I am looking for a PhD student to join my new Socio-Eco-Evo group, hosted in Katie Peichel's Evolutionary Ecology Division @ University of Bern. We're offering a fully funded 4-year position, studying social plasticity and behavioral adaptation among stickleback in Greenland. Please share around!
yes our first thought was also that this is a "grandfather effect", but actually Tsimane men do more direct childcare as young adults (when they're fathers) and neither providing childcare during the sampling nor being a grandfather was related to oxytocin levels
Next steps are to look at individual differences (repeatability) in #oxytocin levels and how they relate to life history and personality traits. Watch this space!
Oxytocin varies across the lifecourse in a sex-specific way - new paper in @pnas.org working with Tsimane communities. For women, OT looks like a sex hormone and is linked to breastfeeding and childcare. For men, probably more related to health and aging.
www.linkedin.com/posts/uzh-me...
Harmony in the hive? Think again! 🐝⚔️
Insect societies are famous for cooperation, but beneath the surface lies a brutal conflict over who gets to wear the crown!
Our new review in Biological Reviews explores the evolutionary battleground caused by such caste fate conflict. 🧵
"‘Which is the best university in the world?’ is not a useful question. ‘Which university might be best for me, given that I care about X and Y?’ is a better question — but one for which current measures are unlikely to provide a good answer"
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
'The manosphere’s enthusiasm for evolution goes beyond appropriation and selective interpretation of existing research' New paper by LouisBachaud et al | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
PhD opportunity: MOVE
Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...
Deadline: 12/01/26
Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social
Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...
Brunel's press release about our (@hggaddy.bsky.social @anthrolog.bsky.social) recent publication, showing that high levels of polygyny don't necessarily lock men out of the marriage market
www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Is Switzerland the new Croatia? Undefeated, sixth world cup in a row, core group around ageing-like-a-fine-wine Xhaka all 30+, 100+ caps, no signs of getting tired
Hm, to play devil's advocate here, isn't the claim that men should prefer cues of *residual* reproductive potential (i.e. having reached sexual maturity but still having a long reproductive career ahead)? Doesn't seem like the article is directly testing that? Sorry if I missed it
Evolutionary psychologists have long believed that men prefer physical traits in women which are cues to high potential fertility. A new review concludes: “current evidence base is too weak to support the claim that women’s feminine morphological traits are associated with reproductive potential”
My first paper, out in PsychReview!!
Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:
Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?
A 🧵
This is one of the rare papers that completely changed my thinking about the field I work in. Have a read!
We're looking forward to hosting you!!
i've always been told that one should never compare absolute hormone levels - unless they were measured with the same assay, in the same lab, and ideally at the very same time 🤷♂️
My department is hiring an assistant professor of environmental behavioral sciences. The research area is open but we are particularly interested in people with research on collective action or computational social sciences.
Happy to answer questions about the Doerr School or the department.
Just got this book by one of my favourite anthropologists (and people) in the mail - if it's only half as good as the gushing advanced praise, this'll be an instant classic! Also, brilliant title, immediately putting to bed the notion that long lifespan is a new thing; we've evolved to live to ~70
🚨 New, short article by myself, Clark Barrett and @kevinlala.bsky.social on the legacy of Wilson's 'Sociobiology: The New Synthesis', which was published 50 years ago.
@science.org #ehbea #histbiol #evobio #psyscisky
Revisiting the human sociobiology debate |Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Hot on the tail of our Tsimane IGE study comes the theory paper that motivated it! What are the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in dynamic environments? See our new Functional Ecology paper to find out more
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Jordan Martin @jsmartin.bsky.social used a sophisticated evo quant gen approach to show that neighboring women enhance each other's fertility among the Tsimane, which accelerates adaptive evolution. This 'social drive' helps explain the rapid pace of human evolution. See thread and paper for more!
two 4-year PhD positions in the Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich, and the Wild Minds Lab of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, to study wild chimpanzees and bonobos. The PhD candidates will work within the Creative Ape Project. The overall goal of the project is to enhance our understanding of the evolution of creativity, and to shed light on whether humans are a uniquely 'creative ape'. To do so we will apply a comparative approach, quantifying the creative capacities of wild non-human apes to investigate the underlying drivers that shape creative expression across species. The project explores four interconnected topics: i) Making mavericks, ii) Funny guys and arty-types, iii) Lone ape geniuses, and iv) Creative ape economies. We employ a comprehensive approach that leverages long-term datasets, new field data, detailed manual video-coding, bespoke automated deep-learning models, and advanced modelling, to extract rich information on the ways in which apes solve problems in their daily lives. Excellent collaborative, independent working and time management skills are essential. Previous field experience (incl. behavioural data collection) is required, and experience working in remote places under difficult living conditions is highly recommended. The project will require strong data management and data analysis skills, and 12-18 months of field work split into 2-3 periods. Please submit your application in a single PDF to kathelijne.koops@iea.uzh.ch and clh42@st-andrews.ac.uk – by 4th of August 2025. Feel free to get in touch if you have any inquiries about the positions. Applications should include: 1) cover letter stating your motivation and how your expertise fits the project (max. 1 page), 2) Curriculum Vitae, 3) copy of the highest degree obtained, 4) names and contact details of two referees, and 5) reprints of 1-2 selected publications
A tiny chimpfant looks at the camera with surprise
📣 Join the K/Creative Ape Team 🤓 2 PhDs on Creativity in Wild Chimpanzees & Bonobos; w myself & the v awesome @kathelijnekoops.bsky.social
@snf-fns.ch Uni Zurich @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @efp2026.bsky.social @ips-primatenews.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @primbehavecol.bsky.social 🐵🧪
Is there a cognitive hierachy between ecto- and endotherms driven by brain size/neuron counts? Probably not.
Very interesting opinion piece by @zegnitriki.bsky.social et al., shifting focus to sensory–motor integration to explain brain size differences.🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Some coverage from the #BBC about our study comparing the empathic tendencies of chimpanzees and bonobos
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tagging some people who might be interested in modularity and psychiatry, thanks for RT! @randynesse.bsky.social @realadamhunt.bsky.social @dpietra.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @dconroybeam.bsky.social @anniewertz.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @maxkraz.bsky.social #EvMed #EvPsych
Ever wondered if the mind really is modular? Ego disorders suggest so! In this new paper, psychiatrist Gheorghe Ilie and I argue that dysfunctions of the unitary self reveal the work of distinct modules, perceived by patients as distinct voices, often in conflict
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
Applications now open for UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evo Bio (1–6 Sept 2025, Lausanne)!
Aimed at PhD students interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology questions like sexual selection, social & life-history evolution. Scholarships available.
Pls share! www.shorturl.at/znk5g
Description of the Postdoc position
Description of the Postdoc position
Description of the Postdoc position
New Postdoc position!
🐵🐵🐵🐵
On the socioecology of cognition in primates, based in Paris @mnhn.fr @cnrs.fr, with field work
It has it all:
- the best science
- the best macaques
- the best beaches
- the best people
- the best office view #Eiffeltower
Join us!
I recently did a thoroughly enjoyable two-part podcast with David Sloan Wilson at ProSocial World (@prosocialworld.bsky.social).
The topic was Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies.
Feedback welcome!
Slide with information about phylogenetic methods.
Nice talk at #ehbea2025 by @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social on a new approach to comparative methods (generalised dynamic phylogenetic models), which can be implemeted in 'coevolve' package in R.
