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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @handle.invalid · 6d

A study from the @danielkronauer.bsky.social lab has revealed a new form of olfaction gene regulation that may be broadly shared across insect species—opening up a new window into studying connections between genes and social behaviors. Read a Q&A with the scientists:

What could an ant's sense of smell teach us about social organization? - News

Ants rely on smell to navigate nearly every aspect of their complex social lives. Thus, investigating their olfactory system, scientists believe, will reveal clues about the organization of ant society. But olfaction is one of the least understood sens...

www.rockefeller.edu

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · Jul 8

I’m petrified about today’s science news. Genetically modifying crabs to have cheetah genes? This could go sideways fast.

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 15d

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts

I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ??

here she is at her burrow entrance.

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @handle.invalid · 19d

A new study in ants from @danielkronauer.bsky.social reveals a previously unknown mechanism that ensures that each olfactory neuron expresses only one odorant receptor, with broad implications for the study of gene regulation. #RockefellerScience
https://bit.ly/4pwPFLY

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 19d

These kinds of RNA-FISH stains allowed us to measure the subcellular localization of different kinds of RNAs, revealing what a given neuron transcribes, and which transcripts get actually exported into the cytoplasm, where they can be translated into protein and, therefore, functional receptors.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 19d

Here is a confocal stack of a clonal raider ant antenna from first author and FISHerman extraordinaire Giacomo Glotzer. You can see the densely packed cell bodies of olfactory sensory neurons, along with fluorescent signal from two different odorant receptors and an intergenic region.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 19d

The final version of our paper on how ants and possibly other insects use a crazy mechanism involving extensive transcriptional interference to regulate odorant receptor expression is now open access in my favorite journal, @currentbiology.bsky.social

authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

authors.elsevier.com

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Sep 5

Ant reproduction is getting weirder and weirder. Here’s the latest: queens of a Mediterranean harvester ant mate with males from a different species and then lay eggs that clonally inherit those males’ genome. I.e., they lay eggs that develop into a different species. 🤯

Nature @nature.com · Sep 5

The discovery of an unusual reproductive system for one ant species solves a long-standing puzzle

go.nature.com/47mxGkM

Ant queens produce sons of two distinct species

The discovery of an unusual reproductive system for one ant species solves a long-standing puzzle about a missing population of another ant species.

go.nature.com

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 24

Finally, an ant photo from my recent Kenya trip. On Mount Kenya, you pass through a zone of pristine rainforest, which is where I’ve previously worked on army ants. There are other cool ants though, and here’s an example. The dark sphere in this tree is a carton nest of Crematogaster acrobat ants.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 21

This is the project of two fantastic graduate students in the lab, Giacomo Glotzer and Daniel Pastor. Unfortunately, both of them are too wise to be on social media.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 21

If you’re interested in ants, olfaction, gene regulation, or all of the above, here’s a new preprint from the lab for you. It describes an unorthodox mechanism of transcriptional interference by which ant olfactory sensory neurons produce a single functional receptor.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Transcriptional Interference Gates Monogenic Odorant Receptor Expression in Ants

Communication is crucial to social life, and in ants, it is mediated primarily through olfaction. Ants have more odorant receptor (OR) genes than any other group of insects, generated through tandem d...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @handle.invalid · Aug 20

Applications for faculty positions at Rockefeller are now open! We are seeking exceptional, creative scientists to join our faculty.

Learn more below:

Faculty recruitment - Our Scientists

Applications for faculty positions are currently being accepted. Application deadline is October 6, 2025.

www.rockefeller.edu

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 19

What a loss!

The Rockefeller University @handle.invalid · Aug 18

We are deeply saddened to share that our friend and colleague Jim Hudspeth passed away on Saturday. We will remember and continue to be inspired by Jim’s integrity, his humility, and his unwavering commitment to discovery.

A. James Hudspeth, neuroscientist who unlocked secrets of hearing, has died - News

A. James Hudspeth, a Rockefeller neuroscientist who discovered how sound waves are converted into electrical signals in the ear's cochlea, died Saturday at his home in Manhattan. A pioneering scientist and dedicated mentor, he was the university's F.M. ...

www.rockefeller.edu

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 18

Interesting! I’d think they would absorb more heat and become warm faster. Same for black house cats.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 17

Yeah, we had more luck with leopards than with ants this time around. 😉

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 17

A black panther! Melanistic leopards are extremely rare in Africa, and seeing one on our recent trip to Kenya was a dream come true. We were able to spend an hour right before sunset around this marvelous creature while staying at Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 15

Sleeping hippos look like they’re smiling. Here, a group is resting on a river bank at Mpala Research Centre while being attended to by red-billed oxpeckers. These birds eat ticks off of large mammals, but also drink blood directly from wounds. 🦛 🇰🇪

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 14

The Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi) is the largest and, sadly, rarest of the three zebra species. Luckily, Mpala Research Centre is home to a decent number of Grévy's zebras, which are studied as part of a long-term monitoring program:

www.mpalalive.org/field_guide/...

mpala.org/princeton-ze...

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 13

Apparently. Cool, no?

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 13

A hyrax with its little one. These cutie pies were living right outside our cottage at Mpala Research Centre. 🇰🇪 Apparently it is World Elephant Day. So why hyraxes? Unlikely as it may seem, hyraxes are elephants’ closest living relatives.

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Aug 12

Some of the animals at Mpala Research Centre 🇰🇪 participate in ongoing projects. Here are vulturine guinea fowl studied by @[email protected] at the MPI for Animal Behaviour. They are individually marked and some are wearing solar-powered GPS tags. More info is here:
mpala.org/vulturine-gu...

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @handle.invalid · Jul 22

New research from @danielkronauer.bsky.social's lab in @pnas.org sheds light on how a young ant’s future is determined by genetics and the environment, finding that genes not only influence size, they change what a given size means for the colony. #RockefellerScience

How ant queens are made - News

Daniel Kronauer’s research on an unusual ant species illuminates the biochemistry and genetics behind complex social behavior—and potentially offers clues to the evolution of our own social brains.

www.rockefeller.edu

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Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · Jul 7

The disapproving looks of a barred owl… Woodstock, NY

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 30

Check out our latest issue where we interview @danielkronauer.bsky.social, who studies the evolution and function of insect societies at Rockefeller University. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Daniel J.C. Kronauer

Interview with Daniel Kronauer, who studies the evolution and function of insect societies at Rockefeller University.

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · Jun 30

@danielkronauer.bsky.social talks about alloparental care in clonal raider 🐜 & how the ants' nutritional state affect this behavior. His lab also develops transgenic 🐜 used for Ca-imaging in the brain.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

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

Pheromone representation in the ant antennal lobe changes with age

As social insects age, their behavioral roles in the colony change. Hart et al. find that old ants respond more strongly to pheromones that signal danger, and that these pheromones are represented dif...

www.cell.com

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