Kathy Wander

An evolutionary perspective on the use of betel nut and its effects on health outcomes AbstractBackground and objectives. The use of psychoactive substances appears to be a consistent behavior throughout human evolutionary history. In contemp

Our latest in EMPH - an #evolutionarymedicine perspective on betel nut chewing in Bangladesh: academic.oup.com/emph/article...

Thanks to all who have signed so far. We have 73 signatories across a variety of disciplines. Let's see if we can break 200 before we send it off next week. Please re-post and send on to your colleagues. Thank you!

Longer thread here. bsky.app/profile/drto...

@anthrofuentes.bsky.social and I are working on a letter regarding the archiving of #NSF #DDRIGs in the #SBE Directorate and impacts on our fields. What did you/your students discover as a result of a DDRIG award? What other impacts resulted from the award? Post here or DM. Please repost for viz.

Many of you are aware that NSF has terminated DDRIs for anthropologists and archaeologists. This is obviously a blow to these fields. It means we need to be proactive in revising expectations and training programs. This sort of thing reminds us again how important it is to be able to pivot.

A sign of the times:

Higher Education in Nazi Germany Learn how the Nazi regime transformed German higher education in order to advance Nazi goals.

perspectives.ushmm.org/collection/h...

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

Gutting basic science WON'T make America great. It WILL hurt our understanding of the world around us, and make us vulnerable to propaganda and misinformation. It will make it harder to see that history is repeating itself.

www.science.org/content/arti...

I am so clear with students: if they are sick, they should keep their germs at home, their absence will be excused. They get it, and mostly comply. The critical second part of the message is, I do not need or want a thorough run down of their symptoms. They don't always remember this part

benion Grieving a wasted life At a point in life when there are far too many days behind than ahead, one tends to re-elected in contrast to standing up for the reflect on a life lived. In my lifetime decades greater good? were devoted to protecting America. Sacri A compromised Supreme Court recently fices were made both by myself and my fam- trotted out a shallow token standards of Ily in military service. The tip of the spear: conduct for themselves. Apparently it's Countless weeks over the years were spent not a bribe to accept favors after a deci-sion; only before. Corporations are people? living at the end of a runway on alert with an Really? Whatever happened to Superman's armed B-52 as generations of aviators have motto of "truth, justice, and the American done before and since. way?" The purpose: if required, be airborne Pay-to-play is the theme of the day. Un- in minutes on a one-way trip bringing a challenged and uncontested blatant conflicts nuclear Armageddon to an adversary. Fly: of interest abound. The rule of law is situ- ing the unfriendly skies over North Viet- ational if adhered to at all. America can no nam provided a brief interlude, but overall, longer be trusted. The unbridled pursuit of this long line of silent sentinels stood firm power and wealth driven by unquenchable to protect America by deterring external greed has left service above self and Con- threats to our freedoms and way of life stitutional norms in the dustbin of a quaint across the decades. I was privileged to serve past. with men and women of integrity imbued Recently the VA said exposure to Agent with a sense of service. Orange is the probable cause of the can- I'm truly grateful that the B-52s we flew, which were built tough, were engineered cers I live with. Actually I suspect it's more from yet unspecified sources, which cause on scientific principles and fabricated by experienced, skilled workers rather than military pilots to have significantly higher founded on mere beli…

This letter appeared in the Bloomsburg PA Press Enterprise this morning. I am assured the writer is who he purports to be, an Air Force veteran.

Chris I saw someone this very morning say “we don’t need NOAA, there’s weather apps on my phone”

I am so tired.

Unvaccinated Child Dies of Measles in Texas, Officials Say (Gift Article) At least 124 cases of measles have been identified in Texas since late January, mostly among children and teenagers who are either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, officials say.

Measles kills:

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...

Jeremy, I’m so sorry to hear this news. It is, unfortunately, NSF’s loss in so many ways

The chaos for sure is the point.

