Marshall Abrams
@marshall0i.bsky.social
Philosopher of science, occasional scientist. Phil of:
ev biol, probability, modeling, stat inference. Book: Evolution and the Machinery of Chance. Activity here as private citizen, not as rep of nor supported by employer. https://marshallalmostsurely.com
ev biol, probability, modeling, stat inference. Book: Evolution and the Machinery of Chance. Activity here as private citizen, not as rep of nor supported by employer. https://marshallalmostsurely.com
Pinned
Marshall Abrams
@marshall0i.bsky.social
· Jun 13
My book Evolution and the Machinery of Chance came out two years ago; I haven't posted a summary here 'til now. It's for philosophers of science and biologists interested in questions about the nature and role of #probability in evolutionary processes, esp. #naturalselection. 🐋🌱 #philsci #evobio 1/9
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Apparent case of learned tool use by wolves.
https://youtu.be/SiuQF68tdWI?si=k7DWNrI0y5jASt-o
#EvoBio #HPBio
https://youtu.be/SiuQF68tdWI?si=k7DWNrI0y5jASt-o
#EvoBio #HPBio
Cameras capture BC sea wolf raiding crab traps in first possible ‘tool use’
YouTube video by Global News
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Apparent case of learned tool use by wolves.
https://youtu.be/SiuQF68tdWI?si=k7DWNrI0y5jASt-o
#EvoBio #HPBio
https://youtu.be/SiuQF68tdWI?si=k7DWNrI0y5jASt-o
#EvoBio #HPBio
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Call for abstracts for the first conference of our new Center for Humanities and Technology. Please share!
uchumanitiestech.org/2026-confere...
uchumanitiestech.org/2026-confere...
2026 Conference
Call for Papers: Science and Technology in the Anthropocene April 2 – 3, 2026 A conference about human experience in a world with non-biological intelligent systems and the environmental prob…
uchumanitiestech.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Paleo folks: Please recommend researchers (incl yourselves) interested in phylogenetic reconstruction in deep time, molecular clocks (discord w/ fossil clocks), foundational/methodological issues in phylo/paleo-reconstruction & who'd be interested in hanging w/ historians & philosophers of science ⚒️
November 24, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Paleo folks: Please recommend researchers (incl yourselves) interested in phylogenetic reconstruction in deep time, molecular clocks (discord w/ fossil clocks), foundational/methodological issues in phylo/paleo-reconstruction & who'd be interested in hanging w/ historians & philosophers of science ⚒️
In a new MBE Perspective, @jomcinerney.bsky.social introduces the concepts of epaktovars and xenotypes, providing a framework for describing phenotypic convergence and shared genetic material resulting from gene transfer across diverse lineages.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf279
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf279
#evobio #molbio
Classifying Convergences in the Light of Horizontal Gene Transfer: Epaktovars and Xenotypes
Abstract. The classification of living systems presents significant challenges due to the prevalence of gene transfer between genomes. Traditional taxonomi
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:52 AM
The ClubEvMed on Dec 2 at Noon ET on this new book will be interesting! Laurence Hurst will kick it off, David Haig will comment, and I will MC a lively discussion. @evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social @tricem.bsky.social @evmedasu.bsky.social
Register now!
duke.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Register now!
duke.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
November 21, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
The call for applications for 2026 European Advanced School in Philosophy of Life Sciences is now open! Deadline 15 Jan 2026, theme will be “philosophy of biology for a healthy planet”, all info here: www.kli.ac.at/en/events/ev... graduate students &early postdocs, do consider joining us! #philsci
Events | Event Calendar | Discover The KLI
The Konrad Lorenz Institute provides a stimulating and creative environment for fellows, visiting scholars, students, and external faculty.
www.kli.ac.at
November 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The call for applications for 2026 European Advanced School in Philosophy of Life Sciences is now open! Deadline 15 Jan 2026, theme will be “philosophy of biology for a healthy planet”, all info here: www.kli.ac.at/en/events/ev... graduate students &early postdocs, do consider joining us! #philsci
Will there be a Haskell program that filters out all of the people and places named "Haskell" from the Bluesky #haskell feed? (Is the difficulty avoiding filtering out people who also have the last "Curry"?)
November 21, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Will there be a Haskell program that filters out all of the people and places named "Haskell" from the Bluesky #haskell feed? (Is the difficulty avoiding filtering out people who also have the last "Curry"?)
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Join us tomorrow 11/21 for a talk with former fellow Samuel Schindler!
Title: "On the Limits of AI-driven Discovery in Science"
Time: 12PM EST
Location: Online Only
Zoom Link: https://ow.ly/KlZ350XrLuJ
Read more about Samuel and his talk here: https://ow.ly/auhn50XrLuK
#FFF #PhilSci
Title: "On the Limits of AI-driven Discovery in Science"
Time: 12PM EST
Location: Online Only
Zoom Link: https://ow.ly/KlZ350XrLuJ
Read more about Samuel and his talk here: https://ow.ly/auhn50XrLuK
#FFF #PhilSci
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Join us tomorrow 11/21 for a talk with former fellow Samuel Schindler!
Title: "On the Limits of AI-driven Discovery in Science"
Time: 12PM EST
Location: Online Only
Zoom Link: https://ow.ly/KlZ350XrLuJ
Read more about Samuel and his talk here: https://ow.ly/auhn50XrLuK
#FFF #PhilSci
Title: "On the Limits of AI-driven Discovery in Science"
Time: 12PM EST
Location: Online Only
Zoom Link: https://ow.ly/KlZ350XrLuJ
Read more about Samuel and his talk here: https://ow.ly/auhn50XrLuK
#FFF #PhilSci
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Reminder! Starts in one hour - “How science is changing” livestream event from 6pm EST tonight! Join MCPS director Alan Love, Lydia Patton, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Craig Callender.
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
November 20, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reminder! Starts in one hour - “How science is changing” livestream event from 6pm EST tonight! Join MCPS director Alan Love, Lydia Patton, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Craig Callender.
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
A new issue of PTPBio has dropped with articles from Marco Casali, Francesca Merlin & Alberto Vianelli; Meghan Barrett, Thomas Raffel & Bob Fischer; and Maja Dorota Sidzinska, Jacqueline Mae Wallis & Kate Nicole Hoffman.
Always fully #OpenAccess: free for authors and readers.
ptpbio.org
🐋🌱
Always fully #OpenAccess: free for authors and readers.
ptpbio.org
🐋🌱
November 20, 2025 at 9:26 PM
A new issue of PTPBio has dropped with articles from Marco Casali, Francesca Merlin & Alberto Vianelli; Meghan Barrett, Thomas Raffel & Bob Fischer; and Maja Dorota Sidzinska, Jacqueline Mae Wallis & Kate Nicole Hoffman.
Always fully #OpenAccess: free for authors and readers.
ptpbio.org
🐋🌱
Always fully #OpenAccess: free for authors and readers.
ptpbio.org
🐋🌱
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
This is a "reindeer cyclone", a defensive behavior that has been observed in herds of reindeer, even in captivity.
The fawns and older animals are at the center, the strongest animal in the outer lanes.
The point is to confuse the brains of predators accustomed to stalking a single outlier.
The fawns and older animals are at the center, the strongest animal in the outer lanes.
The point is to confuse the brains of predators accustomed to stalking a single outlier.
February 24, 2025 at 11:47 PM
This is a "reindeer cyclone", a defensive behavior that has been observed in herds of reindeer, even in captivity.
The fawns and older animals are at the center, the strongest animal in the outer lanes.
The point is to confuse the brains of predators accustomed to stalking a single outlier.
The fawns and older animals are at the center, the strongest animal in the outer lanes.
The point is to confuse the brains of predators accustomed to stalking a single outlier.
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Prashant Singh in the lab of Tina Iverson at Vanderbilt published this image of the bacterial 🦠flagellar motor, a detailed molecular model made possibly by CryoEM 🔬.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
November 17, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Prashant Singh in the lab of Tina Iverson at Vanderbilt published this image of the bacterial 🦠flagellar motor, a detailed molecular model made possibly by CryoEM 🔬.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
How is this possible?
This ant can lay eggs of two different species, birthed by the same mother
This ant can lay eggs of two different species, birthed by the same mother
November 19, 2025 at 5:57 AM
🗃 A new study brings together evolution, complexity, and life history theory, proposing that teleonomic complexity—measured through life history strategies—offers a way to understand how organisms evolve and adapt over time. bit.ly/4nIPV8F #EvoSky #AcademicSky @robsalgo.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 4:18 AM
TIL that if a post has been quote-posted, adding "/quotes" to the URL shows you all of the quote posts. (Doesn't work with mere reposts.) No idea whether this is common knowledge here.
November 18, 2025 at 4:16 AM
TIL that if a post has been quote-posted, adding "/quotes" to the URL shows you all of the quote posts. (Doesn't work with mere reposts.) No idea whether this is common knowledge here.
