Dr George RA Hancock 🦋🦎
Postdoc zoologist interested in how ecology shapes form and function in particular colouration. Creator of the CamoEvo toolbox and professional nerd.
Ghancockzoology@gmail.com
- No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- If you're afraid to ask someone for a recommendation, please don't be. It's part of the job of being a mentor, editor, teacher, advisor, former boss, etc. to write recommendations or politely decline. (I wish I could go back in time and tell my former self this.)
- Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, Cornwall shows. Read More: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e... @uniexecec.bsky.social #ExeterEcology
- Delighted that a #trumpetfish has made the 🌟cover🌟 of @royalsocietypublishing.org journal #ProceedingsB. Read about how these predatory #fish hide against similarly coloured non-threatening species to #camouflage on the move in our #OpenAccess article: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... #behaviour #marine
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- We are looking for a colleague with expertise in arthropod community ecology. Do you know someone with a PhD that has this background; please forward this position to them and they may just end up in Freising! 🐜🦋
- We are currently looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in community ecology to work in the Arthropods Core Project of the Biodiversity Exploratories @bexplo.bsky.social Reposting is much appreciated for widest reach! Thanks. More information here: www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...
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- 🚨NEW PAPER🚨 Need to #camouflage on the move? Easy - simply seek out something that's coloured like you and move along with it! 🐠 Read the latest #trumpetfish instalment here: tinyurl.com/4tb5h5hk @royalsociety.org #shadowing #predator #experiment #marine #movement
- New bowerbird paper out, we asked whether male great bowerbirds care about the light environment around the bower where they display to females. Short answer: not really. What they do care about is having a display arena with strong visual contrast on the ground. 🐦 tinyurl.com/2v7rycdz
- NEW PAPER in #ornithology compares the responses of 200 vertebrate populations to climate change, and finds that increasing temperatures affect population growth via changes in phenology, but not morphology: buff.ly/IT66GOK
- Great new research shows that light pollution prevents activity in the critical twilight period (just after sunset) in a moth and spider species. 🕷️🦋💡- this calls for mitigations targeting this critical time period. Read more in our dispatch: www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Multiple anthropogenic stressors can negatively impact species but can a single stressor also have multiple, concurrent impacts? Here we show that light pollution creates several simultaneous impacts to the nocturnal movement ecology of a moth and a spider: tinyurl.com/5eku5bff (1/5)
- And now something positive: solar and wind energy production in the EU surpasses fossil energy for the first time. ☀️ 💨 #TippingPoint Source: dr.dk
- My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
- Any ECRs (must have PhD by deadline) want to chat about joining my group at Bangor? Get in touch! Maternal effects, stress, sociality, thermal ecology and intersection of all the above… we cover a broad behavioural/ecological/physiological remit and are interested in adding skills to this portfolio!
- Together with the @royalsociety.org, we invite applications for the International Fellowships 2026. The scheme supports international early career researchers in advancing their expertise through collaborations with UK partners. Learn more: bit.ly/3LaMIBC
- Meet Duobrachium sparksae: a newly described comb jelly that looks like a glowing hot-air balloon drifting just above the deep seafloor. Transparent, delicate, and unmistakably transfixing, it reminds us how much biodiversity is in the deep oceans. www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...
- 📢 I'm hiring! 3-year postdoc in theoretical evolutionary ecology at University of Helsinki 🇫🇮 Apply: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Postdoctoral-Researcher-in-Theoretical-Evolutionary-Biology/1348955157/ #AcademicJobs #Postdoc #EvolutionaryEcology #TheoreticalEcology #ScienceJobs #AcademicChatter
- We are hiring – postdoc position exploring how kinship shapes social ageing in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social and Prof Rufus Johnstone (Cambridge) starts 1st April 2026 and ends 31st March 2029. Apps close 2nd Feb. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPZ788/p...
- Apply for this fully funded PhD studentship in Tropical mountain forest ecology! Join us at University of Liverpool to carry out research on plant range shifts in the cloud forests. With: @fdraper.bsky.social @funkyant.bsky.social @jhomeier.bsky.social. Applications due Jan 21. tinyurl.com/23ary845
- Why do women leave vertebrate palaeontology? A review of vertebrate palaeontologists from 2018 found out, that the retention of men in the field, is almost at 100%, while for women, who already were under-represented, mere 30% stay in the field. It's not leaky pipeline, it's a running tap.
