iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Michael Bok

International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · 29/07/2026

After giving us a beautiful overview on 👁 evolution, Mike Bok talks about the visual adaptations of Polyphemus pediculus (water fleas) living in variable light conditions. @mikebok.bsky.social #ICN2026

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Todd Oakley @ostratodd.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The formatted paper is now out in MBE - describing OPTICS software to predict color sensitivy based on opsin sequence alone: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

academic.oup.com

Validate User

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I am hiring a PhD student to join our group in Lund, Sweden working on an ERC-funded project to untangle color and polarization vision in some amazing crustaceans – minute water fleas and pugnacious mantis shrimp! Please forward this to promising students. Apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I am hiring a postdoc for scRNA-seq research in Lund, Sweden on the visual systems of non-model inverts as part of an ERC project on the evolution and ecology of advanced color and polarization vision. Apply here or share the link with someone who may be interested! 🧪 lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

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Lauren Sumner-Rooney @laurensr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

So excited to have received an #HFSPResearchGrant to study trilobite eyes with Luke Parry @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social and Gil Ju Lee (Pusan National University)!🥳 I'll be recruiting a postdoc @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - if 3D data, optical modelling, and fossils tickle your interest, stay tuned!

Close-up photograph of the trilobite Erbenochile, with visible schizochroal eyes. Image: Luke Parry

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Lauren Sumner-Rooney @laurensr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Thank you all! Also big thanks to @russellgarwood.co.uk and experienced HFSP-ers @mikebok.bsky.social, Dan Speiser, and Carsten Lüter for their advice on the proposal 💛

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?

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George Kafetzis @gkafetzis.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social! A dive into the deep history of vertebrate vision, together with @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social Photo credit : Vasilis Karkalas

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

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Stanley Heinze @stanley-heinze.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

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...

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Rochelle Meah @rochellemeah.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Thanks so much to ASAB and the #ASABwinter2025 organisers for a cracking conference. Not sure why I’m so excited here, I guess the yoghurt and granola had just been served…

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Department of Biology, Lund University @biologylu.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Big congratulations to our biology researchers @cnilsson.science and @mikebok.bsky.social – who get @erc.europa.eu Consolidator grants! Well deserved! 👏👏👏 Read the full story: www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/thre...

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Nasmille Larke-Mejía, PhD @nasmillelarkemejia.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Listening and #gazing at the first keynote talk from @mikebok.bsky.social from Lund University at the #biophdday_ku at @ucph.bsky.social. So interesting to hear and see the diversity of visual sensory organs from different invertebrates!

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Department of Biology, Lund University @biologylu.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Congrats Staffan Bensch, @mikebok.bsky.social, Yedra Garcia Garcia, Dennis Hasselquist, Prof. Anders Hedenström, Lina Herbertsson, Sebastian Marquardt, Erik Selander, Ernö Vinzce, Prof. Eric Warrant, Dan-Dan Zhang and @kruthsatz.bsky.social – all awarded grants from @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social!

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George Kafetzis @gkafetzis.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

..with a huge payoff, in gradual steps: ✅Choice of right depth ✅Body Posture ✅Visually - guided locomotion, eventually 7/n

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Tom Baden @neurofishh.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Very excited about our new preprint, led by @gkafetzis.bsky.social /w @mikebok.bsky.social & @denilsson.bsky.social. We suggest that the vertebrate 'duplex' retina emerged from interconnecting two ancient median-eye microcircuits. Say goodbye to the 'simplex' retina - it probably never existed!

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George Kafetzis @gkafetzis.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Most bilaterians keep photoreceptor types separate. But vertebrate eyes are a mash-up: 🪡Ciliary (rods & cones) and 💈Rhabdomeric (ganglion, amacrine, horizontal) …all packed into a multilayered circuit. 2/n

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George Kafetzis @gkafetzis.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

👁️The retina — strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians! So how did it evolve? With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n

media.tenor.com

a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .

ALT: a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .

