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Adam Blake

@ajblake05.bsky.social

800 followers 420 following 29 posts

Postdoc at University of Washington focusing on insect vision. My current project is looking at olfaction and vision in mosquitos. Website: https://www.ajblake.info/

www.ajblake.info

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Adam Blake @ajblake05.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our new paper is now out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social!!! We had all sorts of fun generating LED stimuli for mosquitos to investigate their visual preferences in the presence of different odors. The paper is open access and available here: journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

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Adam Blake @ajblake05.bsky.social · 18d

Out vacationing on the east coast. I saw my first spotted lanternfly almost instantly! I doubt it will be the last!

A picture of me crouching and pointing at a squashed spotted lanternfly

Reposted by Adam Blake

Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 27d

Our paper on central complex evolution in Heliconiini butterflies is now available as reviewed preprint at @elife.bsky.social 🎉🎉. Please check out the helpful and constructive reviews which we are going to address in the next weeks 🤗 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... @ebablab.bsky.social

Distinct evolutionary trajectories of two integration centres, the central complex and mushroom bodies, across Heliconiini butterflies

elifesciences.org

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Adam Blake @ajblake05.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ahhh cool! I was wondering if you were using a breakout board and if you were driving it from an Arduino or a Pi. The photo answered both questions. Thanks!!!

Reposted by Adam Blake

Brett Hodinka, PhD @bretthodinka.bsky.social · Sep 9

The RFID-enabled automated bird feeders are coming along!

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Adam Blake @ajblake05.bsky.social · Sep 9

Looks awesome! What do you got under the hood there?

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Adam Blake @ajblake05.bsky.social · Sep 2

Thanks!!!

Reposted by Adam Blake

Jeff Riffell @riffelllab.bsky.social · Sep 2

Happy to announce that @ajblake05.bsky.social’s JEB paper was selected as this month’s Editors Choice article. This article discovered that mosquito color/wavelength preferences shift depending on the odor they experience.

Adam’s paper selected as the Editors’s Choice for August/September.

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · Aug 28

In a survey of nearly 1,400 scientists released this week, 83% said federal government policies since January 20, 2025, had caused an "extremely negative impact" or "irreparable harm" on their field of science.

Entomologists, Fellow Scientists Report Negative Impacts of Government Actions

In a survey of nearly 1,400 scientists, 83% said government policies in 2025 had caused an "extremely negative impact" or "irreparable harm" on their field of science.

entomologytoday.org

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · Aug 28

Throughout this week, I am taking a nostalgic look at school supplies in Canada.
When you ask for a duotang elsewhere in the world, you may get some confused looks.
But in Canada, most Canadians are going to know exactly what you want.
This is Canada's story of duotangs!

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A photograph of four colorful duotang folders stacked on a white background. The folders are red, green, yellow, and blue, with the blue one on top.

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Anna Frances Probert @afprobert.bsky.social · Aug 15

Opportunity: Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) at the University of Guelph 🪰🐝🪲🕷️🦂

Arthropod Taxonomic Specialists (10 positions) | Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies

graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Max Helmberger @vermivorax.bsky.social · Aug 15

Had to try this out with insects and HOO BOY is this embarrassing.

ChatGPT's response to the prompt "Create a detailed diagram of generalized insect external anatomy, labelling all the major anatomical features such as body regions, mouthparts, and leg segments." It produced a scientific-esque drawing of a wasp-like creature with various incorrect labels. "Compound eye" points to the labrum, "mandible" points to the labial palps, maxilla points to the front tarsi, palpus points to the front pretarsus, coxa and trochanter point to the same on a very deformed middle leg, femur also points to a tarsus, tibia points to the hind pretarsus, head points to the thorax, and thorax points to the wings. The only accurate label is for the abdomen, and then a "cuticle" label that points to the end of the abdomen, which is technically sort of correct but misleading, as the cuticle covers the entire body.

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Christian Drerup @christiandrerup.com · Aug 15

🚨Our new paper is out NOW in @jexpbiol.bsky.social 👀 Here we show that cuttlefish use visual contrast cues to inform their 3D camouflage, but these contrast cues can derive from true background features as well as exposure to dynamic lighting patterns. 🦑🔆
🔗 doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Thorben Danke @sagaoptics.bsky.social · Aug 15

Details on a fly‘s head, incredible details revealed at high magnification. Usually unexpected… that‘s what i love about macrophotography.

