fx dechaume-moncharmont @fxdm@mamot.fr

Every soldier counts! Ants can take several hours of risky labour to rescue nest mates trapped in #spider web. A study by the veteran myrmecologist, Bert Hölldobler. #science #ecology #biology #AnimalBehaviour #cooperation #ant #insect
📄 Kwapich & Hölldobler (2019) American Naturalist http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/704338
🔗 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01601-z

#GenderBias in #science: biologists publish with colleagues of the same #gender more often than expected by chance (#homophily). Quite ironically, mixed-gender teams seems to produce better research. #publication #authorship #career #glassceiling #biology
📄 Holman & Morandin (2019) PLoS ONE 14:e0216128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216128

Ellen Fetter and Margaret Hamilton, the two brilliant women behind the numerical calculations of Lorenz’s seminal paper on #chaos. #science #physics #GlassCeiling #GenderBias
🔗 https://www.quantamagazine.org/hidden-heroines-of-chaos-ellen-fetter-and-margaret-hamilton-20190520/

90 years old and still snappy. A vivid interview with the “intellectual grenade thrower” ecologist and evolutionary biologist, Ed. O. Wilson. He has challenged well-established dogmas, he has expressed many controversial views, he was even arguably wrong several times, but what an inspiration for generations of ecologists! #science #ecology #evolution #biodiversity #ant #portrait
🔗 https://www.quantamagazine.org/edward-o-wilson-finds-hope-in-selfless-ants-and-ecology-studies-20190515/

Since recent studies recently accumulated evidences for sophisticated #cognition in #invertebrate, we must now improve our ethical practices and reconsider the use of these species in our experimental procedures. #ethics #science #biology #welfare #guidelines #AnimalTesting #emotion #insect
📄 Drinkwater et al. (2019) Keeping invertebrate research ethical in a landscape of shifting public opinion. Methods in Ecology and Evolution http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13208

Searching for a good non-technical introductory book about human population #genetics ? The 2017 book by Adam Rutherford is rich in anecdotes, very entertaining, lively, and written in an engaging style. I greatly enjoyed reading it. #science #biology #gene #coalescence #race #racism #consanguinity #evolution #human
📄 Rutherford A (2017) A brief history of everyone who ever lived: the human story retold through our genes. The Experiment, New-York

We must develop a a culture of openness. Graduate-training programmes should include courses on #opendata and how to curate them. #openscience
📄 Popkin G (2019) Nature 569:445–447
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01506-x

Superbly illustrated review about anti-predator strategies in anurans. #science #biology #ecology #evolution #predation #frog
📄 Ferreira (2019) Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 73:69 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-019-2680-1

Scientific #misconduct: #publication rate drops dramatically after an author’s first #retraction. #science #fraud #ethics
🔗 http://retractionwatch.com/2019/05/08/how-often-do-authors-with-retractions-for-misconduct-continue-to-publish/

Elizabeth Tibbetts, who was the first one to evidence facial recognition in #insect, strikes again with a nice paper about transitive inference in #wasp. #science #biology #animalbehaviour #cognition #decisionmaking #rationality #transitivity
📄 Tibbetts et al. (2019) Biology Letters 15:20190015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0015

The #evolution of #cooperation in still a major topic in behavioural #ecology. Here is a nice experimental and theoretical study in #meerkat showing that indiscriminate #altruism possibly evolved when kin discrimination is prone to error, mean #relatedness among social partners is high, and the relative benefits of helping are large. #Science #kinselection
📄 Duncan et al. (2019) American Naturalist http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/703113

#Cognition without a #brain: the non-neural #SlimeMould is able to long-term #habituation to sodium, and this #memory is preserved accross the dormant stage. #science #blob
📄 Boussard et al (2019) Memory inception and preservation in slime moulds: the quest for a common mechanism. Phil. Trans. R Soc. B 374:20180368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0368

What #career perspective for our PhD student in #France? Evolution of the number of researcher permanent positions in the #CNRS (as a function of the CNRS discipline code). #science
🔗https://www.soundofscience.fr/cnrs-hiring-total.html

Humans have a remarkable tendency to waste resources for the sake of independent solutions rather than efficiently using collective response. A nice experiment about tragedy of the commons, #cooperation, #freerider and #individualism using public good game. #science #altruism #ecology #climatechange #globalwarming
📄 Gross & de Dreu (2019) Science Advances 5:eaau7296 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau7296

Something has gone massively wrong: 41% of Americans believe that #aliens visited Earth. Re-engaging with the public is an uphill battle, and scientists must proactively share their work and explain their methods. #science #pseudoscience #education
📄 Wade (2019) Science 364:110–111 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6436/110

Gender bias in academic #career: a need for multiple equality indicators and more holistic approaches. #science #genderbias #glassceiling
📄 O’Brien et al. (2019) What is gender equality in science? TREE 34:395–399
https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(19)30056-4

Gliding instead of swimming: energetically efficient locomotion strategy in white sharks when hunting for seals in deep water. #science #biology #physiology #foraging #swim #shark #fish #predator
📄 Watanabe et al. (2019) Journal of Experimental Biology 222:jeb185603 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.185603

Do they dream? #cuttlefish exhibits sleep-like state that resembles the vertebrate rapid-eye movement sleep #REMS. #science #biology #cephalopod #sleep #dream
📄 Iglesias et al. (2019) Journal of Experimental Biology 222:jeb174862 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.174862