fx dechaume-moncharmont @fxdm@mamot.fr

Synchronous flashes in fireflies: physicists modelled it as a self-organized process with short-distance imitation of the neighbours flashes. #Science #biology #physics #selforganization #insect #firefly 📄 Sarfati et al (2021) Self-organization in natural swarms of Photinus carolinus synchronous fireflies. Science Advances 7:eabg9259 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg9259

Staying warm without shivering: sea #otter uses proton leak (futile cycle) at the scale of #mitochondria to generate heat. #science #biology #metabolism #physiology #respirometry #temperature
📄 Wright et al (2021) Skeletal muscle thermogenesis enables aquatic life in the smallest marine mammal. Science 373:223–225 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abf4557

Fasten your seat belts: when migrating between Africa and Arctic, great #snipe cruises at very high altitudes, between 2000 m (at night) and 4000 m (during daytime). #science #biology #bird #ornithology #migration
📄 Lindström et al (2021) Extreme altitude changes between night and day during marathon flights of great snipes. Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.047

Nesting #dinosaur in the #Arctic : despite constant darkness in winter and cool condition in summer, they were non-migratory species, which raises the question of their possible #endothermy (again). #science #biology #paleontology
📄 Druckenmiller et al (2021) Nesting at extreme polar latitudes by non-avian dinosaurs. Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.041

#Math is not quite like riding a bike: you forget how to do it if you don't practice. My geometry was a bit rusty from my student years. I thus greatly enjoyed reading this nice bunch of stories and elegant problems about elementary #geometry.
📄 Acheson D (2020) The wonder book of geometry. Oxford University Press, New York https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-wonder-book-of-geometry-9780198846383

Make the message clear! Biology suffers from #jargon proliferation and overuse of not universally understood concepts. #science #biology
📄 Martínez & Mammola (2021) Specialized terminology reduces the number of citations of scientific papers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288:20202581 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2581

Marine species are shifting their distribution out of the #equator, towards cooler latitudes. #science #biology #ecology #globalwarming #climatechange #climate #fish #temperature
📄 Chaudhary et al (2021) Global warming is causing a more pronounced dip in marine species richness around the equator. PNAS 118 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015094118

Dream in Octopus? #octopus exhibits active #sleep states with colour changes and rapid eye-movements which may indicate #dream. Don't miss the nice videos of sleeping octopuses. #science #biology #mollusc #cephalopod #animalbehaviour
📄 Medeiros et al (2021) Cyclic alternation of quiet and active sleep states in the octopus. iScience http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102223

Science is not always theory driven. Purely descriptive studies can be fascinating too. Here is a collection of videos illustrating extremely rare behaviours in the #honeybee including egg laying by the queen and brood care by workers. I have spent years working on bees, and I've never seen such a thorough work. #science #biology #bee #animalbehaviour
📄 Siefert et al (2021) Honey bee behaviours within the hive: Insights from long-term video analysis. PLoS ONE 16:e0247323 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247323

The regulation of division of labour in social insects is poorly understood. One can still find, in many textbooks, old models about "age polyethism". Here is a nice experimental work in which the behaviour of #ant workers were continuously tracked for 5 months. The transition between nurse to forager tasks is largely age independent. #science #biology #socialinsect #hymenoptera #insect #animalbehaviour #socialnetwork
📄 Richardson et al. (2021) Current Biology 0 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.038

When an #invasive species is so abundant that it alters geochemical processes. With more than 10.000 individuals per m² and more than 90% of the benthic biomass, dreissenid mussels sequester massive amounts of P, acting as a sink for phosphorus. #science #biology #mussel #conservation #ecology #freshwater
📄 Li et al. (2021) Benthic invaders control the phosphorus cycle in the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem. PNAS 118 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008223118

📄 Hughes et al (2021) Teaching animal behavior online: A primer for the pandemic and beyond. Ethology 127:14–31 http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13096
#science #biology #animalbehaviour #teaching #lecture

When scientists do their share: somewhat surreal picture from a 1929 experimental investigation of underwater #acoustics and #fish hearing by Karl von Frisch (better known for the #Nobel prize for his work on honeybee waggle dance) and colleagues. #science #biology
📄 Stetter (1929) Untersuchungen über den Gehörsinn der Fische, besonders von Phoxinds laevis L. und Amiurus nebulosus Raf. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 9:339–477 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00340160

Extreme self-decapitation in sea-slug: the head part is able to regenerate full body including functional heart and kidney in 20 days. It is a possible adaptive response to endoparasite infesting the body part. #science #biology #autotomy #gastropod #mollusc #seaslug #beheading #parasite
📄 Mitoh & Yusa (2021) Extreme autotomy and whole-body regeneration in photosynthetic sea slugs. Current Biology 31:R233–R234 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.014

#Conservation #genetics in the most endangered sea #mammal species: purge of deleterious #mutation in population size of fewer than 20. #science #biology #cetacea #porpoise
📄 Gross (2021) Cetaceans balancing on the brink. Current Biology 31:R215–R218 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.036

Convergent #evolution : #echolocation has independently evolved twice in bats. #science #biology #bat #phylogeny
📄 Nojiri et al (2021) Embryonic evidence uncovers convergent origins of laryngeal echolocation in bats. Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.043