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maxfarnworth.bsky.social
Max Farnworth
@maxfarnworth.bsky.social
410 followers 340 following 210 posts
Fascinated by the evolution of the brain | Senior Research Associate at EBaB lab (University of Bristol) | 2025 PI Fellow (Company of Biologists) | Section Speaker Neurobiology DZG | he/him
https://linktr.ee/max.farnworth
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maxfarnworth.bsky.social
Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · Aug 22
If you happen (…!) to be interested in what fascinates me about science and brain evolution and what I am up to, click here:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social and @biologists.bsky.social for the interview 🙏
Pathway to Independence – an interview with Max Farnworth
Max Farnworth completed his PhD in Gregor Bucher's lab at the University of Göttingen, Germany, where he explored how heterochrony shapes the evolution and development of insect brains. He then joined...
doi.org
Reposted by Max Farnworth
dev-journal.bsky.social
Join us next week for #DevPres to hear 3 of our PI fellows talk about the environment & evolution

14 January 15:00 GMT/UTC

With talks from @ethanewe.bsky.social, @maxfarnworth.bsky.social & @sonyawiden.bsky.social, chaired by @pritiagarwal.bsky.social.

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#DevPres
Development presents… Wednesday 14 January 15:00 GMT/UTC Chair: Priti Agarwal Chee Kiang (Ethan) Ewe Tel Aviv University ‘Neuronal oversight of germline small RNAs prevents heat-induced sterility in Caenorhabditis elegans’ Max Farnworth University of Bristol ‘How the evolution of spatial foraging shaped centres of cognition in Heliconiini butterflies’ Sonya Widen IMBA, Vienna BioCenter ‘“Unpacking” eukaryotic horizontal gene transfer: Mavericks transfer novel “cargo” genes across the globe’ #DevPres | @dev-journal.bsky.social thenode.biologists.com/devpres
January 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
neuroethology.org
We wish all of you a happy new year and we hope to see many of you at this year's ICN which will take place in Vancouver 🇨🇦 (icn2026vancouver.com). A perfect platform for people interested in Neuroethology and would like to connect with our society.
ICN 2026
We are happy to announce the 2026 International Congress for Neuroethology will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The local organizing committee will consist of:
icn2026vancouver.com
January 2, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
hannah-haberkern.bsky.social
📢 Join us, the Haberkern lab, @uni-wuerzburg.de for a postdoc studying neural circuit mechanisms of navigation. You’ll spearheading neurophysiology experiments on our brand new 2P!

⏳ Apply by 28th February 2026

Details: www.haberkernlab.de/docs/ENPostd...

#neuroscience #academicjobs #postdoc
On the left, the image shows a schematic of a fly head, ring neurons and EPG neurons together with some calcium imaging frames. On the right is a photo of a fly on a ball in virtual reality and another schematic of a VR system.
December 23, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
stanley-heinze.bsky.social
Very proud of this new paper from the lab! Work by the magnificent Andrea Adden and many brilliant collaborators illuminate how moth and butterfly brains have evolved in light of different ecologies. Freely available here: rdcu.be/eVR3B; @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social
December 22, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
chrisleduck.bsky.social
🚨 Tenure-track professorship at Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, with a focus on evolutionary ecology of social hymenoptera 🐝🐜

Initially for 6 years:
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/pr...
Goethe University Frankfurt hiring Professur (W1 mit Tenure Track) für Evolutionäre Ökologie der Hymenopteren in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany | LinkedIn
Posted 11:13:19 PM. Die Professur wird zunächst auf sechs Jahre befristet besetzt, nach erfolgreicher Evaluation…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
www.linkedin.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
wiringthebrain.bsky.social
All Evo is Evo-Devo.

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.
December 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
elife.bsky.social
A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers.
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
The commitments in the SAFE Labs Handbook.
December 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
stanley-heinze.bsky.social
Ever wanted to know how the visual system of a long distance migratory moth looks like? Then you'll find your answers in our new paper. Finally out, after about a decade of collecting data by a group af amazing co-authors. Find it here, open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 18, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
ecologyofvision.bsky.social
Hello Bluesky! We are the Ecology of Vision group at Bristol University, UK. Our research focuses on all things animal vision with particular interest in polarization vision, the effects of light pollution on vision and visual behaviour, and visual adaptations. See more here: www.ecologyofvision.com
ECOLOGY OF VISION
Nicholas Roberts Ecology of Vision Research Group. Research into animal vision.
www.ecologyofvision.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
Sulci and Gyri at the surface of a Heliconius melpomene brain (likely a shrinkage artifact - looks funny though).
HCR staining against mub in cyan, polyA in red. posterior part of mushroom body calyx in Heliconius melpomene.
December 18, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
rochellemeah.bsky.social
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)
December 17, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
Thrilled to see our review article "The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins" highlighted on the cover of Nature Reviews Neuroscience 🤩.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@msarscentre.bsky.social 🧠✨🧬🌊🪼🧽
December 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
Good news!
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

...

