Marshall Abrams

Interested in how race, ethnicity, and ancestry get used and misused in genetics? This talk is for you!

Register at www.hugera.org

#philsky #philsci #STS #HPbio #popgen

This seems required by other aspects of Lewontin's view, since he thinks that a population and its environment can change each other over time, creating new relationships, or ... new niches.

Yes, that sounds similar to my thoughts. There are probabilities of a population evolving new trait variations and of its environment changing in various ways, so one could say that there are probabilities of so-far-unfilled niches that are relevant to evolution of the population.

The "vacant niches are incoherent" argument is the what I mean to reference with mention of Lewontin. Even outside of the phylogenetic context--which I agree is cool--I've come to wonder whether one should accept the incoherence claim, even though its motivation is important.

Here's the post by the lead author @stephchia.bsky.social. I encountered from a journal email. bsky.app/profile/step...

Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre‐Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea We use topological data analysis to reveal a persistent morphological gap in a major group of songbirds (superfamily Passeroidea). The gap remained unoccupied for millions of years, even though nearb....

This looks like it might be particularly interesting to folks in #hpbio e.g. interested in niche concepts or some of Lewontin's arguments. "Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre-­Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea" by Chia et al. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

We're excited to announce the Spring 2026 PSA office hours! Come learn, ask questions, and connect with leading voices in philosophy of science!

Details in the 🧵
Registration at this link: www.philsci.org/psa_...

The other episode was on #DependentTypes in computer programming, intuitionism in #philmath, philosophical questions concerning #evolution, and #pseudorandom number generators.

Last weekend I enjoyed recording two episodes for @bufordrat.bsky.social's excellent Elucidations podcast (elucidations.vercel.app). One episode was on ideas from my book, Evolution and the Machinery of Chance (press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...). #evosky, #hpbio.

Journals This is our best attempt at a comprehensive guide for journals that publish in philosophy of social science. If we have either misrepresented or omitted a journal and you are on the editorial board…

Kareem Khalifa is assembling a list of journals that either specialise or regularly publish work in philosophy of social science. A great service but I need this list to be longer! Please add to it #philsci #philsky

#hpbio

#hpbio

"You can just decide that you don’t know things, it turns out, even if you do know them. You can simply decide to forget progress. Disease is caused by miasma, insufficient beef tallow, corn syrup, the evil eye. You can simply decide to burn coal and witches and books again." -Alexandra Petri

Trump Administration Announces That We Don’t Know Where the Sun Goes at Night After deciding carbon dioxide does no harm, it was the logical next move.

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

UNC Admin Can Now, Officially, Secretly Record Faculty The new policy prohibits students from recording class without permission but explicitly allows administrators to surveil professors for any “lawful purpose.”

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

It should respond "Dave?"

I am elated & humbled that my upcoming monograph (mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282...) was chosen as one of the #openaccess titles for Spring 2026. Thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social's Direct to Open (D2O) model & the hundreds of participating libraries that make it possible! #philsky #HPS #evosky #HPbio

Davis Summer Population Genomics Program Want to learn population genetics? Please fill out this form to indicate your potential interest in a 2-week intensive online summer population genetics course taught by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra and Graham...

Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!

Conversations at the Center - YouTube The Center for Philosophy of Science proudly presents our podcast! Join us and our community as we discuss philosophy, science, and so much more.! Guided by ...

The first episode of the second season of my podcast, Conversations at the Center, is now available on youtube, spotify, and apple podcast. With David Wallace. #philsci

My department is hiring!! Philosophy and ethics of environment. Please spread the word. The turn around is a short! #philsky #philsci #philtrch #moralphil

philjobs.org/job/show/30842

Final reminder 📢 We are looking for a #philbio or #philphysics postdoc for an interdisciplinary project exploring the boundary between living and nonliving systems through the lens of self-organization & active matter 👇 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... #philjobs #philsky #HPS #devbio Please share!

Calling master students, doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows in the fields of philosophy, life sciences & medicine!

Apply now to come to Bordeaux in June and learn to address conceptual questions in scientific research using interdisciplinary methods

#philsky #philsci #biology #neuroscience

ICE attorney to judge: ‘This job sucks’ A federal judge admonished DHS for repeatedly defying court orders to release detainees, as government lawyers described widespread noncompliance during Minnesota’s immigration crackdown. On Wednesday...

ICE attorney to judge: ‘This job sucks’ www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Coming up in Munich: we launch the Munich Center for Transformative Technologies and Societal Change this Friday, February 6, at 5 pm! Ending the week with hope & energy for the coming years. Come along if you can - registration & programme: transform-cluster.de/transform-la... #philsci #sts #hps

Book cover of "This is mental!" by Pieter R. Adriaens. The upper half features a detailed, stylised illustration reminiscent of a neurological diagram: black, tree-like neuronal forms branch upward and outward against a cream background, interlaced with fine lines and small annotations, while red star-shaped nodes punctuate the network, suggesting neural activity. Below the illustration, the title "This is mental!" appears prominently in large red serif lettering, followed by the subtitle "Een inleiding tot de wijsgerige psychologie" in smaller turquoise text. At the bottom, the publisher’s name, Pelckmans, is printed in a restrained, minimalist style.

Our colleague Pieter Adriaens has published a new Dutch-language introduction to #PhilMind for scientists & philosophers! He covers topics such as modularity, psychopathology, comparative psychology & free will—and much more! 👇 www.pelckmansuitgevers.be/this-is-ment... #philsci #philsky #AcademicSky

Nominations open for PSA 2026 Hempel Award, recognizing lifetime scholarly achievement in philosophy of science. Nominations include a CV & 3-5 detailed letters of support addressing scholarly achievements, mentorship, public outreach, & service to PSA. Submit to office@philsci.org by April 31
#HPS

Photo of palm trees in San Diego & text: PSA PHILOSOPHY Of SCIENCE ASSOCIATION PSA 2026 PSA 2026 - San Diego Conference Website The PSA's 30th biennial meeting is scheduled to take place in San Diego, CA from Nov 19-22, 2026.

Submissions open for PSA Biennial Meeting Contributed Papers, deadline March 15, & Posters, due by June 1, 2026.
PSA 2026 is in San Diego November 19 - 22, 2026 #HPS

psa26.oa-event.com

www.philsci.org/psa_2026.php

I think I've heard on radio/podcasts or read about cases in which there was some kind of intervention by police to aid protestors or other targets on the street, but not such an active role concerning an arrest.

Promotional poster for the XIV Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences. The poster features a dark green background with stylized yellow and red floral illustrations around the edges. Large yellow text announces the workshop title. The event will take place 18–19 June at UNED, Edificio de Humanidades, Paseo de la Senda del Rey 7, Madrid. The keynote speakers listed are Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven), Enara García (SDU), and José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (UNED). The poster highlights a Call for Abstracts (CfA) with an extended deadline of 1st February. Contact information is provided at xivpbcs@gmail.com

Final days to submit an abstract to #PBCS2026! If you are an early-career scholar looking for a supportive environment to discuss your work & meet international peers, consider applying! Another plus this year: The workshop will be in Madrid! sites.google.com/view/xivpbcs... #HPbio #philsci #philsky

A common complaint among job seekers is "jobs require experience, but I can't get experience if I can't get a job!" Conservation Careers has an online take-at-your-own-pace short course that offers expert guidance in solving this dilemma. www.conservation-careers.com/experience/