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MultiplEye Lab @multipleye-lab.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Fresh(ish) from the week at BESSY II @helmholtz.de looking at the changes associated with eye loss in spiders! Not pictured: our valiant night shifters, @mikebok.bsky.social, Karla Lopez Reyes, and Constance Coubris 💪🏼🌃

Three members of the group stand on a bridge over the ring at the BESSY II synchrotron

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Michael Reiser @michaelreiser.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

I know there's a 𝒍𝒐𝒕 going on right now, but I couldn’t be prouder to share this long-incubated labor of love: the complete connectome of the male 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎 optic lobe 🧠🪰 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Connectome-driven neural inventory of a complete visual system - Nature

A connectome of the right optic lobe from a male fruitfly is presented together with an extensive collection of genetic drivers matched to a comprehensive neuron-type catalogue.

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Super excited to have received a @hfspo.bsky.social grant with with @neurofishh.bsky.social for our proposal: Eyes inside out: Visual coding without a multilayered retina in squid and worms.

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

“We are losing sight of the academic mission: to think, to enquire, to design and perform new research, to innovate, to teach and communicate our findings for the purpose of societal improvement” academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

academic.oup.com

On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities

You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if you’re reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If you’re a

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Steve Haddock @stevehaddock.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

A fun case of usual-unusual: Most luminescence in the sea is blue-green, but Tomopteris worms emit yellow light. With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light — unusual but usual. 🦑🧪 link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2 doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671

Three panels: On top is a face on view of a large Tomopteris polychaete, with orange pigment spots along its long anterior antennae. Lower left shows the yellow bioluminescent emission typical of the genus Tomopteris. Lower right shows the blue bioluminescent emission of a Tomopteris species. This color is typical for marine animals, but atypical for Tomopteris, which is the odd-species-out for luminescent emission spectra.
Blue-emitting Tomopteris were independently discovered by our lab in the Pacific and by Anaïd Gouveneaux working in Jerôme Mallefet's lab in Belgium.
Warren determined that the chemical which gives the yellow color seems to be aloe-emodin, but the function of using yellow light rather than blue remains unknown. See the two manuscripts linked in the main text, and references therein, for more detailed info.

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Keishu Asada @cephwarden.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

A polychaete worm with tiny googly eyes, drifting in the great blue.

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Matteo Santon @matteosanton.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

First paper out on this incredible study system! We describe the remarkably different hunting displays used by the broadclub cuttlefish in the wild. Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... Stay tuned for more!! @drmartinjhow.bsky.social @vancedberg.bsky.social @ecologyofvision.bsky.social

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Christie Wilcox @nerdychristie.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Mantis shrimp can break glass with their powerful punches. Now we know why they don't break their own claws. That and more of the best in @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Definitely don’t poke this mantis shrimp, lest it poke back. Credit: Chris Spain | CC0

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Did you know some single-cell dinoflagellates have a lens eye? Anders Garm at the University of Copenhagen is recruiting a postdoc to help find out why. Check out the advertisement, below 🧪 candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI... photo: Franz Neidl

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Tessmar-Raible Labs @tessmarraiblelabs.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

An"eye-catching" talk by Mike @mikebok.bsky.social from the Lund Vision group @lundvision.bsky.social at @univie.ac.at @viennabiocenter.bsky.social today, cutting from fan worm eyes to the gollum-like eyes of alciopid worms (see the recent @currentbiology.bsky.social study: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...)

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Don Yee @mosquitolab.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Two blue mosquitoes (there are more!). Left, Toxorhynchites (a worldwide genus whose larvae are predators on other aquatic insects including mosquitoes) and right, Sabethes, a South America genus where adults have large patches of scales on their legs for sexual display. #BlueMonday #BlueBugs

An adult blue mosquito sitting on a leaf.

A blue mosquitoes sites on a white background. It has large and long patches of scales on it's rear legs.

