Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · 14d

i've always been told that one should never compare absolute hormone levels - unless they were measured with the same assay, in the same lab, and ideally at the very same time 🤷‍♂️

Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

James Holland Jones @juemos.bsky.social · Sep 7

My department is hiring an assistant professor of environmental behavioral sciences. The research area is open but we are particularly interested in people with research on collective action or computational social sciences.

Happy to answer questions about the Doerr School or the department.

Stanford | Faculty Positions: Details - Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Social Sciences (Environmental Behavioral Sciences)

facultypositions.stanford.edu

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Sep 5

Just got this book by one of my favourite anthropologists (and people) in the mail - if it's only half as good as the gushing advanced praise, this'll be an instant classic! Also, brilliant title, immediately putting to bed the notion that long lifespan is a new thing; we've evolved to live to ~70

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Prof. Gillian Brown @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social · Aug 8

🚨 New, short article by myself, Clark Barrett and @kevinlala.bsky.social on the legacy of Wilson's 'Sociobiology: The New Synthesis', which was published 50 years ago.

@science.org #ehbea #histbiol #evobio #psyscisky

Revisiting the human sociobiology debate |Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Revisiting the human sociobiology debate

What have we learned 50 years on?

www.science.org

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Jordan S. Martin @jsmartin.bsky.social · Aug 7

Hot on the tail of our Tsimane IGE study comes the theory paper that motivated it! What are the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in dynamic environments? See our new Functional Ecology paper to find out more

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Frequency dependence favours social plasticity and facilitates socio‐eco‐evolutionary feedback in fluctuating environments

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Aug 4

Jordan Martin @jsmartin.bsky.social used a sophisticated evo quant gen approach to show that neighboring women enhance each other's fertility among the Tsimane, which accelerates adaptive evolution. This 'social drive' helps explain the rapid pace of human evolution. See thread and paper for more!

Jordan S. Martin @jsmartin.bsky.social · Jul 30

I'm very excited to share the central paper from my PhD out now in Science Advances. We investigated how social effects among neighbors shape the evolution of reproductive cooperation and the pace of adaptive population growth among the Indigenous Tsimane of Bolivia.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Indirect genetic effects among neighbors promote cooperation and accelerate adaptation in a small-scale human society

Social effects on fertility promote population growth and the evolution of flexible cooperation in a small-scale human society.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Cat Hobaiter @nakedprimate.bsky.social · Jul 2

📣 Join the K/Creative Ape Team 🤓 2 PhDs on Creativity in Wild Chimpanzees & Bonobos; w myself & the v awesome @kathelijnekoops.bsky.social

@snf-fns.ch Uni Zurich @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @efp2026.bsky.social @ips-primatenews.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @primbehavecol.bsky.social 🐵🧪

two 4-year PhD positions in the Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich, and the Wild Minds Lab of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, to study wild chimpanzees and bonobos.
The PhD candidates will work within the Creative Ape Project. The overall goal of the project is to enhance our understanding of the evolution of creativity, and to shed light on whether humans are a uniquely 'creative ape'. To do so we will apply a comparative approach, quantifying the creative capacities of wild non-human apes to investigate the underlying drivers that shape creative expression across species. The project explores four interconnected topics: i) Making mavericks, ii) Funny guys and arty-types, iii) Lone ape geniuses, and iv) Creative ape economies. We employ a comprehensive approach that leverages long-term datasets, new field data, detailed manual video-coding, bespoke automated deep-learning models, and advanced modelling, to extract rich information on the ways in which apes solve problems in their daily lives.

Excellent collaborative, independent working and time management skills are essential. Previous field experience (incl. behavioural data collection) is required, and experience working in remote places under difficult living conditions is highly recommended. The project will require strong data management and data analysis skills, and 12-18 months of field work split into 2-3 periods.

Please submit your application in a single PDF to kathelijne.koops@iea.uzh.ch and clh42@st-andrews.ac.uk – by 4th of August 2025. Feel free to get in touch if you have any inquiries about the positions. Applications should include: 1) cover letter stating your motivation and how your expertise fits the project (max. 1 page), 2) Curriculum Vitae, 3) copy of the highest degree obtained, 4) names and contact details of two referees, and 5) reprints of 1-2 selected publications

A tiny chimpfant looks at the camera with surprise

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Kai Caspar @nomascus.bsky.social · Jun 28

Is there a cognitive hierachy between ecto- and endotherms driven by brain size/neuron counts? Probably not.

Very interesting opinion piece by @zegnitriki.bsky.social et al., shifting focus to sensory–motor integration to explain brain size differences.🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The fish challenge to vertebrate cognitive evolution | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

There is tremendous taxonomic variation in the size, shape and structure of vertebrate brains. While many studies use cross-species comparisons to aim at identifying the ecological factors (social and...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Zanna Clay @zannaclay.bsky.social · Apr 28

Some coverage from the #BBC about our study comparing the empathic tendencies of chimpanzees and bonobos

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Durham Uni study finds chimpanzees more empathetic than assumed

Durham University finds that chimpanzees are as likely to console as the 'more empathic' bonobo.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Apr 25

Tagging some people who might be interested in modularity and psychiatry, thanks for RT! @randynesse.bsky.social @realadamhunt.bsky.social @dpietra.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @dconroybeam.bsky.social @anniewertz.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @maxkraz.bsky.social #EvMed #EvPsych

