Sam England
Ecology 🤝 physics. I'm a @humboldt-foundation.de postdoc fellow looking at the sensory systems and biomechanics of weird animals with @multipleye-lab.bsky.social 🕷️👀 PhD was uncovering electrostatic ecology🐛🦋⚡
- Reposted by Sam EnglandExcited 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...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandCome to Hamburg and do a PhD on insect/spider traits with me!
- Reposted by Sam EnglandAre you finishing your undergraduate degree next year? Are you interested in animal eyes, and would you like to gain some paid research experience this summer @bristolbiosci.bsky.social? If so, get in touch! @rankprize.bsky.social funds 8-week studentships 👇 www.rankprize.org/grants/under...
- Reposted by Sam England🚨New paper out in #JCP-A @springernature.com " #Electrosensitivity in #planthoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha)" by Bräunig, Hoch and Baumgartner ↘️ doi.org/10.1007/s003... ↙️ #SensoryPits #Electropysiology #ElectricFields
- This is such an important, rigorous, and beautiful paper by Rochelle - light pollution impacts both the "normal" visual cues of detecting sunset to trigger activity AND the polarised visual cues of the sky used for navigation...in two completely different animal species! 🦋🕷️🌌 Such amazing work!
- 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)
- I must admit that it's a bit surreal to hear @zefrank.bsky.social talk about my research, so fun! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxSr...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandVery happy to see our opinion article out in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social today. 🥳 We ask whether sexual signals can influence the evolutionary trajectory of naturally selected adaptations, such as protective colouration, for better or for worse 🧐 1/n doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandCome and work with us in our new home @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ! This fully funded PhD opportunity is open to anyone interested in spiders/eyes/light pollution/evolution/development! 🕷️👀 ⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- And last - but definitely not least! - for anyone interested in spider vision / light pollution / eye development / evolutionary morphology, come and work with us @multipleye-lab.bsky.social ! This funded PhD is open globally, incl. fees+stipend! ⏰Apply by 15 Dec! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandSpiders that experience vibrations, visual stimuli, both or none during development do not differ strongly in the size of their brain areas. This is a surprising finding. Even more surprising is that siblings react alike. See our new publication in the J. comp. Neurology. doi.org/10.1002/cne.... 🧪🕷
- Reposted by Sam EnglandHappy to see this lovely study led by @sigwartae.bsky.social and Leonie Georg @oceanspecies.bsky.social out! 🎉Although chitons are a classic example of distributed visual systems, the shell eyes aren't uniform across the body - the lenses increase in volume as new eyes are added at the shell edge!
- Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...
- Caterpillars are great for neuroethology research, and they also stand to benefit from being studied in this way! It was a pleasure to write this with friends Callum McLellan (@bristolbiosci.bsky.social), @rochellemeah.bsky.social, @benitoexplains.bsky.social and @laurensr.bsky.social 👀👂⚡🧪🔥🌎〰️
- Reposted by Sam EnglandHow do animals recognise incoming stimuli as predators? In this paper from the Casas' lab, they tested aerodynamical looming, and they show that size and velocity of the incoming object activated wind-sensitive neurons in 🦗. These responses are similar to visual looming! www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Very cool paper
- Leaf? 🍃 Or katydid? 🦗 Our new @plosbiology.org paper sheds light on how these incredible mimics evolved their disguises, and what this reveals about how complex adaptations arise. We find that coordinated evolution between traits might be the answer… plos.io/4oUE741 1/n
- Still can't quite believe I was lucky enough to be awarded the John and Laurine Proud Postdoctoral fellowship from the Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation. Spending 3 weeks on the island with @emweschke.bsky.social, finding and studying coral reef spiders underwater was an absolute dream! 🕷️🌊
- Reposted by Sam EnglandNew #PhD ad alert! Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England? Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information. iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandHow many plant species are buzz pollinated? After more than six years in the making, our paper on the convergent evolution of buzz pollinated flowers is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social. Thanks @draverbee.bsky.social @roszenil.bsky.social and all co-authors for your hard work! doi.org/10.1093/evol...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandReposting for the Monday morning scrollers! Funded PhD opportunity with me @multipleye-lab.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - spiders, their eyes, and their babies under long- and short-term light pollution!
- 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 🌃🕷️👀 👇
- Reposted by Sam EnglandExciting 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 🌃🕷️👀 👇
- 🎉 Big news! 🎉 We will be moving to @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social in 2026!! We're so excited to be joining such a dynamic and thriving department, university, and city - thank you to everyone who has already been so welcoming! 📢 But that's not all - come and join us! 👇
- Reposted by Sam EnglandThe first of Jessie Foley’s work on the #evolution of #ageing in #Heliconius for your reading pleasure. Come for the 348 day old butterfly, stay for the evolved slower rate of ageing, species*diet effects, and weightlifting for elderly butterflies 💪🏻👵🏻 🧪
- Evolution of increased longevity and slowed ageing in a genus of tropical butterfly biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Sam England✨ It’s published! ✨ 🕷️ Social spiders have bigger brains… but only in the right places! Our new study shows that in social huntsman spiders, regions for memory & vision processing are proportionally larger, supporting group living. Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandNew @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social paper out today in @royalsociety.org Biology Letters. We found adult jackdaws can learn to tolerate usually bullied or ignored juveniles when they provided information about a new foraging resource. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandOne of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity.” Explore the article here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/Me2U50SkLRZ.
- Reposted by Sam EnglandInterested in doing a 3-month #internship on treehopper vibrational communication at STRI in Panama? 🤩 Check this out: stri.si.edu/academic-pro... Contact me for more info! #AnimalBehavior
- Reposted by Sam EnglandDo you do moth trapping in the UK? We'd love your help! 💡 At @ukceh.bsky.social we're training & testing AI to detect multiple moths in a single image. Send us top-down photos of multiple moths on egg trays to support this work. More info & form: forms.gle/e3HzBPEd7RVV... #mothsmatter #TeamMoth
- Reposted by Sam England🎓 #PhD in Animal Metabolomics & Ecology @unigreifswald🇩🇪 Sexual and non-sexual communication in a widow spider 🕷️⚗️ DFG-funded | 3 years | behavioral ecology & chemical ecology Details: bit.ly/widow-phd Apply by Sept 24, start in February 2026 #AcademicSky #pleaserepost
- Reposted by Sam EnglandHiring 4 postdocs — organismal biophysics, soft robotics, frugal Raman diagnostics, or your own bold idea. 3-year funding, $65K+ benefits. GT (Atlanta) now → CU Boulder BioFrontiers Institute in Fall ’26. PDF/details in next post. Tag/share if someone comes to mind. 🧪🪲🪳#livingphysics
- My photo made it onto the cover of @pnas.org! 🎉You can read the related article about the amazing morphologies of treehoppers increasing their sensitivity to static electricity here: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
- Reposted by Sam EnglandAbout 3200 insect species around the world have evolved a structure on their back called a helmet. But the appendage isn’t just for show: It allows for the detection of electric fields—perhaps helping them distinguish friend from foe. scim.ag/46xid0Y
- Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
- Treehoppers are amazing. These insects are ridiculously morphologically diverse, exhibiting a huge variety of shapes, often with very extreme structures like spines, spikes, and globes. But the reasons for this diversity of extreme forms have remained somewhat enigmatic - we wanted to explore this
- In some species, the function of the treehopper's pronotum (the body part that forms the crazy structures) is intuitive - for example, there are species that look like thorns, which presumably helps them hide from predators or injure attackers. But in many species, a function is not obvious...
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View full threadIf you want to read more, here is a lovely bit of coverage of our paper from @science.org here: www.science.org/content/arti...
