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Adria LeBoeuf

@adriatica.bsky.social

2.1K followers 1.8K following 120 posts

I study #socialfluids. Ponderer of the #behavior of myself & other organisms. #SocialInsects / #DistributedMetabolism / #CollectiveBehavior / #CompBio Assoc. Prof @ University of Cambridge; previously Fribourg, Weizmann, Lausanne, Rockefeller, UCSB.

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · Feb 16

How do complex social behaviors evolve and shape species' success? Here doi.org/10.1038/s420... we reveal how a key social behavior in ants - mouth-to-mouth food sharing #trophallaxis - emerged as ants opportunistically exploited new ecological niches as terrestrial environments changed.

A Paratrechina queen and worker engaging in trophallaxis. Photo by François Brassard

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 3d

These are hilarious.

profserious @profserious.bsky.social · 3d

Here are your 10 -essential- AI prompts for academics ... make your life easy with help from @profserious.bsky.social profserious.substack.com/p/10-ai-prom...

10 AI Prompts for Academics

making those hard jobs a little easier ...

profserious.substack.com

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 3d

“The path to a better Amazon doesn’t lie through consumer activism, or appeals to the its conscience. Corporations, being artificial, immortal colony-organisms that use humans as their inconvenient gut flora, do not have consciences to appeal to.”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Michael Webster @michaelwebster.bsky.social · 4d

Start independent research at the JIC with us 👇.

Really interested in finding those with an interest in structural biology and biochemistry of plants and microbes.

Please do get in touch by email if you'd like to know more 👍

John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 4d

VACANCY - Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions

We’re inviting applications from outstanding researchers who either hold, or wish to apply for, Independent Research Fellowships.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10 November 2025

Click here to apply: jic.link/Fellows

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 11d

Although highly topical, kleptoparasitism does not get nearly the attention it deserves!

Here, a plant exploits the kleptoparasitic behavior of a fly that likes to snatch ants killed by spiders.

🕷️🐜🪰🌿

So the thief itself gets taken advantage of. Nice going, plants!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Olfactory floral mimicry of injured ants mediates the attraction of kleptoparasitic fly pollinators

Mochizuki reports a plant that lures pollinating flies by imitating the scent of ants injured by predators. This study reveals the first known case of ant mimicry in flowers and uncovers previously un...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Science Magazine @science.org · 12d

When harmful fungi invade their carefully cultivated crops, fungus-farming termites fight back with the precision of skilled gardeners, a new Science study reveals, smothering them in soil clumps enriched with microbial allies that inhibit fungal growth. https://scim.ag/4nsAqCu

Fungus-farming termites can protect their crop by confining weeds with fungistatic soil boluses

The symbiotic agriculture of fungus-farming termites can collapse if they fail to prevent invading weeds. Previous studies suggest a role for symbiotic fungistatic microbes in bringing about weed cont...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 12d

Google Docs trying to "correct" the use of data as a plural noun. Suggestions for grammatical correction are "If some data has..." and "If data is..."

No wonder I can't get students to do this correctly in a world of Grammarly and AI and whatnot. 🫠

Bulleted text from Google Docs, ~ indicates grammatical underline:
- If some data ~have~ been determined to be excluded, make a folder called “Discarded data” and move any excluded folders into that higher-level folder.
-If data ~are~ combined from multiple runs, mark as COMBINED, and delete any older folders whose data is now combined in a newer folder.

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 17d

If you are from the US and interested in applying for a PhD with me (or anyone else @camzoology.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social), your deadline for the gates scholarship is October 15!
(You’ll need to write a research proposal, so contact PIs now) www.gatescambridge.org/programme/th...

Postgraduate Cambridge University Scholarship | Gates Cambridge

A fully funded graduate education for future leaders committed to improving the lives of others.

www.gatescambridge.org

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 19d

#socialfluids

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 19d

Individual variation in #sociability is a central feature of every society, including #HoneyBees. This study shows that specific genetic variants & #brain gene expression patterns are linked to variation in the social act of sharing liquids (trophallaxis) in bees @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3VjjXnJ

Left: Barcoded honey bee workers share liquid food via trophallaxis. Credit Tim Gernat. Right: A barcoded honey bee worker sitting on a flower during a foraging trip. Credit: Zachary Huang.

Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 20d

BREAKING: Royal Society to reconsider expelling Elon Musk

Violent rhetoric in address to anti-immigration rally pushes science academy to reassess billionaire’s fellowship

(Free to read)

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

Royal Society to reconsider expelling Elon Musk - Research Professional News

Violent rhetoric in address to anti-immigration rally pushes science academy to reassess billionaire’s fellowship

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Emília Santos @emiliapsantos.bsky.social · 21d

Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨

Rapid Divergence of Visual Systems and Signaling Traits to Contrasting Light Regimes During Early Speciation of African Crater Lake Cichlid Fish

Abstract. Sensory adaptation is widely hypothesized to drive ecological speciation, yet empirical evidence from natural populations undergoing early stage

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

IUSSI-NWES @iussi-nwes.bsky.social · 25d

We are delighted that our Winter Meeting 2025 in Leuven 🇧🇪 is approaching!

