Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · 1d

Very excited to have joined the Editorial Board of @evoecology.bsky.social as an Associate Editor! Send your sexual selection papers this way 🤓

8

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · 15d

I think all science should include a Lovecraftian summary

Jente Ottenburghs | Avian Hybrids @jenteo.bsky.social · 15d

The Goose That Stopped Migrating: A Lovecraftian Paper Summary
jenteottenburghs.wordpress.com/2025/09/23/t...

While reading a story by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, a curious idea struck me: why not retell one of my recent scientific papers in his voice? You can read the result in this blog post.

The Goose That Stopped Migrating: A Lovecraftian Paper Summary

An alternative explanation of a recent Barnacle Goose paper.

jenteottenburghs.wordpress.com

2

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Elina Mäntylä @elinamantyla.bsky.social · 22d

Ivimey-Cook @eivimeycook.bsky.social et al. From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... #OpenScience #OpenData

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and ev...

royalsocietypublishing.org

5 4

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 22d

Female fruit flies possess two visually identical sperm storage organs that differ in origin, sperm storage, and release rates, highlighting functional asymmetry in paired biological structures. doi.org/g93t23

Surprising find reveals asymmetry in identical-looking fruit fly organs

At Cornell, Dawn Chen was counting sperm stored in a pair of organs called spermathecae in female fruit flies, fully expecting the counts to be roughly the same.

phys.org

6 11

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Science News @sciencenews.bsky.social · 27d

Researchers found that fruit fly sperm push against one another and align in orderly bundles, preventing knots that could block reproduction.

Here’s how fruit flies' giant sperm squeeze into tight spaces

Researchers found that fruit fly sperm push against one another and align in orderly bundles, preventing knots that could block reproduction.

buff.ly

2 4

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Jack A Brand @jack-brand.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨 Proceedings B is recruiting new Data Editors!
Join our editorial board to help ensure data/code transparency across biology.
🗓 Term: 3 yrs from Jan 2026
📩 Apply by 30 Sep 2025 with a 2-page CV + cover letter: [email protected]
🔗 Info: [email protected] /[email protected]

2 24 23

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Aging Science News @agingbiology.bsky.social · 26d

Male Reproductive Senescence in Mammals Is Pervasive and Aligned With the Slow-Fast Continuum
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Male Reproductive Senescence in Mammals Is Pervasive and Aligned With the Slow‐Fast Continuum

We found evidence of male reproductive senescence in 59.6% of the mammalian studied species, with a detection probability increasing with larger sample sizes and a longer age range relative to lifesp....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

9 11

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · 29d

Wow! Just when you thought social insects (or biology in general) couldn't get any weirder

Nature @nature.com · Sep 7

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/467N16m

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

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

go.nature.com

2

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Ed Ivimey-Cook @eivimeycook.bsky.social · Aug 27

We’ve got seven places left!

Sadly, this is the last Evolution of Ageing workshop to be held with the Gutenberg series. It won’t be continuing next year!

IQCB Mainz @iqcb-mainz.bsky.social · Jul 14

Join the GUTENBERG WORKSHOP on the Evolution of Ageing!

Organizers: Margaux Bieuville, @kokkonut.bsky.social and Victor Ronget @unimainz.bsky.social, and eivimeycook.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social

Info at gutenberg-workshops.uni-mainz.de/evolution-ag...

#ageing #evolution #lifesciences

The Gutenberg Workshop on the Evolution of Ageing is organized by Margaux Bieuville, Hanna Kokko and Victor Ronget from the University of Mainz together with Edward Ivimey-Cook from the University of Glasgow. The Workshop will take place from 30 September to 2 October 2025 at Wasem's Monastery Engelthal Ingelheim.

5 5

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Australasian Evolution Society @austevolsoc.bsky.social · Aug 26

Calling all evolutionary biologists! 🧬
AES 2025 | UQ Brisbane | 1–3 Oct
Early-bird registration close 1 Sept
aes.corsizio.com/event/685405...
#AES2025 #Evolution #ECR #AusSci

10 11

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Aug 24

I've had a crazy amount of bots on my academic website in the last few days... I have no idea what they do, but if anyone sees anything weird coming from me, can you please let me know 😳

1

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Aug 13

Just completed my 50th peer review! I’m starting to have to say “no” more often, but I actually really enjoy it and learning what people are doing. Hopefully I haven’t been reviewer 2 too often ☺️

4

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Science Magazine @science.org · Aug 11

Aging selectively impairs the production of crucial DNA- and RNA-binding proteins, which contributes to hallmarks of aging in the brains of killifish.

