Flies beat their wings more than 200 times per second. How do proprioceptors rapidly sense and fine tune the wingstroke?
@ellenlesser.bsky.social combined genetic tools with the connnectome to create an atlas of Drosophila wing proprioceptors. @elife.bsky.social
elifesciences.org/articles/107...
We show that synesthesia is sensory and automatic in nature: the pupil scales with the brightness of experienced synesthetic colors. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Now in its new dress @elife.bsky.social (convincing & valuable in round 1).
If anyone wants to pick up the method, happy to share & explain!
Here is a long story in the Columbia Spectator on Richard Axel's involvement with Epstein
www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/03...
1/3
... and for a little glimpse of comparative data, see figure 4. These are EPG neurons (head direction cells of the central complex) across a range of species, from earwigs to bees.
Very happy to see this paper come out from Lucas Martins @d-lucas.bsky.social and Alexandre Laborde. They developed an awesome framework, built with .NET, for developing software to run demanding high-speed behavior and functional imaging experiments.
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Sitting in a talk on the lamina cribrosa of the eye, and am kinda horrified at the potential stresses on the optic nerve as it leaves the eye and goes to brain.
Gordon, it's 10:10 a.m. on February 16th #PhillipJeffriesDay
Using our bee-tracking drone, we discovered that honey bees π have highly precise and individual routes. Now published at @currentbiology.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Spiking of head-direction cells in the postsubiculum during movement (top) and during the transition from non-REM to REM sleep (bottom). Cells are sorted and colour-coded according to their preferred directions.
I don't think I'll ever get bored of looking at raster plots of head-direction cells π€©
RNA world is a leading theory of how life began in the first place.
the dynamical perspective is maybe a path to a possible concept of a potential theory of why modern organisms replicate, develop, and function ok sometimes but not so great.
Certainly cool to think about at least!
@romainbrette.bsky.social has made analogous arguments about "representations" in the brain, which I also struggle with but like to think about
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
I struggle with dynamical systems theory, but I think maybe it frames the genome itself as the cook, or maybe more as a guide that helps keep development from falling apart?
All metaphors are wrong, some are useful. Can this metaphor inspire testable predictions? Maybe?
it's outside my field and above my pay grade, but I can try.
People sometimes talk about the genome as a "blueprint", but the DNA is not a map of the organism.
A better metaphor frames the genome as a "recipe", but then who is the cook? A recipe can't cook itself.
hal.science/hal-05491732
Philosophically, this replaces the substance-based view of reproduction (invariance by default, we explain change) with a process-based view (change by default, we explain stability), a better fit to living organisms, which are far-from-equilibrium organizations of processes.
10/11
What is the genomeβs role here? It is not a representation, code or instructions, but a transmissible constraint on development. In the same way as an enzyme is a constraint: it doesnβt change but acts by favoring certain reactions. Which reactions actually happen depend on the initial state.
9/11
New preprint: βA dynamical perspective on biological reproductionβ
hal.science/hal-05491732
The prevailing view is that an organism reproduces by building a new organism from its genomic representation, like von Neumannβs self-reproducing machine. But...
1/11
Antonio Damasio, neuroscientist. 30/
bsky.app/profile/drja...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio...
Ed Boyden, neuroscientist. 25/
bsky.app/profile/merz...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_...
Richard Axel, biologist. 35/
bsky.app/profile/maju...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...
Labeled cortical neurons projecting to the preBΓΆtC, the central pattern generator for breathing
A projection atlas of excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the
preBΓΆtzinger Complex:
substrates for multimodal breathing control
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
Temporal organization of odor responses in the human olfactory bulb
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...
How do past sensory experiences prepare us for new ones? Our new paper tackles this long-standing question, revealing a role for activity sequences in the olfactory bulb. Excited to share our work led by @jonvgill.bsky.social with Mursel Karadas & Shy Shoham
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
At @elife.bsky.social you can now include explainer videos with every figure. Like going to a seminar while you engage with the paper. First example here elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Click the arrows next to each figure to get a video of @mathiassablemeyer.bsky.social explaining it for you!
1/3 The humble glass jar is a workhorse in olfactory research, but comes w/ hidden problems:
- Unknown headspace concentration
- Concentration dilution by ambient air
These add noise to odor measurements.
Our preprint introduces something new, something bag.π§ͺ @jmainland.bsky.social & Matt Andres
A 2006 Science paper revealed how ants pull off extraordinary feats of navigation. In the latest βThis paper changed my life,β @tuthill.bsky.social discusses how this paper inspired him to consider how other insects sense their own bodies.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/this-paper-c...
Less than two weeks left to apply for the Cephalopod Neuroscience Gordon Conference! An exciting lineup of speakers and posters, and financial aid is available upon request. ππ¦
www.grc.org/cephalopod-n...
Bye bye 2025, a divisive year,
with many divisors: 3, 5, 9, 15, 25, 27, 45, 75, 81, 135, 225, 405, 675.
Happy 2026 = 2*1013
Just two primes
Cheers!
A new comparative study of seven lizard species, including chameleons and bearded dragons, finds an ancient sleep rhythm conserved over millennia.
By Lauren Schenkman
www.thetransmitter.org/sleep/snoozi...
Adam Kampffβs passion for understanding and explaining the world was unmatched. Living by example and not ever compromising on his dreams, Adam was uncanny in making people realize they can learn and understand anything and everything. Keep his dream alive!
In his own words: tinyurl.com/ye29csw3
olfactory bulb braincase size Ξ± OR gene repertoire size
The olfactory bulb endocast as a proxy for mammalian olfaction
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
