Dr Hannah M. Rowland
@hannahmrowland.bsky.social
Curious how toxins drive the evolution of new traits 🐸🦖🐍🧪
In awe of nature’s cleverness and strangeness
Enthusiastic champion of caterpillars 🐛
@mpi-ce @livuni-ives
hannahrowland.co.uk
In awe of nature’s cleverness and strangeness
Enthusiastic champion of caterpillars 🐛
@mpi-ce @livuni-ives
hannahrowland.co.uk
Pinned
Things that Darwin hated, a 🧵
To Charles Lyell, 1st Oct 1861
But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.— I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids & today I hate them worse than everything
To Charles Lyell, 1st Oct 1861
But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.— I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids & today I hate them worse than everything
Darwin’s finch making an (un)natural selection.
November 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Darwin’s finch making an (un)natural selection.
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
The earliest mature debate about animal consciousness occurred around 1900 and centred on the insects. We cover this rich history in this new article, as well as some more recent developments on the topic: royalsocietypublishing.org/.../10.../rs...
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The earliest mature debate about animal consciousness occurred around 1900 and centred on the insects. We cover this rich history in this new article, as well as some more recent developments on the topic: royalsocietypublishing.org/.../10.../rs...
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
📣 Join us for the 2025 @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium, focused on "Gut Microbial Metabolites and Their Impact on Host Systems".
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
2025 ISB Virtual Microbiome Symposium - Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)
Symposium Schedule All presentation times are shown in Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00 / UTC -07:00) Time Talk / Session 9:00 Welcoming remarks by Sid Venkatesh Session One: Neural Effects
isbscience.org
November 13, 2025 at 7:13 AM
📣 Join us for the 2025 @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium, focused on "Gut Microbial Metabolites and Their Impact on Host Systems".
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
2 year position (Indiana, USA) studying the Neurobiology of insect welfare in the Barrett lab. Sort of a pre-doc position for someone with a BSc (and ideally) MSc in a relevant discipline. An excellent opportunity to gain (paid) research experience!
www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?...
www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?...
Laboratory Research Specialist - HigherEdJobs
Jobs in higher education. Faculty and administrative positions at colleges and universities. Updated daily. Free to job seekers.
www.higheredjobs.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:09 AM
2 year position (Indiana, USA) studying the Neurobiology of insect welfare in the Barrett lab. Sort of a pre-doc position for someone with a BSc (and ideally) MSc in a relevant discipline. An excellent opportunity to gain (paid) research experience!
www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?...
www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?...
Beak adapted for popcorn.
Darwin finch, Isla Santa Cruz.
Darwin finch, Isla Santa Cruz.
November 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Beak adapted for popcorn.
Darwin finch, Isla Santa Cruz.
Darwin finch, Isla Santa Cruz.
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish
For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...
shorturl.at
November 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
The University of Cambridge invites applications for a joint Assistant/Associate Professorship in Computational Biology starting April 2026. Strong research and teaching abilities are required. More info: cam.ac.uk #job
November 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The University of Cambridge invites applications for a joint Assistant/Associate Professorship in Computational Biology starting April 2026. Strong research and teaching abilities are required. More info: cam.ac.uk #job
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
🐦 EcoBird is hiring a Postdoc in animal cognition!
Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.
📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme
More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.
📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme
More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
Postdoctoral fellow
www.ugent.be
November 13, 2025 at 2:23 PM
🐦 EcoBird is hiring a Postdoc in animal cognition!
Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.
📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme
More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.
📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme
More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you. @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you. @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Game night was going fine until the poison dart frog killed the vibe AND the players.
Shared to me by @fprottis.bsky.social from our former teammate Oliver.
Shared to me by @fprottis.bsky.social from our former teammate Oliver.
November 7, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Game night was going fine until the poison dart frog killed the vibe AND the players.
Shared to me by @fprottis.bsky.social from our former teammate Oliver.
Shared to me by @fprottis.bsky.social from our former teammate Oliver.
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
This grass moth is often invisible in still frames, but easy to see in motion. BehaveAI can use this motion to track tiny & camouflaged moving objects in complex scenes. Its semi-automated annotation workflow also means this moth-tracker took only an hour to make.
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
November 7, 2025 at 2:06 PM
This grass moth is often invisible in still frames, but easy to see in motion. BehaveAI can use this motion to track tiny & camouflaged moving objects in complex scenes. Its semi-automated annotation workflow also means this moth-tracker took only an hour to make.
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Join us! We’re recruiting a PhD researcher to uncover how hedgehogs & other insectivores survive prey toxins. Dive into molecular evolution & protein biochemistry @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social
🦔 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
🦔 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 6, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Join us! We’re recruiting a PhD researcher to uncover how hedgehogs & other insectivores survive prey toxins. Dive into molecular evolution & protein biochemistry @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social
🦔 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
🦔 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
New #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...
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...
The cognitive ecology of wild bumblebees
iapetus.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
New #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...
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 Dr Hannah M. Rowland
I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
POSITIONS
default description
chickadeecognition.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
Are you an early career plant scientist with 3-5 years' post-PhD experience?
Tell the world about your research with the New Phytologist #TansleyMedal!
Time is running out - apply for the 2026 competition by 1 November 2025.
Find out more: www.newphytologist.org/grants-award...
