Stephen Montgomery
@ebablab.bsky.social
Evolutionary Neurobiology and Behaviour
www.shmontgomery.co.uk
www.shmontgomery.co.uk
The student loan system is now totally insane - reinforces social inequalities and is a massive drag in spending power for a big proportion of adults, which seems pretty bad for the economy
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
£99,987 and counting: graduates trapped by ballooning student loans
As their debts rise, graduates reveal how loans are reshaping careers, finances and faith in the system
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:52 PM
The student loan system is now totally insane - reinforces social inequalities and is a massive drag in spending power for a big proportion of adults, which seems pretty bad for the economy
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
This is fantastic.
Symbiotic entrenchment through ecological Catch-22: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Symbiotic entrenchment through ecological Catch-22
A symbiotic rove beetle develops a stealth phenotype by silencing production of its
hydrocarbon pheromones, enabling it to infiltrate ant colonies, steal ant pheromones,
and achieve social acceptance ...
www.cell.com
February 7, 2026 at 6:11 PM
This is fantastic.
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Applications close for this 4-year postdoc on Feb 9th (2 days!). The associated post for a technician should be online next week 👀
🐜 4-year #postdoc position in the @socialfluids.bsky.social lab @camzoology.bsky.social investigating metabolic cooperation between bodies in a BBSRC-funded project.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
#ants #socialtransfers #sociallytransferredmaterials #autophagy #socialinsects #aging #job (🧵1/n)
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
#ants #socialtransfers #sociallytransferredmaterials #autophagy #socialinsects #aging #job (🧵1/n)
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Fixed Term)
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the Social Fluids Laboratory (https://leboeuflab.com) led by Dr Adria LeBoeuf in the Department of Zoology
www.cam.ac.uk
February 7, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Applications close for this 4-year postdoc on Feb 9th (2 days!). The associated post for a technician should be online next week 👀
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
This #FossilFriday I am delighted to share a postdoctoral position that we @deeptimeecology.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social are advertising on early animal evolution in the #Ediacaran.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
February 6, 2026 at 11:32 AM
This #FossilFriday I am delighted to share a postdoctoral position that we @deeptimeecology.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social are advertising on early animal evolution in the #Ediacaran.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
And so the dominoes in UK higher education begin to fall.
This closure will have a devastating impact on the city - on students, jobs, the wider economy (worth £100m a year), and social mobility for local youngsters.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This closure will have a devastating impact on the city - on students, jobs, the wider economy (worth £100m a year), and social mobility for local youngsters.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university?
When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 7:29 AM
And so the dominoes in UK higher education begin to fall.
This closure will have a devastating impact on the city - on students, jobs, the wider economy (worth £100m a year), and social mobility for local youngsters.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This closure will have a devastating impact on the city - on students, jobs, the wider economy (worth £100m a year), and social mobility for local youngsters.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
I don’t know, the Robins are looking good for the playoffs 🥁
February 2, 2026 at 9:41 AM
I don’t know, the Robins are looking good for the playoffs 🥁
I’ve heard a few people sound like BBSRC rumour is confirmed but 🤷♂️
January 30, 2026 at 10:11 AM
I’ve heard a few people sound like BBSRC rumour is confirmed but 🤷♂️
Yeah it really feels like now is not the time for this with all the other financial stress in the sector…
January 30, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Yeah it really feels like now is not the time for this with all the other financial stress in the sector…
Anyone know how UKRI grant pauses will impact uni finances? I guess at some point their income takes a hit as a result, but would it be dissipated enough by existing overlapping grants?
January 30, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Anyone know how UKRI grant pauses will impact uni finances? I guess at some point their income takes a hit as a result, but would it be dissipated enough by existing overlapping grants?
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
New from Jessie Foley!
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
Cognitive robustness in a new insect model of extended longevity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.25.701637v1
January 28, 2026 at 7:33 AM
New from Jessie Foley!
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
Begs the question what animals are on your lickable list?
January 29, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Begs the question what animals are on your lickable list?
In 2 hours 53 minutes! ⏰
🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar:
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
January 28, 2026 at 12:07 PM
In 2 hours 53 minutes! ⏰
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Excited for the upcoming TIBBE online talks &discussions with the amazing @stanley-heinze.bsky.social around
How can we increase our comparative dataset and make it more transferable between disciplines?
Next Wednesday, January 28, 3pm UTC, 4pm Paris 🧠🐜🪰🪳🦟🪲🐝 Join us www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
How can we increase our comparative dataset and make it more transferable between disciplines?
Next Wednesday, January 28, 3pm UTC, 4pm Paris 🧠🐜🪰🪳🦟🪲🐝 Join us www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
January 23, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Excited for the upcoming TIBBE online talks &discussions with the amazing @stanley-heinze.bsky.social around
How can we increase our comparative dataset and make it more transferable between disciplines?
Next Wednesday, January 28, 3pm UTC, 4pm Paris 🧠🐜🪰🪳🦟🪲🐝 Join us www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
How can we increase our comparative dataset and make it more transferable between disciplines?
