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Sam England

@samjakeengland.bsky.social

380 followers 270 following 61 posts

Ecology 🤝 physics. I'm a @humboldt-foundation.de postdoc fellow looking at weirdo animal eyes with @multipleye-lab.bsky.social 🕷️👀 PhD was uncovering electrostatic ecology🐛🦋⚡

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Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 24

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS

The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

doi.org

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Reposted by Sam England

Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · Sep 3

The first of Jessie Foley’s work on the #evolution of #ageing in #Heliconius for your reading pleasure.

Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻

🧪

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · Sep 3

Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673072v1

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Reposted by Sam England

Vanessa Penna Goncalves (she/her) @vanspidergirl.bsky.social · Aug 28

✨ It’s published! ✨

🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living.

Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Volumetric Comparison of Overall Brain and Neuropil Size Between Social and Non‐social Spiders: Exploring the Social Brain Hypothesis

Brain size may be influenced by the cognitive demands of sociality (social brain hypothesis). We used microCT to compare CNS and brain volumes in social versus solitary huntsman and crab spiders. Soc...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Sam England

Josh Arbon @josharbon.bsky.social · Aug 20

New @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social paper out today in @royalsociety.org Biology Letters. We found adult jackdaws can learn to tolerate usually bullied or ignored juveniles when they provided information about a new foraging resource.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Wild jackdaws learn to tolerate juveniles to exploit new foraging opportunities | Biology Letters

Social tolerance can enhance access to resources and is thought to be crucial in facilitating the evolution of cooperation, social cognition and culture, but it is unknown whether animals can optimize...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Sam England

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · Aug 13

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity.” Explore the article here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/Me2U50SkLRZ.

Macrophotographs of wild treehoppers exemplifying a small portion of the morphological diversity seen in the Membracidae, photographed at various locations around Costa Rica (A–J and L) and the United Kingdom (K). (A) Polyglypta costata. (B) Poppea capricornis. (C) Antianthe expansa. (D) Cladonota apicalis. (E) Bocydium mae. (F) Enchophyllum sp. (G) Heteronotus trinodosus. (H) Alchisme grossa. (I) Notocera sp. (J) Ennya chrysura. (K) Centrotus cornutus. (L) Membracis mexicana.

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Judith A.H. Smit @judithsmit.bsky.social · Aug 12

Interested in doing a 3-month #internship on treehopper vibrational communication at STRI in Panama? 🤩 Check this out:

stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

Contact me for more info! #AnimalBehavior

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Reposted by Sam England

Abigail Lowe @abigaillowe.bsky.social · Aug 7

Do you do moth trapping in the UK? We'd love your help! 💡

At @ukceh.bsky.social we're training & testing AI to detect multiple moths in a single image.

Send us top-down photos of multiple moths on egg trays to support this work.

More info & form: forms.gle/e3HzBPEd7RVV...

#mothsmatter #TeamMoth

A top-down image of 12 various moths on a green egg carton.

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Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 31

Thank you so much!

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 31

I would love that!

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 31

Such an incredible sculpture of Umbonia!

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Andi Fischer @andifischer10.bsky.social · Jul 31

🎓 #PhD in Animal Metabolomics & Ecology @unigreifswald🇩🇪
Sexual and non-sexual communication in a widow spider 🕷️⚗️
DFG-funded | 3 years | behavioral ecology & chemical ecology
Details: bit.ly/widow-phd
Apply by Sept 24, start in February 2026
#AcademicSky #pleaserepost

Chemical Ecology of Widow Spiders

We are hiring for a funded PhD positionapply here Untangling pheromonal communication between and within the sexes of widow spiders Our group is undertaking a comprehensive exploration of the chemi…

bit.ly

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Reposted by Sam England

Bhamla Lab @ Georgia Tech @bhamlalab.bsky.social · Jul 30

Hiring 4 postdocs — organismal biophysics, soft robotics, frugal Raman diagnostics, or your own bold idea.

3-year funding, $65K+ benefits. GT (Atlanta) now → CU Boulder BioFrontiers Institute in Fall ’26.

PDF/details in next post. Tag/share if someone comes to mind. 🧪🪲🪳#livingphysics

Recruitment poster for the Bhamla Lab. Top shows Georgia Tech and CU Boulder logos. Main headline: “Hiring Multiple Postdoctoral Researchers: Organismal Biomechanics, Soft Robotics, and Raman Diagnostics.” Left column lists four roles—Organismal Biology, Bioinspired Engineering, Raman Diagnostics, and a Curiosity‑Based slot—plus note of 3‑year funding from DARPA, NSF, NIH, and Schmidt. Right side features a vintage collage of a Victorian‑era scientist with robotic arm, insects, and globe, and a circular “Physics of Life” diagram linking biology, physics, engineering, and mathematics. Tan background, Bhamla Lab crest at top.

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Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thank you Dinesh! :)

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thanks so much Daniela!!

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thanks Max!

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 30

My photo made it onto the cover of @pnas.org! 🎉You can read the related article about the amazing morphologies of treehoppers increasing their sensitivity to static electricity here: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

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Science Magazine @science.org · Jul 28

About 3200 insect species around the world have evolved a structure on their back called a helmet.

But the appendage isn’t just for show: It allows for the detection of electric fields—perhaps helping them distinguish friend from foe. scim.ag/46xid0Y