Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · 3h

Job alert: want to be my boss? 😁 The School of Life Sciences @ARU is looking for a new Head of School. It’s a great place to work with brilliant colleagues, students, and partners. Please share widely! #AcademicJobs #Leadership #LifeSciences #HigherEducation jobs.aru.ac.uk/vacancy/head...

Head of School of Life Sciences - ARU

jobs.aru.ac.uk

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Christos C. Ioannou @ccioannou.bsky.social · 7d

Last hours for this - deadline is midnight tonight, 1st October, UK time. That's for both the application (online form) and the referee statement (emailed direct to me). All info here:
www.asab.org/conference-g...

Christos C. Ioannou @ccioannou.bsky.social · 11d

ASAB @asab.org conference grants for the Winter meeting in Edinburgh, up to £500, close 1st October!

@asab-meetings.bsky.social #ASABWinter2025

All the details needed are here:
www.asab.org/conference-g...
Don't forget I also need a referee statement emailed direct by the same deadline!

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 15d

**PhD POSITIONS** I am recruiting 1-2 PhD students to work on sociality and cognition in Monk Parakeets, starting Fall 2026. Full ad is here: hobsonresearch.com/index.php/20... (please help spread the word!)

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 16d

Postdoc job alert! We are hiring a NYU-based postdoc to work on our project on the social and environmental determinants of aging. The 3 year post will be based in James Higham's lab and will focus on endocrine, immune, and inflammatory aspects of aging. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/173938

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 20d

Don't be this editor. I can't believe we still have to put up with this exclusionary sh*t in academic publishing.

Text reads: So, if your manuscript is accepted, it will only be edited for future publication after we receive the certificate with proof of English language proficiency.

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Friederike [freddy; she/her] Hillemann @fhillemann.bsky.social · 23d

👇 interview on collaborative (research 🧪) cultures

Thanks to @humboldt-foundation.de for funding my work on cooperative subsistence across cultures, w/ @sheinalew.bsky.social, and my network at @durhamdcerc.bsky.social: @mandolinguist.bsky.social @amandinevisine.bsky.social @chimpanzeve.bsky.social

Seven people standing outside Durham University's Department of Psychology, smiling for a group photo. Lab PI Sheina is on the right in wearing a mint green jumper; I am third from the left wearing a burgundy jumper

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Bret Beheim @babeheim.bsky.social · 22d

How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!

400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!

Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Felix W. Moll @mollfw.bsky.social · 27d

New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇

www.cell.com/current-biol...

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Sheina Lew-Levy @sheinalew.bsky.social · 27d

@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!

3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution

2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.

Please share and apply!

www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Fees and Funding - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Andrew King @shoalgroup.bsky.social · Sep 3

Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) Meeting
National Museum Cardiff, 27-28 November

www.psgb.org/pages/14-mee...
Registration and abstract submission coming soon! Please share!

@mckinneymonkey.bsky.social @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @willallennz.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social

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Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Sep 3

Interested in animal welfare, education policy & social research? Fully funded PhD (UK home) on dog welfare in schools. Get in touch & apply: www.cam-dtp.ac.uk/students/cur...
(Dog photo purely for attention and moral support)
#PhDopportunity #AnimalWelfare #DogsInSchools #CamDTP #SocialResearch

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Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Sep 1

Celebrating 10 years @aru-biology.bsky.social, now as Professor of Behavioural Biology! Endlessly grateful to the students and collaborators whose curiosity, mentorship, and teamwork made this journey so rewarding, whilst navigating and challenging academia's systemic hurdles #WomenInSTEM #ARUproud

Claudia holding an ARU branded glas of blubbly and a pin saying 'It's Prof actually' and smiling into the camera

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Nicola Koyama @nicolakoyama.bsky.social · Aug 30

A fantastic Day 2 on #psgbfieldskills2025 #zsl workshop: vegetation and wildlife surveys @pintsizedprimate.bsky.social bioacoustics @wascherclaudia.bsky.social tracking, camera traps @lizallo.bsky.social and mental health in the field with Praneetha Monipi @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @asab.org

A photo of Kat talking about vegetation and wildlife surveys

A photo of Liz talking about advanced field methods

Students collecting field data on a woodland path

Students learning about field skills in a seminar room

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Nicola Koyama @nicolakoyama.bsky.social · Aug 28

As field researchers, we can support disclosure choices with confidential protocols, pre-fieldwork conversations and ensuring allies are visible

A slide of a presentation about supporting disclosure choices in fieldwork

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Nicola Koyama @nicolakoyama.bsky.social · Aug 28

Why talk about LGBTQIA+Inclusion in the field?
45% of those participating in fieldwork have faced gender discrimination 👇
#psgbfieldskills2025 workshop
@primatesocietygb.bsky.social
@asab.org @zslscience.bsky.social @ljmuimpact.bsky.social @wascherclaudia.bsky.social

