Rebecca Sear
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rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear
@rebeccasear.bsky.social
11K followers 3.7K following 2.7K posts

Director of the Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London @brunelcce.bsky.social. President of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association @ehbea.bsky.social

https://www.rebeccasear.org/

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Rebecca Sear, is a British anthropologist and academic, who specialises in evolutionary anthropology, demography and human behavioural ecology. Since 2024, she has been director of the Centre for Culture and Evolution at Brunel University London. She previously taught at the London School of Economics, Durham University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. .. more

Psychology 45%
Sociology 15%
Posts Replies Media Videos

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 10h
“I’m not saying these things shouldn’t be studied; I just think we need to be careful about glib political interpretations of these cross-national comparisons”

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 10h
The more I learn about how these rankings are produced, the more disillusioned I am, not just in the rankings but in academia, which unquestioningly adopts the rankings…

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Peter Fallesen

Andrew Gelman et al. @statmodeling.bsky.social · 16h
Problems with the so-called gender equality paradox
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/11/25/p...
Problems with the so-called gender equality paradox | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 20h
“examines how eugenics has resurfaced as a blueprint for contemporary ‘tech-utopian’ & nationalist projects in the West….tech capitalists & conservative elites deploy eugenic logic as ‘common sense’ solutions to social challenges such as climate change, ‘gender ideology’ & fears of depopulation”
Building the ‘Fitter’ Future: Eugenics, Tech Capitalism, and the Politics of Existential Risk
Abstract. The appointment of Elon Musk as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exemplifies the unprecedented and troubling
doi.org

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

bridgetmcgann.medsky.social
Bríd Nic Annaidh ☘️ @bridgetmcgann.medsky.social · 1d
We're inviting teachers in grades 1-3 to test drive lessons about baby mammals and their mothers’ milk!

These lessons use stories and simple activities to help students learn about growth, nutrition, and introduce the concepts of taxonomy and adaptation.

#EduSky #iTeachBio #EduSci #EvoEd 🧪 🛟
A screenshot of a slide showing a classroom activity demonstrating the composition difference between human milk and cow milk, a little cartoon baby, and a scientist talking about human milk. The slide says "The recipe for making human milk is closer to cow milk than seal milk BUT there are lots of hidden differences..."

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Rebecca Sear, Margot C. Finn , and 3 more

hetanshah.bsky.social
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 1d
Important role - new Chair of the Board of @ukri.org
£33k for one day a week. Closes 11 Jan. Would be good from my perspective to get someone who understands higher education and the value of the arts, humanities and social sciences!
plusportal.perrettlaver.com/VacancyDetai...
Perrett Laver - Leading Global Executive Search Firm
plusportal.perrettlaver.com

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 1d
"in his haste to turn X into a political weapon for the far right, Musk may have revealed that the platform he’s long called “the number 1 source of news on Earth” is really just a worthless, poisoned hall of mirrors"
cwarzel.bsky.social Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 1d
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Brendan Nyhan , and 9 more

cwarzel.bsky.social
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 1d
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

dunsworth.bsky.social
Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 1d
How and for whom can genetics education reduce beliefs in genetic essentialism? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41267401/
"We also find that the 3 intervention curricula are highly effective across sociodemographic group characteristics [...] we offer evidence-based strategies for curriculum development"

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

ehowaspi.bsky.social
Elliot Howard-Spink @ehowaspi.bsky.social · 1d
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials - Nature Human Behaviour
Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for orangutans to acquire varied diets.
www.nature.com

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 1d
"results show the higher male than female relatedness & lower Y chromosome than mitochondrial genetic diversity observed in many European Neolithic & Bronze Age sites are compatible with patrilocal residence...these estimators don't successfully discriminate between patrilineal or bilateral descent"
Was descent in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe patrilineal or bilateral? | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Many studies have attempted to gain insights into the kinship systems of past human populations using ancient DNA data. Several studies focusing on Neolithic and Bronze Age European sites reported a h...
royalsocietypublishing.org

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 1d
"‘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...
To reform universities, first tackle global rankings
Universities are in thrall to a rankings system that prioritizes narrow aspects of academic life. Three changes would give institutions the freedom to explore fresh ways of working.
www.nature.com

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 2d
Nice article quoting the right voices on low fertility: "we should be asking questions to certain organisations about why some of them are making it harder to raise children....we shouldn’t be blaming women for not having children and instead focus on what kind of society we want to live in"
The motherhood recession — Artefact
Why some women don't want to have kids in their 20s, or ever.
www.artefactmagazine.com

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Will Jennings, Rebecca Sear , and 4 more

conradhackett.bsky.social
Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 2d
UPDATE: Americans who use
YouTube 84%
Facebook 71%
Instagram 50%
TikTok 37%
WhatsApp 32%
Reddit 26%
Snapchat 25%
X (Twitter) 21%
Threads 8%
Bluesky 4%
Truth Social 3%

Full Pew Research Center report: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/11/20/americans-social-media-use-2025/
Chart showing change in the use of online platforms. Over the past few years, four of them have grown in overall use among U.S. adults – TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and Reddit. TikTok: 37% of U.S. adults report using the platform, which is slightly up from last year and up from 21% in 2021. Instagram: Half of U.S. adults now report using it, which is on par with last year but up from 40% in 2021. WhatsApp and Reddit: About a third say they use WhatsApp, up from 23% in 2021. And 26% today report using Reddit, compared with 18% four years ago. While YouTube and Facebook continue to sit at the top, the shares of Americans who report using them have remained relatively stable in recent years.

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

nature.com
Nature @nature.com · 2d
Academic researchers or clinicians were not among the speakers at the sessions

go.nature.com/43KUwjv
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
Nature - The Make America Healthy Again summit, attended by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and vice-president JD Vance, gave a sense of what’s driving US health policy.
go.nature.com

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

philipncohen.com
Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 2d
ICYMI: "Negative Views of Falling Birth Rates in the United States Come Mostly from the Right Wing." From me: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Figure 1. Proportion who chose “very negative” and “somewhat negative” when asked, “What type of impact do you think it would have on our country if fewer people chose to have children in the future?” (A) Proportion with negative responses by political ideology, religious attendance, age, gender and partnered status, and education. (B) Association with five potential social problems, from “a very big problem” to “not a problem at all.” Red lines highlight the overall mean (.49), and 95 percent confidence intervals are shown. All results are weighted. Data are from the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, wave 148 (May 13–19, 2024).

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 2d
"Drawing on a corpus of over 15,000 scholarly articles published between 1800 and 2024, we map the linguistic landscape of eugenics in scholarly discourse to reveal its institutional, scientific, and sociopolitical entrenchment"

dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Echoes of Eugenics: Tracing the Ideological Persistence of Scientific Racism in Scholarly Discourse | Proceedings of the 5th ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimiza...
dl.acm.org

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 2d
"In the public imagination, universities are national institutions with clear responsibilities. Showing how these responsibilities are being met – for the whole country, not just those who study for a degree – is how the sector can maintain public trust, and meet the political challenge it faces"
The political centre of gravity continues to shift towards higher education sceptics
Graduates and non-graduates are polarised in their views of university study. Steve O’Neil thinks through how the sector can demonstrate its value across the electorate Graduates and non-graduates are...
wonkhe.com

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 2d
"can two individuals born only five or ten years apart end up with very different family structures? Our findings show that the answer is yes"

www.niussp.org/fertility-an...
The kinship gap. When just a few years of difference make a difference - N-IUSSP
Rapid decline in a country’s birth and death rates creates a “kinship gap”, leaving people born just years apart with vastly different family support networks. Sha Jiang discusses the ensuing ... Read...
www.niussp.org

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Bruce D. Baker

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 3d
There women go, not ruining science again 🤷‍♀️

