Wendy Valencia

Check out our review on the Evolution of Sensory Receptors, the incredible molecular machines that decode the outside sensory world! 🪲🐭🦎🐙🐓🦠🦗🐌💃

Speaking of flipping rocks, here’s our latest from the Ediacaran of South Australia! This new taxon, Quaestio simpsonorum, demonstrates that although the first animals can sometimes look a little like aliens, they provide really exciting insights into metazoan evolution!

New paper on red colour vision in two Mediterranean beetle pollinators: doi.org/10.1242/jeb.25…

@martin3guerres

‘Solar-powered’ sea slugs have specialized depots in their cells that store photosynthetic equipment looted from algae go.nature.com/4emIHnx

Microbiomes shape our biology from gut-brain, skin, immunology, and more. Here, Rebecka Sepela et al explores octopus “taste by touch” sensation to ask how environmental microbiomes drive animal behavior. @CellPressNews, @MCB_Harvard, @MBLScience cell.com/cell/fulltext/…

Don't miss out working with one of the best and kindest scientists I know!! Neil Rosser’s lab at the University of Miami is currently recruiting graduate students interested in the evolution of tropical biodiversity rosserlab.github.io/people.html#re…

Congratulations to #WPY60's Behaviour: Invertebrates winner! 🐜 Ingo Arndt (Germany) watched as red wood ants carved an already dead blue ground beetle into pieces small enough to fit through the entrance to their nest.

How do organisms evolve new traits and behaviors? In @AnnualReviews, @wendyssae surveys major sensory receptor families to uncover evolutionary patterns of sensation driving diversification and speciation. annualreviews.org/content/journa…

Herbaria are invaluable repositories of biodiversity that serve as crucial resources for scientific research, conservation efforts, and education. Show your support to save the @DukeU Herbarium: bit.ly/4bRkrbI

It's heartbreaking to see how war continues in Ukraine and Gaza. How do we seed human empathy more broadly?

Duke's destroying a globally recognized generational legacy. I know 15 biology faculty and curators who trained at Duke's herbarium, just in my 10 years there. 2023's Climate Commitment "for life"? A budget is a moral document and Duke has shown its cards. science.org/content/articl…

Very disappointed to learn that @univgroningen is blocking funding for @MEME_evobio , jeopardising a programme that attracted many young researchers to evolutionary biology — especially those from the Global South ukrant.nl/budget-cuts-th…

Guide to octopus "taste by touch" chemotactile sensation. @CoreyAHAllard @wendyssae @CurrentBiology @MCB_Harvard - cell.com/current-biolog…

Check out our new preprint on invasive Helicoverpa armigera in North America — feedback welcome! biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… Rapid evolution of pesticide resistance in native H. zea via two independent processes: (1) introgression from an invasive species, and (2) strong selection

Harvard professor Claudia Goldin is just incredible. If curious here a short video about her work: youtube.com/watch?v=c_frjr…

Learning about how cephalopods have co-opted acetylcholine receptors as sensory receptors on their suckers - fascinating stuff at #SMBE2023 with @wendyssae 🐙🐙

How do jellyfish and anemones decide when to sting? Here, we ask "to sting or not to sting" @Lilypetal87 @CoreyAHAllard @wendyssae @stephalopod @AgneseSeminara @eLife @MCB_Harvard elifesciences.org/reviewed-prepr…

Tropical mountains are hotspots of bird diversity due to exceptional coexistence and elevational turnover. But how do species get to live together in the first place? Here we elucidate the historical pathways to community assembly doi.org/10.1111/geb.13…