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Reposted by Michael Bok

Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Just started reading this exciting book edited by @mikebok.bsky.social & Elke Buschbeck. It takes us to a fascinating world on different visual systems featuring evolutionary and behavioral aspects. A must read for everyone interested in #neuroethology & vision. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

link.springer.com

Distributed Vision

This volume explores the diversity of distributed eyes in nature, comparing optics, neural processing, and behavioral control.

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Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

I'm very excited to give this talk in January! It's free to attend via zoom if you're interested! :)

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

This is so sad. The first image on Google search for the firefly squid is AI slop of god-knows what...

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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Gap junctions FTW! If you want to understand how neuronal circuits work, you can’t ignore gap junctions.

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Caitlyn Cardetti, PhD @caitlyncardetti.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

New open-source hyperspectral imager you can 3D print for less than $450 from @jtroscianko.bsky.social. The HOSI system can take panoramic hyperspectral images that meet the difficult requirements of artificial light at night (ALAN) research. bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #BMCBiology

Photo of 3D printed hyperspectral open-source imager (HOSI) connected to an Android phone with a readout of an image of butterflies, with pinned/taxidermized butterflies in background.

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Marcus Stensmyr @marcusstensmyr.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

🦟 Pestered by mosquitoes? Fear not—grapefruit might hold the key! 🍊In our latest paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social, led by Merybeth Triana and Felipe Andreazza, we explore how nootkatone, a compound derived from grapefruit, affects mosquitoes. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

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Anna Stöckl @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Excited to join the community! Will be seeking out old and new connections in neuroethology, insect, pollinator, vision, behaviour, anatomy, science, education, and many other spaces on this platform 🤓😀

media.tenor.com

a black and white image of a moth playing bongos

ALT: a black and white image of a moth playing bongos

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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Welcome to the NEW Journal of Experimental Biology Bluesky feed. We are very excited to be here & are looking forward to talking about the amazing research that we publish in #comparativephysiology, #neuroethology and #biomechanics journals.biologists.com/jeb Please follow us to build our community

Front cover of issue 21, volume 227 of Journal of Experimental Biology. The cover includes an image of a ruby-throated hummingbird, with yellow-green iridescent wing feathers, a white bib and long beak for sipping nectar, perched on a twig against a foliage background

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Keishu Asada @cephwarden.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

A juvenile stomatopod (mantis shrimp) with a carapace like some orc helmet, tumbling madly through the darkness, occasionally punching and slashing at nothing

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Tessmar-Raible Labs @tessmarraiblelabs.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Excited to dedicate our #FirstSkeet to our new #OpenAccess publication in Nature Communications revealing how #bristleworms make new #StemCells for #Regeneration of their body axis www.nature.com/articles/s41... ... (1/7)

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Tom Baden @neurofishh.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

a GCaMP tadpole for #fluorescenceFriday as an introductory hello on BlueSky :) Transgenic by Lora Sweeney (ISTA), and picci by our postdoc Michi Forsthofer

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Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

At depths over 6,000 meters, researchers have discovered “faceless” fish with no visible eyes or nose, relying on unique sensory adaptations to navigate in complete darkness. #marinelife

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Christian Puller @christianpuller.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Interested in interneurons? Retina? Electrical coupling? Check out my first senior author paper which just went online www.cell.com/iscience/ful... (Find a short summary a little bit further down my timeline)

cell.com

The first interneuron of the mouse visual system is tailored to the natural environment through morphology and electrical coupling

Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Cellular neuroscience; Sensory neuroscience

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Pure autofluorescence from the midband crystalline cones in a mantis shrimp eye. The fluorescence comes from mycosporine like amino acid pigments that absorb specific bands of UV light, thus tuning the UV sensitivity of the photoreceptors they focus light into. 🧪 #FluorescenceFriday

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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

My collaborator, Anders Garm, is advertising a 2 year postdoc position in Copenhagen working on our awesome project with vision in googly-eyed alciopid polychaetes. Applications are due 15 Dec! Apply here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI... 🧪

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