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Women seem to retract fewer papers than men — but why?
In an analysis of nearly 900 retracted medical-research studies, the number of female authors is disproportionately low.
www.nature.com

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 3d
“Orbán learned before anyone else that controlling the universities that train a country’s elite is the best way to gain eventual control of its political system”

www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/can-ac...
Can academic freedom survive in the new age of hard power?
While submitting to authority comes naturally to Asian universities, their Western counterparts have traditionally resisted coercion. But Donald Trump’s compact could change the game with the illusion...
www.timeshighereducation.com

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

philipncohen.com
Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 3d
If this means the decades of sociology using twins to estimate heritability is wrong, has someone written that up for non-genetics people to understand? Seems important
sashagusevposts.bsky.social Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · 4d
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com

Reposted by Linda J. Skitka, William J. Brady, Rebecca Sear , and 1 more

sashagusevposts.bsky.social
Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · 4d
So there you have it, twin study estimates were greatly inflated, and molecular data sets the record straight. I walk through possible counter-arguments, but ultimately the uncomfortable truth is that genes contribute to traits much less than we always thought.

Reposted by Simon Roux, Alistair Munro, Ben Barr , and 9 more

sashagusevposts.bsky.social
Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · 4d
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Rebecca Sear

erikpostma.bsky.social
Erik Postma @erikpostma.bsky.social · 4d
A lot has happened since our first announcement of #ExE2026, an evolutionary ecology conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in #Cornwall from June 29 to July 3 2026.

Have a look at our new website to see our confirmed plenary speakers, the mid-conference excursions, and more.

👉 evoxeco.uk 👈
The logo of the Evolution x Ecology 2026 conference in Cornwall, UK.

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Margot C. Finn, Catriona Seth

hetanshah.bsky.social
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 4d
We are seeing multiple university course closures across a range of arts, humanities & social sciences. I'll be in the East Midlands at De Montfort University on Thurs 27 Nov talking about why these disciplines are essential to the future of the UK. All welcome
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shaping-a-...
Shaping a Brighter Future
The first event in our Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series, delivered by Hetan Shah, Chief Executive, The British Academy
www.eventbrite.co.uk

Reposted by Mel Bartley, Margot C. Finn, Clark Gray

rebeccasear.bsky.social
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 4d
Policy should focus not on fertility targets but on how “societies can remain prosperous, equitable & sustainable under conditions of low fertility, population aging & population decline. That is a question better aligned with what we actually know—and with the uncertainties we must acknowledge”
The demographic future that we do not know about
The demographic future of the planet has rarely been as questioned as it is today. For much of the 20th century, the demographic transition theory provided a clear narrative: With modernization and de...
www.science.org

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d
'The economic impact of international students in the UK surged from £31.3 billion in 2018/19 to £41.9 billion by 2021/22. On average, every parliamentary constituency in Britain benefits by £58 million.' 1/3
Which UK regional economies are most reliant on international students? - HEPI
Join HEPI for a webinar on Thursday 11 December 2025 from 10am to 11am to discuss how universities can strengthen the student voice in governance to mark the launch of our upcoming report, Rethinking ...
www.hepi.ac.uk

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

heimbergecon.bsky.social
Philipp Heimberger @heimbergecon.bsky.social · 4d
This paper shows: support for lower taxes declines significantly when this comes into conflict with other fiscal policy objectives, e.g. social spending. Regressive reforms receive less support than progressive reforms. Left-leaning, high-income voters resist tax reductions more.

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social
Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 4d
Odd coverage of the #covidinquiry by the Today Programme.
Screen shot from X: Conversation Anthony Costello @globalhlthtwit Beyond belief. #BBCR4 Today discuss the Covid Report with Tory minister Michael Gove proposing it was accepted to be a lab leak, (not accepted by most virologists) Carl Heneghan, libertarian Dr and supporter of disinformation from the Brownstone Institute. No lessons learned.