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Lyndon B Duff, PhD @lyndon-b-duff.bsky.social · Aug 15

Kyle Bobiwash explains the importance of pollinators AND provides some perspective of integrating Indigenous perspectives into your work. Two questions he asks us to think about when integrating Indigenous perspectives: 1. Why do you want to integrate? and 2. Who have you talked to? /1

Why Are Pollinators Key to Year-Round Food Security?

Indigenous scholar Kyle Bobiwash explains how a dip in pollinator populations from climate change affects farmers’ crops worldwide

news.umanitoba.ca

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · Aug 16

In case you have not seen it! New #Aedes genomes for the community.

Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · Aug 15

Morinaga, @agloriasoria.bsky.social @jsoghigian.bsky.social develop two de novo chromosome-scale genomes for Aedes aegypti formosus and A. mascarensis, finding extensive chromosomal rearrangements between major lineages of mosquitoes.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf142

#genome #evolution

From Macro to Micro: De Novo Genomes of Aedes Mosquitoes Enable Comparative Genomics Among Close and Distant Relatives

Abstract. The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is an organism of high medical importance because it is the primary vector for diseases such as yellow

doi.org

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Reposted by Adam Blake

SFU Biological Sciences @sfubiosciences.bsky.social · Aug 7

🫐SFU Biological Sciences is scaling up indoor berry production research with $5M grant from the Weston Family Foundation. Professor Jim Mattsson and his team is advancing sustainable, year-round blueberry, raspberry & blackberry production.

Read more on our New page: www.sfu.ca/biology/news...

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Reposted by Adam Blake

International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · Aug 8

Among insects, lepidoptera 🦋 show one of the most diverse photoreceptor types 👁, explaining diverse spectral sensitivities including a convergent evolution of red vision.

Lu & Kronforst review the lepidopteran eye evolution.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Cellular innovations and diversity in the lepidopteran compound eye - Journal of Comparative Physiology A

Lepidoptera, having co-diversified with flowering plants and adapted to various diel niches, present a remarkable system for studying compound eye cell type diversity. Here we synthesize the latest re...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Dezene Huber 🍁 🌻 @dezene.me · Aug 9

“…Canada 🇨🇦 continues to lag behind other countries in R&D spending; it spent 1.8% of GDP on research in 2024, placing it sixth in the G7 industrialized nations and well below the 2.7% average among the 38 nations that are members of the OECD.” 🧪

www.science.org/content/arti...

Canada plans a 15% budget cut. Scientists are alarmed

Cuts could erase promised boost, researchers fear

www.science.org

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · Mar 5

I am thrilled to present the Mosquito Cell Atlas! We analyzed 367K nuclei from 19 tissues in male & female mosquitoes, creating a comprehensive resource for vector biology & infectious disease research.

Plus we made some surprising discoveries! 🦟🧵

biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/n

Photos of Aedes aegypti female (left) and male (right). Numbers indicate location of collected tissues (listed in legend boxes). Photos by Alex Wild.

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Michael Reiser @michaelreiser.bsky.social · Mar 27

I know there's a 𝒍𝒐𝒕 going on right now, but I couldn’t be prouder to share this long-incubated labor of love: the complete connectome of the male 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎 optic lobe 🧠🪰
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Connectome-driven neural inventory of a complete visual system - Nature

A connectome of the right optic lobe from a male fruitfly is presented together with an extensive collection of genetic drivers matched to a comprehensive neuron-type catalogue.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · May 3

ICYMI Elucidating nanostructural organization and photonic properties of butterfly wing scales using hyperspectral microscopy: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #JRSocInterface #biotechnology #nanotechnology

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Trends in Parasitology @cp-trendsparasitol.bsky.social · May 30

Dr Craig Montell reviews the #sensory #arsenal #mosquitoes use to find us. #Olfaction #Vision #Taste #Thermosensation #Infrared @ucsb.bsky.social‬ @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social‬

www.cell.com/trends/paras...

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Clement Vinauger @thevinaugerlab.bsky.social · Aug 1

Adaline Bisese, recipient of a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, represented the lab and @vtbiochemistry.bsky.social at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium yesterday. Stay tuned for exciting results on how mosquitoes choose where to land on our bodies!

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · Aug 1

We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees.

This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees.

Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025.

More details:
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...

Postdoctoral Position (f/m/d) at the Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology

Biocenter of the University of Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg

www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de

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Reposted by Adam Blake

Angela Collier @acollierastro.bsky.social · Aug 1

really appreciating the onion as physical media.

burt's shrimp lip balm parody ad in an onion newspaper

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