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Abstract BackgroundDissecting the neurobiology of dance would shed light on a complex, yet ubiquitous, form of human communication. In this experiment, we sought to study, via mobile electroencephalography (EEG), the brain activity of five experienced dancers while dancing butoh, a postmodern dance that originated in Japan. ResultsWe report the experimental design, methods, and practical execution of a highly interdisciplinary project that required the collaboration of dancers, engineers, neuroscientists, musicians, and multimedia artists, among others. We explain in detail how we technically validated all our EEG procedures (e.g., via impedance value monitoring) and minimized potential artifacts in our recordings (e.g., via electrooculography and inertial measurement units). We also describe the engineering details and hardware that enabled us to achieve synchronization between signals recorded at different sampling frequencies, along with a signal preprocessing and denoising pipeline that we used for data re-sampling and power line noise removal. As our experiment culminated in a live performance, where we generated a real-time visualization of the dancers’ interbrain synchrony on a screen via an artistic brain-computer interface, we outline all the methodology (e.g., filtering, time-windows, equation) we used for online bispectrum estimations. Additionally, we provide access to all the raw EEG data and codes we used in our recordings. We, lastly, discuss how we envision that the data could be used to address several hypotheses, such as that of interbrain synchrony or the motor theory of vocal learning. ConclusionsBeing, to our knowledge, the first study to report synchronous and simultaneous recording from five dancers, we expect that our findings will inform future art-science collaborations, as well as dance-movement therapies. 

Abstract Dissecting the neurobiology of dance would shed light on a complex, yet ubiquitous, form of human communication. In this experiment, we sought to study, via mobile electroencephalography (EEG), the brain activity of five experienced dancers while dancing butoh, a postmodern dance that originated in Japan. We report the experimental design, methods, and practical execution of a highly interdisciplinary project that required the collaboration of dancers, engineers, neuroscientists, musicians, and multimedia artists, among others. We explain in detail how we technically validated all our EEG procedures (e.g., via impedance value monitoring) and how we minimized potential artifacts in our recordings (e.g., via electrooculography and inertial measurement units). We also describe the engineering details and hardware that enabled us to achieve synchronization between signals recorded in different sampling frequencies, and a signal preprocessing and denoising pipeline that we have used to re-sample our data and remove power line noise. As our experiment culminated in a live performance, where we generated a real-time visualization of the dancers’ interbrain synchrony on a screen via an artistic brain-computer interface, we outline all the methodology (e.g., filtering, time-windows, equation) we used for online bispectrum estimations. We also share all the raw EEG data and codes we used in our recordings. We, lastly, describe how we envision that the data could be used to address several hypotheses, such as that of interbrain synchrony or the motor theory of vocal learning. Being, to our knowledge, the first study to report synchronous and simultaneous recording from five dancers, we expect that our findings will inform future art-science collaborations, as well as dance-movement therapies. 

Abstract Reproduction is a fundamental aspect of life that affects all levels of biology, from genomes and development to population dynamics and diversification. The first Tree of Sex database synthesized a vast diversity of reproductive strategies and their intriguing distribution throughout eukaryotes. A decade on, we are reviving this initiative and greatly expanding its scope to provide the most comprehensive integration of knowledge on eukaryotic reproduction to date. In this perspective, we first identify important gaps in our current knowledge of reproductive strategies across eukaryotes. We then highlight a selection of questions that will benefit most from this new Tree of Sex project, including those related to the evolution of sex, modes of sex determination, sex chromosomes, and the consequences of various reproductive strategies. Finally, we outline our vision for the new Tree of Sex database and the consortium that will create it (treeofsex.org). The new database will cover all Eukaryota and include a wide selection of biological traits. It will also incorporate genomic data types that were scarce or non-existent at the time of the first Tree of Sex initiative. The new database will be publicly accessible, stable, and self-sustaining, thus greatly improving the accessibility of reproductive knowledge to researchers across disciplines for years to come. Lastly, the consortium will persist after the database is created to serve as a collaborative framework for research, prioritizing ethical standards in the collection, use, and sharing of reproductive data. The new Tree of Sex consortium is open, and we encourage all who are interested in this topic to join us. 

Abstract High-quality and complete reference genome assemblies are fundamental for the application of genomics to biology, disease, and biodiversity conservation. However, such assemblies are available for only a few non-microbial species 1–4 . To address this issue, the international Genome 10K (G10K) consortium 5,6 has worked over a five-year period to evaluate and develop cost-effective methods for assembling highly accurate and nearly complete reference genomes. Here we present lessons learned from generating assemblies for 16 species that represent six major vertebrate lineages. We confirm that long-read sequencing technologies are essential for maximizing genome quality, and that unresolved complex repeats and haplotype heterozygosity are major sources of assembly error when not handled correctly. Our assemblies correct substantial errors, add missing sequence in some of the best historical reference genomes, and reveal biological discoveries. These include the identification of many false gene duplications, increases in gene sizes, chromosome rearrangements that are specific to lineages, a repeated independent chromosome breakpoint in bat genomes, and a canonical GC-rich pattern in protein-coding genes and their regulatory regions. Adopting these lessons, we have embarked on the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), an international effort to generate high-quality, complete reference genomes for all of the roughly 70,000 extant vertebrate species and to help to enable a new era of discovery across the life sciences.