Ben Allen
@evodynamics.bsky.social
Mathematical biologist studying evolution. Professor of Mathematics at Emmanuel College, MA. Queer, nonbinary (they/them). For social and ecological justice. Jewish as in Free Palestine. https://www.emmanuel.edu/emmanuel-mathematical-biology-research-embr
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Ben Allen
@evodynamics.bsky.social
· Dec 12
Validate User
academic.oup.com
Before 2025 closes out, I wanted to make a thread on my proudest recent paper! (Ok, it's from 2024, but I haven't done a bluesky thread on it before).
Allen et al. (2024) "Nonlinear social evolution and the emergence of collective action", PNAS Nexus
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Allen et al. (2024) "Nonlinear social evolution and the emergence of collective action", PNAS Nexus
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Ben Allen
New — I wrote about ChongLy Scott Thao, the elderly Hmong American wrongly arrested and forced out of his home by ICE in his underwear during the punishing Minnesota winter, what witnesses saw, and DHS's racist claim that he fit the description of another Asian man they were looking for.
My story:
My story:
Behind the disturbing image of ICE snatching a half-naked, elderly Hmong American from his home
DHS has claimed without evidence that they were looking for someone else when they took ChongLy Scott Thao.
www.thehandbasket.co
January 20, 2026 at 12:29 AM
New — I wrote about ChongLy Scott Thao, the elderly Hmong American wrongly arrested and forced out of his home by ICE in his underwear during the punishing Minnesota winter, what witnesses saw, and DHS's racist claim that he fit the description of another Asian man they were looking for.
My story:
My story:
Reposted by Ben Allen
Registration is OPEN: The Ultimate Career & Community Conference for Math Students!
🗓 Dates: February 7-8, 2026
📍 Format: Virtual & Free
🔗 Register Here: tinyurl.com/OurFA2M2-2026
Whether you are looking for your first REU or looking for a community where you belong, this is for you.
🗓 Dates: February 7-8, 2026
📍 Format: Virtual & Free
🔗 Register Here: tinyurl.com/OurFA2M2-2026
Whether you are looking for your first REU or looking for a community where you belong, this is for you.
January 19, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Registration is OPEN: The Ultimate Career & Community Conference for Math Students!
🗓 Dates: February 7-8, 2026
📍 Format: Virtual & Free
🔗 Register Here: tinyurl.com/OurFA2M2-2026
Whether you are looking for your first REU or looking for a community where you belong, this is for you.
🗓 Dates: February 7-8, 2026
📍 Format: Virtual & Free
🔗 Register Here: tinyurl.com/OurFA2M2-2026
Whether you are looking for your first REU or looking for a community where you belong, this is for you.
Reposted by Ben Allen
Every now and then I get the Rosa Parks wasn't the first arrest post on my feed. What made Rosa Parks story famous wasn't a conspiracy it was organizing. I teach the boycotts when I teach campaigns and strategy. The Montgomery Boycotts weren't the first bus boycotts they learned from other failures
January 19, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Every now and then I get the Rosa Parks wasn't the first arrest post on my feed. What made Rosa Parks story famous wasn't a conspiracy it was organizing. I teach the boycotts when I teach campaigns and strategy. The Montgomery Boycotts weren't the first bus boycotts they learned from other failures
Reposted by Ben Allen
For any queer mathematicians and their allies: consider attending the Queer in Math Days in Leipzig
I won't be able to make it, but the 2024 edition was very fun!
I won't be able to make it, but the 2024 edition was very fun!
January 19, 2026 at 3:57 PM
For any queer mathematicians and their allies: consider attending the Queer in Math Days in Leipzig
I won't be able to make it, but the 2024 edition was very fun!
I won't be able to make it, but the 2024 edition was very fun!