#PlantScience
Tell the world about your research with the New Phytologist #TansleyMedal!
Time is running out - apply for the 2026 competition by 1 November 2025.
Find out more: www.newphytologist.org/grants-award...
#PlantScience
October 17, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Are you an early career plant scientist with 3-5 years' post-PhD experience?
Tell the world about your research with the New Phytologist #TansleyMedal!
Time is running out - apply for the 2026 competition by 1 November 2025.
Find out more: www.newphytologist.org/grants-award...
#PlantScience
Tell the world about your research with the New Phytologist #TansleyMedal!
Time is running out - apply for the 2026 competition by 1 November 2025.
Find out more: www.newphytologist.org/grants-award...
#PlantScience
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
We are looking for a physics/maths graduate with an interest in biology, or a biology graduate with strong computational/mathematical skills/interests, to join us as a PhD student working on biomechanical modelling of butterfly wing scale structure formation www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
October 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
We are looking for a physics/maths graduate with an interest in biology, or a biology graduate with strong computational/mathematical skills/interests, to join us as a PhD student working on biomechanical modelling of butterfly wing scale structure formation www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
Hot off the press is the final chapter of my dissertation now published in @pnas.org Here, I explore the genetic drivers of extreme body size reduction using goby fishes as a model. I'll write up a short summary thread later tonight...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
October 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Hot off the press is the final chapter of my dissertation now published in @pnas.org Here, I explore the genetic drivers of extreme body size reduction using goby fishes as a model. I'll write up a short summary thread later tonight...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
From the New Yorker, Seth Fleishman, September 3, 2025
October 22, 2025 at 7:04 AM
From the New Yorker, Seth Fleishman, September 3, 2025
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.
A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration
The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and ...
www.science.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:50 AM
1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
Bird species with specialized diets and migratory habits tend to show higher fear of novelty, a stable trait that may influence their adaptability to environmental change. doi.org/g96v62
Chickening out: Why some birds fear novelty
The largest-ever study on neophobia, or fear of novelty, has discovered the key reasons why some bird species are more fearful of new things than others.
phys.org
October 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Bird species with specialized diets and migratory habits tend to show higher fear of novelty, a stable trait that may influence their adaptability to environmental change. doi.org/g96v62
Reposted by Dr Hannah M. Rowland
Linocut by #printmaker Mariann Johansen-Ellis #WomensArt
October 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Linocut by #printmaker Mariann Johansen-Ellis #WomensArt
What an amazing group of 🐛
@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social has written about his encounters with Euchaetes egle: how the caterpillars handle latex, & even caused him a nasty rash from their pupal hairs. Such small & formidable natural chemists!
agrawal.eeb.cornell.edu/2018/11/24/c...
@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social has written about his encounters with Euchaetes egle: how the caterpillars handle latex, & even caused him a nasty rash from their pupal hairs. Such small & formidable natural chemists!
agrawal.eeb.cornell.edu/2018/11/24/c...
Cool! I have milkweed tussock moths (Euchaetes egle) here in my yard in Michigan, USA. As I understand it, they sequester glycosides from the milkweed and, as adults, produce calls that advertise their unpalatability to bats. Interesting clade!
October 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
What an amazing group of 🐛
@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social has written about his encounters with Euchaetes egle: how the caterpillars handle latex, & even caused him a nasty rash from their pupal hairs. Such small & formidable natural chemists!
agrawal.eeb.cornell.edu/2018/11/24/c...
@anurag-asclepias.bsky.social has written about his encounters with Euchaetes egle: how the caterpillars handle latex, & even caused him a nasty rash from their pupal hairs. Such small & formidable natural chemists!
agrawal.eeb.cornell.edu/2018/11/24/c...
🍄 FLY AGARIC (Amanita muscaria)
This fairy-tale fungus forms mycorrhizal partnerships with trees, trading nutrients for sugars underground. Its red & white cap signals potent compounds (ibotenic acid & muscimol) that can cause hallucinations and delirium.
Strictly for admiring, not nibbling!
This fairy-tale fungus forms mycorrhizal partnerships with trees, trading nutrients for sugars underground. Its red & white cap signals potent compounds (ibotenic acid & muscimol) that can cause hallucinations and delirium.
Strictly for admiring, not nibbling!
October 5, 2025 at 12:40 PM
🍄 FLY AGARIC (Amanita muscaria)
This fairy-tale fungus forms mycorrhizal partnerships with trees, trading nutrients for sugars underground. Its red & white cap signals potent compounds (ibotenic acid & muscimol) that can cause hallucinations and delirium.
Strictly for admiring, not nibbling!
This fairy-tale fungus forms mycorrhizal partnerships with trees, trading nutrients for sugars underground. Its red & white cap signals potent compounds (ibotenic acid & muscimol) that can cause hallucinations and delirium.
Strictly for admiring, not nibbling!
Calliteara pudibunda, the pale tussock moth caterpillar. Brilliant yellow tufts and an ultra-black stripe – a striking warning. When disturbed, it curls into a conker-like ball. Those hairs are likely irritating to the skin, a fine example of visual and chemical defence.
October 5, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Calliteara pudibunda, the pale tussock moth caterpillar. Brilliant yellow tufts and an ultra-black stripe – a striking warning. When disturbed, it curls into a conker-like ball. Those hairs are likely irritating to the skin, a fine example of visual and chemical defence.