Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 12d

There are a lot of disappointed second year graduate students whose have already invested time and energy in preparing GFRP applications. There is no excuse for phasing in this new rule without prior notice.

pumpkin spice itati|agnostic to the optics @itativcs.bsky.social · 12d

🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Joan Silk

pumpkin spice itati|agnostic to the optics @itativcs.bsky.social · 12d

🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 16d

Some very good advice for thriving in graduate school dorsaamir.medium.com/modest-advic...

Modest Advice for New Graduate Students

Throughout the course of my years in graduate school, I kept a running list of the best advice given to me, and the strategies that helped…

dorsaamir.medium.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 17d

Cute, but this perpetuates the notion that science is only about novel discoveries. The goal is to build the body of knowledge step by step, and the value of replication of the original result, exploration of the sources of variation that shape phenomena, and analysis of the robustness of effects.

Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 19d

Congratulations. You've provided a model of integrity and grace under pressure. So pleased that you are now celebrating your accomplishments.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 24d

New evidence about how do people in a small scale society acquire foraging skills and knowledge?

Haneul Jang @haneuljang.bsky.social · 24d

💙New paper!💙

How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?

With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society

Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli

academic.oup.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 29d

Good news. Better news, there are still GFRPs for Life Sciences (due Oct 27) and Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences (due Oct 28).

Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · Sep 8

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Sep 4

#GreatAdaptations Better than science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

www.nature.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 26

#GreatAdaptations Even cuter and more amazing than regular size sea horses How the Pygmy Sea Horse Lost Its Snout www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/s...

How the Pygmy Sea Horse Lost Its Snout

www.nytimes.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 26

#GreatAdaptations A new spin on the old adage: I'm all thumbs

howbrainsevolve.bsky.social @howbrainsevolve.bsky.social · Aug 26

New paper: Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand - Communications Biology

Thumbs and brains coevolved in primates. Across living and extinct species, longer thumbs predict bigger brains, highlighting the neural cost of dexterity.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Joan Silk

howbrainsevolve.bsky.social @howbrainsevolve.bsky.social · Aug 26

New paper: Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand - Communications Biology

Thumbs and brains coevolved in primates. Across living and extinct species, longer thumbs predict bigger brains, highlighting the neural cost of dexterity.

www.nature.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 21

This would be fun

Caroline Hu @hudrewthis.bsky.social · Aug 20

Seeking scientist volunteers for this fall! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? I need collaborators for the next cohort of SciComm & Comics art and design students. All countries and scientific fields eligible.

An anole extends its dewlap, which says "call for scientists!"

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 18

#GreatAdaptations In the deep blue sea, it's hard to find mates. So, male anglerfish latch on to females and don't let go.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

www.cell.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Or a PDF of your poster.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Herzog & Demps argue for the role of adversity in shaping the human adaptive niche
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Adaptive Responses to Adversity Drive Innovation in Human Evolutionary History

Thinking is costly. Nonetheless, humans develop novel solutions to problems and share that knowledge prosocially. We propose that adversity, not prosperity, created a dependence on innovation in our ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 18

If you have a draft of this chapter, I'd be very interested in reading it.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 14

Many thanks.

Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 13

Link to paper?

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 12

I take the Persian carpet approach. There will always be errors in works produced by mortals.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 8

#GreatAdaptations Power and leverage are not always based on size.

Nikos Smit @nikos.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 7

Female mountain gorillas can outrank males twice their size...

...and exhibit priority of access to resources over these males

Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982225008723

Press release:
https://www.mpg.de/25119311/0730-evan-it-s-not-just-about-size-150495-x

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Reposted by Joan Silk

Nikos Smit @nikos.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 7

Female mountain gorillas can outrank males twice their size...

...and exhibit priority of access to resources over these males

Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982225008723

Press release:
https://www.mpg.de/25119311/0730-evan-it-s-not-just-about-size-150495-x

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 8

A newer synthesis, 50 years after the publication of Sociobiology www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

www.sciencemagazinedigital.org

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 5

Kind, supportive, and always engaged.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 5

Jane's contributions, as founding editor of Human Nature and patron saint of biosocial perspectives on human behavior, have had an important impact on the scope and direction of evolutionary social science. She will be missed.

Ed Seabright @edseabright.bsky.social · Aug 5

Jane was a force of nature, a brilliant mind, and a lovely person. Human behavioural ecology owes her so much.

David P. Schmitt, Ph.D. @psychoschmitt.bsky.social · Aug 5

In Memoriam: Dr. Jane Lancaster, Pioneer in Human Evolutionary Sciences (1935-2025)
anthropology.unm.edu/news-events/...

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · Aug 4

Not true. See House et al 2013. Choosing 1/1 means giving up one reward in order to provide reward to partner.

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