Reposted by Ben Allen
per the story, the “Abolish ICE is bad” dude is also a “former Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection official”
The author of a controversial memo from centrist think tank Searchlight telling Democrats to abandon the slogan “Abolish ICE” is a senior advisor for WestExec, a D.C. shadow lobbyist for corporations in the defense, surveillance, and immigration enforcement industries.
prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
Author of ‘Don’t Say Abolish ICE’ Memo Is a Corporate Consultant - The American Prospect
Blas Nuñez-Neto is a senior adviser to WestExec, a shadow lobbyist for defense and tech firms.
prospect.org
January 19, 2026 at 2:58 PM
per the story, the “Abolish ICE is bad” dude is also a “former Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection official”
Trump is desperate for a legacy. He knows he'll be remembered as one of the worst US presidents, so he is desperate for some tangible marker--Nobel Prize, piece of land, performing arts center--that will pull outlast him. That's the common thread here.
Not the most vengeful and pathetically insecure narcissist you've ever seen, but the most vengeful and pathetically insecure narcissist that has ever lived.
Trump links Greenland dispute to not getting Nobel Peace Prize, in letter to Norway's PM
The US president says he no longer feels obliged to think only of peace, after not being awarded the annual prize.
www.bbc.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Trump is desperate for a legacy. He knows he'll be remembered as one of the worst US presidents, so he is desperate for some tangible marker--Nobel Prize, piece of land, performing arts center--that will pull outlast him. That's the common thread here.
Reposted by Ben Allen
Hearing reports that a man taken by ICE in Minneapolis died in federal custody.
January 18, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Hearing reports that a man taken by ICE in Minneapolis died in federal custody.
Reposted by Ben Allen
Have your #MathCoffeeSelfie out and ready for inspection. Single file, please.
January 18, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Have your #MathCoffeeSelfie out and ready for inspection. Single file, please.
Reposted by Ben Allen
There was a similar flowering of Black American public intellectuals culminating in the 2016-2024 period, and I'd argue the anti-Woke backlash was in many ways a reaction to the threat this posed to the outclassed white punditocracy, for whom meritocracy and DEI hire was a way to disqualify them.
Just finished this right after having read @hofrench.bsky.social's Second Emancipation, and it convinced me that the African & African diaspora anti-colonial thinkers of the 1940-1975 period constituted one of the great intellectual movements in the history of humankind.
Second Enlightenment level.
Second Enlightenment level.
We think of the postwar world order as having been built by the US. But as Getachew makes clear, that world order was completed by the intellectual giants of the African, pan-African and African diaspora liberation movements.
It is no coincidence Trump & Miller are targeting its fundamental tenet.
It is no coincidence Trump & Miller are targeting its fundamental tenet.
January 18, 2026 at 12:55 PM
There was a similar flowering of Black American public intellectuals culminating in the 2016-2024 period, and I'd argue the anti-Woke backlash was in many ways a reaction to the threat this posed to the outclassed white punditocracy, for whom meritocracy and DEI hire was a way to disqualify them.
Reposted by Ben Allen
If you read one thing today, it should be this
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
Witnesses tell of the brutality inflicted on those taking part in anti-regime protests
www.thetimes.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:04 AM
If you read one thing today, it should be this
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Reposted by Ben Allen
I’m sorry but I still can’t get over the fact that the analyst Jean Leray was captured by Nazis in 1940 and knew it was time to become Goblin Wizardman & this is why the world contains sheaves
![1 Prewar work
Leray's first published work, in 1931, was in fluid dynamics; he proved the basic existence and uniqueness results for the Navier-Stokes equations. Roger Temam (74] has expressed the view that no further significant rigorous work on Navier-Stokes equations was done until that of E. Hopf in 1951.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:67fu5pe5yhqmxtwldxhrf3pw/bafkreiec4ztsksgcdrrnyzaf5ebeaw2m4uoy6ycqphpjb6geccslkdtu54@jpeg)
January 17, 2026 at 7:04 PM
I’m sorry but I still can’t get over the fact that the analyst Jean Leray was captured by Nazis in 1940 and knew it was time to become Goblin Wizardman & this is why the world contains sheaves
Reposted by Ben Allen
every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
January 16, 2026 at 9:24 PM
every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
Reposted by Ben Allen
Heard from a public school staffer.
