michael chimento
@mchimento.bsky.social
postdoc at Uni Zurich
studying social learning, social networks and animal culture in birds π¦ and agent-based models π€
https://michaelchimento.github.io
https://soundcloud.com/tek_cashay
studying social learning, social networks and animal culture in birds π¦ and agent-based models π€
https://michaelchimento.github.io
https://soundcloud.com/tek_cashay
Pinned
michael chimento
@mchimento.bsky.social
Β· Dec 20
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
A critical consequence of joining social groups is the possibility of social transmission of information related to novel behaviours or resources. Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) has emerg...
doi.org
ππΎ very excited to see this out before 2025 ends doi.org/10.1111/2041... with Will Hoppitt in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social. This paper is an overview of our new R package STbayes, a user-friendly toolkit for performing Bayesian NBDA analyses. @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
it could be that too, the email was so vaguely worded. i didn't reply, don't need another rabbit hole. but it was sus
February 9, 2026 at 11:08 AM
it could be that too, the email was so vaguely worded. i didn't reply, don't need another rabbit hole. but it was sus
i got this as well, in collaboration with sussex. seems like they're trying to farm content to train a model to evaluate grants? not quite sure
February 9, 2026 at 10:59 AM
i got this as well, in collaboration with sussex. seems like they're trying to farm content to train a model to evaluate grants? not quite sure
Reposted by michael chimento
Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! π£π
We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. π
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. π
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
www.science.org
January 30, 2026 at 12:36 PM
Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! π£π
We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. π
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. π
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
Reposted by michael chimento
Want to gain hands-on experience using STBayes?
Join our pre-conference workshop on 25/02, led by @mchimento.bsky.social π€©
Join our pre-conference workshop on 25/02, led by @mchimento.bsky.social π€©
New blog post!!π¨
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Studying social transmission using STbayes
Post provided by Michael Chimento. When studying animal culture, itβs important to establish whether novel behaviours or information have spread through social contact, or are rather innovated or pβ¦
buff.ly
January 30, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Want to gain hands-on experience using STBayes?
Join our pre-conference workshop on 25/02, led by @mchimento.bsky.social π€©
Join our pre-conference workshop on 25/02, led by @mchimento.bsky.social π€©
Reposted by michael chimento
New blog post!!π¨
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Studying social transmission using STbayes
Post provided by Michael Chimento. When studying animal culture, itβs important to establish whether novel behaviours or information have spread through social contact, or are rather innovated or pβ¦
buff.ly
January 29, 2026 at 12:02 PM
New blog post!!π¨
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Michael Chimento gives an overview of the new R package STbayes, designed for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission π π§ͺ
Read the blog here π
Reposted by michael chimento
"The relationship between childhood exploration and population-level innovation in cultural evolution" with @ndersen.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social out in Proc B
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
The relationship between childhood exploration and population-level innovation in cultural evolution
Abstract. The societal effects of childrenβs learning in cultural evolution have been underexplored. Here, we investigate using agent-based models how a pr
royalsocietypublishing.org
January 22, 2026 at 1:01 PM
"The relationship between childhood exploration and population-level innovation in cultural evolution" with @ndersen.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social out in Proc B
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Reposted by michael chimento
Want to socialise ahead of the conference? Join the Early Career Researchers drinks on the evening of 25th/02! π» An excellent opportunity to meet fellow researchers in a relaxed way. Contact us to join.
Reminder: conference and workshop registration is still open (forms on our website) π
Reminder: conference and workshop registration is still open (forms on our website) π
January 21, 2026 at 6:30 AM
Want to socialise ahead of the conference? Join the Early Career Researchers drinks on the evening of 25th/02! π» An excellent opportunity to meet fellow researchers in a relaxed way. Contact us to join.
Reminder: conference and workshop registration is still open (forms on our website) π
Reminder: conference and workshop registration is still open (forms on our website) π
Reposted by michael chimento
There is still some time to submit for our Special Collection on social cognition and anthropogenic environments! We are looking forward to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/... Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
#openaccess #socialcognition
#openaccess #socialcognition
Excited to announce that Eli Garcia-Pelegrin and I are co-editing a special collection for Animal Cognition on "Social Cognition in a Human World". Do you study how urbanization, pollution, heat stress, fragmentation, ... affects cognition? We want to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/...