Abstract submissions now open: www.iussi-nweurope.org/meetings

Date: December 18-19
Abstract deadline: October 15
Host: Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution at KU Leuven
Plenary: Ido Pen & @rmash.bsky.social

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 25d

don't underestimate how daunting this task will be, two centuries from now after the internet is gone, when all the data we unquestionably put in the cloud evaporated, the silicon-based electronic storage devices degraded or lost, Windows, Linux and Python languages dead and forgotten

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 25d

in the 23rd century historians are going to need have their Routledge Handbook of 21st-Century Internet Memes, their Cambridge Companion to 4Chan, and their Oxford Guidebook to Computer Gaming Culture handy to make sense of the rise of American fascism and the fall of the United States

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 26d

#privatechannels

Nature @nature.com · 26d

Nature research paper: Functional synapses between neurons and small cell lung cancer

go.nature.com/3VwSy1L

Functional synapses between neurons and small cell lung cancer - Nature

Small cell lung cancer cells form functional synapses with glutamatergic neurons, receiving synaptic transmissions and deriving a proliferative advantage from these interactions.

go.nature.com

Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · 29d

I love chameleons.

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 29d

Here, the 'ballistic tongues' paper by Yu Zeng and team
www.cell.com/current-biol...

plus dispatch by Sam Van Wassenbergh

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Biomechanics: Squeezing power drives ballistic tongues

Chameleons and lungless salamanders independently evolved very fast projectile tongues. In both cases, ballistic performance involves a long, blunt-ended skeletal rod that slides freely within a power...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Seth Frey @enfascination.com · 29d

“””
While on the journey making my vision a reality, I was told by many to pick a lane.

To those I say: Dreams don’t have lanes.

Sincerely,
Burley
Proprietor, Burley’s Berkeley Bait and Tackle and Art Gallery and General Multi-Ethnic Cuisine
“””

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Helena Klara Jambor @helenajambor.bsky.social · Jun 18

I gave in! After students asking for it, I now made a simple figure design checklist.
To help all scientists w/o graphic skills create clear, accessible, and truthful charts!
-> Out in @nature Cell Biology: rdcu.be/erwl4

#DataVisualization #PhD #SciComm

Thx for review @bethcimini.bsky.social + 2

A checklist for designing and improving the visualization of scientific data

Nature Cell Biology - Creating clear and engaging scientific figures is crucial to communicate complex data. In this Comment, I condense principles from design, visual perception and data...

rdcu.be

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · Sep 3

Congrats @selfishmeme.bsky.social on revealing such a beautiful and bizarre system!

Nature @nature.com · Sep 3

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species

go.nature.com/4mOb5T9

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

go.nature.com

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · Sep 3

Very interesting framing

Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · Sep 2

We are on the verge of a new Cold War, defined not by an ideological contest over the proper relationship between politics and the economy, but over the metabolic basis of modernity. Call it the Green Entente vs. the Axis of Petrostates. My latest: foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/01/e...

The Coming Ecological Cold War

Decarbonization isn’t just about technology and markets—it’s a geopolitical revolution.

foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social · Aug 27

Final year PhD students, I know you’re desperately trying to finish experiments/revisions/submissions/write a thesis & just survive - but please spare a few minutes to apply to your dream postdoc labs.

It easily takes A YEAR from first contact, even if everything goes to plan on both sides.

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · Aug 25

What is the answer??? *panic*

Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Mark Brown @markoneinfour.bsky.social · Aug 23

This is really interesting

Danie Ware @danacea.bsky.social · Aug 23

And on the subject of #realartatters: AI poisoning tool NIGHTSHADE is now free for artists to use: venturebeat.com/ai/nightshad...

Nightshade, the free tool that ‘poisons’ AI models, is now available for artists to use

The tool's creators are seeking to make it so that AI model developers must pay artists to train on data from them that is uncorrupted.

venturebeat.com

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Amanda Bretman @amandabretman.bsky.social · Aug 22

Well done @tonigabaldon.bsky.social and all the @eseb2025.bsky.social team for not just surviving but producing a #eseb2025 conference of such high fitness 😁

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Adria LeBoeuf @adriatica.bsky.social · Aug 22

Amazing talk by @microbiobits.bsky.social from @tonigabaldon.bsky.social lab on another possible model of eukaryogenesis based on proteome evolution #ESEB2025

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · Aug 20

My drawn statement on Ai as standalone from my now finished minicomic as syllabus for new liberal studies class! As promised this is shareable, printable - all from my site, feel free to make use of it, cite me & let me know how it’s received. Share away all here! spinweaveandcut.com/fall-2025-sy...

a snippet of a mini-comic, at top - straight line stretches from point A to B. Immediately below, same dot at A, then becomes a curving, meandering line that winds through the page and ends at a point with rays and a question mark emanating from it. Text reads: "Nothing can do this for you - that robs you of experience and conflates answers with learning. Rather, it's all the decisions you make along the way, the mistakes, struggles, and surprises! These pathways you create - this is learning.

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Reposted by Adria LeBoeuf

André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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