8 men and women stand together in front of a hospital building

Need To Know Basis is launched ! The team is now working on data collection in the Farafenni region of The Gambia. Thank you to the team for all their work in the field and for their sensitivity asking men and women about information sharing and FGC!

Shout out to the PI team: @kwander.bsky.social @johnhshaver.bsky.social Bettina Shell-Duncan and Carla Cerami. Our awesome collaborating institution is: MRC Unit The Gambia @LSHTM. Funded by the NSF. Finally, learn more: laurespake.netlify.app/project/

Iron nutrition and COVID-19 among Nigerian healthcare workers AbstractBackground and objectives. The optimal iron hypothesis (OIH) posits that risk for infection is lowest at a mild level of iron deficiency. The exten

How does iron nutrition affect risk for COVID-19? 🧪

Both anemic and iron replete healthcare workers in Nigerian hospitals were at elevated risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection

This fits some - but not all - of the predictions of the optimal iron hypothesis: doi.org/10.1093/emph...

Resignation of the Journal of Human Evolution Editorial Board: We are saddened to announce the resignations of The Joint Editors-in-Chief, all Emeritus Editors retired or active in the field, and all but one Associate Editor. Press release below.

Curious grad students: ready to reimagine how societies understand & manage risk?

DM me if you're game. #gradresearch #riskscience #interdisciplinarywork

Spread the word!!

But then the pandemic hit. And we sent all those children with asthma home to their supposedly dirty homes. And guess what? Severe asthma WENT AWAY! During quarter 2 2020, when there would typically be 1400 kids in #pedsICU’s around the US, there were 241. 6/17 journal.chestnet.org/article/S001...

Assistant/Associate Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology/Anthropology of Health University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!

🎉IAS is recruiting🎉

UCSB Integrative Anth Sciences is hiring a tenure-track evo anthropologist (assist/assoc prof):

Apply by 1/06/25
To apply: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02866

Please retweet!

Estimate: Assist:$95,000-$135,000 & Assoc:$120,000-$180,000. UCSB is an AA/EOE, including disability/vets.

Maternal and infant predictors of proinflammatory milk immune activity in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Objectives The immune system of milk (ISOM) creates a mother–infant immune axis that plays an important role in protecting infants against infectious disease (ID). Tradeoffs in the immune system sug...

Here's a working link: doi.org/10.1002/ajhb...

A stuffie Salmonella seemed like a cute conversation starter for my lab office but now somehow I’m arguing with the 11 yo about whether gonorrhea is an appropriate Christmas present

A new Bluesky starter pack listing biological anthropologists. Let me know if you want to be added go.bsky.app/CnJLf95

For bio anthros interested in the immune system of milk, here is our latest: doi.org/10.1002/ajhb... Maternal age and previous pregnancies seem to be the primary predictors of in vitro milk responses to bacteria.

Someone whose parents and grandparents have 0 bachelor’s degrees, unless they specify “first generation graduate student” or similar

About 20 CHDK stake holders seated at tables during a presentation, many writing in notebooks

A group photo of about 20 meeting participants, standing outdoors

Just returned from the 2023 Stakeholders’ Meeting for the Child Health and Development in Kilimanjaro project’s iron deficiency research, funded by NSF Bio Anth. We discussed initial findings, plans for disseminating results, and future research directions. SO happy to see everyone again!

Human Behavioral Ecology Cambridge Core - Evolutionary Biology - Human Behavioral Ecology

Cambridge is glad to remind everyone that this edited volume, Human Behavioral Ecology, will be available in February. While summarizing the state of the field, it also looks ahead to rising cohorts of early-career behavioral ecologists and the insights that await.

www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...

Female academics less likely to win prizes, even when the award is named after a woman. Analysis: 9,000 awardees & 346 scientific prizes, medals published in Nature Human Behaviour, found men win 8 prizes for every 1 won by a woman. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (it isn't) phys.org/news/2023-11...