Social Cognition in a Human World
As humanity exploits and reshapes the environment to accommodate for development and population growth demands, animals need to adapt to these human-induced ...
link.springer.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:13 AM
There is still some time to submit for our Special Collection on social cognition and anthropogenic environments! We are looking forward to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/... Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
#openaccess #socialcognition
#openaccess #socialcognition
Reposted by michael chimento
Happy New Year from the Culture Conference organisers π We wish you a year filled with kindness, curiosity, and fruitful research.
We still have a few spots available for presentations. Feel free to send us your abstract if youβd like to share your work with us in February!
We still have a few spots available for presentations. Feel free to send us your abstract if youβd like to share your work with us in February!
January 15, 2026 at 6:55 AM
Happy New Year from the Culture Conference organisers π We wish you a year filled with kindness, curiosity, and fruitful research.
We still have a few spots available for presentations. Feel free to send us your abstract if youβd like to share your work with us in February!
We still have a few spots available for presentations. Feel free to send us your abstract if youβd like to share your work with us in February!
Thinking catalogue
January 16, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Thinking catalogue
Reposted by michael chimento
πPublished!
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
This framework can be used to infer complex transmission rulesπ₯οΈ π§ͺ
Read more:
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
This framework can be used to infer complex transmission rulesπ₯οΈ π§ͺ
Read more:
buff.ly
January 15, 2026 at 8:15 AM
πPublished!
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
This framework can be used to infer complex transmission rulesπ₯οΈ π§ͺ
Read more:
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
This framework can be used to infer complex transmission rulesπ₯οΈ π§ͺ
Read more:
not a misconception, but this yt video has stuck with me over the years from a class on evolution taught by kenny smith at Edinburgh. really nice visual of evolution in progress www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVk...
The Evolution of Bacteria on a βMega-Plateβ Petri Dish (Kishony Lab)
YouTube video by Harvard Medical School
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:20 PM
not a misconception, but this yt video has stuck with me over the years from a class on evolution taught by kenny smith at Edinburgh. really nice visual of evolution in progress www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVk...
Reposted by michael chimento
Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication π¦π¦ππ΅π¨βπΎ masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
January 2, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication π¦π¦ππ΅π¨βπΎ masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
maybe the same person w the chalkboard skillz
December 30, 2025 at 7:56 AM
maybe the same person w the chalkboard skillz
If you'd like to learn more about network-based diffusion analyses and how to use STbayes, we will host a workshop at the upcoming 2026 Culture Conference @cultconf.bsky.social. Registrations: culture-conference.com/registration/
Registration
Registrations for the conference and the pre-conference workshop are now OPEN! Register for the conference (26-27/02):Β Culture Conference 2026 β Registration form Register for the workshop (2β¦
culture-conference.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:55 AM
If you'd like to learn more about network-based diffusion analyses and how to use STbayes, we will host a workshop at the upcoming 2026 Culture Conference @cultconf.bsky.social. Registrations: culture-conference.com/registration/
Detailed vignettes demonstrate basic and advances use cases github.com/michaelchime....
GitHub - michaelchimento/STbayes: An R package for creating and running Bayesian models of social transmission.
An R package for creating and running Bayesian models of social transmission. - michaelchimento/STbayes
github.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Detailed vignettes demonstrate basic and advances use cases github.com/michaelchime....
in addition to previous extensions of NBDA, STbayes allows users to include network edges as distributions (fit by generative network models), varying effects by ID & trial, complex transmission functions, and dynamic transmission weights (e.g. to test which cues are important for social learning).
December 20, 2025 at 8:55 AM
in addition to previous extensions of NBDA, STbayes allows users to include network edges as distributions (fit by generative network models), varying effects by ID & trial, complex transmission functions, and dynamic transmission weights (e.g. to test which cues are important for social learning).
