The Unfolding World: Causal & physical cognition in humans and other animals - CRASSH Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

There are still three more days to register for what will undoubtably be a fantastic workshop at the University of Cambridge organised by Marta Halina and Mariel Goddu www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/49983/

I’m glad to share my new book on organisms, biology and Kant:

When Metaphysics meets Biology. Kantian approaches to Concept of Organism. (Routledge)

The book is open access so you can download the pdf, read, share

#philsci #evobio #philbio #histbio #kant

www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon...

The Dialectics of Multi-Level Selection in Evolutionary Biology - Dialectical Systems Introduction Dialectical thinking in biology has famously been put forward by the eponymous book of Levins and Lewontin (1985). Much of the book was dedicated to the interpenetration between organisms...

The dialectical underpinnings of multilevel selection

Evolution isn’t flat: new levels arise through conflict and then reshape the very dynamics that brought them into being

What Physical ‘Life Force’ Turns Biology’s Wheels? | Quanta Magazine The bacterial flagellar motor is finally understood after 50 years. In its workings, columnist Natalie Wolchover finds the essence of life.

www.quantamagazine.org/what-physica...

AI doom warnings are getting louder. Are they realistic? Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity. But such doomsday warnings carry their own risks.

Good critical analysis of the idea that AI could end humanity by @lizziegibney.bsky.social

Many "warn that raising the alarm unnecessarily could be harmful" by distracting from well-documented risks of AI — such as misinformation and mass surveillance.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🚨Open call for a professorship (W2 tenure-track W3) at Saarland University (Germany) for Ethics of AI! #philsky

📅 Deadline: 28 May 2026

urli.info/1sVzw

We’re a friendly and supportive department—don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Crick Crash Course: Embryo development

I am giving a "Crash Course in Embryo Development" for the general public (no science background needed! pitched around GCSE-level) in London on 21st May www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/cri... We'll dip into development, with a splash of embryo models, and a pinch of ethics. And it's free! Book online 👍

Upending assumptions about learning, inspired by an AI phenomenon More than a century of psychological research has assumed that, given constrained resources for storing information, learning should happen through forgetting most things but hanging onto only key the...

For over a century, psychology has largely assumed that humans learn by simplifying experiences and retaining only key themes.

In a new paper, SFI’s Marina Dubova and co-author Sabina Sloman explore whether humans can learn through excess capacity, remembering more and generalizing better.

Hypergravity exposure leads to persistent effects on geotaxis and activity in Drosophila melanogaster Gravity, a constant force throughout evolution, has fundamentally shaped biology, playing a critical role in locomotion, balance, and orientation across species —from unicellular organisms to complex ...

Gravity is an omnipresent force. But what happens in cases of hypergravity? Scientists of the Giraldo lab tested how hypergravity affects locomotion and energy homeostasis in flies. journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/... @jexpbiol.bsky.social

To understand decision-making, we need to truly challenge lab animals Complex, multidimensional tasks that unfold over time could reveal how different brain areas work together to support decisions.

By designing decision-making tasks that vary along multiple dimensions and truly challenge our animals, we might finally understand how multiple brain areas coordinate to drive decisions, writes @chandlab.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/decision-mak...

Join our upcoming PhilInBioMed‑Seminar:
Apr 21 | 5 - 6:30 pm (CET) | virtual on Zoom

Kenneth S. Kendler (Virginia Commonwealth University, USA):
“A Conversation about Major Themes in the Philosophy of Psychiatry”

Further information here: philinbiomed.cnrs.fr/event/philin...

Call for papers - NetMob 2026 - Niterói, RJ, Brazil
www.netmob.org

Important dates

Abstract submission: June 17th
Notification: July 15th
Camera ready: August 15th

AEdu - ALife Education Virtual Workshop Registration This is the registration form to partipation in the ALife Education virtual workshop in May 2026. There will be two 2-day workshops to support different timezones. These two workshops are one week apa...

3/🔗 Register here:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#ArtificialLife #STEM #EdTech #ALife2026 #AEdu #EmergingResearchers

2/Join us virtually for one of two global sessions:
📍 May 18–19 (10 – 14 ET)
📍 May 25–26 (10 – 14 JST)
From balancing technical code with accessibility to hands-on teaching methods, we're shaping the future of #ALife education together. Don't miss out on this inaugural event!🧑‍🏫

1/📢 Ready to bring Artificial Life into your classroom? 🧬✨

The ERA board is excited to announce the AEdu Spring 2026 Workshops for Educators! These sessions are designed for teachers, trainers, and leaders ready to explore the future of #ALife and synthetic intelligence.

As you may know, Binghamton will host #CCS2026. Although @binghamtonu.bsky.social ranks first among New York's public universities, let us introduce you to our hometown, often known as the "Parlor City" for its historic elegance 🏛️, and the "Valley of Opportunity" for its industrial past 🏭.

Northeastern University London | PhD Position in higher-order coordination and emergent communication across human, AI, and animal systems

Application deadline: April 30

#PhD #Coordination #Emergence #Communication #NetworkScience #AI ./23

www.complexitycat.org/posts/PhD-NU...

Special Issue: Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information, 3rd Edition

Submission deadline: April 30

#SpecialIssue #MDPI #Complexity #Entropy #Information ./22

www.complexitycat.org/posts/entrop...

HUN-REN Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics | Postdoctoral Fellowship in Epidemic Modelling

Application deadline: April 30

#Postdoc #PhD #Math #Epidemic #Modelling #Applications ./21

www.complexitycat.org/posts/postdo...

CETE-P | Call for Abstracts: Caring for Non-Humans 2026

Submission deadline: April 30

#Conference #philosophy #humanities #technology #ethics ./20

www.complexitycat.org/posts/call-f...

IISER Thiruvananthapuram | Postdoc Fellowship in Dynamics of Adaptive Networks

Application deadline: April 30

#Postdoc #PhD #Dynamics #Adaptative #Networks #NetworkScience ./19

www.complexitycat.org/posts/postdo...

𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆
Excellent paper about purposiveness in biology. Important critique of the dynamical systems approach as a "simple" solution to the computationalism approach.
Highly relevant to the enactive approach too.
doi.org/10.1177/1059...

Direct and indirect benefits of cooperation in collective defense against predation | PNAS The evolution and maintenance of public goods cooperation, despite cheating, remains a key interest in social biology. Identifying how ecological f...

Contribution to the collective defense provides both direct and indirect benefits and that individuals regulate their contributions mainly based on the social environment, resulting in variation within and among natural populations.

#Evolution #ComplexSystems

www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY Individual Resilience and Collective Action in Evolutionary Biology LIGHTNING TALKS: 9:15 - 10:30 AM EDT Focus on the collective: what can our community do in a time of uncertainty? PROTHAMA MANNA, CLEMSON UNIV. MOHAMED NOOR, DUKE UNIVERSITY RUTH SHAW, UNIV. OF MINNESOTA JOSEPH GRAVES, NC A&T STATE UNIV. SCOTT EDWARDS, HARVARD UNIV. EMILY JOSEPHS, MICHIGAN STATE UNIV. ALISON DAVIS RABOSKY, UNIV. OF MICHIGAN WORKSHOP & BREAKOUTS: 11 - 12:30 PM EDT Focus on the individual: how scientists can respond constructively, creatively, and sustainably in the face of instability NELIA VIVEIROS, UNIV. OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS

👋 👋 SSE members, I hope you'll join me May 21 for the virtual SSE Presidential Symposium:

Navigating Uncertainty: Individual Resilience and Collective Action in Evolutionary Biology

Pls RT to help get the word out!

One of Nature’s Most Complex Molecular Machines Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · April 14 · 23m

Each passage into the nucleus is guarded by a jumble of proteins. These bouncers work together to determine which VIPs (very important proteins) are allowed in and out of the most exclusive part of the cell. Tune in to The Quanta Podcast:

Pythagoras was wrong: there are no universal musical harmonies, study finds The tone and tuning of musical instruments has the power to manipulate our appreciation of harmony, new research shows. The findings challenge centuries of

This paper deserves a rant 🧵!

Besides HARKing, there are plenty of other ongoing, institutionalized problems in #science.

Cherry picking, retconning, historic negation &/or narrative reframing to make your results sound surprising (clickbait) all seem to apply here.

www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...

Last week's #complexitycat essay explores "The Information Theory of Individuality," a theoretical approach proposed by Krakauer and his colleagues to study how system boundaries, environmental feedback, and levels of distinctiveness are constituted in real time. Check it out! 😺

🚨 Submit your work to #ComplexNetworks2026!
📍 Granada, Spain, Dec 2–4
📝 Proceedings of full papers (Springer) & abstracts (Book of Abstracts)
🎤 Keynotes: Brintrup, Chawla, Kaski, Lepri, Scholl
🎓 Tutorials: Karimi, Wang
📅 Submission deadline: Sep 2
👉 complexnetworks.org/submission/

Scientists stunned by ‘fundamentally new way’ life produces DNA | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Let me guess...

You think everything is a computer.

Have you ever wondered where that belief comes from?