Next Wednesday, January 28, 3pm UTC, 4pm Paris 🧠🐜🪰🪳🦟🪲🐝 Join us www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
New from Jessie Foley!
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
Cognitive robustness in a new insect model of extended longevity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.25.701637v1
January 28, 2026 at 7:33 AM
New from Jessie Foley!
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*
Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.
*the title is a spoiler 🧪
This Wednesday!
🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar:
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
January 26, 2026 at 7:43 PM
This Wednesday!
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Mushroom bodies! Butterflies!
What’s not to like?
New paper by Naomi Takahashi and Michiyo Kinoshita, involving an illustrious round of anatomists (…and me): Parallel Pathways for Visual and Olfactory Information in
the Mushroom Bodies of the Swallowtail Butterfly Brain
doi.org/10.1002/cne....
What’s not to like?
New paper by Naomi Takahashi and Michiyo Kinoshita, involving an illustrious round of anatomists (…and me): Parallel Pathways for Visual and Olfactory Information in
the Mushroom Bodies of the Swallowtail Butterfly Brain
doi.org/10.1002/cne....
Parallel Pathways for Visual and Olfactory Information in the Mushroom Bodies of the Swallowtail Butterfly Brain
Papilio xuthus is a flower-foraging butterfly with sophisticated color vision. In the Papilio brain, the mushroom bodies (MBs) receive prominent visual input that is spatially segregated from olfacto...
doi.org
January 23, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Mushroom bodies! Butterflies!
What’s not to like?
New paper by Naomi Takahashi and Michiyo Kinoshita, involving an illustrious round of anatomists (…and me): Parallel Pathways for Visual and Olfactory Information in
the Mushroom Bodies of the Swallowtail Butterfly Brain
doi.org/10.1002/cne....
What’s not to like?
New paper by Naomi Takahashi and Michiyo Kinoshita, involving an illustrious round of anatomists (…and me): Parallel Pathways for Visual and Olfactory Information in
the Mushroom Bodies of the Swallowtail Butterfly Brain
doi.org/10.1002/cne....
And the same gait…
January 23, 2026 at 11:15 PM
And the same gait…
Part II of @eahodge.bsky.social’s brilliant Masters thesis, fantastic work 👏
Excited that my 2nd MSc paper is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social 🦋🎉 doi.org/10.1093/evol...
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
January 23, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Part II of @eahodge.bsky.social’s brilliant Masters thesis, fantastic work 👏
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Excited that my 2nd MSc paper is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social 🦋🎉 doi.org/10.1093/evol...
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
January 23, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Excited that my 2nd MSc paper is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social 🦋🎉 doi.org/10.1093/evol...
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar:
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
January 23, 2026 at 1:04 PM
🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar:
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC
This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Very excited to share that my first first-author pre-print is out today! Many thanks go out to all of our collaborators, especially those who helped with the fieldwork in Peru - it really wouldn't have been possible without you! 🦋
Evolution of Reproductive Plasticity in a Seasonal Tropical Environment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700078v1
January 23, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Very excited to share that my first first-author pre-print is out today! Many thanks go out to all of our collaborators, especially those who helped with the fieldwork in Peru - it really wouldn't have been possible without you! 🦋
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Evolution of Reproductive Plasticity in a Seasonal Tropical Environment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700078v1
January 22, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Evolution of Reproductive Plasticity in a Seasonal Tropical Environment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700078v1
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill?
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.
Predatory aggression evolved through adaptations to noradrenergic circuits - Nature
Noradrenergic circuits support and balance aggressive behavioural states in predatory nematodes, distinguish predatory from non-predatory nematode species and are associated with the evolution of comp...
www.nature.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill?
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.
Wow, congrats @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social (and team)!! A long way from elephants but not surprised to see you do amazing stuff 👏
January 21, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Wow, congrats @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social (and team)!! A long way from elephants but not surprised to see you do amazing stuff 👏
Reposted by Stephen Montgomery
If you want to understand what is happening right now & what’s at stake, please listen to this conversation I had with historian Robert Kagan.
Europe has to wake up FAST.
Europe has to wake up FAST.
NEW | VIDEO
‘Europeans need to understand that it’s over’: historian Robert Kagan talks to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social about Trump’s coming ‘dictatorship’, the end of the western alliance - and why Keir Starmer needs to change course, fast
Prefer to read? 🔗⬇️
youtu.be/0goGamFRtO0
‘Europeans need to understand that it’s over’: historian Robert Kagan talks to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social about Trump’s coming ‘dictatorship’, the end of the western alliance - and why Keir Starmer needs to change course, fast
Prefer to read? 🔗⬇️
youtu.be/0goGamFRtO0
Europe needs a dramatic strategic revolution - now: historian Robert Kagan
YouTube video by The Nerve
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 9:35 PM
If you want to understand what is happening right now & what’s at stake, please listen to this conversation I had with historian Robert Kagan.
Europe has to wake up FAST.
Europe has to wake up FAST.