Simon Brown
@simonabbrown.bsky.social
Philosopher of mind/cog sci studying animal minds, memory,
consciousness, temporal representation, & implications for animal ethics/policy.
Asst. Prof. @ Ashoka University, India. Formerly postdoc @ London School of Economics & Johns Hopkins University
consciousness, temporal representation, & implications for animal ethics/policy.
Asst. Prof. @ Ashoka University, India. Formerly postdoc @ London School of Economics & Johns Hopkins University
Reposted by Simon Brown
Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal!
buff.ly/dCkwPr0
buff.ly/dCkwPr0
November 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal!
buff.ly/dCkwPr0
buff.ly/dCkwPr0
Reposted by Simon Brown
New Phil Trans B issue on the ‘Evolutionary functions of consciousness’
royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1939
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 15, 2025 at 9:37 AM
New Phil Trans B issue on the ‘Evolutionary functions of consciousness’
royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
Now out officially here! Published as part of a special issue on evolutionary functions of consciousness edited by W. Tecumseh Fitch, Colin Allen, & Adina Roskies, which also features fascinating contributions from several leaders in the field! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
November 13, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Now out officially here! Published as part of a special issue on evolutionary functions of consciousness edited by W. Tecumseh Fitch, Colin Allen, & Adina Roskies, which also features fascinating contributions from several leaders in the field! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Simon Brown
With sequencing of Hitler's DNA making headlines, time for a reminder: analysing a polygenic score from a dead historically-significant figure won't give new insights into that person's behaviour. In a brief paper last year, we used Beethoven's genome to directly illustrate the fallacies involved.🧪👇
Notes from Beethoven’s genome
Wesseldijk et al. compare the genomic information collected from Ludwig van Beethoven
with population-based datasets used to quantify musical achievement.
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
With sequencing of Hitler's DNA making headlines, time for a reminder: analysing a polygenic score from a dead historically-significant figure won't give new insights into that person's behaviour. In a brief paper last year, we used Beethoven's genome to directly illustrate the fallacies involved.🧪👇
Reposted by Simon Brown
Many congratulations to the United Kingdom for winning the prestigious 'Fossil of the Day' award at COP30 for screwing over workers. climatenetwork.org/resource/sol...
h/t @amywestervelt.bsky.social
h/t @amywestervelt.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Many congratulations to the United Kingdom for winning the prestigious 'Fossil of the Day' award at COP30 for screwing over workers. climatenetwork.org/resource/sol...
h/t @amywestervelt.bsky.social
h/t @amywestervelt.bsky.social
Reposted by Simon Brown
Applications now open 🎓
Spend 9 weeks at Cambridge University with the CRASSH & @cw-indiatrust.bsky.social, supporting scholars from India in the arts, humanities, and heritage conservation
Funding includes travel, accommodation & research expenses
Apply by 19 Jan 2026
bit.ly/3tw6OuI
Spend 9 weeks at Cambridge University with the CRASSH & @cw-indiatrust.bsky.social, supporting scholars from India in the arts, humanities, and heritage conservation
Funding includes travel, accommodation & research expenses
Apply by 19 Jan 2026
bit.ly/3tw6OuI
November 11, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Applications now open 🎓
Spend 9 weeks at Cambridge University with the CRASSH & @cw-indiatrust.bsky.social, supporting scholars from India in the arts, humanities, and heritage conservation
Funding includes travel, accommodation & research expenses
Apply by 19 Jan 2026
bit.ly/3tw6OuI
Spend 9 weeks at Cambridge University with the CRASSH & @cw-indiatrust.bsky.social, supporting scholars from India in the arts, humanities, and heritage conservation
Funding includes travel, accommodation & research expenses
Apply by 19 Jan 2026
bit.ly/3tw6OuI
Reposted by Simon Brown
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Evolutionary ecology of animal memory | TREES DLA
This project seeks to explore how memory evolves in response to the ecological tasks that animals face in their natural environment. Associative memory exists in some form in almost all animal species...
