William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
@williamycete.bsky.social
🎓Assistant Professor at Lake Forest College | 🧟♂️🪲Zombie Beetles and 🍎Discipline-based Education Research | 🎙️Sci-com (he/him)
www.ZomBeetles.com
Send inquiries to: [email protected]
www.ZomBeetles.com
Send inquiries to: [email protected]
Pinned
Fellow science nerds in the Chicago area 🚨. Come join me at FANEXPO - Chicago for a panel on the science behind The Last of Us! I’ll be presenting Saturday August 15th at 5:15 pm, RM 33 stage! Hope to see you there! 🧪
A big thanks to Bregje Huisman from New Scientist in the Netherlands for writing a piece about our research efforts to teach evolution using virtual reality! You can read more about it here: www.newscientist.nl/nieuws/leren... 🧪
August 18, 2026 at 4:01 PM
A big thanks to Bregje Huisman from New Scientist in the Netherlands for writing a piece about our research efforts to teach evolution using virtual reality! You can read more about it here: www.newscientist.nl/nieuws/leren... 🧪
Fellow science nerds in the Chicago area 🚨. Come join me at FANEXPO - Chicago for a panel on the science behind The Last of Us! I’ll be presenting Saturday August 15th at 5:15 pm, RM 33 stage! Hope to see you there! 🧪
August 11, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Fellow science nerds in the Chicago area 🚨. Come join me at FANEXPO - Chicago for a panel on the science behind The Last of Us! I’ll be presenting Saturday August 15th at 5:15 pm, RM 33 stage! Hope to see you there! 🧪
🧪 Presenting my work on zombie ants at the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology! 🧟♂️🐜🍄🟫
Summary: Ophiocordyceps uses a novel effector to block communication in ants 🐜
Preprint available here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Full PDF of poster is in the comments!
Summary: Ophiocordyceps uses a novel effector to block communication in ants 🐜
Preprint available here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Full PDF of poster is in the comments!
June 23, 2026 at 11:44 AM
🧪 Presenting my work on zombie ants at the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology! 🧟♂️🐜🍄🟫
Summary: Ophiocordyceps uses a novel effector to block communication in ants 🐜
Preprint available here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Full PDF of poster is in the comments!
Summary: Ophiocordyceps uses a novel effector to block communication in ants 🐜
Preprint available here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Full PDF of poster is in the comments!
Thanks again to @lastshow.bsky.social for having me on their program to talk about our Zombie Ants VR game and how gamification can be used to intuitively teach evolution! It was a lot of fun! I highly recommend checking out all the cool science he showcases on his podcast! 🧟♂️ 🐜 👾 🧪
A Zombie Ant Video Game That Teaches Evolution
Podcast Episode · The Last Show with David Cooper · May 27 · 11m
podcasts.apple.com
May 30, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Thanks again to @lastshow.bsky.social for having me on their program to talk about our Zombie Ants VR game and how gamification can be used to intuitively teach evolution! It was a lot of fun! I highly recommend checking out all the cool science he showcases on his podcast! 🧟♂️ 🐜 👾 🧪
@pintofscience.us is kicking off again this year, May 18th-May 20th! I’ll be giving a talk about neuroparasitology at Vintage Bar in Chicago, IL. You can check for local events across the USA at their official website: pintofscience.us
Hope to see you there! 🧪
Hope to see you there! 🧪
Pint of Science USA
Bringing you scientists so you can hear about the latest research and discoveries
pintofscience.us
May 13, 2026 at 12:37 PM
@pintofscience.us is kicking off again this year, May 18th-May 20th! I’ll be giving a talk about neuroparasitology at Vintage Bar in Chicago, IL. You can check for local events across the USA at their official website: pintofscience.us
Hope to see you there! 🧪
Hope to see you there! 🧪
Niels Kerstes of Utrecht University has posted a fantastic synopsis of our recent pedagogical work with Zombie Ants VR as an official university news story. Check it out! 🧪 www.uu.nl/en/news/virt...
May 11, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Niels Kerstes of Utrecht University has posted a fantastic synopsis of our recent pedagogical work with Zombie Ants VR as an official university news story. Check it out! 🧪 www.uu.nl/en/news/virt...
🚨Our new discipline-based education research paper in biology is out! 🧪
We created a VR game about zombie ants and used gamification techniques to teach the process of evolution to players without triggering preexisting biases about the topic! Find the link to the full open-access paper in comments!
We created a VR game about zombie ants and used gamification techniques to teach the process of evolution to players without triggering preexisting biases about the topic! Find the link to the full open-access paper in comments!
April 23, 2026 at 2:26 PM
🚨Our new discipline-based education research paper in biology is out! 🧪
We created a VR game about zombie ants and used gamification techniques to teach the process of evolution to players without triggering preexisting biases about the topic! Find the link to the full open-access paper in comments!
We created a VR game about zombie ants and used gamification techniques to teach the process of evolution to players without triggering preexisting biases about the topic! Find the link to the full open-access paper in comments!