Granted, if the UK hadn’t left the EU in the first place, this wouldn’t have been necessary — but still.
UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme
Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say
www.theguardian.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
asab-meetings.bsky.social
How to be a convincing leaf! Learning about the spectrum of leafiness with @benitoexplains.bsky.social 🍃 🐛 🍃 🐛 #ASABWinter2025
Slide of katydids that look like leaves
December 15, 2025 at 12:13 PM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
This sounds super interesting!
yvetteefisher.bsky.social Yvette Fisher @yvetteefisher.bsky.social · 21d
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
Schematic of how ER-EPG plasticity enables the bump of activity in EPGs to accurately track visual cues. As a fly makes a counter-clockwise turn (top to bottom) it will view visual cues (e.g. the sun) from a new angle and the EPG activity bump (red) will swing clockwise around the network by integrating self motion signals with these visual inputs. When the fly faces a different angle, distinct visual ER neurons are active. Plasticity forms a trough of weak synapses (large circles - strong synapses, small circles - weak synapses) that allow ER neurons with distinct visual tuning to move the EPG bump via disinhibition.
December 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
patrick-kennedy.bsky.social
POSTDOC ALERT🚨

Two exciting social evolution postdoc positions live today!

We're looking for two excellent field biologists. Join us to explore the evolution of sociality in wasps across Africa. Apply by 11th January.

Collaboration with
@dustinrubenstein.com

@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
December 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
bentonlab.bsky.social
Deadline for this post-doc position in my lab extended to Jan 11th!
bentonlab.bsky.social Richard Benton @bentonlab.bsky.social · Oct 16
I'm looking to recruit a post-doc to help push forward our growing interests in insect ecotoxicology.
Apply here by Nov 30th!
(thanks for reposting)

career5.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/job...
Career Opportunities: Posdoctoral researcher in toxin susceptibility and evolution of resistance in insects (22517)
career5.successfactors.eu
December 12, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
ebablab.bsky.social
From our @hfspo.bsky.social project, where we have been trying to test out new methods and ideas!
December 12, 2025 at 10:23 AM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
New paper covering what we think is a pretty nice and comprehensive overview over tools suitable for neuroethology in butterflies and moths.
Also, check out the whole special issue if you're an insect neuroethologist.
@neuroethology.org @dzg-neurobiology.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1007/s003...
Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Journal of Comparative Physiology A - Butterflies and moths have played historically important roles in developing our understanding of both ecology and evolutionary biology, and neuroethology. In...
doi.org
December 12, 2025 at 10:04 AM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
This was a fantastic experience. Great leadership course and team. Thanks @amjeve.bsky.social particularly but also the wider @biologists.bsky.social team. 🙂
dev-journal.bsky.social Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 25d
We were delighted to welcome our most recent Pathway to Independence (PI) fellows to our offices at @biologists.bsky.social for leadership training.

Find out more about our PI fellows and how to apply here:
journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Application deadline: 2 February 2026.
Anzy Miller, Martina Cerise, Giulia Paci, Max Farnworth, Sonya Widen, Marlies Oomen, Ethan Ewe, Joaquín Navajas Acedo and Toshimichi Yamada.
December 11, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
camzoology.bsky.social
🎉 Congratulations to Professor Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social winner of a @zslscience.bsky.social Scientific Medal!

Read more: bit.ly/4a9AD9J
December 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
emiliapsantos.bsky.social
Very happy to share that I have been awarded an ERC CoG to build predictive and mechanistic models of pigment pattern development and evolution across cichlids!! 🐠🎨 I've been dreaming about this for a long time, and I’m incredibly excited that we can now pursue it in full. #ERCCoG @erc.europa.eu 1/3
December 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Max Farnworth
ebablab.bsky.social
🚨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...
Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth
November 21, 2025 at 2:31 PM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
such a fantastic gang <3
mads100tist.bsky.social MadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 28d
Great day with these certified knuckleheads that are absolutely the best (and future) of their fields 🧪 @ethanewe.bsky.social @marliesoomen.bsky.social @giuliapaci.bsky.social @amjeve.bsky.social @maxfarnworth.bsky.social @anzymiller.bsky.social Martina and Toshi
We are sitting around a busy, long dinner table, all wearing color paper crowns and smiling
December 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
maxfarnworth.bsky.social
PI fellow 2025 Leadership Academy @dev-journal.bsky.social starting tomorrow!
Travelling to Cambridge as we speak. Looking forward to meeting the other 7 (seemingly equally mad) fellows.
a man with a mustache is sitting at a desk with a reaction gif.org watermark
ALT: a man with a mustache is sitting at a desk with a reaction gif.org watermark
media.tenor.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM