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Stu West

@stuwest

Evolution. He/him/his. Views not my own. πŸ΅πŸ¦„πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ‘¨β€πŸ”¬πŸœ

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31.10.2023
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Latest posts by Stu West @stuwest

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Haplodiploidy and the evolution of eusociality: A long-standing question is finally resolved | PNAS Haplodiploidy and the evolution of eusociality: A long-standing question is finally resolved

Great summary of our haplodiploidy paper! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

11.03.2026 11:43 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Women haven’t always had equal space in learned societies, yet most of our staff are women. For #IWD2026, we celebrate the colleagues who help make the Society what it is today. We invited them to reflect on this year's theme of justice and action and the barriers women still face: buff.ly/oY03aSN

09.03.2026 13:18 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Cheers James!

05.03.2026 10:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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New paper showing that bacteria with more genes for cooperation can live in a broader range of habitats and that genes for cooperation are more more likely to be in the accessory genome www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @lauriebelch.bsky.social

04.03.2026 10:23 πŸ‘ 55 πŸ” 24 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Studying adaptation at the invisible scale | PNAS In order to understand adaptation by natural selection, it is necessary to observe organisms in their natural habitat. For this reason, the field o...

Thank you to Doug Emlen and Matthias Fischer for the wonderful images we used in this figure, illustrating the parallels of studying adaptation across scales of visibility: scarab beetles and giant viruses www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @stuwest.bsky.social

24.02.2026 09:32 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Why and how to study adaptation in invisible things. A follow up from @asgriffin.bsky.social 's talk at the 2024 @isbe2026.bsky.social meeting
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

24.02.2026 08:55 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Details | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol

🚨JOB alert🚨

We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.

Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology

⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026
πŸ™Please circulate widely

😊Come join us!

Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

23.02.2026 18:13 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 97 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A butterfly, the Asian swallowtail, feeding at a flower in Ikebukuro, Japan. Photo credit: Stuart West.

A butterfly, the Asian swallowtail, feeding at a flower in Ikebukuro, Japan. Photo credit: Stuart West.

ASN Address: The Evolutionary and Ecological Consequences of Cooperation

Available now ahead of print!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

22.02.2026 22:24 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Origins of the kiss - DISI Exploring our world's diverse forms of mindβ€”human, animal, machineβ€”from diverse perspectives.

My interview with @manymindspod.bsky.social! Come for a deep dive into the evolution of kissing πŸ’‹, stay for the earth-shattering insights 🀯

"fish don't run" πŸ πŸƒ

"monkeys tend to loll around quite a lot" πŸ™ˆ

"chimps have moved on to grass-in-bumhole behaviour" πŸ‘πŸŒ±

disi.org/origins-of-t...

20.02.2026 10:44 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Brilliant!

13.02.2026 13:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Delighted to have been a part of this. It's a very exciting area in the field of social evolution and beyond!

13.02.2026 08:31 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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How insects’ sex is determined is unlikely to be what makes them so social

Does haplodiploidy - a method of sex determination seen in bees and ants among other animals - promote eusociality?

New research from @rbonifacii.bsky.social and @stuwest.bsky.social enters evidence into this long debate that - despite popular belief - this is not the case πŸ‘‡
bit.ly/4qEoEWm

13.02.2026 09:55 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We understand a great deal about how and why cooperation evolves, but what about its long-term consequences?

Great to see our new review on this out now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social!

13.02.2026 09:47 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Oh I’m excited to dig into this! I especially love that figure with the environment & behavioral variables mapped onto the phylogeny! In my grad work, I found that nutrient stress intensifies selection against a selfish mtDNA… can’t help but wonder if it was a molecular case of a similar phenomenon.

12.02.2026 20:38 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

12.02.2026 20:18 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

12.02.2026 18:41 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 20 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Three people, two women and a man, smile and converse outside a modern building. Text reads: Oxford Biology Mentorship Programme. To support strong senior independent research fellowship applications. Apply by 25 March.

Three people, two women and a man, smile and converse outside a modern building. Text reads: Oxford Biology Mentorship Programme. To support strong senior independent research fellowship applications. Apply by 25 March.

Applications for our Fellowship Mentorship Programme are open!

The programme supports promising early career researchers to submit fellowship applications and move towards research independence. Find out more ⬇️
https://bit.ly/BioIRF

09.02.2026 10:15 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And a genius suggestion to add in to acknowledgements when/why using a society journal.

09.02.2026 10:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R

A super handy database to help support academic society journals and other ethical publishing. academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...

09.02.2026 09:53 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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What the replication of experiments does and doesn’t achieve - HBES – by Stuart West & Max Burton-Chellew Replication or repeating of experiments is a key part of the scientific methodology. It increases your trust in that result. It shows that the result was not just...

HBES newsletter on what experimental replication does and doesn't do www.hbes.com/what-the-rep...

09.02.2026 09:02 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Carbon–phosphorus exchange rate constrains density–speed trade-off in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal growth

Robots, fungal growth strategies, and proportional resource exchange between mycorrhizal fungi and plants www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.... @spun.earth @tobykiers.bsky.social

06.02.2026 23:06 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And this was years after Epstein had been prosecuted for soliciting underage sex.

04.02.2026 12:13 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Fellowships

Want to join us in Biology at Oxford? The next round of our fellowship mentoring scheme has just opened www.biology.ox.ac.uk/fellowships

03.02.2026 14:48 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Important Harvard Scientists Attack Kin Selection
Important Harvard Scientists Attack Kin Selection YouTube video by jonfwilkins

The Nowak-Epstein emails reminded us about the genius summary of that strange paper, which has better stood the test of time πŸ˜‚ youtube.com/watch?v=oE6I...

03.02.2026 11:19 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

πŸ˜‚

02.02.2026 17:02 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ˜‚ I can't work out if that would be a good or bad number?

02.02.2026 14:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

😯

02.02.2026 14:32 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, was an early draft with most but not all final authors.

02.02.2026 13:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Gonna borrow this for my next response to rejection letter..

β€œ127. einstein only got 100.

Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spear - oh clouds unfold
Bring me my chariot of fire”

02.02.2026 10:49 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants, Rosemary Grant Advanced Award, 2025 Recipients: Diego Beltran, Josh Felton, Brian Kirz, Stephen Kupchella, Hossein Madhani, Catherine Ogoma, Gabriel Priesing, YanΓ£ Rizzieri, Juliana Rodriguez Fuentes, Wyatt Toure, Hannah Walton.

Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants, Rosemary Grant Advanced Award, 2025 Recipients: Diego Beltran, Josh Felton, Brian Kirz, Stephen Kupchella, Hossein Madhani, Catherine Ogoma, Gabriel Priesing, YanΓ£ Rizzieri, Juliana Rodriguez Fuentes, Wyatt Toure, Hannah Walton.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2025 Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards!
www.evolutionsociety.org/news/display...

02.02.2026 02:29 πŸ‘ 43 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 4