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
@nature.com has published three groundbreaking papers on reproducibility, analytical robustness, and replicability across the social sciences. Sincere thanks are due to the many folks who contributed to these projects. It’s painstaking work, and a great service to social science.
April 3, 2026 at 4:03 PM
@nature.com has published three groundbreaking papers on reproducibility, analytical robustness, and replicability across the social sciences. Sincere thanks are due to the many folks who contributed to these projects. It’s painstaking work, and a great service to social science.
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
well this is ridiculous and awesome, best science usually is #ScienceSky #NeuroSky 🧪
🧵 New preprint led by @bingbrunton.bsky.social, @elliottabe.bsky.social, @lawrencehu.bsky.social
We gave a worm brain control of a fly body and it walked
What did we learn? Nothing, other than deep reinforcement learning is effective
We call it the digital sphinx
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We gave a worm brain control of a fly body and it walked
What did we learn? Nothing, other than deep reinforcement learning is effective
We call it the digital sphinx
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
March 25, 2026 at 3:05 PM
well this is ridiculous and awesome, best science usually is #ScienceSky #NeuroSky 🧪
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
Can plant pathogens boost vector fitness?
Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Plant Pathogens Moonlighting as Beneficial Insect Symbionts
Herbivorous insects can shape the epidemiology of disease in plants by vectoring numerous phytopathogens. While the consequences of infection are often well-characterized in the host plant, the extent...
www.annualreviews.org
February 2, 2026 at 7:48 AM
Can plant pathogens boost vector fitness?
Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
BindCraft: an AlphaFold2-powered de novo protein binder design tool 🧬✨
Tested in some bacterial systems too! Designs so far are short peptides or mini-domains. Looking forward to long/full protein design ahead! 🧪 #microsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Tested in some bacterial systems too! Designs so far are short peptides or mini-domains. Looking forward to long/full protein design ahead! 🧪 #microsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One-shot design of functional protein binders with BindCraft - Nature
BindCraft, an open-source, automated pipeline for de novo protein binder design with experimental success rates of 10–100%, leverages AlphaFold2 weights to generate binders with nanomolar affinity without the need for high-throughput screening.
www.nature.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:07 PM
BindCraft: an AlphaFold2-powered de novo protein binder design tool 🧬✨
Tested in some bacterial systems too! Designs so far are short peptides or mini-domains. Looking forward to long/full protein design ahead! 🧪 #microsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Tested in some bacterial systems too! Designs so far are short peptides or mini-domains. Looking forward to long/full protein design ahead! 🧪 #microsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧟🐜 Zombie Ant Research🚨
I can finally share my flagship research project characterizing the first ever Ophiocordyceps behavioral effector as an open access preprint!
This international, interdisciplinary research approach involved many amazing collaborations! 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I can finally share my flagship research project characterizing the first ever Ophiocordyceps behavioral effector as an open access preprint!
This international, interdisciplinary research approach involved many amazing collaborations! 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 20, 2025 at 1:52 PM
🧟🐜 Zombie Ant Research🚨
I can finally share my flagship research project characterizing the first ever Ophiocordyceps behavioral effector as an open access preprint!
This international, interdisciplinary research approach involved many amazing collaborations! 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I can finally share my flagship research project characterizing the first ever Ophiocordyceps behavioral effector as an open access preprint!
This international, interdisciplinary research approach involved many amazing collaborations! 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I am always excited to share about zombie fungi! 🧟♂️ 🍄🟫 Thanks to Natasha Dangoor for allowing me to contribute through an interview to her new piece in The Wall Street Journal about zombie spiders found in the UK! 🇬🇧 🧟🕷️. Link to the full article and audio translations in the comments 🧪
September 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I am always excited to share about zombie fungi! 🧟♂️ 🍄🟫 Thanks to Natasha Dangoor for allowing me to contribute through an interview to her new piece in The Wall Street Journal about zombie spiders found in the UK! 🇬🇧 🧟🕷️. Link to the full article and audio translations in the comments 🧪
How about some spooky science! 🧟♂️ In this dispatch, I discuss the current state of molecular genetics work used to explore behavior-manipulating fungi and highlight new research by Zhao et al. describing a novel behavioral effector used by Cordyceps militaris in silkworms! 🧪
Link in the comments!
Link in the comments!
August 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
How about some spooky science! 🧟♂️ In this dispatch, I discuss the current state of molecular genetics work used to explore behavior-manipulating fungi and highlight new research by Zhao et al. describing a novel behavioral effector used by Cordyceps militaris in silkworms! 🧪
Link in the comments!
Link in the comments!
Very excited to announce that our new version of Zombie Ants VR is releasing soon for free on Steam! I’m also thrilled to share that our month-long test run in collaboration with University Museum Utrecht showed that it teaches players about evolution!🧪
store.steampowered.com/app/3765230/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3765230/...
Zombie Ants VR: Definitive Edition on Steam
Zombie Ants VR is a short educational experience that takes the player through the life cycle of Ophiocordyceps, a fungus that manipulates the behavior of insects in order to increase the spread of it...
store.steampowered.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Very excited to announce that our new version of Zombie Ants VR is releasing soon for free on Steam! I’m also thrilled to share that our month-long test run in collaboration with University Museum Utrecht showed that it teaches players about evolution!🧪
store.steampowered.com/app/3765230/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3765230/...
