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Nicholas Bellono

@NBellono

Cell Physiology | Harvard MCB
Harvard University bellonolab.com Joined March 2020
69 Following 1.3K Followers 64 Posts

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Nicholas Bellono @NBellono
Pablo Villar et al discover male octopus mating arms are sensory organs used to find females, navigate internally to the oviduct & deliver sperm. From behavior to structure, these findings offer a framework for how sensory systems shape reproduction & species barriers
Science Magazine Verified account @ScienceMagazine Apr 2
Male octopuses use a specialized arm that acts as both a sensory and reproductive organ to navigate the female’s mantle, locate oviducts, and transfer sperm. These findings reveal how sensory systems shape reproductive behavior and drive speciation.

Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/4clal4S
Animals rely on sensory cues to choose mates before reproduction. Male octopuses use a specialized arm that acts as both a sensory and reproductive organ to navigate the female’s mantle, locate oviducts, and transfer sperm. These findings reveal how sensory systems shape reproductive behavior and drive speciation. This image shows courtship during mating.
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Nicholas Bellono @NBellono
Wendy Valencia-Montoya and team uncover thermal infrared as one of the most ancient pollination signals uniting plants and animals. From the field to single proteins. @wendyssae
Science Magazine Verified account @ScienceMagazine Dec 11, 2025
Long before flowers dazzled pollinators with brilliant colors and sweet scents, ancient plants used another feature to signal insects: heat. The findings in Science offer new insights into what shaped the earliest eras of plant-animal coevolution.

Learn more in this week's issue: scim.ag/4iVZtfM
Cycad plants use thermogenesis to warm their reproductive cones. A beetle dusted with pollen and fluorescent dyes lands on the warm cone of a cycad. High concentrations of dye have been deposited on the cone’s hottest regions during previous visits by other labeled beetles. Beetle pollinators use these thermal infrared patterns as a guide to locate host pollen and ovulate cones.
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