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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · 1d

Pretty sure

Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Mark Brown @markjfbrown.bsky.social · 8d

Delighted to see Hannah’s penultimate PhD paper come out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Strong evidence against the ‘warmer, sicker world’ hypothesis. Parasites 🪱🦠 and their hosts are just very variable! Another great collaboration with @juliakoricheva.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 28d

Comparing the feral city pigeon with its wild form, Early Career Fellow @willjsmith.bsky.social endeavors to reveal whether feral species are experiencing reverse-domestication or proceeding down a new evolutionary trajectory.
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social

Left: A wild rock dove perched in a ruined building, Right: A feral pigeon captured in hand.

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Sep 2

When looking #wildlife disease data from cities, we must ask: which human attitudes, #policies, and behaviours have created the ecological conditions we are measuring?

Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Sep 2

These dynamics mean that #zoonotic risk is not a fixed property of urban dwellings animals. It emerges from feedback between human perceptions, management, and animal #behaviour. Urban disease ecology is therefore inseparable from the (human) #social context in which the animals live.

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Sep 2

People’s attitudes translate into action. Feeding increases flock density and contact rates, facilitating disease #transmission. Repealing procedures (noise machines, spikes, and culling) increase stress levels, which may in turn impact immune function and disease shedding.

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Sep 2

Perceptions of #pigeons are not trivial. How we see them (either as companions or gross rats with wings) shapes the behaviour and #management policies that structure pigeon populations and the #pathogens they carry.

Mumbai: Pigeon feeding ban sparks debate in India - BBC News

Feeding pigeons is common in Indian cities but is now controversial due to rising numbers and health risks.

www.bbc.com

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Aug 23

Shoutout to the pigeon team and many thanks to @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social for the travel grant,
@bangoruniversity.bsky.social for covering the conference fee & the chance to volunteer,
and @uantwerpen.be for funding my PhD project.

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Aug 23

Cities aren’t uniform. Neither is disease. 🦠🏙️
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling

#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Aug 21

One of my undergrad papers on coot eggs was referred to in a talk on blue tit eggs changing shape over time at #EOU2025, during the #BOU
Woodland Birds pre-congress meeting

Cool to see it resurface
doi:10.24193/subbbiol.2021.1.04

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Feb 6

yup! And the they already got the people blinded and fooled. Lots of backlashes for the reds that voted Trump and then they’re surprised “I thought this is not applying to me or my closed ones”

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Feb 6

This marks a big step toward science-driven #policymaking in #mentalhealthcare! 🌍✨

Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Feb 6

A key moment: Dr. David Erritzoe (@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social) shared insights on how psychedelics affect brain function & the latest research advancements. His work is bridging basic science & clinical applications, shaping the future of psychedelic medicine.

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Feb 6

Big day for psychedelic assisted therapy and research in the European Parliament! 🇪🇺

Today, was launched:
🔹 PAREA’s MEP Action Group on Psychedelics in Healthcare (relaunch)
🔹 The European Citizens #PsychedeliCare Initiative

#PsychedelicScience #MentalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #EUPolicy

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Michael Brockhurst @brockhurstlab.bsky.social · Feb 6

🚨 Job alert 🚨 — are you interested in understanding how mobile genetic elements and defence systems shape bacterial genome evolution? 🧬 🧪 🧫 🦠 2x 5-year research positions available in experimental evolution @mermanchester.bsky.social Join us! #microsky
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Research Associate in Experimental Evolution:Manchester

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Nature @nature.com · Feb 3

Taking omega-3 and vitamin D supplements over a three-year period slowed biological ageing by three to four months, particularly when combined with exercise.

https://go.nature.com/4hjjGdO

Omega-3 supplements slow biological ageing

The anti-ageing effect was even greater when combined with vitamin D and exercise.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Jan 31

Job alert!

We seek to appoint a new Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology in the School of Biological Sciences, find out more at the link below!

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Job alert! Lectuter in Evolutionary Biology out now

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Joanna Wu @joannaxwu.bsky.social · Jan 30

The first paper of your PhD is always so exciting! 🤩 An all-#Galbatross effort, "A focus on females can improve science and conservation!" See press release (www.audubon.org/news/researc...) and the study here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...! #FemaleBirds #FemaleBirdDay

In Research, Ignoring Female Birds Harms Scientific Understanding

A new study shows that ecological research often ignores or excludes data on female birds and behavior, resulting in erroneous assumptions on conservation.

www.audubon.org

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Jan 30

what a world we live in… was your Brutus to your Caesar (salad pun intended)

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Dr Jenny Dunn @jennycdunn.bsky.social · Jan 24

New paper! Out now in #Parasitology, open access:

doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Paper led by former MBio student Ellie Lebeau - congratulations Ellie!

#ornithology #wildlifemalaria

The prevalence and immune response to coinfection by avian haemosporidians in wild Eurasian blackbirds Turdus merula | Parasitology | Cambridge Core

The prevalence and immune response to coinfection by avian haemosporidians in wild Eurasian blackbirds Turdus merula

doi.org

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Valentin Kiss @valentinkiss.bsky.social · Jan 24

One of the standouts: calling for sharing fine-scale spatial data on infection patterns, as this fine-scale data is crucial for uncovering disease dynamics!

Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · Jan 24

Quote: "Ecological and evolutionary principles help to explain why both pandemics and wildlife die-offs are becoming more common; [and] why land-use change and biodiversity loss are often followed by an increase in zoonotic and vector-borne diseases."
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Pathogens and planetary change - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Valentin Kiss

Nature @nature.com · Dec 19

All of statistics and much of science depends on probability — an astonishing achievement, considering no one’s really sure what it is. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why probability probably doesn’t exist (but it is useful to act like it does)

All of statistics and much of science depends on probability — an astonishing achievement, considering no one’s really sure what it is.

www.nature.com

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