Claudio Tennie
@ctennie.bsky.social
Group Leader, Uni Tübingen | Humans, hominins, and apes | Evolution of human cultural evolution
-> When and how did we get from ape-like cultures to deep, broad & open-ended cultural evolution?
https://sites.google.com/view/claudiotennie
-> When and how did we get from ape-like cultures to deep, broad & open-ended cultural evolution?
https://sites.google.com/view/claudiotennie
Pinned
Claudio Tennie
@ctennie.bsky.social
· Dec 13
#700 Claudio Tennie: Tool Behaviors in Great Apes, Cultural Transmission, and Cumulative Culture
YouTube video by The Dissenter
www.youtube.com
Bsky is growing - follower lists do, too.
Let me introduce myself.
I study archaeology, biology & psychology. The common theme: evolution of cultural evolution (especially of: tools).
Two recent interviews give an overview:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8UK...
&
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB31...
Let me introduce myself.
I study archaeology, biology & psychology. The common theme: evolution of cultural evolution (especially of: tools).
Two recent interviews give an overview:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8UK...
&
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB31...
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
We’re looking for a motivated & curious researcher to join our team as a PhD candidate! You’ll work with Prof. Bridget Waller, Dr. Annika Bremhorst, & me at the Dog Cognition Centre, UoP.
Are you fascinated by the dog–human bond & dog-human communication? 🐶
Interested? Get in touch with me.
Are you fascinated by the dog–human bond & dog-human communication? 🐶
Interested? Get in touch with me.
Shaped by domestication: Did the evolution of facial muscle anatomy and ear morphology in dogs reflect adaptations to humans’ unconscious preferences?
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:16 PM
We’re looking for a motivated & curious researcher to join our team as a PhD candidate! You’ll work with Prof. Bridget Waller, Dr. Annika Bremhorst, & me at the Dog Cognition Centre, UoP.
Are you fascinated by the dog–human bond & dog-human communication? 🐶
Interested? Get in touch with me.
Are you fascinated by the dog–human bond & dog-human communication? 🐶
Interested? Get in touch with me.
I had not seen this before. Very interesting, by Jane Goodall - taken from the transcipt of this interview: freakonomics.com/podcast/jane...
November 25, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I had not seen this before. Very interesting, by Jane Goodall - taken from the transcipt of this interview: freakonomics.com/podcast/jane...
Orangutan youngsters reach the broad diet they need to survive only if they culturally learn what to eat & where to find it
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
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
November 24, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Orangutan youngsters reach the broad diet they need to survive only if they culturally learn what to eat & where to find it
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
November 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
A very interesting twist to a thing that just went up and down bsky. Looks like the AI part here was more like thin icing on a human artist's cake:
I am very proud of the artwork on the cover of our recent Phil Trans issue on consciousness. It is based on watercolor paintings and ink drawings on paper I did myself, based on published diagrams by recognized experts on comparative brain anatomy (detailed in the caption which it seems no one read)
November 21, 2025 at 10:30 PM
A very interesting twist to a thing that just went up and down bsky. Looks like the AI part here was more like thin icing on a human artist's cake:
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
Glad to see that in the criteria for tenure our department now explicitly includes #openscience. There’s hope!
@ikmz.bsky.social @esserfrank.bsky.social
@ikmz.bsky.social @esserfrank.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Glad to see that in the criteria for tenure our department now explicitly includes #openscience. There’s hope!
@ikmz.bsky.social @esserfrank.bsky.social
@ikmz.bsky.social @esserfrank.bsky.social
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
We did a thing. 😬
The link between the gut #microbiome and autism is not backed by science, researchers say.
Read the full opinion piece in @cp-neuron.bsky.social: spkl.io/63322AbxpA
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social, @statsepi.bsky.social, & @deevybee.bsky.social
Read the full opinion piece in @cp-neuron.bsky.social: spkl.io/63322AbxpA
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social, @statsepi.bsky.social, & @deevybee.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 5:59 PM
We did a thing. 😬
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
TU/e has gained a new research centre: META/e. Daniël Lakens and Krist Vaesen were among the founders of this knowledge hub for metascience—research aimed at improving the practice of science itself. “We want to be a home for every researcher who occasionally wonders: what are we even doing?”
Knowledge centre META/e: home for those improving science
TU/e has gained a new research centre: META/e. Daniël Lakens and Krist Vaesen were among the founders of this knowledge hub for metascience—research aimed at improving the practice of science itself. ...
www.cursor.tue.nl
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
TU/e has gained a new research centre: META/e. Daniël Lakens and Krist Vaesen were among the founders of this knowledge hub for metascience—research aimed at improving the practice of science itself. “We want to be a home for every researcher who occasionally wonders: what are we even doing?”
Strong response to recent critiques of the sequence-struggle hypothesis. Chapeau!
For this reason, we wrote this comment, published yesterday. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
We reason that 1) their data supports rather than rejects the sequence hypothesis, as monkeys and chimps did not perform with any precision in these sequential tasks. 7/n
We reason that 1) their data supports rather than rejects the sequence hypothesis, as monkeys and chimps did not perform with any precision in these sequential tasks. 7/n
November 13, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Strong response to recent critiques of the sequence-struggle hypothesis. Chapeau!
