Today, we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! At our Institute, 60% of scientists are women, and each brings a unique perspective, curiosity, and voice to science. We are proud to introduce some of our female researchers and share their personal insights and motivation.
1 lab. 2 days. 10 students. 🥼 🔬 🧪
Last week, we invited outstanding students from all over Bavaria who had qualified for the International Biology Olympiad. Our Maxlab was transformed into a hands-on biology training camp.
This is what future scientists look like: thinking, experimenting, exploring.
Who benefits from mating with multiple partners? Darwin suspected that in some cases, it may be the females rather than the males. A new long-term study on African coucals shows: when males provide all parental care, females can have more offspring by competing for and mating with multiple partners.
Most of us are familiar with the nightingale's song, but did you know there's more to it than just a melody?
Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
@danielavallentin.bsky.social @tpvogels.bsky.social @mpiforbi.bsky.social
Two weeks left to apply for our graduate school IMPRS-BI and join us as a PhD student! Find out more: imprs-bi.mpg.de
Very nice review of the neuroscience underlying bat #bioacoustics ⬇️
Illustration of female and male yellow warblers and their respective songs. On top, two duets are shown in spectrograms with male parts marked in red and female parts marked in yellow. On the left are three female songs and on the right are three different male songs. Illustrations are courtesy of Lena Gies.
Excited to share our new preprint!
Unlike the North American yellow warblers, females in Galápagos commonly sing and duet with their paired partners. Here, we tested possible functions with a playback experiment: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🌧️📱 rain calls 📱🌧️
Cool study in @behavecol.bsky.social from Framond et al. (Brumm lab, @mpiforbi.bsky.social) of a poorly understood chaffinch call type
Based on playbacks + field studies they conclude these are female-directed alarm calls
academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...
#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics
Pic taken last November in the South African Kalahari. Don't remember the specie's name 😬.
The ontogeny of decision-making in an eavesdropping predator: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #ProcB #cognition #ethology
A male Northern Harrier in quartering flight with its beak pointed towards the ground so that it can listen for prey.
A figure from our paper showing: left: scatterplots of auditory nuclei size against brainstem volume for 9 species of hawks, including harriers. In both plots, the harriers have much larger volumes than what is expected based on their brainstem volume. middle: photos of sections taken through auditory brain nuclei of the Northern Harrier right: photos of sections taken through the auditory brain nuclei of a Cooper's hawk
New paper out from our lab today!
@evolsara.bsky.social shows that harriers have expanded their auditory nuclei in a similar way to owls to enable them to calculate the position of prey by sound.
#birds #ornithology #neuroskyence 🧠🧪🇨🇦🇦🇺
doi.org/10.1111/joa....
Check out this fantastic opportunity #bioacoustics people!
ISBE26-the 20th International Society for Behavioral Ecology Conference will take place in Turin, Italy, from 20-24th of July 2026. We invite you to join us to enjoy a 5-day meeting rich in top-notch science and ample networking opportunities, in our beautiful city. Website out soon!
#ISBE26
My lab @kinshiplab.bsky.social is recruiting a postdoc 🚨 with Sept start date
Preference for in-vivo ephys / circuits experience / interest in applying quantitative methods to natural social behaviour.
Funding & visa fees for 1-yr with possible extension. Send me your CV & visit kinshiplab.org
Our new paper is out. We point out that large brained (and often smart) mammals and birds have evolved very different distribution of neurons numbers in the brain.
This means that similar cognitive abilities have evolved in very different brains.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In his new book, published today, Nachum Ulanovsky calls on the field to embrace naturalistic conditions and move away from overcontrolled experiments.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
See more on the PhD position [here](www.activesensingcollectives.com/openings/) - and am also happy to receive informal queries. Please re-post and share in your circles!
This is cool -- I've been thinking about dolphin echolocation and subcortical circuits recently (e.g., now in press - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). Seems a lot is happening between IC and cerebellum in dolphins (who do click socially), presumably in support of rapid sensorimotor prediction.
In this fascinating paper by the Long lab, activity was recorded from the vocal production region of the budgerigar. These neurons form a map of phonetic features just like in humans. This, however, was not the case in the homologous region of the zebra finch 🧠! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🦜🗣️
Anyone happen to know of good PhD funding opportunities for bioacoustics or vocal behavior neuroscience?
Options for early PhD candidates in the US would be extra appreciated 🙏
#bioacoustics
#neuroskyence
Our first look at midbrain PAG’s role in singing mouse vocal control. When near each other, these mice produce two divergent vocal modes. Same circuits for USVs and Songs—or different ones? Bets were made..some of us bought beers for others! Led by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social & Clifford Harpole. 👇🏽
UAB Neurobiology is hiring up to 4 new tenure-track faculty as part of 3 new open-rank searches. Come join our vibrant, supportive, and growing neuroscience community!
uab.peopleadmin.com/postings/23916
uab.peopleadmin.com/postings/23944
uab.peopleadmin.com/postings/24010
🚨 Lecturer in Animal Behaviour position @waikatouniversity.bsky.social. Fantastic opportunity for someone passionate about teaching & research in animal behaviour, preferably on birds, amphibians, reptiles or bats.
📍 Hamilton, NZ
Closes: 4th May 2025
🔗 www.seek.co.nz/job/83279795...
The International Society for Neuroethology has a grant for disadvantaged scientists investigating the mechanisms of animal behaviour. Apply for funds to help overcome any barriers you face!
Membership fees can be included in your application.
Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
A book cover for Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis. The images on the cover include a Turkey vulture in flight, a singing song sparrow, a drawing of a black browed albatross brain, and a foraging whimbrel.
The cover of our new book has been approved!
Due out this August through MIT Press and the online version will be open access.
#neuroskyence #ornithology 🪶🧠
"Onboard recordings reveal how bats maneuver under severe acoustic interference"
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Exciting new study by The Bat Lab.
#bioacoustics
What drives our desire to eat or drink? Food or water intake is regulated by distinct circuits with specialized "thirst" and "hunger" neurons in the amygdala, a new study in mice shows. Read more: www.bi.mpg.de/news/2025-03...
@uniregensburg.bsky.social @stanford.edu
Art @somedonkey.bsky.social
Join us at @ibe.pensoft.net We are looking to build a special collection of new articles on Individual Perspectives in Conservation Ecology. We are eager to be taxonomically inclusive. Please contact co-editor- in-chief, prof. Mark Hauber MHauber@gc.cuny.edu for more information. Photo: T. Grim
👋 Looking forward to the 117th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society. Please like and share 🤩
#prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
