"Penrose recognised that defeating eugenics was not just a scientific problem, but a political one too... If the history of the interactions between eugenics & genetics tells us anything, it is that political movements may continually adapt in response to a constantly changing scientific landscape"
www.nature.com/articles/d41... it's about time that we really recognise the teamwork inherent in good science and support these careers properly. Am thinking of so many friends and colleagues who left science when they got to the stage where they were supposed to be group leader.
Photo of the speaker smiling with autumnal trees in the background and seminar details on green background. Abortion Access in the POst-Dobbs Era. Chae Kim, Cornell University. Tuesday 12 May 2026 11:00 (EDT)/ 16:00 (BST)/ 17:00 (CEST). Website link in main post.
Join us for the next online FemQuant seminar on 12 May, when Chae Kim will present her paper "Abortion Access in the Post-Dobbs Era: Measuring the Effect of Abortion Bans on Distance to Clinics". More information and link to sign up: femquant.wordpress.com/seminar-seri...
Based on Richard Lynn’s dodgy data, of course. This was the purpose of its creation, to masquerade racism as ‘science’ & thereby infiltrate mainstream politics. This is one reason why Co-authors & I have called for retractions of scientific articles that use this data - it’s effectively propaganda.
Legislating that literally every view, regardless of academic rigour, should be platformed by universities helps only those who want to spread disinformation and have a vested interest in damaging trust in expertise.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
My students are shocked & offended alright when I tell them a paper whose methodology assumes the earth is flat (in service of the argument that white people are innately smarter than black people) was published in a mainstream academic journal & not retracted after its major flaw was pointed out
The UK government just made the spread of disinformation easier, with a bill which fails to understand the distinction between free speech and academic freedom:
“What distinguishes university platforms is that they are credible and influential because they are typically run by experts”
This is where free speech absolutism on university campuses leads: the widespread dissemination of disinformation 👇 The journals who published Lynn’s discredited database - where the claim that Somalians have an average IQ of 68 originates - typically did so in the name of “freedom of enquiry”
Just thought I'd mention again that I once wrote this book about the history of 'no platforming' and free speech debates at UK universities.
www.routledge.com/No-Platform-...
The Cultural Evolution Society is delighted to announce that Mason Youngblood (he/they) @masonyoungblood.bsky.social, Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, is the recipient of the 2026 CES New Investigator Award.
Congratulations Mason on this well-deserved award!!
"Models adjusted for socioeconomic and maternal characteristics indicate that the likelihood of acute undernutrition (wasting & underweight) increases significantly with higher heat exposure, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged households, whereas stunting levels decrease"
"This article explores how forms of cooperative childcare can be recognized in prehistoric burial contexts. Integrating archaeological, genetic, isotopic & osteological evidence, it argues for a broader interpretation of adult–child co-burials, moving beyond the assumption of biological parenthood"
📢 We've reached *3000* documented authoritarian-like actions of Trump's second term since Jan 2025...
the two most recent are classic suppression of the press & using the justice system to attack political enemies
www.trumpactiontracker.info
If you or your students research any aspect of British, Irish or British colonial/imperial history (Roman empire to today) and need a tool that will never hallucinate sources, check out the BBIH. It develops research skills rather than repressing them. Instit. & indiv. subscriptions available.
Andrea Migliano presenting information about next year’s EHBEA conference in Zurich
Andrea introducing the organising committee, including herself, Adrian Jaeggi, Jorg Gross and Charles Efferson
Next year in Zurich 😊 🏔️🇨🇭 #ehbea2027 will be held 29 March to 2 April. Website and Bluesky account are already set up (love the logo ❤️) @ehbea2027.bsky.social
www.ehbea2027.com
Phil Trans Roy Soc B theme issue ‘The evolution of collective intelligence’ is out! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
How Elon Musk and the Tech Billionaires Hijacked the State and Our Minds
Historian @quinnslobodian.com tells Byline Times how governments have subordinated the future of political economy to the direction and desires of Silicon Valley.
bylinetimes.com/2026/04/17/h...
I wrote a reply to @nathancofnas.bsky.social on Substack. Nathan has been dragging me over his tendentious interpretation of a blog post I wrote 20 years ago, which I already explained many times. Nathan's contention is that I am lying about what I really think, but fortunately he knows better.
Photo of James presenting the first slide of his talk
@brunelcce.bsky.social was well-represented at #ehbea2026. @replicatedtypo.bsky.social presented on ‘The cultural evolution of problem-solving’ and @abbeyepage.bsky.social on ‘When the village predicts the next baby: post-natal social support and fertility intentions in the UK’ (sadly no pic)
Here’s Matt presenting that #ehbea2026 poster on ‘Sentiments, respect and the evolution of norm psychology’ (and the conference dinner location truly was gorgeous!)
@brunelcce.bsky.social
Creating baby geniuses to thwart the AI threat? (Yes, really.) www.motherjones.com/politics/202... - smart people being really stupid about intelligence
Lovely piece from @helenpearson.bsky.social on how evidence (especially but not only RCTs) have improved so many areas of life including policing, tackling poverty, and medicine
www.ft.com/content/9b8e...
There is a major exhibition ‘The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census’ and I’m delighted that we are hosting this in London at @britishacademy.bsky.social from 24 April - 15 May. Free entry and no booking required. Pop in if you are around!
nationalarchives.ie/engage-and-l...
Excellent news as RSV vaccine in pregnancy protects babies from developing RSV and massively reduces risk of getting seriously ill and needing Hospitalisation
The 1926 Irish National Census has been digitised and is being made available online from today - a treasure trove for researchers and for families!
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Read this whole thread, but on this point especially:
The claim that Yale excludes conservatism makes no sense in light of: 1) the history of that institution; and 2) the fact that, historically, college graduates strongly aligned with Republican voting patterns and party membership.
A wonderful experience meeting the EHBEA community in Leiden for the first time.
I am sincerely grateful to be awarded the EHBEA Student Grant, which covered my travel, accommodation, and attendance fees.
Special thanks to the expert team of organisers — you know who you are @ehbea.bsky.social!
Poster presentation at EHBEA 📊
I presented a poster on the underlying social, structural, and demographic drivers of economic-based support in a small-scale fishery of the Pantanal region in Brazil.
See preprint here: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
@ehbea.bsky.social @ehbea2026.bsky.social
I have written elsewhere that academics demanding pay and credit for public engagement is a neoliberal trap. People need jobs, healthcare, housing, and education. This includes artists and writers of all kinds. Employed academics don't need micropayments and merit points for doing public engagement.
“we found substantial positive correlations between nonsocial tasks. In contrast, tasks measuring social cognition were not correlated either with each other or with nonsocial measures”