*A community benchmark enables high-resolution, cross-lab quantification of mouse social behavior* Introducing HiDRA: 82 supervised classifier heads for 33 dyadic and solitary behaviors. Works out-of-the-box on new data and outperforms video foundation models. neuroethology.github.io/hidra-site/

Show Post

Most animal species pack sperm DNA with protamines instead of histones. Protamines are essential for male fertility. They are among the fastest-evolving genes in animals. That makes little sense. We think we know why, in a new paper led by @ching-hochang.bsky.social. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Show Post

I'm delighted to kick off a new project from the @nytimes.com science desk called Unknowns. My contribution is an essay on the consciousness of babies. Gift link: nyti.ms/4jDfXLU

Show Post

Excited to share my lab’s latest preprint led by postdoc @yukihaba.bsky.social and grad student Ryan Schwark. We surprisingly find that spontaneous behavior in isolation predicts a naked mole-rat’s identity, its colony membership, and even rank within its colony. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Show Post

Why care about weird animal behaviors? Just out as an advanced publication, my contribution to the next Frans de Waal special issue in Behaviour @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Unusual behaviors are a recurring theme in my career, and I much enjoyed writing this perspective! doi.org/10.1163/1568...

Show Post