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- 🐊 Conservation & research go hand in hand. EvOCRO works within UMAs — regulated Wildlife Management Units in Mexico that support conservation, research and sustainable wildlife management. www.instagram.com/p/DTGYcpJkrn... #EvOCRO #UMA #ConservationScience #HorizonEurope
- New PhD position: Butterfly Evolution at High Elevations 🦋⛰️ The project aims to understand the rapid evolution and adaptation of white butterflies at high elevations. DEADLINE: January 11, 2025 More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/
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- 🚨Roll up, roll up, fully-funded #PhD deadlines approaching... 6th Jan: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6 8th Jan: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp Social monitoring & manipulation #meerkats #mongooses #macaques #fieldwork #long-termdata @patrick-kennedy.bsky.social @ljnbrent.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
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- We should also thank the ASAB council for making these meetings happen each year! It’s incredible that #ASABWinter2025 is free of charge for participants 😍
- This has been a wonderful conference, a huge thank you to all of the volunteers and especially the organizers of #ASABWinter2025 : Jolyon Troscianko, Innes Cuthill and Laura Kelley 👏🏻
- Thanks so much to ASAB and the #ASABwinter2025 organisers for a cracking conference. Not sure why I’m so excited here, I guess the yoghurt and granola had just been served…
- Beyond proud to be recognised for my poster. Huge thanks to the organisers for such an interesting and inspiring event!
- Congratulations to #ASABWinter2025 best talk winner Jonah Walker (“Multimodal signalling and mate choice across peacock spider species“) and poster winners Helena Norman, Joey Baxter and James Robertshaw 🙌🎨🏆
- 🚨NEW paper alert🚨 Latest instalment in the #trumpetfish story: colour polymorphic individuals choose to ‘shadow’ non-predatory fishes of similar colour, gaining them a hunting advantage Led by the wonderful @sammatchette.bsky.social Out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
- If you’re sad #ASABWinter2025 is over, have no fear! #ASABSpring2025 🌼 is coming soon, from March 23-25 at Bristol University. It’s an especially fantastic meeting for students and ECRs 🤠 Don’t forget travel grants are due Feb 1! www.asab.org/conferences-...
- Currently recruiting PhD students to follow up on this result - please come to have a chat if interested #ASABWinter2025
- Compared to warning colouration, camouflage is more affected by the sensory enviro 👀 🦋 #ASABWinter2025
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- I feel like @grahancock.bsky.social should win some sort of award for best shirt !!!! #ASABWinter2025
- Butterfly patterns aren’t just pretty, theyre motion confusing 😵💫🦋 Some traits more than others! #ASABWinter2025
- Butterfly patterns aren’t just pretty, theyre motion confusing 😵💫🦋 Some traits more than others! #ASABWinter2025
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- Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026: 1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD 2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD #AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social
- Just TWO DAYS until the application deadline for our funded PhD disentangling the impacts of light pollution on spider eyes and visual ecology! 👀🕷️🌃 The project will combine development, morphology, behaviour, and genetics, and can be shaped by the student👩🏽🔬 Interested? Apply! Questions? Message me!
- Exciting times ahead - I'm beyond delighted to be joining @bristolbiosci.bsky.social in 2026! 🎉🕷️🎉🐌🎉 I'm also looking for a PhD student to join @multipleye-lab.bsky.social in our new home! Come and study the effects of light pollution on the evolution and development of spider eyes with us 🌃🕷️👀 👇
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- And here is the working link: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
- Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas. Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...
- Thrilled to announce a Postdoc opportunity in our group on the evolutionary genetics and ecology of colour. Wonderful system, great collaborators, and room to shape your own ideas. Apply by 7 Jan: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/13477181...
- I’m one of the lucky people to have been mentored by @andyradford.bsky.social and I can’t think of anyone that deserves this award more than he does 🙌🏻
- Honoured & humbled to receive a #Nature #Award for #Mentoring in #Science yesterday. ☺️ Testament to the wonderful #ECRs I've been privileged to work with. THANK YOU to all who nominated me. 🙏 #proud #support @natureportfolio.nature.com @bristolbiosci.bsky.social www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/de...
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- 🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨 Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social - employment benefits - 4 years funding - 1000% fun Deadline: 14/1/2026 Details: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
- New review out! 🔥🧊 We break down how rodents, primates & insects encode temperature in Nature Reviews Neuroscience. Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... View-only: rdcu.be/eThU1
- Check out our cover article by @timjanicke.bsky.social and colleagues about the role of sexual selection in animal speciation. academic.oup.com/evlett/artic.... The beautiful illustration is by Katharina Bóth.
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- A week ago, I made the point that films/tv etc focus on cars, normalising car-filled city streets. I asked for examples highlighting bikes/trams/buses/walking, and got 1.1k replies. Data! Here is my unscientific analysis of those suggestions (and no, I can’t believe I did this either). [1/n] 🧵
