year?

I have a funded (UK rates) project on mammal skull diversity and function, looking at skull allometry and how mammal heads adapt to trade-offs in tissue demands during growth 🦌🦘🐘🦥

Please share and apply: www.liverpool.ac.uk/courses/buil...

Building giants: tissue relationships during skull growth in large mammals | Courses | University of Liverpool

From elephants to rhinos to bison, enormous increases in body mass have repeatedly evolved within Mammalia over relatively short timescales, leading to a diversity of size and shape. In this project, ...

www.liverpool.ac.uk

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Reposted by Dr Alana Sharp

Dr Amber Wood-Bailey @apwoodbailey.bsky.social · Jul 17

Teamwork makes the dream work. Officially PhDone 🎓

Thanks to the lovely lot at @livevobiomech.bsky.social, my supervisors @acsharp.bsky.social, @drphilcox.bsky.social and @nathanj.bsky.social and my awesome wife @naturecaroline.bsky.social.

We're not done here 👀 Watch this space 💀🧠🐴🦍🦁🐂🐅🐫🦌🦏🦒🫎

Amber with supervisors, Alana and Nathan

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