Is disease just a cost of social life, or can it shape the evolution of social life itself?
New research from @mingpapilio.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social suggests social immunity can be both a result of cooperation and a force that promotes larger, more complex societies 👇
Masturbation in pet birds is natural and shouldn't be punished.
A new study led by @unilancashire.bsky.social and coauthored by Oxford's @matildabrindle.bsky.social say vets and owners should be reassured that it is not the consequence of captivity, but common.
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Excited to be part of this ambitious project newly published in BES.
I hope we see microbes stealing a piece of this pie in ten years time! 🦠💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Thanks to @tcmbakker.bsky.social and James Traniello for the invitation and co-author @stuwest.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk
Thoughtful review of The Paradox of the Organism book homunculusmusic.wordpress.com/2026/05/30/i... @tomwscott.bsky.social
homunculusmusic.wordpress.com
I’m reading The Paradox of the Organism, a set of collected essays on this notion edited by Arvid Ågren and Manus M. Patten. It’s tremendously enlightening. It is also pretty consistent with the st…
Why do sex chromosomes stop recombining? New models show even weak sexual antagonism can strongly drive recombination suppression, with mating systems shaping the outcome. By @ewanflintham.bsky.social and @charlesmullon.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/evle...
Abstract. The suppression of recombination between sex chromosomes is a widespread feature of genetic sex determination systems. Competing explanations for
We’re hiring for OrthoFinder!
Great role for someone who enjoys scientific software development: Python, data analysis, workflows, Git, scalability, and making tools nicer to use.
Comparative genomics or open-source bioinformatics experience would be a lovely bonus.
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Ashleigh Griffin
Ashleigh Griffin
Mycorrhizal fungi control the nutrient flow within their hyphal networks. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @spun.earth
Stu West
New paper is out!
Disease is often seen as a cost of social life. But can it also shape how complex societies evolve?
Here, we use mathematical models to study social immunity: collective disease defence in ants, termites, bees and other group-living insects.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Social insects tackle pathogens with behaviours like grooming and the removal of infected individuals. These behaviours facilitate the evolution of larger more complex societies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @mingpapilio.bsky.social @georgeshillcock.bsky.social @tomwscott.bsky.social
Despite the ecological importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, it is unclear to what extent these symbionts can act autonomously from plant h…
Read the vision of 39 prominent scientists to the future of behavioral ecology and sociobiology in our latest editorial. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 80:64. doi.org/10.1007/s002...
Stu West
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
Many social insects respond to pathogens in ways that reduce pathogen transmission
within their social groups, with behaviors such as grooming or r...