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Apr 25

Ever wondered if the mind really is modular? Ego disorders suggest so! In this new paper, psychiatrist Gheorghe Ilie and I argue that dysfunctions of the unitary self reveal the work of distinct modules, perceived by patients as distinct voices, often in conflict
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Frontiers | The modular mind and psychiatry: toward clinical integration with a focus on self-disorders

www.frontiersin.org

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · Apr 17

Applications now open for UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evo Bio (1–6 Sept 2025, Lausanne)!
Aimed at PhD students interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology questions like sexual selection, social & life-history evolution. Scholarships available.
Pls share! www.shorturl.at/znk5g

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Julie Duboscq @connectthedots.bsky.social · Apr 17

New Postdoc position!
🐵🐵🐵🐵
On the socioecology of cognition in primates, based in Paris @mnhn.fr @cnrs.fr, with field work
It has it all:
- the best science
- the best macaques
- the best beaches
- the best people
- the best office view #Eiffeltower

Join us!

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Vivek V. Venkataraman @vivek123.bsky.social · Apr 21

I recently did a thoroughly enjoyable two-part podcast with David Sloan Wilson at ProSocial World (@prosocialworld.bsky.social).

The topic was Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies.

Feedback welcome!

Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies with Vivek Venkataraman (Part 1)

YouTube video by ProSocial World

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Prof. Gillian Brown @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social · Apr 16

Nice talk at #ehbea2025 by @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social on a new approach to comparative methods (generalised dynamic phylogenetic models), which can be implemeted in 'coevolve' package in R.

Slide with information about phylogenetic methods.

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Pablo J. Varas Enríquez @pablovarase.bsky.social · Apr 16

Interesting method using causal inference in phylogenetic and comparative analyses 🤓💻

#EHBEA2025

@ehbea.bsky.social
@ehbea2025.bsky.social
@jaeggiadrian.bsky.social

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Kris Smith @kris-smith.bsky.social · Mar 26

1/ How is economic equality maintained in hunter-gatherers? In a new preprint with @dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social et al, we find Hadza are more likely to take from others who have more than them than they are to give to someone who has less. #anthropology #evolution papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The 'I' in Egalitarianism: Hadza Hunter-Gatherers Averse to Inequality Primarily when Personally Unfavourable

Many anthropologists and economists contend that humans are characterized by strong, universal, other-regarding equality preferences with deep evolutionary root

papers.ssrn.com

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Mar 14

The DCIDE framework then also helps adjudicate between competing adaptive hypotheses. In the case of autism, some version of autistic traits selected for in specific cognitive/social niches is most compatible with all the evidence, autism as by-product of recent selection for intelligence less so

Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Mar 14

Turns out, some cases of autism are clearly maladaptive, e.g. caused by chromosomal abnormalities, environmental trauma or major de novo mutations. Others are likely candidates for adaptations, caused by many alleles of small effect, especially when including broader subclinical autism spectrum

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Mar 14

Is autism an adaptation? How can evolutionary science go beyond just-so story-telling? Questions like these benefit from a philosopher of science. In this paper, @realadamhunt.bsky.social develops a systematic framework for testing evo hypotheses using all available evidence, exemplified with autism

Adam Hunt @realadamhunt.bsky.social · Mar 14

New paper🎉 just published🎉 in Biological Reviews 🎉

We propose a new gold standard to avoid “just-so” storytelling in evolutionary inference & apply it to autism. It’s been 9 years (!!) in the making.

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Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Jan 15

Reminder to send in your application and/or tell your students and colleagues about this PhD position! Review of applications will begin in a few weeks, though the position will remain open until filled

Adrian Jaeggi @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social · Dec 2

🚨 JOB ALERT!! We're looking for a PhD student to join our group! Are you interested in evolutionary medicine / anthropology? Already have a master's? Apply with your own project ideas! See link: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie... #EvMed @bioanth.org @ehbea.bsky.social Please RT!

UZH: PhD position in evolutionary anthropology and medicine

The Human Ecology Group of the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine (IEM) Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich, led by Prof. Adrian Jaeggi, is inviting applications from prospe...

jobs.uzh.ch

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

International Society for Evolution, Medicine & Public Health @evmed.bsky.social · Jan 15

We are so excited for #ISEMPH 2025! Join the #EvMed event of the year, hosted at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee!

Abstract submission is open, deadline is 3 Feb!

Details here: https://buff.ly/40zGJLx

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Jan 8

Honored to begin 2025 as Editor-in-Chief of Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, the ISEMPH Society journal. Thanks to Cynthia Beall for leadership and guidance. Please send us your creative work at the interface of evolution, medicine, and public health!
academic.oup.com/emph

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health | Oxford Academic

The official journal of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. An open access, multidisciplinary journal that publishes original, rigorous applications of evolutionary t...

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · Jan 9

Applications for MEME are open! It's a research- and mobility-oriented Evolutionary Biology Master's Programme, where students have the opportunity to visit 4(+2) different universities in two years. Please spread the word! www.evobio.eu #EvoBio

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Reposted by Adrian Jaeggi

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Dec 16

🚨🚨 FINAL REMINDER! 🚨🚨

⏳ Abstract submissions for #EHBEA2025 close TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT (GMT)!

No extensions this time! Be part of this amazing conference in the vibrant city of Newcastle this April 🌉

Submit here now: ehbea2025.com 🚀
@ehbea.bsky.social #BioAnth #CultEvo #EvPsych #Evosky

Home | EHBEA2025

ehbea2025.com

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