Sheina Lew-Levy

The emergence of cooperative behaviors, norms, and strategies across five diverse societies Children’s cooperative behaviors and norms develop along distinct cultural pathways shaped by local norms.

Very excited that this paper is out!
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Led by the fabulous @dorsaamir.bsky.social with invaluable contributions from many awesome collaborators.

🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMET🚨

EHBEA wants to congratulate @drboothroyd.bsky.social and @sheinalew.bsky.social on earning the 2026 EHBEA Award in Excellence in Public Communication and Outreach👏

@durhampsych.bsky.social
@durham.ac.uk

...when social contexts regularly expose children to out-group collaboration, inter-ethnic norms are acquired at similar timelines to intra-ethnic ones, as part of children’s broader cooperative repertoire.

As always, we thank the BaYaka and Bandongo communities who welcomes us!

The social learning and development of intra- and inter-ethnic sharing norms in the Congo Basin Compared to other species, the extent of human cooperation is unparalleled. Such cooperation is coordinated between community members via social norms. Developmental research has demonstrated that ver...

🚨 New Paper Alert!

We investigated the developmental trajectories of intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic social norm acquisition among BaYaka and Bandongo in northern Rep. Congo, a community where inter-ethnic cooperation is common. We found that...

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

My time at @durhampsych.bsky.social has ended on a massive high - so grateful to @zannaclay.bsky.social and @drboothroyd.bsky.social for their supervision, and to Prof Tina Malti and @sheinalew.bsky.social for making my viva experience so positive 😊

The relationship between childhood exploration and population-level innovation in cultural evolution Abstract. The societal effects of children’s learning in cultural evolution have been underexplored. Here, we investigate using agent-based models how a pr

"The relationship between childhood exploration and population-level innovation in cultural evolution" with @ndersen.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social out in Proc B

royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

A plot from the wife's age at first birth to the end of her life showing the contributions to family energy production by her, the husband, and their children. Initially, with no children, all energy is produced by the couple. As children arrive and gain foraging skills, their total contribution to family energy production grows and then begins to decline at the age of menopause as they mature and leave the family. Mortality takes its toll as the parents age.

I was surprised by children's large contribution to family food production in my hunter-gatherer family simulation. Of course, they're eating most of this food, too! From this paper linking the evolution of menopause to family energy balance: menopause-preprint.wisp.place 🧪 #BioAnth

The ENDOW project is seeking a Research Officer in Research Data Management to be based at the London School of Economics. - Oversee and extend our database covering geospatial, demographic, economic & social network data from 50+ communities in 30+ countries! - Contribute to research on the dynamics of social and economic inequality! - Join a stellar interdisciplinary team! - funded by the ESRC and the NSF [world map showing location of ENDOW communities; photos of some of the team members and some of the ENDOW communities showing their diversity

Research Officer in Research Data Management Salary from £43,277 to £48,220 pa inclusive of London allowance Fixed-term appointment for 18 months This research officer position is to work with Eleanor Power as part of the ongoing "ENDOW" project (Economic Networks and the Dynamics of Wealth Inequality), funded by the UKRI and US National Science Foundation. The research officer will be based in the Department of Methodology, a leading centre for research and education in social science research methods. While we expect this to be a full-time appointment, we are open to considering the possibility of a part-time appointment. The post entails overseeing and extending the database of the "ENDOW" project, which includes data from over fifty communities around the world, comprising economic, demographic, and social network data characterising each community, its resident households, and the individuals within them. The research officer will be responsible for the expansion of this database to include longitudinal data from each community site, implementing a robust data infrastructure to manage and curate this information. The research officer will work closely with Dr Power and data contributors to ensure data quality, standardisation, and appropriate governance. They will contribute to core analyses of the ENDOW project and develop tools and resources that will be of wide utility for the collection, curation, and analysis of cross-cultural data. This role is central to building the data infrastructure that will enable meaningful, productive comparisons across these diverse field sites and will ultimately serve as a resource for the broader scientific community. The successful candidate will: Have a completed PhD, be close to completing a PhD, or have other research experience that demonstrates the capability to produce independent original research Have experience with database design, data management and data governance Have experience with programming in R or Python

🚨Job alert! The ENDOW project is hiring a Research Officer in Research Database Management, to be based at @lsemethodology.bsky.social.

Oversee & expand our database & contribute to research on social & economic inequality.

Deadline 15 February. Share & reach out!
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

A new academic term is ramping up. Have you considered putting our episodes on your syllabi?

