Scott Nichols
@scottnichols.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Biology @ University of Denver. Sponges, evolution, cell biology.
Pinned
www.biorxiv.org
Excited to announce a new preprint from my PhD student @pawley.bsky.social :
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
Reposted by Scott Nichols
How do #sponges coordinate their bodies despite lacking neurons and true muscles?
We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels.
My PhD story, now on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Evolution
We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels.
My PhD story, now on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Evolution
February 18, 2026 at 1:34 PM
How do #sponges coordinate their bodies despite lacking neurons and true muscles?
We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels.
My PhD story, now on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Evolution
We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels.
My PhD story, now on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Evolution
Reposted by Scott Nichols
In @eLife: Neural connectome of the ctenophore statocyst https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.108420
Version of record of our ctenophore nerve-net connectome paper.
Version of record of our ctenophore nerve-net connectome paper.
Neural connectome of the ctenophore statocyst
Volume EM and connectome reconstruction of the apical organ of a ctenophore combined with high-speed imaging reveals a neuronal coordination of balancer cilia in the gravisensory organ.
elifesciences.org
February 18, 2026 at 10:31 AM
In @eLife: Neural connectome of the ctenophore statocyst https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.108420
Version of record of our ctenophore nerve-net connectome paper.
Version of record of our ctenophore nerve-net connectome paper.
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Registration is OPEN for the 2026 Santa Cruz Meeting on Developmental Biology!!! Please spread the word!
@mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social
scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu
@mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social
scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu
Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting
scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu
February 10, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Registration is OPEN for the 2026 Santa Cruz Meeting on Developmental Biology!!! Please spread the word!
@mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social
scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu
@mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social
scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Congratulations to @arnausebe.bsky.social, Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2025 in the category of Life Sciences and Medicine. The award ceremony will take place today at the historic Saló de Cent and was presided over by the Mayor of Barcelona. Full story: www.crg.eu/en/news/arna...
February 11, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Congratulations to @arnausebe.bsky.social, Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2025 in the category of Life Sciences and Medicine. The award ceremony will take place today at the historic Saló de Cent and was presided over by the Mayor of Barcelona. Full story: www.crg.eu/en/news/arna...
Excited to announce a new preprint from my PhD student @pawley.bsky.social :
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
www.biorxiv.org
February 10, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Excited to announce a new preprint from my PhD student @pawley.bsky.social :
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
Reposted by Scott Nichols
The last word on Ctenophores versus Sponges (not).
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What were the first animals? The fierce sponge–jelly battle that just won’t end
For almost two decades, scientists have debated whether sponges or comb jellies are the first animal lineage. Now some are calling for a more harmonious approach.
www.nature.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:19 PM
The last word on Ctenophores versus Sponges (not).
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Seeing this video of two Great Horned owls (Bubo virginianus) from Colton Lockridge you might think:
"Get a room, you two."
But, uh... these are juvenile siblings. 🤨
The behavior shown here is called 'billing' or 'bill fencing' & it's a playful social interaction, *no matter what it looks like*.
"Get a room, you two."
But, uh... these are juvenile siblings. 🤨
The behavior shown here is called 'billing' or 'bill fencing' & it's a playful social interaction, *no matter what it looks like*.
January 15, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Seeing this video of two Great Horned owls (Bubo virginianus) from Colton Lockridge you might think:
"Get a room, you two."
But, uh... these are juvenile siblings. 🤨
The behavior shown here is called 'billing' or 'bill fencing' & it's a playful social interaction, *no matter what it looks like*.
"Get a room, you two."
But, uh... these are juvenile siblings. 🤨
The behavior shown here is called 'billing' or 'bill fencing' & it's a playful social interaction, *no matter what it looks like*.
Reposted by Scott Nichols
1/3 Jellyfish and anemones also sleep, despite not having a brain
Not only do they sleep, but their behavior is affected if they lack sleep; they become clumsier and need to catch up on lost sleep. Interestingly, they sleep 8 hours a day, just like us.
(paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Not only do they sleep, but their behavior is affected if they lack sleep; they become clumsier and need to catch up on lost sleep. Interestingly, they sleep 8 hours a day, just like us.
(paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 14, 2026 at 11:32 AM
1/3 Jellyfish and anemones also sleep, despite not having a brain
Not only do they sleep, but their behavior is affected if they lack sleep; they become clumsier and need to catch up on lost sleep. Interestingly, they sleep 8 hours a day, just like us.
(paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Not only do they sleep, but their behavior is affected if they lack sleep; they become clumsier and need to catch up on lost sleep. Interestingly, they sleep 8 hours a day, just like us.
(paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
A giant virus forms a specialized subcellular environment within its amoeba host for efficient translation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 12, 2026 at 9:10 AM
A giant virus forms a specialized subcellular environment within its amoeba host for efficient translation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Our eLetter github.com/caseywdunn/s... responding to a recent Science paper was just posted. The paper found more genes with consistent support for sponge-sister than ctenophore-sister. We found several technical issues that, when corrected, reverse the conclusions and recover ctenophore-sister.
January 9, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Our eLetter github.com/caseywdunn/s... responding to a recent Science paper was just posted. The paper found more genes with consistent support for sponge-sister than ctenophore-sister. We found several technical issues that, when corrected, reverse the conclusions and recover ctenophore-sister.
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others
Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history
Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.
www.science.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:39 AM
Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others
Tectura paleacea … surfgrass limpet. Only grows as wide as the seagrass blade it lives on.
January 4, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Tectura paleacea … surfgrass limpet. Only grows as wide as the seagrass blade it lives on.
Help with invert ID? Point lobos, Carmel CA. I don’t know what either the yellow or the while things are. White looks like it has two siphons, yellow has only one. Thinking the yellow might be a keyhole limpet? No idea about the white one….
December 31, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Help with invert ID? Point lobos, Carmel CA. I don’t know what either the yellow or the while things are. White looks like it has two siphons, yellow has only one. Thinking the yellow might be a keyhole limpet? No idea about the white one….
Reposted by Scott Nichols
It's official - my new book is officially published today! If you mentor science students who write - grad or undergrad - you're the reason we wrote this. Mentoring/teaching writing is hard; but we can make it easier!
It’s publication day! “Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences”
Ok, we’re seriously excited – not for tonight’s fireworks, but because after several years of work, our new book is officially published today! That’s right – Teaching and Mentoring Writers i…
scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:18 PM
It's official - my new book is officially published today! If you mentor science students who write - grad or undergrad - you're the reason we wrote this. Mentoring/teaching writing is hard; but we can make it easier!
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Scott Nichols
My review of Max Telford’s excellent new book ‘The Tree of Life’ by @maxjtelford.bsky.social published today in the Wall Street Journal @wsj.com @wwnorton.com
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘The Tree of Life’ Review: The Ancestor at the Root of It All
Properly deciphering the branching pathways of evolution could unlock the history of every component of natural biology.
www.wsj.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:39 AM
My review of Max Telford’s excellent new book ‘The Tree of Life’ by @maxjtelford.bsky.social published today in the Wall Street Journal @wsj.com @wwnorton.com
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Tour de force #UExM study of #protist #cytoskeleton structures (>200 species🤯), led by @dudinlab.bsky.social, @gautamdey.bsky.social. A must for #tubulin & #centrin aficionados🤩
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes
An imaging resource of over 200 microbial eukaryotic species provides a glimpse into
the remarkable universe of cytoskeletal diversity.
www.cell.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Tour de force #UExM study of #protist #cytoskeleton structures (>200 species🤯), led by @dudinlab.bsky.social, @gautamdey.bsky.social. A must for #tubulin & #centrin aficionados🤩
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
December 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
🚨 POSTDOC OPENING 🚨
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
December 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
🚨 POSTDOC OPENING 🚨
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation - Nature Ecology & Evolution
This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...
www.nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Scott Nichols
I have seen many people say that no academic needs to use LLMs for writing, because of course we are all already excellent at writing. I fear that risks exacerbating imposter syndrome in early career researchers. I therefore want to raise my hand and say while I enjoy writing, I find it hard.
December 22, 2025 at 9:19 AM
I have seen many people say that no academic needs to use LLMs for writing, because of course we are all already excellent at writing. I fear that risks exacerbating imposter syndrome in early career researchers. I therefore want to raise my hand and say while I enjoy writing, I find it hard.
Reposted by Scott Nichols
Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation 🧪🌍
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Evolutionary cell biology comes of age
Summary: This Perspective discusses how the discipline of evolutionary cell biology, by integrating evolutionary theory, comparative physiology and modern molecular approaches, works to understand how...
journals.biologists.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation 🧪🌍
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...