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Teaching this on Monday
November 8, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Teaching this on Monday
There is a tiny little sign here in Tübingen at the castle, signposting the old laboratory and this finding.
Watson and Crick elucidated the structure of DNA. Stop saying that they discovered DNA! This was done by another guy you probably haven't heard of! And therein lies a story. academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
Before Watson and Crick in 1953 Came Friedrich Miescher in 1869
Abstract. The story of genetics typically omits the original discovery of the molecular nature of DNA: Friedrich Miescher's 1869 discovery of the substance
academic.oup.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:11 AM
There is a tiny little sign here in Tübingen at the castle, signposting the old laboratory and this finding.
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
"I did not duplicate data intentionally. Those formulas found their way into my Excel data files by accident too." 🙄
November 7, 2025 at 1:14 AM
"I did not duplicate data intentionally. Those formulas found their way into my Excel data files by accident too." 🙄
Is the psychology replication crisis (at last) catching up with animal cognition?
"Our results indicate low statistical power and inflated effect sizes in both primary studies and meta-analyses."
Preprint here:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
"Our results indicate low statistical power and inflated effect sizes in both primary studies and meta-analyses."
Preprint here:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
The statistical fragility of animal cognition findings: a meta-meta-analytic reappraisal
ecoevorxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Is the psychology replication crisis (at last) catching up with animal cognition?
"Our results indicate low statistical power and inflated effect sizes in both primary studies and meta-analyses."
Preprint here:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
"Our results indicate low statistical power and inflated effect sizes in both primary studies and meta-analyses."
Preprint here:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
Understanding this balance may be critical to developing more equitable innovation systems. Increasing population density in metropolitan areas does not automatically boost innovation.
November 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Understanding this balance may be critical to developing more equitable innovation systems. Increasing population density in metropolitan areas does not automatically boost innovation.
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
"Simple Neanderthal art wasn’t about lesser minds, it was about social life. Culture and connection shaped art evolution."
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission
www.cambridge.org
October 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM
"Simple Neanderthal art wasn’t about lesser minds, it was about social life. Culture and connection shaped art evolution."
Just out - "Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission" by Straffon & Tennie
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission
www.cambridge.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Just out - "Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission" by Straffon & Tennie
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
The people who would vote for Farage's ReFuk and support axing the NHS (to fund a tax cut for the extremely wealthy elites) need to know how much health insurance costs.
In the UK, a lot of people think health insurance is a £50 a month premium to Bupa. No grasp on reality...
In the UK, a lot of people think health insurance is a £50 a month premium to Bupa. No grasp on reality...
October 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
The people who would vote for Farage's ReFuk and support axing the NHS (to fund a tax cut for the extremely wealthy elites) need to know how much health insurance costs.
In the UK, a lot of people think health insurance is a £50 a month premium to Bupa. No grasp on reality...
In the UK, a lot of people think health insurance is a £50 a month premium to Bupa. No grasp on reality...
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
April 5, 1925: Wolfgang Köhler, an eminent German psychology professor, cancels a planned lecture in North Carolina about the language and habits of chimpanzees. Although his studies have nothing to do with evolution the suggestion of a human-ape link is highly sensitive.
April 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
April 5, 1925: Wolfgang Köhler, an eminent German psychology professor, cancels a planned lecture in North Carolina about the language and habits of chimpanzees. Although his studies have nothing to do with evolution the suggestion of a human-ape link is highly sensitive.
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
Monty Python understood p-hacking
October 23, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Monty Python understood p-hacking
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
🐦 Exciting news! Our new paper is out in PLOS Biology:
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social
A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia
Neophobia (the aversive response to novelty) varies considerably across species and individuals, and can impact adaptability and survival. This study assesses neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 bird ...
journals.plos.org
October 14, 2025 at 6:45 PM
🐦 Exciting news! Our new paper is out in PLOS Biology:
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social
Wanted to make a joke that the 99.7 percent accuracy might include your main take-home message being reversed by AI-insertion of the word "not". But the real joke in all this is much better even.
Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com
October 15, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Wanted to make a joke that the 99.7 percent accuracy might include your main take-home message being reversed by AI-insertion of the word "not". But the real joke in all this is much better even.
Reposted by Claudio Tennie
📢🚀 Are you an early-career researcher working on anything related to culture, behaviour or learning? 🧠🌍 Join ESLR, an interdisciplinary research community! We have a NEW website and our membership is now FREE. 👉 Sign up here to get updates and become a member: www.eslrsociety.com/membership
ESLR | Membership
www.eslrsociety.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:43 AM
📢🚀 Are you an early-career researcher working on anything related to culture, behaviour or learning? 🧠🌍 Join ESLR, an interdisciplinary research community! We have a NEW website and our membership is now FREE. 👉 Sign up here to get updates and become a member: www.eslrsociety.com/membership
Watched it a few years ago. Still recovering.
Of course there was also the delight of watching 'The Day After', just in case you had any hope for the future left.
But the holy grail of trauma collecting was watching 'Threads', for which I still need to gather courage to watch.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads...
But the holy grail of trauma collecting was watching 'Threads', for which I still need to gather courage to watch.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads...
September 26, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Watched it a few years ago. Still recovering.