Conversations offer an accessible and engaging format—your students will thank you! We have 100+ episodes to choose from, covering many forms of mind from all disciplinary angles.

disi.org/manyminds/

Latest crop of early online papers at HGR includes some bangers - if I do say so myself. Not just this report on BaYaka Women's autonomy and my own article about cage traps, but also Sterelny on quasi-darwinian mechanisms in cultural evolution.

www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3...

'Varieties of childhood' with @dorsaamir.bsky.social & @sheinalew.bsky.social

Listen: disi.org/varieties-of...

(PDF) First recorded use of cage traps by the Tanzanian Hadza: A case of cross-cultural transmission PDF | While hunting is a critical subsistence strategy for the Tanzanian Hadza, reports of trapping have traditionally been minimal. Snare trapping of... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

🎄 New paper! 🎁

Since the 20s it's been said that "the Hadza don't use traps". Except sporadic snaring, none have been reported. So I was excited to find baited cage traps in use. More exciting, this was cross-cultural transmission — seldom seen in action!

1/​5

tinyurl.com/cagetrap

An incredible story spanning generations From Poland to Sydney, a bar mitzvah amidst rising antisemitism

Among those murdered in Sydney is Rabbi Eli Schlanger. 

Earlier this year, Rabbi Schlanger’s son Nossen became bar mitzvah, reading from a Torah that tied his family back generations, both to devastating loss and to Jewish resilience. www.australianjewishnews.com/an-incredibl...

a woman wearing sunglasses and a fur coat is holding a magazine and says boss lady . ALT: a woman wearing sunglasses and a fur coat is holding a magazine and says boss lady .

I am incredibly proud of my PhD student @amandinevisine.bsky.social who won the Academic Achievement Prize for achieving the highest overall mark in her masters program 🤯 😱🤯 😱🤯 😱🤯 😱🤯 😱 Watch out world, here she comes!!!

Indigenous People Were the Heroes of COP30 | Countercurrents Contradictions pervaded the latest UN climate conference (COP30) held in Belem, Brazil. Progressive President Lula da Silva of Brazil proclaimed it would a positive turning point in progress…

Indigenous People Were the Heroes of COP30 countercurrents.org/2025/11/indi...

The 50 wealthiest families own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population.

How can this Labour Government say this is a "cost of living" budget and refuse to tax the rich?

They care about protecting power and wealth. And cost of living is a buzz phrase for them. Dire.

Young chimps play weird with tools and other objects & this can lead to innovation! Moss sponging, doll play, leaf clipping to ask for carrying. If copied and retained, rare kid innovations can contribute to cultural complexity 🧪🔬🐵
My fav article I've ever worked on: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

CALL FOR PAPERS: UArctic Congress 2026 www.uarcticcongress.fo/programme/ca...

I’ll never forget the horror of the Covid wards | The Observer

"My NHS colleagues & I weren’t willing to let the bodies pile high in their thousands. Boris no longer mentions them at all."

My piece on the responses to the UK Covid-UK Inquiry report that try to airbrush the dead away.

Sincere thanks, @theobserveruk.bsky.social.

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Really enjoyed chatting with @michaelhobbes.bsky.social for this episode! In addition to being a delight to talk to, Michael was _extremely_ committed to getting the facts right & engaged very earnestly with our feedback. A scientist's dream.

At the Budget, the Green Party's message is clear: Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.

Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz

files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...

This looks super interesting. I get frustrated by both the weird idealisation of foragers as perfect societies and the opposite simplification. Great to see a prompt for a different way of thinking.

The deadline has been extended - there is still time to get your abstracts in to join us in Morocco!

Come and do a PhD at Exeter with me and Chico Camargo (Computer Science) on human-genAI coevolution

"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"

www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...

More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Mahmood furious over asylum seeker taxi bills.

Overton window has been obliterated

The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right.

There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture

join.greenparty.org.uk

“A snake with no teeth”: Urbanization shifts perceptions of men who support women’s empowerment in Northwestern Tanzania Achieving gender equality requires the support of all genders, but efforts to engage men in women’s empowerment initiatives have been fraught with res…

🚨 🐍 Our new paper on the consequences men face when countering patriarchal norms in rural Tanzania 🐍.🚨

We carried out focus groups and detailed interviews with a whopping 172 women and men about their perceptions of men who support women's empowerment... 📝 1/5

No 10 tells labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies

For a party that has always, and always will, stand up for refugee rights - join.greenparty.org.uk