Elijah Watson
@elijahjwatson.bsky.social
anthropologist/biodemographer interested in early life stress, epigenetics, aging, and causal inference 🧬⏳📈
PhD (biological anthropology) & MPH (epidemiology) candidate at Northwestern | NIA F31 fellow
Tar Heel 🐏
https://ejwatson.github.io
PhD (biological anthropology) & MPH (epidemiology) candidate at Northwestern | NIA F31 fellow
Tar Heel 🐏
https://ejwatson.github.io
Pinned
Elijah Watson
@elijahjwatson.bsky.social
· Sep 22
Toward New Directions in Human Biology: A Roadmap for Anthropological Causal Inference With Observational Data
Human biologists seek to understand how cultural, environmental, and biological forces shape observed patterns of human variation. Yet contemporary insights and approaches to observational causal inf....
doi.org
Excited to share a new article with Delaney Glass & @lucia-petito.bsky.social in the American Journal of Human Biology! 🧬
We introduce a roadmap for causal inference with observational data in human biology & biocultural anthropology.
(1/4)
We introduce a roadmap for causal inference with observational data in human biology & biocultural anthropology.
(1/4)
Reposted by Elijah Watson
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
November 21, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
Reposted by Elijah Watson
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 Elijah Watson
Somehow I spoke to more anthropologists for my silly little podcast than Yuval Harari did for his bestselling book
Really enjoyed chatting with @michaelhobbes.bsky.social for this episode! In addition to being a delight to talk to, Michael was _extremely_ committed to getting the facts right & engaged very earnestly with our feedback. A scientist's dream.
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
November 20, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Somehow I spoke to more anthropologists for my silly little podcast than Yuval Harari did for his bestselling book
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Now this is how you detect whether an election was stolen. Humans choose rounder numbers.
by @TheEconomist
by @TheEconomist
November 6, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Now this is how you detect whether an election was stolen. Humans choose rounder numbers.
by @TheEconomist
by @TheEconomist
Reposted by Elijah Watson
In between things I've been checking in on the emails that mention "university" and uhh did we all know about this connection?
![Screenshot from the Epstein Document Search which reads: House_Oversight_029401
From: Donald Rubin
Sent: 1/22/2017 7:31:32 PM
To: jeffrey E. [jeeyacation@gmail.com]
Subject: Republican health care experts dismiss Donald Trump's ideas
Importance: High
https://www.statnews.com/20 1 6/03/04/trump -repub cans-health-care/? s camp aign=trendmd
Jeffrey,
This cannot be true, can it? This guy must be as dumb about this stuff as a tampon laced with arsenic!!
HELP!
Great meeting yesterday — really enjoyed it.
And happy birthday again, Don
Donald B. Rubin
John L. Loeb Professor of Statistics
Department of Statistics, Harvard University
1 Oxford Street
Cambridge MA 02138
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 029401](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ozma3timm5c32fa7bimb4zaj/bafkreiezajc6f2rgwxrdx2242izbelpumkgdruc52pzu236rhovlcyfmde@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
In between things I've been checking in on the emails that mention "university" and uhh did we all know about this connection?
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
![Sent:
To:
Subject:
Attachments:
Robert Trivers
6/25/2018 2:19:44 AM
jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]
Re:
EPSTEIN.docx
Importance: High
perhaps i misunderstood "let's concentrate on you"
Jamaica is bad enough but i have mastered that-at least the danger-4th highest murder rate in the world as for the us i have alienated large stretches of it-i will spare you the details i was amused that you are now friends with JD Watson he single-handedly prevented me from getting a Junior Fellowship at Harvard
In 1972 I got my PhD in Biology and it was conventional to nominate the very best post-docs for a Junior Fellowship, Harvard's most prestigious award-it provided three years of research support without any duties. I was the best student out of Evolutionary and Organismic Biology in more than 20 years. The entire department was behind me.
but Watson was on the 3-man committee, in charge of all the science candidates and he deemed my two papers, reciprocal altruism and parental investment and sexual selection as "not being science" and dismissed me in one sentence. Well bless his soul, he now does not even understand his own subject-yes, i speak of genetics-because having remained resolutely ignorant of evolutionary logic and biology he can neither understand the shape and form of the genotype nor how it differs systematically within life
i have been preparing something for you for a long time on human intelligence, Africa, parasites etc because i prefer to get things right but i am ready to send you what i have main focus is-Africans stupid or smart?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:misyogthncmyejlvlflkvjbh/bafkreidoxuuq447qbvuj3edxli6qr7gzjy2y4ctod5a6363tjgtv4lb6ve@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
A little cloudy, but was so worth the 20 minute walk to the lake to see the northern lights over Chicago
November 12, 2025 at 4:40 AM
A little cloudy, but was so worth the 20 minute walk to the lake to see the northern lights over Chicago
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Billions of regressions ≠ robustness.
My new PNAS Letter shows how unjustified models can drown out justified ones — and why thoughtful model selection matters👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
My new PNAS Letter shows how unjustified models can drown out justified ones — and why thoughtful model selection matters👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 11, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Billions of regressions ≠ robustness.
My new PNAS Letter shows how unjustified models can drown out justified ones — and why thoughtful model selection matters👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
My new PNAS Letter shows how unjustified models can drown out justified ones — and why thoughtful model selection matters👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Elijah Watson
When there is a random way to do something, there is a less random way that is better but requires more thought. In this case, regression models that make no sense don't belong in a multiverse analysis. An inferential regression without a causal justification is like an opinion without reasons.
October 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
When there is a random way to do something, there is a less random way that is better but requires more thought. In this case, regression models that make no sense don't belong in a multiverse analysis. An inferential regression without a causal justification is like an opinion without reasons.
Reposted by Elijah Watson
We're excited to share the final version of our paper, where we demonstrate how confounding remains a thorny problem for claims about causal genetic influences on human behavioral and socioeconomic outcomes. (w/ @jedidiahcarlson.com @oliviarxiv.bsky.social Ruth Shaw @arbelharpak.bsky.social) 🧵👇
November 7, 2025 at 7:06 PM
We're excited to share the final version of our paper, where we demonstrate how confounding remains a thorny problem for claims about causal genetic influences on human behavioral and socioeconomic outcomes. (w/ @jedidiahcarlson.com @oliviarxiv.bsky.social Ruth Shaw @arbelharpak.bsky.social) 🧵👇
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Reposted by Elijah Watson
What a hell of a story. This reporter moved mountains in this one. 70+ sources, threats from officials, and more but he just kept on it
NEW: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power.
Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.
By @dougbockclark.bsky.social
Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.
By @dougbockclark.bsky.social
“Biblical Justice, Equal Justice, for All”: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America
Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well be...
www.propublica.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:38 AM
What a hell of a story. This reporter moved mountains in this one. 70+ sources, threats from officials, and more but he just kept on it
My wife & I went through the appeal & external review process—on our own, without support of a healthcare provider’s insurance staff or a lawyer—and won coverage for her previously denied surgeries.
We learned 2 things: 1) insurance companies are sloppy & 2) they assume you are too dumb to notice.
We learned 2 things: 1) insurance companies are sloppy & 2) they assume you are too dumb to notice.
Few patients appeal a health insurance denial, but a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment.
Here’s what experts say you need to know.
By @deldeib.bsky.social
Here’s what experts say you need to know.
By @deldeib.bsky.social
This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It.
When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
My wife & I went through the appeal & external review process—on our own, without support of a healthcare provider’s insurance staff or a lawyer—and won coverage for her previously denied surgeries.
We learned 2 things: 1) insurance companies are sloppy & 2) they assume you are too dumb to notice.
We learned 2 things: 1) insurance companies are sloppy & 2) they assume you are too dumb to notice.
Reposted by Elijah Watson
honestly the only piece worth reading on the platner situation. @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is absolutely cooking here. (gift link)
Opinion | A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:36 PM
honestly the only piece worth reading on the platner situation. @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is absolutely cooking here. (gift link)
Reposted by Elijah Watson
🚨Social scientists! @psuanthro.bsky.social & @ssripennstate.bsky.social are hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor exploring how social & ecological environments shape reproduction, growth, &/or development. Review starts soon! Please share widely! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
Assistant Professor of Anthropology in Human Reproductive Ecology
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:41 PM
🚨Social scientists! @psuanthro.bsky.social & @ssripennstate.bsky.social are hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor exploring how social & ecological environments shape reproduction, growth, &/or development. Review starts soon! Please share widely! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
Reposted by Elijah Watson
We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?
October 27, 2025 at 5:39 PM
We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?
Reposted by Elijah Watson
And you can pray em-dashes from my cold dead hands, too
"Oxford commas are a sign you write with ai" I will find such a unique way to rip out your spine that they'll make a movie about it
October 23, 2025 at 10:20 PM
And you can pray em-dashes from my cold dead hands, too
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Excited to finally have this article out with @robingnelson.blacksky.app. Although we have nominally centered populations as our unit of evolutionary analysis in biological anthropology, we have no coherent understanding of what a population is. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
The Population Problem: Biological Anthropology and the Many Definitions of a Population
Objectives With a focus on variability, biological anthropology has nominally centered the population as a key unit of analysis and node of evolutionary change. In this paper, we examine constructio...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Excited to finally have this article out with @robingnelson.blacksky.app. Although we have nominally centered populations as our unit of evolutionary analysis in biological anthropology, we have no coherent understanding of what a population is. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Elijah Watson
One day you're grad school roommates in the dankest apt in Ann Arbor; 20 years later you write a paper together. To friendship and scholarship -
On populations & our poor operationalization of the concept w/
@apv2600.bsky.social
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/doi/10.1002/...
On populations & our poor operationalization of the concept w/
@apv2600.bsky.social
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/doi/10.1002/...
October 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
One day you're grad school roommates in the dankest apt in Ann Arbor; 20 years later you write a paper together. To friendship and scholarship -
On populations & our poor operationalization of the concept w/
@apv2600.bsky.social
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/doi/10.1002/...
On populations & our poor operationalization of the concept w/
@apv2600.bsky.social
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Elijah Watson
🚨 The Economist has been telling you for years that polygamy causes civil war by locking men out of marriage. A new article with @rebeccasear.bsky.social and @anthrolog.bsky.social explains that the demography of marriage markets doesn't actually work that way. 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market | PNAS
There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press,
that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by ...
www.pnas.org
October 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
🚨 The Economist has been telling you for years that polygamy causes civil war by locking men out of marriage. A new article with @rebeccasear.bsky.social and @anthrolog.bsky.social explains that the demography of marriage markets doesn't actually work that way. 🧵
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Elijah Watson
An ambitious state government would fund its university system *better* right now and scoop up the talent that places like Harvard are going to be shutting out over the next few years....
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
An ambitious state government would fund its university system *better* right now and scoop up the talent that places like Harvard are going to be shutting out over the next few years....
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Reposted by Elijah Watson
The recording is now available so that you can confirm that I indeed have a German accent and color-match my outfits with my Zoom background.
youtu.be/YL0co26ng-g?...
youtu.be/YL0co26ng-g?...
October 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The recording is now available so that you can confirm that I indeed have a German accent and color-match my outfits with my Zoom background.
youtu.be/YL0co26ng-g?...
youtu.be/YL0co26ng-g?...