ICE agents follow school buses on their afternoon routes & target some parents picking up kids from bus stops.
If ICE knew anything abt particular parents, they'd go to homes.
Seems they're just leveraging kids' vulnerability & mixing with racial profiling.
ICE agents follow school buses on their afternoon routes & target some parents picking up kids from bus stops.
If ICE knew anything abt particular parents, they'd go to homes.
Seems they're just leveraging kids' vulnerability & mixing with racial profiling.
January 15, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Heard from a public school staffer.
ICE agents follow school buses on their afternoon routes & target some parents picking up kids from bus stops.
If ICE knew anything abt particular parents, they'd go to homes.
Seems they're just leveraging kids' vulnerability & mixing with racial profiling.
ICE agents follow school buses on their afternoon routes & target some parents picking up kids from bus stops.
If ICE knew anything abt particular parents, they'd go to homes.
Seems they're just leveraging kids' vulnerability & mixing with racial profiling.
That the VA legislature can do all this in just three days with a Democratic majority means we really need to expect more of Massachusetts
The Virginia legislature today passed four constitutional amendments, all by day 3 of 2026 session:
—protect abortion rights
—repeal the same-sex marriage ban
—allow mid-decade redistricting
—greatly expand voting rights restoration.
These will all go to 2026 referendums.
—protect abortion rights
—repeal the same-sex marriage ban
—allow mid-decade redistricting
—greatly expand voting rights restoration.
These will all go to 2026 referendums.
January 16, 2026 at 11:13 PM
That the VA legislature can do all this in just three days with a Democratic majority means we really need to expect more of Massachusetts
Sadly, this conference is not about what you might think fur2026.ua.es/en
FUR 2026 - FUR Conference 2026
fur2026.ua.es
January 16, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Sadly, this conference is not about what you might think fur2026.ua.es/en
Reposted by Ben Allen
![The network's top editor, Bari Weiss, expressed a high level of interest in the story on an editorial call Wednesday morning, according to staffers who listened.
"There was big internal dissension about the
'internal bleeding' report here last night," the
CBS News staffer, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said. "It was viewed as a thinly-veiled, anonymous leak by [the Trump administration] to someone who'd carry it online."
"Felt to many here like we were carrying water for the admin's justifying of the shooting to keep our access to our sources," said a second network staffer, who was also not authorized to comment.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:it4vfrn3hgrb3hsvvwfltqqa/bafkreifehbfqwnd7wxwqe3ywb42uni2stbz4ifikyujgzah4dmkvfx6isu@jpeg)
Reposted by Ben Allen
THREAD of offers of guest lectures (via Zoom) for Minneapolis-area classes so faculty can offer their students a top-quality education while dealing with other crises
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Finally, a note to the many professors in my networks: One other specific, small thing you can do from outside of Minneapolis is reach out to colleagues who are heavily affected (because of their own or their family's risk, or because they're very busy protecting neighbors) and offer a guest lecture
January 15, 2026 at 7:43 PM
THREAD of offers of guest lectures (via Zoom) for Minneapolis-area classes so faculty can offer their students a top-quality education while dealing with other crises
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Seeing tons of extremely generous offers. I'll try to post 'em all here--please add your own w topics you can cover & how to contact
Reposted by Ben Allen
My friends local to Minnesota, whom I trust a great deal, would like to share the following resources that could use support.
PowWowGrounds - Native American Coffee Shop doing direct food and supply aid to their communities-
Venmo @powwowgrounds
www.powwowgrounds.com
PowWowGrounds - Native American Coffee Shop doing direct food and supply aid to their communities-
Venmo @powwowgrounds
www.powwowgrounds.com
Pow Wow Grounds
www.powwowgrounds.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:30 AM
My friends local to Minnesota, whom I trust a great deal, would like to share the following resources that could use support.