The findings in Science advance our understanding of the relationship between aging and the risk of pathologies. scim.ag/4owxo0O

Altered translation elongation contributes to key hallmarks of aging in the killifish brain

Aging is a major risk factor for neurodegeneration and is characterized by diverse cellular and molecular hallmarks. To understand the origin of these hallmarks, we studied the effects of aging on the...

scim.ag

1 20 59

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Amanda Moehring @flybehaviour.bsky.social · Aug 11

This is devastating. In addition to the obvious harm to the FlyBase staff, SO many of us rely on this resource!

Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · Aug 11

I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.

15 18

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Australasian Evolution Society @austevolsoc.bsky.social · Aug 11

AES 2025 ECR Awards – Apply Now!

Submit your best paper (preprints welcome!) for a chance to give a 30-min plenary at AES 2025 in Brisbane.

Two categories:
PhD and Postdoc

Winners get $500 travel support + free rego
ausevo.com/2025_researc...

3 2

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Aug 5

This is a great opportunity! If you're an ECR with some cool work that you want to share with the AES community, don't miss out on applying!

Australasian Evolution Society @austevolsoc.bsky.social · Aug 5

AES 2025 ECR Awards – Apply Now!

Submit your best paper (preprints welcome!) for a chance to give a 30-min plenary at AES 2025 in Brisbane.

Two categories:
PhD and Postdoc

Winners get $500 travel support + free rego

🔗 ausevo.com/2025_researc...

1

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Aug 5

Don't forget to register for the best part of the academic year! Hope to see you in Brissy! 🥳🤓

Australasian Evolution Society @austevolsoc.bsky.social · Aug 5

Calling all evolutionary biologists!

**AES 2025 Conference**

📍 UQ Brisbane | 🗓 1–3 Oct

**Talks close 1 Sept**

Don’t miss out — submit & join us for three days of cutting-edge science + community!

aes.corsizio.com/event/685405...

#AES2025 #Evolution #ECR #SciComm #AusSci

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social · Aug 4

Check out our latest preprint 📣 TADA guidelines 📣

TADA (Transferable, Accessible, Documented, Annotated) helps researchers across disciplines share code, with the ultimate goal of increasing code availability & its quality.

Brilliantly led by @eivimeycook.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.32942/X2D...

19 42

Reposted by Erin Macartney

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

1 42 49

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Julian Hoffman @julianhoffman.bsky.social · Jul 31

Like the old-growth coastal redwoods that host whole other ecosystems in their spires, these extraordinary Australian stick insects reveal not only the richness and mystery of mature forest canopies but how vital their protection is for countless forms of life.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia

The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

www.theguardian.com

1 14 28

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Priscila Rothier @priscilarothier.bsky.social · Jul 11

Thrilled to share our new paper out in BMC, part of my postdoc at @cornellvet.bsky.social! 🐘🐀
We found that larger mammals evolve more diverse morphologies, while smaller ones can explore many locomotor strategies without much change to their forelimbs.
bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Body mass evolution as a driver of morphological and ecological diversity in terrestrial mammals - BMC Ecology and Evolution

Body mass plays a fundamental role in the macroevolutionary dynamics of morphological, ecological, and phylogenetic diversification. Given biomechanical principles, large body masses in terrestrial ve...

bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com

1 18 34

Reposted by Erin Macartney

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Jul 26

Bielefeld University seeks a postdoc for a 6-year scientific assistant position in Animal Behaviour, starting March 2026. Apply by Sept 10, 2025. More info: www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/biologie/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/behaviour #job

Animal Behaviour - Bielefeld University

With a team of over 50 people, the different research groups study animal behaviour within the framework of the four questions of Tinbergen, both in the lab and in the field. Current model systems include laboratory studies on zebra finches (

www.uni-bielefeld.de

89 75

Reposted by Erin Macartney

Melissah Rowe @melissahrowe.bsky.social · Jul 24

We are looking for a postdoc to join our group to work on an ERC funded project on avian reproductive microbiomes. nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...
Please RT! #microbes #microbiomes #sparrows #postdoc

Postdoctoral researcher: avian microbiomes and reproduction

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our team working on avian reproductive microbiomes at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in the group of Dr. Melissah Rowe. The postd...

nioo.knaw.nl

42 23

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Jul 24

Nutritional geometry and non-genetic paternal effects 🐭! We show how dietary macronutrients influence the proteome of brown adipose tissue (metabolically important), with a nongenetic paternal effect in daughters www.cell.com/cell-reports...

8 12

Erin Macartney @erinmacartney.bsky.social · Jul 16

My office magpie is back for another year of covering the ledge in wires and cableties. Apparently there is little evidence of magpies caching nest materials(?)… I hope this is a friendly stare and I’m going to be safe this swooping season🤞🏻

1