[When the present can help refine interpretations of the past: covid-19 in real time and the historiography of epidemics].

These notes address the proliferation of discourses with improvised, uninformed, apocalyptic and voluntarist approaches. They emphasize issues such as the widespread ignorance about the history of epidemics, and the inability to deal with the uncertainties that reign during pandemic times, as well as the announcements that this extraordinary health/sanitary event would produce a profound watershed in all walks of life and in all corners of the world. Finally, these notes seek to point out how the present can illuminate the study of the past - or, more personally, what I think I have learned as a historian in the times of the covid-19 pandemic.

Mycophagous beetle females do not behave competitively during intrasexual interactions in presence of a fungal resource.

Intrasexual interactions can determine which individuals within a population have access to limited resources. Despite their potential importance on fitness generally and mating success especially, female-female interactions are not often measured in the same species where male-male interactions are well-defined. In this study, we characterized female-female interactions in , a mycophagous beetle species native to Northeastern North America.

Male competition reverses female preference for male chemical cues.

Females must choose among potential mates with different phenotypes in a variety of social contexts. Many male traits are inherent and unchanging, but others are labile to social context. Competition, for example, can cause physiological changes that reflect recent wins and losses that fluctuate throughout time.

Screening for neurotoxic potential of 15 flame retardants using freshwater planarians.

Asexual freshwater planarians are an attractive invertebrate model for high-throughput neurotoxicity screening, because they possess multiple quantifiable behaviors to assess distinct neuronal functions. Planarians uniquely allow direct comparisons between developing and adult animals to distinguish developmentally selective effects from general neurotoxicity. In this study, we used our automated planarian screening platform to compare the neurotoxicity of 15 flame retardants (FRs), consisting of representative phased-out brominated (BFRs) and replacement organophosphorus FRs (OPFRs).

Multiple signaling functions of song in a polymorphic species with alternative reproductive strategies.

Vocal traits can be sexually selected to reflect male quality, but may also evolve to serve additional signaling functions. We used a long-term dataset to examine the signaling potential of song in dimorphic white-throated sparrows (). We investigated whether song conveys multifaceted information about the vocalizing individual, including fitness, species identity, individual identity, and morph.

Multitrophic diversity effects of network degradation.

Predicting the functional consequences of biodiversity loss in realistic, multitrophic communities remains a challenge. No existing biodiversity-ecosystem function study to date has simultaneously incorporated information on species traits, network topology, and extinction across multiple trophic levels, while all three factors are independently understood as critical drivers of post-extinction network structure and function. We fill this gap by comparing the functional consequences of simulated species loss both within (monotrophic) and across (bitrophic) trophic levels, in an ecological interaction network estimated from spatially explicit field data on tropical fecal detritus producer and consumers (mammals and dung beetles).

Common Sense Beliefs about the Central Self, Moral Character, and the Brain.

To assess lay beliefs about self and brain, we probed people's opinions about the central self, in relation to morality, willful control, and brain relevance. In study 1, 172 participants compared the central self to the peripheral self. The central self, construed at this abstract level, was seen as more brain-based than the peripheral self, less changeable through willful control, and yet more indicative of moral character.

Erratum: Taking perspective the next time around. Commentary on: "Perceived perspective taking: when others walk in our shoes".

[This corrects the article on p. 941 in vol. 106, PMID: 24841098.

Textures and traction: how tube-dwelling polychaetes get a leg up.

By controlling the traction between its body and the tube wall, a tube-dwelling polychaete can move efficiently from one end of its tube to the other, brace its body during normal functions (e.g., ventilation and feeding), and anchor within its tube avoiding removal by predators.

A holobiont birth narrative: the epigenetic transmission of the human microbiome.

This essay plans to explore, expand, and re-tell the human birth narrative. Usually, human birth narratives focus on the origins of a new individual, focusing on the mother and fetus. This essay discusses birth as the origin of a new community.

Order of the major constituents in sign languages: implications for all language.

A survey of reports of sign order from 42 sign languages leads to a handful of generalizations. Two accounts emerge, one amodal and the other modal. We argue that universal pressures are at work with respect to some generalizations, but that pressure from the visual modality is at work with respect to others.

A symbiotic view of life: we have never been individuals.

The notion of the "biological individual" is crucial to studies of genetics, immunology, evolution, development, anatomy, and physiology. Each of these biological subdisciplines has a specific conception of individuality, which has historically provided conceptual contexts for integrating newly acquired data. During the past decade, nucleic acid analysis, especially genomic sequencing and high-throughput RNA techniques, has challenged each of these disciplinary definitions by finding significant interactions of animals and plants with symbiotic microorganisms that disrupt the boundaries that heretofore had characterized the biological individual.

Polychaete chaetae: Function, fossils, and phylogeny.

In this article we review the phylogenetic distribution of major chaetal types within the Polychaeta, discuss what has been demonstrated about chaetal function in modern worms, and examine what is known about the evolution of chaete through the fossil record. We conclude with specific cautions about how chaetae are treated in phylogenetic analyses and make suggestions about how they could be used to provide a stronger phylogenetic signal.

Growth and mortality of individual plants as a function of "available area".

We looked at the relationship between "available area", as defined by Thiessen polygons around individual plants, and plant size and mortality in even-aged green-house populations of Lapsana communis L. Polygon area was a good predictor of plant weight in these populations. After nine weeks growth, just prior to the onset of self-thinning, the dry weight of plants was directly proportional to the square root of polygon area.