PowWowGrounds - Native American Coffee Shop doing direct food and supply aid to their communities-
Venmo @powwowgrounds
www.powwowgrounds.com
PowWowGrounds - Native American Coffee Shop doing direct food and supply aid to their communities-
Venmo @powwowgrounds
www.powwowgrounds.com
Reposted by Ben Allen
Trump is not omnipotent. He exists within a web of institutions. His authority is not unlimited. It appears that way largely because his allies occupy key places — Congress — that could provide a meaningful check. Important to understand his actual reach and the limits of that reach. (14/14)
January 15, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Trump is not omnipotent. He exists within a web of institutions. His authority is not unlimited. It appears that way largely because his allies occupy key places — Congress — that could provide a meaningful check. Important to understand his actual reach and the limits of that reach. (14/14)
Reposted by Ben Allen
This exactly. Look, you handle fuckers like this by calling their bluff and showing up anyway. You don't do it stupidly, you arm yourself or take steps to neutralize violence if you can, but you don't let threats dictate the grounds you play on either. Fuck that.
January 15, 2026 at 7:42 PM
This exactly. Look, you handle fuckers like this by calling their bluff and showing up anyway. You don't do it stupidly, you arm yourself or take steps to neutralize violence if you can, but you don't let threats dictate the grounds you play on either. Fuck that.
Would Trump like to cancel the midterms? Yes
Does he have a clear operational path to doing so? No
Will he try to pull some f*ckery anyway? Yes
Do we have capacity to fight back against this f*ckery? Yes
Prepare. Don't despair.
Does he have a clear operational path to doing so? No
Will he try to pull some f*ckery anyway? Yes
Do we have capacity to fight back against this f*ckery? Yes
Prepare. Don't despair.
the question to ask about this is, okay, he wants to cancel the midterms. how does he get the VA state board of elections to cancel the midterms? how does he get the georgia board of elections to do it? how does he convince republican house members to quit their jobs and give up their paychecks?
Trump says a lot of deranged shit, but, per this Reuters article — and the threats of invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota this morning — he is very clearly exploring how to cancel the midterms.
www.reuters.com/world/us/fiv...
www.reuters.com/world/us/fiv...
January 15, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Would Trump like to cancel the midterms? Yes
Does he have a clear operational path to doing so? No
Will he try to pull some f*ckery anyway? Yes
Do we have capacity to fight back against this f*ckery? Yes
Prepare. Don't despair.
Does he have a clear operational path to doing so? No
Will he try to pull some f*ckery anyway? Yes
Do we have capacity to fight back against this f*ckery? Yes
Prepare. Don't despair.
Reposted by Ben Allen
save this post: oʻòóôõöøōŏőœɔơọº
January 14, 2026 at 4:28 PM
save this post: oʻòóôõöøōŏőœɔơọº
Reposted by Ben Allen
Yes, immigration agents not only took Arnoldo's phone, the 10th grader had to use Find My Phone to locate it — in a vending machine for used electronics, close to an ICE detention center.
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
January 14, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Yes, immigration agents not only took Arnoldo's phone, the 10th grader had to use Find My Phone to locate it — in a vending machine for used electronics, close to an ICE detention center.
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
Reposted by Ben Allen
The deadline to submit your abstract(s) for the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer conference via www.evocancer.com has been extended to Monday 19th January at 09:00 GMT. The conference will take place on 21st-24th May in Hersonissos, Crete.
ISEEC
The International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
www.evocancer.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:28 PM
The deadline to submit your abstract(s) for the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer conference via www.evocancer.com has been extended to Monday 19th January at 09:00 GMT. The conference will take place on 21st-24th May in Hersonissos, Crete.