Luke Glowacki

"Unquestionably step forward"? How about instead thinking about how we got to this point and then trying learn from it to design policies that promote diversity, advance science, and improve the credibility of our institutions? Not more of the same: bigotry, group think, and censoriousness.

Now might be the time to rethink how the policies of the past ten years have been disastrous for eroding the credibility of science. Diversity makes science better, but DEI has alienated a huge percentage of the public and led to an anti-scientific backlash.

Whatever your position about sex as binary or not, this is a fantastically stimulating discussion, enough so it inspired me to buy the book.

I'm excited to share that my wife's book, The Mind Electric, is out! She's a brilliant neurologist and weaves together patient stories exploring the human mind. I read it and it's fantastic. If you r interested in the mind, culture, & how we make meaning, check it out! www.amazon.com/Mind-Electri...

Projectile weapon injuries in the Riparo Tagliente burial (Veneto, Italy) provide early evidence of Late Upper Paleolithic intergroup conflict - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Projectile weapon injuries in the Riparo Tagliente burial (Veneto, Italy) provide early evidence of Late Upper Paleolithic intergroup conflict

Projectile weapon injuries in the Riparo Tagliente burial (Veneto, Italy) provide early evidence of Late Upper Paleolithic intergroup conflict www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks Ed!

Rare ‘ambidextrous’ protein breaks rules of handedness Most proteins are left-handed, but scientists have found an ancient molecule that works in both mirror-image forms.

Most proteins are left-handed, but scientists have found an ancient molecule that works in both mirror-image forms

https://go.nature.com/4mCImRm

If you haven't checked out the list of talks for #HBES2025, it's available online: stockton.edu/human-behavi...
Lots of great talks and plenaries coming!

University of Utah Cans History and Philosophy of Science Major Amidst Political and Administrative Chaos - Daily Nous One way public universities in Utah can earn back part of the $60 million in funding that the state legislature took from their budgets is by "showing that [the funds] will be reallocated for high-dem...

History and Philosophy of Science under attack

Good point, i didn't think about this interpretation.

Exclusive: NIH to suspend funds for research abroad as it overhauls policy Move by US biomedical agency threatens thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

Halting NIH foreign awards means that “more children and adults in low-income countries will now lose their lives because of research that didn’t get done about diseases like malaria and TB.”

Plus: sometimes we collect data abroad about a scientific concern that affects all humans, including us!

Is there really no correlation between cancer prevalence and lifespan and body size across species, as there should be? The apparent lack of an effect of body mass and lifespan on cancer became known as Peto’s paradox. But it turns out there is indeed a correlation.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Human and chimpanzee foot. We really are born to run (or walk).

Interesting post on philosophy over at Marginal Revolution. Philosophers, I'd love to hear your thoughts. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

This is a fantastic interview with @chrisbstringer.bsky.social. Wide ranging, interesting, and I learned some stuff. Imagine if the LCA of humans and Neanderthals dated to a million years ago! That may just be the case.

Acute viral infections are typically cleared by the host’s innate and adaptive immune responses, but even non-integrating RNA viruses can persist [1,2]. Neurons of the central nervous system are a privileged location for persistence because the host cannot deploy the cytolytic and inflammatory defense mechanisms that control infections in renewable cell types [3,4]. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) provides the prime example of a persistent brain infection caused by a human RNA virus. SSPE, which occurs in about 1 in 10,000 individuals typically 5–10 years after they experience an acute infection as a child [5–7], starts with subtle signs of intellectual and psychological dysfunction and progresses to sensory and motor function deterioration that ultimately leads to death [8,9]. There are no effective treatments for SSPE, however nonspecific antivirals (interferons, ribavirin, and inosine pranobex) have been used [10]. Although vaccination against measles prevents SSPE, this lethal disease is resurging due to vaccine hesitancy and missed immunizations due to COVID-19 related disruptions [11,12].

TIL that measles can infect and persist in the brain, and then (rarely) FIVE TO TEN YEARS LATER, kills you. There are no effective treatments.

Vaccination against measles obviously prevents this 🧪 journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

A psychologist and biologist debate the significance of testosterone | Aeon Essays In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree

"Cordelia has offered no strong hypothesis that explains the fact that, across time and place, men are more likely than women to decide to throw that punch... Killing off T-Rex entirely serves only to shoot ourselves in the foot"

@aeon.co how about doing something similar on the origins of war? How deep is it and was it important in human evolution? I'd be happy to argue for the deep roots perspective.

This is a great exchange in a format we need more of--longform written debate.

Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique Animals can learn from each other, maintaining their cultures for long periods of time. What sets people apart may be the uniquely open-ended ways we invent new ideas and share and build on them.

Hello, Bluesky! Pleased to share that my first public-press article, on the shifting debate over what makes human culture unique, was published today in @us.theconversation.com. I review recent literature suggesting that cultural open-endedness, not cumulative culture, is our true defining trait.

I have many of your books and can't wait till my kids are old enough to share your books with them.

Incredibly, we are cutting back on ag research and services as the US--with more good farmland and quality ag infrastructure per person than any other nation--is on its way, incredibly, to becoming a net importer of food (something pointed out by a disbelieving @sarahtaber.bsky.social ).

Loads of evidence of cooperation among women in small-scale societies cross-culturally. doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

Where Queens Ruled: ancient DNA confirms legendary Matrilineal Celts were no exception Britain's Iron-Age mother-line

Fascinating @razibkhan.bsky.social column on new ancient-DNA work which gives us a glimpse of the matrilineal/matrifocal society of the ancient Celts -- a female-centered culture that was once thought to be a mythical creation.

ACE Lab: Applied Cultural Evolution Laboratory culture, evolution, cooperation, and sustainability

Fully-funded PhD position on the cultural evolution of environmental management!

Link evolution, ecology and behavioral science in the ACE Lab timwaring.info Details: forms.gle/gZWK9BpwYfoG...
@culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @alexmesoudi.com @hyperadapthyrax.bsky.social @michael.muthukrishna.com

This is a fantastic PhD opportunity!

I want to live in a world where science is funded no matter what party is in power. To do that, we need to ask how we got here and to reclaim the trust of the public. The answer is not more of the same.

I think an important part of that process is trying to understand what’s going on in the mind of the notable percentage of people who think this is good, which is what i was trying to capture in my statement.

My personal opinion is that what’s happening to NSF/ NIH is disastrous & going to set US science institutions back for a very long time. The only way I see that they will ever recover is if science gains the credibility it once had, & that requires scientists and our orgs being more thoughtful.

Their statements are clearly very thoughtfully written, but imo still don’t have enough of a perspective. I liked the Leakey statement which acknowledged the situation without making something more of it.