Adrian Jaeggi

We're looking forward to hosting you!!

i've always been told that one should never compare absolute hormone levels - unless they were measured with the same assay, in the same lab, and ideally at the very same time 🤷‍♂️

My department is hiring an assistant professor of environmental behavioral sciences. The research area is open but we are particularly interested in people with research on collective action or computational social sciences.

Happy to answer questions about the Doerr School or the department.

Just got this book by one of my favourite anthropologists (and people) in the mail - if it's only half as good as the gushing advanced praise, this'll be an instant classic! Also, brilliant title, immediately putting to bed the notion that long lifespan is a new thing; we've evolved to live to ~70

Revisiting the human sociobiology debate What have we learned 50 years on?

🚨 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/...

Frequency dependence favours social plasticity and facilitates socio‐eco‐evolutionary feedback in fluctuating environments Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Hot on the tail of our Tsimane IGE study comes the theory paper that motivated it! What are the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in dynamic environments? See our new Functional Ecology paper to find out more

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Jordan Martin @jsmartin.bsky.social used a sophisticated evo quant gen approach to show that neighboring women enhance each other's fertility among the Tsimane, which accelerates adaptive evolution. This 'social drive' helps explain the rapid pace of human evolution. See thread and paper for more!

two 4-year PhD positions in the Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich, and the Wild Minds Lab of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, to study wild chimpanzees and bonobos. The PhD candidates will work within the Creative Ape Project. The overall goal of the project is to enhance our understanding of the evolution of creativity, and to shed light on whether humans are a uniquely 'creative ape'. To do so we will apply a comparative approach, quantifying the creative capacities of wild non-human apes to investigate the underlying drivers that shape creative expression across species. The project explores four interconnected topics: i) Making mavericks, ii) Funny guys and arty-types, iii) Lone ape geniuses, and iv) Creative ape economies. We employ a comprehensive approach that leverages long-term datasets, new field data, detailed manual video-coding, bespoke automated deep-learning models, and advanced modelling, to extract rich information on the ways in which apes solve problems in their daily lives. Excellent collaborative, independent working and time management skills are essential. Previous field experience (incl. behavioural data collection) is required, and experience working in remote places under difficult living conditions is highly recommended. The project will require strong data management and data analysis skills, and 12-18 months of field work split into 2-3 periods. Please submit your application in a single PDF to kathelijne.koops@iea.uzh.ch and clh42@st-andrews.ac.uk – by 4th of August 2025. Feel free to get in touch if you have any inquiries about the positions. Applications should include: 1) cover letter stating your motivation and how your expertise fits the project (max. 1 page), 2) Curriculum Vitae, 3) copy of the highest degree obtained, 4) names and contact details of two referees, and 5) reprints of 1-2 selected publications

A tiny chimpfant looks at the camera with surprise

📣 Join the K/Creative Ape Team 🤓 2 PhDs on Creativity in Wild Chimpanzees & Bonobos; w myself & the v awesome @kathelijnekoops.bsky.social

@snf-fns.ch Uni Zurich @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @efp2026.bsky.social @ips-primatenews.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @primbehavecol.bsky.social 🐵🧪

The fish challenge to vertebrate cognitive evolution | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences There is tremendous taxonomic variation in the size, shape and structure of vertebrate brains. While many studies use cross-species comparisons to aim at identifying the ecological factors (social and...

Is there a cognitive hierachy between ecto- and endotherms driven by brain size/neuron counts? Probably not.

Very interesting opinion piece by @zegnitriki.bsky.social et al., shifting focus to sensory–motor integration to explain brain size differences.🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Durham Uni study finds chimpanzees more empathetic than assumed Durham University finds that chimpanzees are as likely to console as the 'more empathic' bonobo.

Some coverage from the #BBC about our study comparing the empathic tendencies of chimpanzees and bonobos

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tagging some people who might be interested in modularity and psychiatry, thanks for RT! @randynesse.bsky.social @realadamhunt.bsky.social @dpietra.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @dconroybeam.bsky.social @anniewertz.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @maxkraz.bsky.social #EvMed #EvPsych

Frontiers | The modular mind and psychiatry: toward clinical integration with a focus on self-disorders

Ever wondered if the mind really is modular? Ego disorders suggest so! In this new paper, psychiatrist Gheorghe Ilie and I argue that dysfunctions of the unitary self reveal the work of distinct modules, perceived by patients as distinct voices, often in conflict
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Applications now open for UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evo Bio (1–6 Sept 2025, Lausanne)!
Aimed at PhD students interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology questions like sexual selection, social & life-history evolution. Scholarships available.
Pls share! www.shorturl.at/znk5g

Description of the Postdoc position

Description of the Postdoc position

Description of the Postdoc position

New Postdoc position!
🐵🐵🐵🐵
On the socioecology of cognition in primates, based in Paris @mnhn.fr @cnrs.fr, with field work
It has it all:
- the best science
- the best macaques
- the best beaches
- the best people
- the best office view #Eiffeltower

Join us!

