Detecting the rapid disappearance of social partners may be particularly useful for these fish, which move quickly but cannot see very far in the murky waters of their natural habitat. Animals can therefore infer danger by detecting when members of their social group vanish from their field of view.

This “social-off” detection could drive escape, as disappearing or escaping virtual schools caused similar escape behavior in observers – even in the absence of a direct threat.

Neural populations in the colliculus and thalamus are activated by the rapid escape of visual stimuli moving like social partners. These same cells were are also driven by the sudden disappearance of social stimuli, but unaffected by disappearing stimuli without social relevance.

Danionella show more effective escapes in groups because they see their neighbors escape, and will even escape upon observing virtual conspecifics escape (VR Danionella courtesy of postdoc Geoff Meyerhof).

Here we studied how groups of glassfish (Danionella cerebrum) use vision of their social partners to enable collective escape from danger.

Our latest study on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now posted as a preprint, led by UCSD PhD student Jo-Hsien Yu @anitajhyu.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @danionella.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Preprint -
Excited to present WHOLISTIC, which extends the concept of whole-brain functional imaging to the entire body. Pioneering work by incredibly talented Virginia Ruetten @vmsruetten.bsky.social, this platform reveals whole-organism cellular dynamics in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Gave a talk at my parents’ retirement community to describe how science is done, and what is at stake. There was a ton of interest, and anyone can do this. Get the word out about how science affects everyone. I’m happy to share slides with anyone who asks- just get in touch! youtu.be/BY_SFgi-Cig

This is so not okay.

Congratulations Ruben, and Cornell!

BREAKING: We're sending an open letter to universities across the country, offering support and urging them to reject pressure to punish international students and faculty for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Schools must hold firm against the Trump administration's censorship attempts.

In case you needed more inspiration to stand up for science on Friday (and wear a mask wherever and whenever you want).

We aren’t backing down at UCSD but this does motivate our organizing team to work on rolling back our restrictive interim policies on gathering.

We’re seeking a postdoc/student excited about animal communication, brain-wide circuits, microscopy, singing fish (Danionella), wacky ideas and who likes to: get things done, experiment, analyze, ask, learn, help and cooperate. jlab.berlin

663 days since the senseless tragedy that took An, we present a manuscript that reports some of the discoveries that she left us.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1. I feel like this is such obvious advice that it gets taken for granted & consequently no one says this to young scientists but READ PAPERS, read all the papers. As you move up in your career you will have less & less time to do this. Read everything that appeals to you not just in your field