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Nicola Koyama @nicolakoyama.bsky.social · Aug 28

Our #psgbfieldskills2025 workshop has started! Great to hear Kat @pintsizedprimate.bsky.social
talk on different perspectives in the development of animal behaviour methods
@primatesocietygb.bsky.social
Thanks to @asab.org @zslscience.bsky.social @ljmuimpact.bsky.social for their amazing support

Kat Almeida-Warren talking to students at the PSGB Field Skills Workshop

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Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Aug 13

This week’s edition of #BirdsAreAwesome: A genetically male laughing kookaburra laid an egg. Nature: 1, binary: 0 #NatureIsQueer

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · Aug 13

Sex-reversal in birds (genetically male/female but appear female/male) is surprisingly common. Best detail: A genetically male bird called a laughing kookaburra had recently laid an egg. (1/2)

By @phiejacobs.bsky.social on @science.org

‘Sex reversal’ is surprisingly common in birds, new study suggests

Survey of five Australian avians finds numerous discordant individuals, including a genetically male bird that had laid an egg

www.science.org

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Kevin Lala @kevinlala.bsky.social · Aug 8

Very happy to share this article, coauthored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social and Clark Barrett, on the contemporary relevance of the human sociobiology debate, 50 years after publication of Wilson's landmark book.

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 Claudia Wascher

orsolars.bsky.social @orsolars.bsky.social · Aug 1

Our new review on numerical cognition in birds, just out in Nature Reviews Psychology! 🐦🧠

Behavior, neurobiology & field studies across avian species

Very fond of the neurobiology part :)

📖 Read it here: rdcu.be/eyErI

Numerical cognition in birds

Nature Reviews Psychology - Birds demonstrate complex numerical abilities at levels similar to primates. In this Review, Regolin and colleagues describe the contribution of laboratory, field and...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

animal prattle @animal-prattle.bsky.social · Jul 31

How much does it cost to caw?

@wascherclaudia.bsky.social @masonyoungblood.bsky.social report that in 3 crow species, there is a strong negative relation b/t call sequence length & call duration --> they obey Menzerath's law of efficiency

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#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics

Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Jul 31

New paper with @masonyoungblood.bsky.social: crows follow Menzerath’s law showing vocal efficiency in their communication. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Vocal efficiency in crows - Animal Cognition

Many communicative systems have been selected for efficiency, shaped by the trade-off between information transmission and energetic or temporal constraints. Linguistic laws such as Menzerath’s law—pr...

link.springer.com

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Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Jul 31

New paper with @masonyoungblood.bsky.social: crows follow Menzerath’s law showing vocal efficiency in their communication. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Vocal efficiency in crows - Animal Cognition

Many communicative systems have been selected for efficiency, shaped by the trade-off between information transmission and energetic or temporal constraints. Linguistic laws such as Menzerath’s law—pr...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Humboldt-Stiftung @humboldt-foundation.de · Jul 23

Science and society thrive through collaboration!

Meet our Feodor Lynen Research fellow @fhillemann.bsky.social ‬ and her host @sheinalew.bsky.social, as they reflect on the importance of shared learning in both indigenous communities and academia.

www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/explore/n...

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Jolyon Troscianko @jtroscianko.bsky.social · Jul 29

Winter ASAB @asab.org on *Sensory Ecology* register and submit your abstracts now (abstract deadline just a month away)!

I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill

Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/

Winter ASAB 2025 - 15th-16th of December in Edinburgh - with a special theme of "How sensory information affects behaviour". Register at https://asabwinter.github.io/2025/ deadline for abstract submission 29th of August.

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miriamkuspiel.bsky.social @miriamkuspiel.bsky.social · Jul 27

Chattering in your territory: Eurasian magpies vary in their response to chatter calls at different durations and rates. How do magpies perceive this alarm and terrritorial defence signal from intruders in their territory? Out now📜 link.springer.com/10.1007/s100... #openAccess #Communication #Corvid

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Reposted by Claudia Wascher

Zanna Clay @zannaclay.bsky.social · Jul 24

This looks brilliant topic wise-
Though it's a pity that only 2 of the 10 speakers are women. There are so many great women scientists who could have provided excellent contributions for a more balanced programme - @asab.org

HaDi MaBouDi @maboudi.bsky.social · Jul 18

Call for Abstracts Extended! 🌟
Join us this September in Sheffield for 'Nature of Intelligence: Bridging Animal & Artificial Intelligence', an ASAB Interdisciplinary Workshop.

@asab.org @sheffielduni.bsky.social
#ArtificialIntelligence #AnimalCognition #Neuroscience I #AcademicWorkshop #ASAB

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