Katie MacKinnon, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology - Santa Clara, California (US) job with Santa Clara University | 37879320 Seeking for a teacher-scholar with an active field/lab based research program at the intersection of infectious disease/immunology/human growth & dev.

Full time, TT position in Biological Anthropology at Santa Clara University:
jobs.chronicle.com/job/37879320...

We didn’t conquer the world alone. This is humanity’s untold origin story | BBC Science Focus Magazine We’re discovering there were more characters, and more acts, in the tale of how Homo sapiens spread across the globe.

Short article I wrote* on recent advances in the story of early Homo sapiens is now available online!

*commissioned as accompanying BBC Human series, although tbh I did not love their Neanderthal episode :-(

www.sciencefocus.com/science/huma...

Listening to soundscapes from Simon was a somber and moving example of how our natural world is changing around us, in so many ways.

Such an informing and moving interview for my @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social series ‘Symphony of the wild’

@uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social

Academia.edu is changing its Terms and Conditions, and they're so outrageous (AI training; signing over ownership to them etc) I closed my account today.

A thread with some practical tips if you want to delete your account (5 steps):

For your Friday, another stunning view of the cosmos from JWST—this time of jets of plasma blasting out from a newly formed star.

It looks like a painting.

I love when random pics pop up - an adult male white-necked #jacobin (Florisuga mellivorais), aka the great jacobin or collared #hummingbird; I took these in Northern Honduras, 2016. 💚🇭🇳💙🥰 #birds #birdwatching #hummingbirds #wildlife

Assistant Professor - Environmental Change, Resilience, Precarity, and Justice in Archaeology/Bioanthropology University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

New position announced: Assistant Professor - Environmental Change, Resilience, Precarity, and Justice in Archaeology/Bioanthropology at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social 👇

aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05077?fbc...

👏 👇 🧬

🤣

My department at Tulane has a TT position for a bioanth ("specializing in the analysis of human skeletal remains"). Apps due by Oct 15.

apply.interfolio.com/171196

This is not the time to step back from diversity, equity, and inclusion Recently, I exchanged views with a prominent Ivy League scientist who was complaining about the minority students and junior faculty applying to his program. He claimed that the university, through di...

Hear, hear Agustin 💥👊💥(@anthrofuentes.bsky.social)
Good op-ed piece in @science.org 👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Oh no, Ashley! I hope it heals quickly. Lots of rest is what you need right now! ❤️‍🩹 🫂

Maya Ruler’s Tomb Is Unearthed in Belize, With Clues to His Ancient World

Amazing find - with insightful comments by U.C. Berkeley archaeologist and Mesoamerican expert, @rajoyce.bsky.social #archaeology #Belize #Mesoamerica #anthropology
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/w...

❤️🦉🪶

Hi folks. I'm not from the US, but I find what's happening to science over there right now absolutely *appalling*.

If you're working in the sciences, I can't imagine the dread you're probably feeling.

I can't do much. But I write a science newsletter, so I can, maybe, do *something*...

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What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing? The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reëxamine the purpose of higher education.

A long and depressing piece, but the answers are all in there: high school and college writing are not going to be destroyed by AI unless teachers and professors let it or help. They will only be revived by structuring classes around process and paper.

We will certainly miss your excellent reporting and familiar voice, @jackspeer1.bsky.social! Congratulations on your @npr.org retirement and best of luck with the next chapter! 🎉 Interview with @ari-shapiro.bsky.social here:
knpr.org/npr/2025-07-...

Do you have field work experience? Do you want more? Our team wants YOU to manage our field site studying Kinda baboons in Kasanka National Park, Zambia!

Start date is this August 2025 so apply ASAP!

Job ad here: tinyurl.com/KindaBaboon

Thanks for this useful video @etobias-musiced.bsky.social; like SO many, I got the "AI created a podcast of your paper" email. And I had an auto-payment of $299 from my bank for a "premium account" which doesn't exist. I deleted my Academia.edu account & will file a fraud charge via my bank. Ugh. 😡

Donate to Standing By His Side: Supporting Phillip's Cancer Journey, organized by Ellen Bloemke My name is Ellen, and about four years ago, a simple Facebook … Ellen Bloemke needs your support for Standing By His Side: Supporting Phillip's Cancer Journey

If you can, please help my friend as she supports her partner through his #cancer journey. Any little bit will help towards the daunting costs they are facing.

Please support this GoFundMe by donating or sharing—> gofund.me/cebbec69

The United States Bombed Iran. Now What? President Trump is taking an enormous risk.

Okay, folks, here you go.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

…noticed the first #fireflies (technically firebeetles!) in the backyard on June 6 (last year was June 10). Tonight I counted about a dozen in our small urban yard - no pesticides! #Lampyridae #Coleoptera #beetles #insects 🥰💡🪰✨🌳🏡 💚

mdc.mo.gov/discover-nat...

CDC Table: Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for Ages 18 Years or Younger, United States, 2025

Better save a copy of this now

Carnivorous Plants Have Been Trapping Animals for Millions of Years. So Why Have They Never Grown Larger? Plants that feed on meat and animal droppings have evolved at least ten times through evolutionary history

Carnivorous plants have evolved over and over again through millions of years. And while some get big, none have ever reached Audrey II size. In my latest for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social, I look into why. 🌱

A view of Mars, taken yesterday.

Teachers Are Not OK AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."

I talked to 15 teachers/professors about how AI and ChatGPT is ruining their lives:

www.404media.co/teachers-are...

There’s No ‘Undo’ Button for Extinct Species

"Even if Colossal had managed to reproduce the dire-wolf genome, that would be very different from reproducing a world in which a vanished creature might thrive." Extinction is not something you can ctrl+Z

By @brookejarvis.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/m...

Starter packs are great/helpful, and also check out who some of your favorite people follow. Welcome to Bluesky! 🦋

… at first I thought these downy #woodpeckers (#Dryobates pubescens) were adults, but once I zoomed in with the camera I realized what was going on: mama on the right, fledged chick (still getting fed) on the left. She’s using suet from our feeder. Lucky random capture! 📷🐣 #birds #birding