How cool! 🧟♂️🐜 Very interesting that it was found infecting an ant pupae, we normally only see adults infected. What mysterious evolutionary history! 👀 www.sciencenews.org/article/zomb... 🧪
Zombifying fungi have been infecting insects for 99 million years
Two bits of amber discovered in a lab basement hold ancient evidence of a fungi famous for controlling the minds of its victims.
www.sciencenews.org
June 25, 2025 at 7:51 AM
How cool! 🧟♂️🐜 Very interesting that it was found infecting an ant pupae, we normally only see adults infected. What mysterious evolutionary history! 👀 www.sciencenews.org/article/zomb... 🧪
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
🏳️🌈 A queer post a day for #PrideMonth2025
6/20: Florence Nightingale brought data and statistics to nursing. She also said “I have slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I.”
1/
sangerinstitute.blog/2022/06/29/l...
6/20: Florence Nightingale brought data and statistics to nursing. She also said “I have slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I.”
1/
sangerinstitute.blog/2022/06/29/l...
LGBTQ+ scientists who shaped history - Wellcome Sanger Institute Blog
Science thrives on diversity. Diversity of opinions, upbringing, experiences, and lifestyles, brings about innovation. It is imperative that everyone feels safe and comfortable to be their true selves...
sangerinstitute.blog
June 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
🏳️🌈 A queer post a day for #PrideMonth2025
6/20: Florence Nightingale brought data and statistics to nursing. She also said “I have slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I.”
1/
sangerinstitute.blog/2022/06/29/l...
6/20: Florence Nightingale brought data and statistics to nursing. She also said “I have slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I.”
1/
sangerinstitute.blog/2022/06/29/l...
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
I know what you're thinking; how can we sustainably manage the banana weevil problem?
Boy do I have good news for you. My piece for @cenmag.bsky.social 🧪
Boy do I have good news for you. My piece for @cenmag.bsky.social 🧪
Field trial success for fighting banana weevils with fungal compounds
Researchers say one particular fungus-derived compound could help farmers avoid banana drama
cen.acs.org
June 17, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I know what you're thinking; how can we sustainably manage the banana weevil problem?
Boy do I have good news for you. My piece for @cenmag.bsky.social 🧪
Boy do I have good news for you. My piece for @cenmag.bsky.social 🧪
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
#ZebrafishZunday: Simultaneous tracking of 100 zebrafish larvae using open-source software. Credit to FastTrack (www.fasttrack.sh). 🧪
June 15, 2025 at 8:10 AM
#ZebrafishZunday: Simultaneous tracking of 100 zebrafish larvae using open-source software. Credit to FastTrack (www.fasttrack.sh). 🧪
So excited to be partnering with University Museum Utrecht to debut our updated VR game about zombie ants! It’s an educational game that teaches about evolution, and will be free to download from both SteamVR and the Meta Horizon Store later this month. Just search “Zombie Ants VR” to find it! 🧪
June 14, 2025 at 9:20 AM
So excited to be partnering with University Museum Utrecht to debut our updated VR game about zombie ants! It’s an educational game that teaches about evolution, and will be free to download from both SteamVR and the Meta Horizon Store later this month. Just search “Zombie Ants VR” to find it! 🧪
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
#NextGenSci asked young scientists to write a rule that all principal investigators should be required to follow to improve the experience of young scientists in their lab.
Check out their answers on #NationalHigherEducationDay: scim.ag/45zsFEr
Check out their answers on #NationalHigherEducationDay: scim.ag/45zsFEr
June 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
#NextGenSci asked young scientists to write a rule that all principal investigators should be required to follow to improve the experience of young scientists in their lab.
Check out their answers on #NationalHigherEducationDay: scim.ag/45zsFEr
Check out their answers on #NationalHigherEducationDay: scim.ag/45zsFEr
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
Hello ecologists and evolutionary biologists! I work with scientists to transform discoveries into beautiful, accurate, publication-ready figures. Get in touch if you want custom illustrations for your next paper.
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
June 3, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Hello ecologists and evolutionary biologists! I work with scientists to transform discoveries into beautiful, accurate, publication-ready figures. Get in touch if you want custom illustrations for your next paper.
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
The first night of Pint of Science if off to a fantastic start with a packed bar here in Utrecht! 🧪 🤩 @pintofsciencenl.bsky.social
May 19, 2025 at 5:39 PM
The first night of Pint of Science if off to a fantastic start with a packed bar here in Utrecht! 🧪 🤩 @pintofsciencenl.bsky.social
Reposted by William C. Beckerson, Ph.D.
Wonderfully good video about the beauty of science and humanitarian motivation working together to defeat diseases and save people. youtube.com/watch?v=ybVZ... 🧪 #NIH #CDC #WHO #BMGF #NIAID
Defeating a Virus That Killed Half a Billion People – The Plea
YouTube video by Neil Halloran
youtube.com
May 17, 2025 at 6:23 AM