YouTube video by ProSocial World Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies with Vivek Venkataraman (Part 1)

I recently did a thoroughly enjoyable two-part podcast with David Sloan Wilson at ProSocial World (@prosocialworld.bsky.social).

The topic was Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies.

Feedback welcome!

Slide with information about phylogenetic methods.

Nice talk at #ehbea2025 by @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social on a new approach to comparative methods (generalised dynamic phylogenetic models), which can be implemeted in 'coevolve' package in R.

Interesting method using causal inference in phylogenetic and comparative analyses 🤓💻

#EHBEA2025

@ehbea.bsky.social
@ehbea2025.bsky.social
@jaeggiadrian.bsky.social

1/ How is economic equality maintained in hunter-gatherers? In a new preprint with @dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social et al, we find Hadza are more likely to take from others who have more than them than they are to give to someone who has less. #anthropology #evolution papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The DCIDE framework then also helps adjudicate between competing adaptive hypotheses. In the case of autism, some version of autistic traits selected for in specific cognitive/social niches is most compatible with all the evidence, autism as by-product of recent selection for intelligence less so

Turns out, some cases of autism are clearly maladaptive, e.g. caused by chromosomal abnormalities, environmental trauma or major de novo mutations. Others are likely candidates for adaptations, caused by many alleles of small effect, especially when including broader subclinical autism spectrum

Is autism an adaptation? How can evolutionary science go beyond just-so story-telling? Questions like these benefit from a philosopher of science. In this paper, @realadamhunt.bsky.social develops a systematic framework for testing evo hypotheses using all available evidence, exemplified with autism

Reminder to send in your application and/or tell your students and colleagues about this PhD position! Review of applications will begin in a few weeks, though the position will remain open until filled

We are so excited for #ISEMPH 2025! Join the #EvMed event of the year, hosted at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee!

Abstract submission is open, deadline is 3 Feb!

Details here: https://buff.ly/40zGJLx

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health | Oxford Academic The official journal of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. An open access, multidisciplinary journal that publishes original, rigorous applications of evolutionary t...

Honored to begin 2025 as Editor-in-Chief of Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, the ISEMPH Society journal. Thanks to Cynthia Beall for leadership and guidance. Please send us your creative work at the interface of evolution, medicine, and public health!
academic.oup.com/emph

Applications for MEME are open! It's a research- and mobility-oriented Evolutionary Biology Master's Programme, where students have the opportunity to visit 4(+2) different universities in two years. Please spread the word! www.evobio.eu #EvoBio

Home | EHBEA2025

🚨🚨 FINAL REMINDER! 🚨🚨

⏳ Abstract submissions for #EHBEA2025 close TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT (GMT)!

No extensions this time! Be part of this amazing conference in the vibrant city of Newcastle this April 🌉

Submit here now: ehbea2025.com 🚀
@ehbea.bsky.social #BioAnth #CultEvo #EvPsych #Evosky

Density Dependence Shapes Life‐History Trade‐Offs in a Food‐Limited Population Quantifying trade-offs within populations is important in life-history theory. However, most studies focusing on life-history trade-offs focus on two traits and assume trade-offs to be static. Our wo...

"At low density, a trade-off between juvenile survival and growth structures life-history variation, whereas at equilibrium density, trade-off between reproduction and juvenile survival is the major structuring axes" [Soay sheep] onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Ecology-Evolution scientific societies on Bluesky:

ESEB: @eseb.bsky.social
SSE: @sse-evolution.bsky.social
ASN: @asn-amnat.bsky.social
SMBE: @official-smbe.bsky.social
BES: @britishecolsoc.bsky.social
CSEE-SCEE: @csee-scee.bsky.social
and joining us today, welcome!:
SFE2: @sfecologie.bsky.social

Starter pack for evolutionary behavioral science! I know I am missing many ppl working in this area. Please add yourself and your colleagues!
go.bsky.app/Rt4Kh26

We are hiring! Please share if you know of any Human Biologists focusing on climate change 🧪https://apply.interfolio.com/159431