It was at one of the weekly seminars in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge in the late 1950s that I heard, with great excitement,Torkel Weis-Fogh describing resilin. In his masterly first written description, Weis-Fogh explained its roles in the thorax of flying insects: as elastic tendons in dragonflies and as elastic wing hinges in locusts(Weis-Fogh, 1960). He also showed that these structures could be strained for weeks without plastic deformation and, by simple tests, that the elasticity was rubber-like. This was in contrast to commercial rubbers which are polymeric unsaturated hydrocarbons: resilin is a cuticular protein that, typically, is deposited after ecdysis. Weis-Fogh commented on the ability of resilin structures to snap back after deformation but showed that their rubbery nature was affected by their hydration and pH. He described a simple test to identify resilin:with very dilute solutions of Methylene Blue or Toluidine...
Using the reactive scope model to redefine social stress in fishes
In their Review, Katie Gilmour and colleagues redefine the ambiguous concept of social stress by using the reactive scope model as a framework to explain the divergent physiological phenotypes of dominant and subordinate fishes.
JEB grants to support junior faculty
Learn about the grants that we launched in 2023 to support junior faculty from two of our awardees: Erin Leonard, Early-Career Researcher (ECR) Visiting Fellowship recipient, and Pauline Fleischmann, Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grant recipient. The next deadline to apply is 6 June 2025.
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels survive extraordinarily low blood oxygen
Brynne Duffy and colleagues reveal that thirteen-lined ground squirrels are true hypoxia champions surviving extreme low blood oxygen, down to just 34% oxygen, when they emerge briefly from hibernation.
The Company of Biologists Workshops
For the last 15 years, our publisher, The Company of Biologists, has provided an apt environment to inspire biology and support biologists through our Workshops series. Read about the evolution of the Workshop series and revisit JEB's experience with hosting the first Global South Workshop.
Fast & Fair peer review
Our sister journal Biology Open has recently launched the next phase of their Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. To learn more about BiO’s progress and future plans, read the Editorial by Daniel Gorelick, or visit the Fast & Fair peer review page.
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