www.trees-dla.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:23 PM
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Reposted by Simon Brown
Now out in an issue! ~~ www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
November 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Now out in an issue! ~~ www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Simon Brown
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Simon Brown
For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:25 PM
For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Reposted by Simon Brown
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Simon Brown
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Reposted by Simon Brown
What does postdiction show about the speed of consciousness? In this forth. piece in BBS, I respond to @smfleming.bsky.social + @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's claim that postdiction shows consciousness is slow -- too slow for its purpose to be online action guidance. 1/3 philpapers.org/rec/PHIPAT-14
philpapers.org
September 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
What does postdiction show about the speed of consciousness? In this forth. piece in BBS, I respond to @smfleming.bsky.social + @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's claim that postdiction shows consciousness is slow -- too slow for its purpose to be online action guidance. 1/3 philpapers.org/rec/PHIPAT-14
Reposted by Simon Brown
What role heuristics play in model organism research? How can the DEKI capture the development of MOs? Is basal cognition introducing novel MOs for neuroscience? This is what I try to explore in the new preprint: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27054/
Looking for keys in model organisms: Interpreting and keying-up in basal cognition - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
October 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
What role heuristics play in model organism research? How can the DEKI capture the development of MOs? Is basal cognition introducing novel MOs for neuroscience? This is what I try to explore in the new preprint: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27054/
Reposted by Simon Brown
For #MosaicMonday a venator (gladiators who fought wild animals) fighting a bear. Many animals were made to fight for #Roman entertainment, but conclusive evidence for fighting bears has only just been discovered.
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
October 27, 2025 at 10:15 AM
For #MosaicMonday a venator (gladiators who fought wild animals) fighting a bear. Many animals were made to fight for #Roman entertainment, but conclusive evidence for fighting bears has only just been discovered.
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
Reposted by Simon Brown
Sheeeet🤯
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
Climate confusion among U.S. teachers
Teachers' knowledge and values can hinder climate education
www.science.org
October 24, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Sheeeet🤯
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
Reposted by Simon Brown
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
October 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
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/...
Reposted by Simon Brown
PSL political compass
October 17, 2025 at 9:59 PM
PSL political compass
Reposted by Simon Brown
Hey grad students studying animal behavior! Need a little extra research $$? (Don't we all?)
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
October 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Hey grad students studying animal behavior! Need a little extra research $$? (Don't we all?)
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Reposted by Simon Brown
📣 BIG NEWS EVERYONE. I am so excited to announce…
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
October 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM
📣 BIG NEWS EVERYONE. I am so excited to announce…
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
Reposted by Simon Brown
This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.
Working at a museum without access to a university library means spending 6 years thinking about/reading Mark Twain & his reception and then every time I think I had an original thought it turns out @mattseybold.bsky.social tweeted it out in the form of a peer-reviewed article a decade ago.
October 13, 2025 at 3:58 PM
This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.
Interesting scheme. It would be good to see more philosophers advising on environmental ethics and policy, and correspondingly a greater role for environmental ethics within philosophy
The clinical ethicist brings bioethics to the medical care context. That model could be employed in other domains for other kinds of philosophy. Here's how a pair of philosophers are developing it for work on environmental justice...
Expanding the Range of Professional Philosophical Opportunities via Environmental Ethics - Daily Nous
"One of the most visible and impactful ways that philosophers demonstrate their practical value," says Matthew Kisner, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, is by having ethicis...
dailynous.com
October 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Interesting scheme. It would be good to see more philosophers advising on environmental ethics and policy, and correspondingly a greater role for environmental ethics within philosophy
Reposted by Simon Brown
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
Reposted by Simon Brown
4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.
River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit
Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.
www.bbc.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:34 AM
4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.
Reposted by Simon Brown
Bureaucratic delays and chronic underfunding are hallmarks of doing science in Global South countries. And we hear about such challenges often. New report documenting how scientists in countries like Kenya and India navigate such challenges. Lots of tips here and a vision for a collaborative future
October 8, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Bureaucratic delays and chronic underfunding are hallmarks of doing science in Global South countries. And we hear about such challenges often. New report documenting how scientists in countries like Kenya and India navigate such challenges. Lots of tips here and a vision for a collaborative future