Holy cow, it’s spectacular

These are definitely Hymenopterans, don't worry about it

What’s clear is that developmental plasticity is a powerful force in evolution, both in the phenotypic diversity that it produces and the evolutionary consequences of modifying its rules. Congrats Patrick and I hope folks enjoy… still a ways to go, but lovely to see progress made.

I think it’s deeper than ants! Organ:body scaling is ubiquitous across animals, but a mechanism remains elusive. Does ant caste differentiation (not determination; that’s different) result from ancient hormones that, directly or indirectly, couple organ growth with size? For now, anyone's guess

But it’ll be easier to agree *that* size and caste are linked once we can plausibly explain *why* this might be the case! In 2019, the Trible lab started asking “why” from three angles (lab evo-devo, population genomics, math+macroevolution)... it was HARD work, but all three are coming soon

I believe this is generally true for ant castes, in part because it might unify “unrelated” evolutionary observations via development (argued in tinyurl.com/yp7s529j) and predict future experimental results (argued in tinyurl.com/x85b5z88). Hopefully Patrick’s clean experiment also helps = ).

tinyurl.com/4twykhnx, tinyurl.com/2f72a6we

Piekarski: “"If some environmental factor affects caste, it will affect size too,” “…As far as we can tell, no matter which environmental variable you manipulate, the [genetically encoded] relationship between ant body size and caste remains unchanged"

What is this photo!?? Why is he of all people standing in front of a GameCube kiosk demoing Metroid prime XD

Handy tip from an 18th century medical guidebook – always remember to prepare your medicinal woodlice in the same manner as your bees

Correct. What comes for Harvard will come to others. There is not enough space nor $ to absorb students, postdocs, faculty, & labs. What happens when the administration attacks its next target? Protecting the project of American science & its benefits requires individual and collective action - now.

Don't post often but it feels important to add another example: my NIH grant (sole source for 3 people's salaries) was canceled due to a concern about Harvard undergraduates that has absolutely nothing to do with us or our important genetics research. We'll squeak through, but I'm PISSED.

jfc seriously what the heck

Charles Darwin the barnacle taxonomist, a story in two parts

Feel like I spent more time writing my DEI statement than some orgs have spent defending their DEI programs

Really fun conversation with Michael Levin (Tufts) today. Michael invited me to discuss ant castes for his YouTube channel after I reached out to ask his thoughts about hourglasses & intelligent behavior in development = ). Lots to learn fsho...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Ob...

(me watching burglars break all the windows and climb into my house)

“Just give it time. They might cut their hand on the glass.”

New paper by PhD advisee Alex Waugh, et al. academic.oup.com/jeb/article-... "Our study highlights the utility of profiling genes with plasticity-associated expression to gain insight into potential assimilation by inversion polymorphisms."

If you are one of those interesting people who like sausage-like ants, you are in for a treat: we just published in @zookeys.pensoft.net a taxonomic update for Afrotropical Zasphinctus describing 5 new species! You read that right FIVE!

Happy 2025 for you as well
zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1312...

⭐ 2024 Top Finds/Pics ⭐

I mean, do I even need to explain why? 😂
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This is a male stalk-eyed #fly from Costa Rica. Females lack the hammerhead while males "compare sizes" for a chance to mate. Evolution is magical 🪄

#Ulidiidae: #Plagiocephalus
Collected by @flyliceresearch.bsky.social

Ugh I love these, they’re the BEST