Monadic code is easier to understand with `do` than `>>=`.
(No one reading this will agree with me.)
(No one reading this will agree with me.)
Quote-post with your favourite bit of #HaskellDisinformation. We'll start: It is well-grounded in Category Theory, and you must learn it in order to program with the language.
i really wish people that don't actively use haskell understood haskell, like, at all
November 18, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Monadic code is easier to understand with `do` than `>>=`.
(No one reading this will agree with me.)
(No one reading this will agree with me.)
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Next Monday, we welcome @cshambaugh.bsky.social from the University of Oregon in our ROTO Lecture Series who will talk about dialectical biology. Just register via the link and join the talk and discussion at 4pm (CET): rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
#HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
#HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
November 17, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Next Monday, we welcome @cshambaugh.bsky.social from the University of Oregon in our ROTO Lecture Series who will talk about dialectical biology. Just register via the link and join the talk and discussion at 4pm (CET): rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
#HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
#HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
We're hiring tenure-track Asst Prof Philosophy. Good people, great research and teaching. AOS applied ethics broadly construed. AOCs open. Teach bioethics, ethics of AI, undergrad, graduate certificate in Ethical Dimensions of AI, planned Masters Bioethics. philjobs.org/job/show/30245 #philsky
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- PhilJobs:JFP
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham
An international database of jobs for philosophers
philjobs.org
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 PM
We're hiring tenure-track Asst Prof Philosophy. Good people, great research and teaching. AOS applied ethics broadly construed. AOCs open. Teach bioethics, ethics of AI, undergrad, graduate certificate in Ethical Dimensions of AI, planned Masters Bioethics. philjobs.org/job/show/30245 #philsky
New from George Zhang: “Adaptive tracking with antagonistic pleiotropy” as an alternative to the Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Yeast experiments show many mutations are beneficial but rarely fix because environments vary & fitness is highly context-dependent.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Adaptive tracking with antagonistic pleiotropy results in seemingly neutral molecular evolution - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Population genetics simulations and analysis of experimental datasets in yeast, Drosophila and E. coli show that beneficial mutations are abundant but transient, as they become deleterious after envir...
www.nature.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Many Long COVID trials have reported negative results in 2024 and 2025. In our Comment for @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social we argue that inadequate outcome measures might have played a role. (1/12)
November 11, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Have you registered for #AAHPSSS2025 yet? The conference will be held in hybrid format at the University of Queensland, 3–5 December 2025. It’s a small community, which makes it a great opportunity for really good feedback and collaboration.
#HPS #philsky #philsci
More: @aahpsss.bsky.social
#HPS #philsky #philsci
More: @aahpsss.bsky.social
2025 Conference
2025 AAHPSSS Conference The 2025 conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (AAHPSSS) will be held in a hybrid format at the Universit…
aahpsss.net.au
November 10, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Have you registered for #AAHPSSS2025 yet? The conference will be held in hybrid format at the University of Queensland, 3–5 December 2025. It’s a small community, which makes it a great opportunity for really good feedback and collaboration.
#HPS #philsky #philsci
More: @aahpsss.bsky.social
#HPS #philsky #philsci
More: @aahpsss.bsky.social
Reposted by Marshall Abrams
Some of you may know #philsci #philbio Subrena Smith, Prof of #philosophy at UNH. Her family in Jamaica lives in one of parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa: Westmoreland. She & David are raising funds to support them w/ generators, supplies, truck water in to them, etc. Please donate if can!
November 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Some of you may know #philsci #philbio Subrena Smith, Prof of #philosophy at UNH. Her family in Jamaica lives in one of parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa: Westmoreland. She & David are raising funds to support them w/ generators, supplies, truck water in to them, etc. Please donate if can!
Oops…“Principal components (PC) axes
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Principal Components Analysis fails to recover phylogenetic structure in hominins
Objectives Paleoanthropologists often utilize geometric morphometrics and principal components analysis (PCA) to interpret shape variation within the hominin fossil record. It is common practice to in...
www.biorxiv.org
November 8, 2025 at 10:18 PM
We're hiring in history of science at UW Madison! TT Assistant Professorship with a focus on water. Joint appointment between the History and Integrated Liberal Studies depts, and part of a university-wide hiring cluster on earth/sustainability science. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/profess... #STS #HSMT
Professor of History - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...
jobs.wisc.edu
November 8, 2025 at 6:03 AM