ππΎ very excited to see this out before 2025 ends doi.org/10.1111/2041... with Will Hoppitt in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social. This paper is an overview of our new R package STbayes, a user-friendly toolkit for performing Bayesian NBDA analyses. @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission
A critical consequence of joining social groups is the possibility of social transmission of information related to novel behaviours or resources. Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) has emerg...
doi.org
December 20, 2025 at 8:55 AM
ππΎ very excited to see this out before 2025 ends doi.org/10.1111/2041... with Will Hoppitt in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social. This paper is an overview of our new R package STbayes, a user-friendly toolkit for performing Bayesian NBDA analyses. @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
oh it older than 17 years :( iirc the flash animation was up on the weebl and bob site in 2003 or 2004
December 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
oh it older than 17 years :( iirc the flash animation was up on the weebl and bob site in 2003 or 2004
Reposted by michael chimento
Great to see this one published in Molecular Ecology π¦ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
with @sheldonbirds.bsky.social @nilomr.bsky.social @jon-slate.bsky.social
with @sheldonbirds.bsky.social @nilomr.bsky.social @jon-slate.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Great to see this one published in Molecular Ecology π¦ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
with @sheldonbirds.bsky.social @nilomr.bsky.social @jon-slate.bsky.social
with @sheldonbirds.bsky.social @nilomr.bsky.social @jon-slate.bsky.social
Reposted by michael chimento
Quick post on @jonaspotthoff.bsky.social new paper! We found people looked more at novel foods at an experimental buffet, including insects that they find gross! People suppress disgust avoidance when making foraging decisions.
Blog: www.dalmaijer.org/2025/12/fora...
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...
Blog: www.dalmaijer.org/2025/12/fora...
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...
December 12, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Quick post on @jonaspotthoff.bsky.social new paper! We found people looked more at novel foods at an experimental buffet, including insects that they find gross! People suppress disgust avoidance when making foraging decisions.
Blog: www.dalmaijer.org/2025/12/fora...
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...
Blog: www.dalmaijer.org/2025/12/fora...
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...
Reposted by michael chimento
This new issue of #PhilTransB expands the field of cultural #evolution and shows why it matters for todayβs biggest challenges. It highlights research funded by the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social's Transformation Fund, which focused on #DEI: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
December 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This new issue of #PhilTransB expands the field of cultural #evolution and shows why it matters for todayβs biggest challenges. It highlights research funded by the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social's Transformation Fund, which focused on #DEI: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
Reposted by michael chimento
if you need more frameworks for fighting this good fight, @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I have you covered: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Artificial intelligence and illusions of understanding in scientific research - Nature
The proliferation of artificial intelligence tools in scientific research risks creating illusions of understanding, where scientists believe they understand more about the world than they actual...
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:19 PM
if you need more frameworks for fighting this good fight, @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I have you covered: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by michael chimento
Registrations are now open π’ Want to join the conference and/or the workshop? Head to our website: culture-conference.com/registration/
As every year, attendance at the conference is free π (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soonβsubmit yours before Monday!
As every year, attendance at the conference is free π (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soonβsubmit yours before Monday!
Registration
Registrations for the conference and the pre-conference workshop are now OPEN! Register for the conference (26-27/02):Β Culture Conference 2026 β Registration form Register for the workshop (2β¦
culture-conference.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Registrations are now open π’ Want to join the conference and/or the workshop? Head to our website: culture-conference.com/registration/
As every year, attendance at the conference is free π (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soonβsubmit yours before Monday!
As every year, attendance at the conference is free π (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soonβsubmit yours before Monday!
SCC in suburban Sydney have learned how to open bins, residents have innovated protection mechanisms, and cockatoos have innovated solutions. defence costs in the model are arbitrary, but assumed to scale with complexity (e.g. it's costly in time/money to modify a bin and maintain that protection)
December 8, 2025 at 7:51 AM
SCC in suburban Sydney have learned how to open bins, residents have innovated protection mechanisms, and cockatoos have innovated solutions. defence costs in the model are arbitrary, but assumed to scale with complexity (e.g. it's costly in time/money to modify a bin and maintain that protection)