There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting!
www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

Identifying practical pathways from animal culture theory to conservation practice Wildlife conservation has traditionally focused on the maintenance of population size, preserving genetic diversity and protecting habitats, with success typically measured through stable or increasi...

🎉 New paper out in Biological Reviews! 🎉

With 19 brilliant co‑authors from the IUCN SGA's Working Group on Chimpanzee Cultures, led by Crickette Sanz and me, we provide a much needed toolkit on how animal cultures can be built into conservation.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Pronatalists want more babies. Their solutions aren’t rooted in science Conservative pronatalists want a return to the traditional nuclear family. But that family structure is at odds with how humans evolved.

Featuring me and @rebeccasear.bsky.social @philipncohen.com and Karen Kramer

Thanks @sujatagupta.bsky.social

www.sciencenews.org/article/pron...

Thanks to the many co-authors on this piece (shout-outs below) and to a number of colleagues for critical feedback. We looking forward to further constructive engagement on this topic.

One historical contingency that has led to much confusion was Sherwood Washburn's decision to call the famous conference Man the Hunter. This was against the pleading of Richard Lee and others.

The conference was progressive in many ways, but the title is stuck in the past.

One common error is to equate Washburn and Lancaster's chapter (The Evolution of Hunting) at the Man the Hunter conference with the entire volume.

We show this is a mistake: there was tremendous viewpoint diversity at the conference, and their chapter was not presented at the conference.

We show that this doesn't exist in any unified sense. The history is messy and diverse. Let's get specific on the exact models we're critiquing.

So how should we talk about Man the Hunter? Our primary suggestion is this: Let's avoid critiquing a 'general' Man the Hunter paradigm.

We also review how the study of contemporary hunter-gatherers have added to our knowledge of human evolution. Briefly, HGs have been a critical source of information when considered with care and skepticism.

Some great plots here made by @edhagen.net

The scientific study of hunter-gatherers has long been at odds with the vision presented by Dart and Ardrey. There was mutual disdain between these thinkers. Thus, we should not casually conflate them.

There is no basis for equating Dart and Ardrey and the Killer Ape Theory with the Man the Hunter conference of 1966, or with human behavioral ecology, as has been common in the recent literature.

In this paper, we tackle the intellectual history of this concept and its various meanings.

We distinguish between popular versions of this idea (Dart and Ardrey and the Killer Ape) and more scientific ones, showing that there was little intellectual interaction between these strands of thought.

I’m happy to announce that our paper "The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter" has now been published in Evolution and Human Behavior.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter The phrase Man the Hunter is associated with disparate meanings across communities of scholars, journalists, and the public, which has led to unnecess…

"Man the Hunter" is often conflated with Dart's "killer ape theory"; A pity because, though imperfect, the MTH conference was a departure from previous Hobbesian colonial Hunter-Gatherer narratives.

In this new Target Article we map out some of that intellectual history.

✨New Perspective out w/ Wenning Deng and @fearbrain.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social ! We argue that social foraging gives us a unifying, and ecologically grounded way to study how decisions unfold across levels — from individuals and dyads to collectives.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

UZH: Professorship for Evolutionary Anthropology and Primatology We are seeking candidates in the field of Comparative Evolutionary Anthropology and Primatology for the Irene Staehelin Endowed Professorship at the University of Zurich. This position focuses on the ...

🚨 Job Alert: Professorship in Evolutionary Anthropology / Primatology at University of Zurich, focused on understanding evolutionary and cultural evolutionary foundations of gender-based inequality and violence, with research in non-human primates.

jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

Transmission of MPXV from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys - Nature An outbreak of MPXV in sooty mangabeys in Côte d’Ivoire was linked to MPXV-infected fire-footed rope squirrels, providing direct evidence of interspecies transmission and indicating risk for zoonotic ...

Transmission of MPXV: from a squirrel to a mangaby - long-term observations and genetic analysis allow to find the transmission path in retrospect. Another good reason to invest into long-term field research.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Looking forward to work with @fierycushman.bsky.social and @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social on the moral psychology of authority!

The Lise Meitner Excellence Programme is designed to attract and specifically promote exceptionally qualified female scientists.

A position with prospects! We offer excellent researchers again the possibility to apply for a position as a Leader of a Lise Meitner Research Group in all areas of #science. Applications are possible between February 11th and April 15th, 2026. www.mpg.de/lise-meitner... #lisemeitnergroups

The Original Affluent Society? Lessons from 60-Years of "Man the Hunter" Research To mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 'Man the Hunter' symposium, On Humans is proud to publish the first-ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee.

A new podcast interview by @ilarimakela.bsky.social with Richard B. Lee about Man the Hunter! Should be fascinating.

onhumans.substack.com/p/the-origin...

The “I” in egalitarianism: Hadza hunter-gatherers averse to inequality primarily when personally unfavorable Abstract. Many economists contend that humans have strong, universal, other-regarding equality preferences with deep evolutionary roots. Indeed, many hunte

📢 New Paper 🚨

Hadza food-sharing is egalitarian, yet offers in giving games have never matched the equitable redistribution seen in real life.

In this study, we allowed people to give *or* take. Lifelike equitable distributions only appeared when people took from peers in surplus.

bit.ly/4kvLOwA

Thrilled to share our latest paper, out now in Science Advances! We explored the development of cooperative behaviors — fairness, trustworthiness, forgiveness, & honesty —  across five societies, culturally contextualizing them & seeing how they correlate. (1/5) www.science.org/doi/full/10....

🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

EHBEA wants to congratulate @nicolewalasek.bsky.social on earning the EHBEA Award of New Investigator👏

🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

EHBEA wants to congratulate @tvpollet.bsky.social
on earning the EHBEA Award on Services to the Community 👏

🚨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

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...

Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! 🎣🎉

We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. 🐟

Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)

Great to read Vivek's interview with Bob - lots of interesting things here. And not just the insights into Binford's data collection 😱. Thanks to both Vivek and Bob for the publication!

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

International Fellowships 2026 The International Fellowships Programme enables researchers to work for two years at a UK institution with the aim of building a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce. Funding status Open for applications Career stage Early-career

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.

We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...