Joel Marthelot
BioSoftActuation @ CNRS
Aix-Marseille Univ
https://biosoftact.wordpress.com
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotExcited to share my first PhD preprint! w/ Sören Kannegieser and @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social @insect-vision.bsky.social We investigated how hawkmoths coordinate lateralized sensory and motor control for appendage guidance, revealing similar control principles to vertebrates doi.org/10.64898/202...
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotReally excited to share our new paper in @nature.com! We uncovered how a physical instability of the cytoplasm coupled with the cell cycle drives cytoplasmic partitioning in early embryos #zebrafish #drosophila. Read more in this🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotSuper happy to share the exciting work of Emma Legait, showing how neighbourhood composition determines cancer stem cell fate in hierarchical tumours. A great and long-standing collaboration with @cedricmaurange.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotMore about our latest collaborative work... “Architectural Swarms for responsive façades and creative expression” is now published in Science Robotics @science.org ! Read it here: science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.ady7233.
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotJob alert🚨I am advertising a 2-year postdoctoral position to work on the mathematics of plant morphogenesis @mpipz.bsky.social. Candidates with interests in mathematical modelling, mechanics, or biophysics are strongly encouraged to apply. 🌱Reposts are appreciated! jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/4...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotOur new paper (with @biotay.bsky.social) is out and on the cover story of @currentbiology.bsky.social !!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments. www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotExcited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotThe most recognisable feature of the human brain is its folds. So why do other animals’ brains look so different?
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotCheck out our latest preprint on the cellular mechanical basis of Voronoi tessellations in epithelia! This biophysics study is inspired by disordered tessellations observed in zebrafish hearts 🤓🐟💙 #SulaimaanLim #ChiuFanLeeLab arxiv.org/html/2512.13...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNon-motile microbes are not prisoners of diffusive transport. Just their metabolic activity can be sufficient to stir up the ambient fluid and cause explosive long-range dispersal -- a "metabolic firework". Our latest work -- arxiv.org/abs/2512.16288
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNature research paper: Quantifying grain boundary deformation mechanisms in small-grained metals go.nature.com/48vtZcJ
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotAs humanity pumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the ocean absorbs about a quarter of it. This exchange happens largely through bubbles created by breaking waves. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=26003
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotWhere on earth is the best laboratory to demonstrate the beauty of fluid dynamics? Actually, it’s not on earth. Here is the story of the soft cell. And a longer read: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74308
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotActive droplets are fundamental in cell biology and origin of life. With Jonathan Bauermann, @boekhovenlab.bsky.social, Frank Jülicher, and @m-pol.bsky.social, we show that a critical transition influences their size, morphology, ripening and division propensity journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotOur work on hydrodynamic instabilities in active jets is on the cover of PRL this week! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... A dialogue between experiment and theory, where we use light to control active suspensions and show how they can be destabilized by their self-generated flows
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotExcited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotReally excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩 We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species ➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotAppreciate Quanta for shining a light on our joint work with Simon Gsell, Sham Tlili (@shamtlili.bsky.social), and Matthias Merkel (@merkellab.bsky.social).
- Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...
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- Reposted by Joel Marthelot🍀🔬 MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap @natcomms.nature.com from Toyota lab. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotPsst, your students want to hang out in Boulder next July. Application deadline is Jan. 15. www.colorado.edu/conference/b...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotA paper in Nature shows that parachute designs inspired by kirigami — the Japanese art of paper cutting to produce 3D designs — are stable and fall close to their target. These findings could simplify parachute manufacturing, reduce costs, and improve accuracy. go.nature.com/473OMmK 🧪
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotCutting a pattern into a flat disc can transform it into a parachute capable of carrying small payloads go.nature.com/4nsKfA7
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotA ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis! Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNew paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇 www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNew short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNew #preprint: "Control of lumen morphology by lateral and basal cell surfaces", a great #biophysics collaboration with Chandraniva Guha Ray, @markusmukenhirn.bsky.social, Alf Honigmann @biotec-tud.bsky.social @poldresden.bsky.social. arxiv.org/abs/2509.04316 @mpipks.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotDresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotThe secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔 Not cell loss, but water loss! Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯 Check the paper! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @labdavalos.bsky.social @batichica.bsky.social
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotNew preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by @tomgolde.bsky.social 🙌 @IBECBarcelona www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotWe learned a lot about plant cell wall mechanics by stretching the Arabidopsis epidermis. Now published in @natcomms.nature.com Fibrous network nature of plant cell walls enables tunable mechanics for development doi.org/10.1038/s414...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotHow do #honeybees adapt their comb-building to different spatial constraints? A new study from @oritpeleg.bsky.social &co uses 3D printed panels and X-ray microscopy to reveal the existence of three distinct construction modes, from tilting cells to building complex 3D structures.🧪 plos.io/4n1g6Hs
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotWhat could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n
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- Reposted by Joel Marthelot🚰 Fluid inertia limits microporous flow efficiency, out in EPJ Plus this week, with Kaare Jensen @jensen-research.bsky.social rdcu.be/eBV2C 👇
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotMy small contribution to the popularization of evolutionary biology during the #ESEB2025 week, thanks to this article on the evolution of rose breeding in The Conversation France. If you read French, here it is: theconversation.com/comment-le-c... If not, our Genetics paper: doi.org/10.1093/gene...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotThese gorgeous origami shapes - an entirely new family called bloom patterns - could be used to design new, more effective space telescopes or solar panels. www.newscientist.com/article/2493...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotOn the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°! In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
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- Reposted by Joel MarthelotOur new paper is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Using 3D reconstructions and volume measurements in Drosophila wing primordia, we show that growth can be uncoupled from cell proliferation and uncover a new time window for growth arrest. With @leopoldlab.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotMaybe it's time we rethink the idea that development is a cell centric process? In this beautiful review, María-del-Carmen and @stramerlab.bsky.social discussed how the ECM underlies and influences many morphogenesis processes from wing unfolding to mammary gland development. doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
- Reposted by Joel MarthelotVery happy that the first article from my postdoc work in the Tomancak lab is now published @PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... We studied the self-organization of actin in aggregates made from Hydra cells. Thread below (1/9)
- Reposted by Joel Marthelot#Activematter research by Marine Le Blay, Joshua Saldi & Alexandre Morin from @unileiden.bsky.social published in @natphys.nature.com ! Read more: edu.nl/btmta. @leidenscience.bsky.social #physics
