🪲 Field note from Menorca 🇪🇸
Spotted a striking bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) on a roadside this morning. These flightless leaf beetles are slow-moving and exude a red defensive fluid (“nosebleed”) when disturbed - hence the name!

#Entomology #FieldNotes #Menorca #Beetles #insects

Rhododendron leafhopper (Graphocephala fennahi) from the rhododendron bush in front of my mom's house in Germany. I love the contrast of that turquoise and orange ✨️ #insect #science #leafhopper #photography #nature

Moss Medicines: The Next Revolution in #Biotech?
Plant biotechnologists are favoring #moss factories over other models to produce certain valuable #proteins.
Great article based on an interview with yours truly.
www.the-scientist.com/moss-medicin...

Not unexpected but great to see this effect documented! ⬇️

Thanks for your work and your commitment to open science, @nicolasgaltier.bsky.social and team!

Very proud of the work from lab members and collaborators that coincidentally came out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... and www.nature.com/articles/s41.... A bacterial and viral pathogen associated with mass mortality in seastars and oysters. @kevinzhong2006.bsky.social @rhizalyssa.bsky.social

Get inspired to scale the challenges with our August issue!

Read about:

🦟Fighting malaria
🕹️Remote controlled probiotics
🍄Antifungal resistance
💉mRNA vaccines against bacteria
⚕️Yellow fever vaccine
🫧Archaeal ribosomes
🦠giardia-host interactions

and more.
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

#MicroSky

Some photos from the scientific expedition I joined in the Austrian Alps 🏔️ with the @fischerlab.bsky.social team from @mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social! We were hunting for viruses in high-altitude lakes 🦠🏞 Already excited to see what discoveries await in those samples 👨‍🔬 #science #postdoclife #virus

Argiope bruennichi spotted in Wageningen with its wrapped-up prey 🕸️
A stunning wasp spider with built-in warning colors🐝
#Wageningen #waspspider #arachnids #nature

Although large, elongated protrusions on a 247-million-year-old reptile fossil have some similarities to feathers, they are not feathers

go.nature.com/3J0pOLt

New #protein targets revealed in deadly #tick-borne #bacterium for future treatments ...

| #bacteria | #Ehrlichia | #ehrlichiosis | #antibiotic | Via @sciencex.bsky.social

The weather improved for our next tour in the Stubai Alps to Blaue Lacke (2287 m), Grünausee (2335 m), and Freiger See (2500 m), three mountain lakes above the treeline. Strenuous hikes alternated with wet & cold weather during filtration. #CAPSOLUTION
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

The next two lakes on the sampling tour were Upper and Middle Plenderlessee in Austria. We got lots of water from the lakes, and also from the skies... Dinoflagellates live here!
#CAPSOLUTION
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

We are now in the High Tauern National Park in Austria. Fantastic landscapes, warm-hearted people, but the lakes are not that easy to reach! With Oberer Schwarzhornsee at 2650 m elevation, we sampled the highest lake on the tour.
#CAPSOLUTION
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

In 2022, we published The Naked Truth - my 1st PhD paper - reviewing nudiviruses and their links to baculo- & bracoviruses. The field has advanced quickly since, and I’m grateful for the ongoing interest and citations from the community🙏🐛🧬 #virology #arthropods #DNAviruses
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...

One of my favorite insects! 🦋 Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum), spotted in Leck (Germany). So difficult to properly focus on this speedster!⚡️📸 #hawkmoth #insect

Spotted Lasiocampa quercus (oak eggar) on a hike in the Stubaital 🇦🇹
These hairy caterpillars eventually become large moths with 4.5 to 7.5 cm wingspan!
#Stubaital #Insects #Lepidoptera #OakEggar #FieldFinds

This first week of sampling alpine lakes in mountainous heights had everything... snow, sunburn, frogs, sheep, marmots, insects and crustaceans, and of course, preliminary insights on the microbes that live in those extreme environments. Looking forward to what we'll find in the coming weeks🧑🏼‍🔬🦠

Photos of a family of Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) I spotted during my first winter in the Netherlands 💤❄️

#AsioOtus #Owl #Birds #Netherlands #Nature #Photography

Caught this Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) while I was floating past on a bamboo boat in Vietnam 🐦🇻🇳

The last time I saw one was back in snowy Germany - such a striking sight against the white, but no camera on me. This time, I was ready 📸💙

#Kingfisher #AlcedoAtthis #Vietnam #Photography #nature

Creepy-crawly courtship, a spacecraft landing on Earth, and aliens?

Check out this month's sharpest science shots, selected by Nature's photo team 📸

https://go.nature.com/4ccTrnz

This Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) flew over the water like a bolt of blue lightning ⚡💙

I’ve always loved kingfishers for their vibrant colours, but this one really takes the cake with its crimson-red beak!

#Bird #Kingfisher #nature #photography #Singapore #PelargopsisCapensis 🐦🌿📸

New day, new butterfl—wait, not a butterfly? My bad. It’s a moth! 💛
Spotted lots of these vibrant yellow beauties in Vietnam and thought they were butterflies. But nope - Dysphania militaris, the False Tiger Moth. What a twist!
#insect #nature #photography #WhatIsThisBug #AskAnEntomologist #Vietnam

Starting small with a post of this butterfly I saw during my stay in Singapor. I believe this is the Common Rose butterfly (𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘦), but please let me know if I'm wrong #insect #butterfly #nature #photography #AskAnEntomologist #WhatIsThisBug