Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Jun 1

When to trust scientific claims
open.substack.com/pub/kostaska...

When to trust scientific claims

This is what we should be teaching in schools!

open.substack.com

2 6

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 5d

New Cambridge Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—fully #openaccess! @thomasreydon.bsky.social explores how evolutionary theory crosses over from biology into other fields, showing how these crossovers embody a broader style of reasoning: 'evolutionary thinking' bit.ly/48z3h36 #HPbio #evosky

Book cover of “The Scope of Evolutionary Thinking” by Thomas A. C. Reydon, in the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Biology series. Against a black background, the title is surrounded by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations of marine organisms—radial, symmetrical forms in vivid blues, oranges, reds, and greens.

15 56

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 6d

Here is the Greek edition of my book Ancestry Reimagined. If you happen to be in Athens, Greece, on November 3, there will be a book discussion at the publisher's main bookstore. More info to come.

cup.gr/book/ethniki...

2

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 22d

Why studies about reconstructing the past based on contemporary DNA makes me think of the streetlight effect

open.substack.com/pub/kostaska...

1 4 12

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 18d

“The big perspective change from ancient DNA study is that people living today are almost never the descendants of the people in the same place thousands of years before”

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

Pure bloodlines? Ancestral homelands? DNA science says no. — Harvard Gazette

Geneticist explains recent analyses made possible by tech advances show human history to be one of mixing, movement, displacement.

news.harvard.edu

16 170 430

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 22d

Why studies about reconstructing the past based on contemporary DNA makes me think of the streetlight effect

open.substack.com/pub/kostaska...

1 4 12

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 29d

Interesting! (To say the least).

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · Sep 8

News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n

History of Molecular Biology Collection

This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.

www.sciencehistory.org

1 1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Sep 6

Check out my latest book Trusting Science, using the attached 30% discount code, and let me know what you think!

1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Sep 1

Excited to participate in this very interesting conference: zasb.unibas.ch/de/veranstal...

1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 21

Some scientists also think that historians do not know enough about the science to write about its history, which of course is not the case for good historians. Same for philosophers.

3

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

For an individual on average, or the average individual perhaps, but not for any two specific individuals. It is one thing to made a mathematical calculation and another to make sense of it.

1 1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Indeed.

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

My point was that I do not think we can make any legitimate inferences for individuals. Anyway, this may be of interest: plato.stanford.edu/entries/heri...

Heritability (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

plato.stanford.edu

1 3

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

The statistic refers to a particular population as a whole.

2 4

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

90% heritability for height means that 90% of the variance in height across individuals in that specific population, place, and time is statistically associated with genetic differences. What it does not mean is that your height, or my height, or any individual's height is 90% genetic.

1 1 5

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Worse, "heritability" is often taken by non-experts to mean, or to at least imply, "inheritability", that is, how much "inherited" a trait is...

2

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Here is a substack post about heritability, related to my comment below:
kostaskampourakis.substack.com/p/today-esti...

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

"Today, estimates from twin studies attribute up to 90% of an individual’s height to their genetic makeup."

This is not corrrect! What heritability studies show is that at the population level 90% of the differences in height are due to genetic differences.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The genetic basis of human height - Nature Reviews Genetics

Genetic factors that influence human height encompass rare monogenic variants as well as common and rare polygenic variants. In this Review, Bicknell et al. summarize our current understanding of the ...

www.nature.com

1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Glad my point is clear. I have no doubt that you and these authors know what you are talking about. I am rather concerned about how such poor expressions (such as the one in that article) may be misunderstood by laypeople, or - worse - be quoted while used for ideological purposes.

1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Here is a substack post about heritability, related to my comment below:
kostaskampourakis.substack.com/p/today-esti...

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

What I am uncomfortable with is that a statement about populations (heritability of height in contemporary human populations is high = genetic variation explains the majority of inter-individual variance, as you nicely put it) is transformed misleadingly to a statement about individual development.

1 1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Genes are of course important and they do have a major impact on inter-individual differences. But statements such as the one I criticized make laypeople think that genes are all-powerful, notwithstanding the environment. There are of course various studies in psychology and education on this.

1 1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

I respectfully disagree. This is clear among experts, and they may use such expressions as shorthand. But this is not what laypeople perceive. Rather, they interpret such statements as showing the power of genes. Laypeople do not read this journal, but imagine a journalist quoting these authors....

1

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

Scientists should be more careful in how they describe the findings and conclusions of genetic research!

2 5

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

@sashagusevposts.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @kevinlala.bsky.social @adamrutherford.bsky.social

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

"Today, estimates from twin studies attribute up to 90% of an individual’s height to their genetic makeup."

This is not corrrect! What heritability studies show is that at the population level 90% of the differences in height are due to genetic differences.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The genetic basis of human height - Nature Reviews Genetics

Genetic factors that influence human height encompass rare monogenic variants as well as common and rare polygenic variants. In this Review, Bicknell et al. summarize our current understanding of the ...

www.nature.com

9 8 42