Do you study human ecology, human behavior, or human institutions? Is your work relevant to climate change, adaptation, or sustainability? Join us at Stanford! 🌲🤓🌲 My department will be running a junior search in Environmental Behavioral Sciences this year. Happy to answer any questions.

Assistant Professor in Environmental Social Sciences, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (Environmental Behavioral Sciences) - Stanford University, California, United States

Stanford University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the field of Environmental Behavioral Sciences within the Department of Environmental Social Sciences. The scope of t...

facultypositions.stanford.edu

Reminder: two weeks are left to apply for the PhD and postdoc positions in my lab. See more info here www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/career/jo...

We (with @felixthehauskat.bsky.social and @mathildevm.bsky.social) contributed a commentary on this fantastic paper highlighting the need to consider childhood in models of cultural evolution: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Dorsa Amir@dorsaamir.bsky.social · last mo.

When we consider children in cultural evolution, we tend to cast them as recipients of adult culture. In our BBS target article, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argued there's more: through 'peer cultures', children actively drive cultural adaptation. Our final paper + a rich set of responses is out now!

🚀 Postdoc Alert! Are you passionate about social learning & cultural evolution? @dominikdeffner.bsky.social & I have a 3-year position with freedom to develop your research and work on cutting-edge multiplayer and immersive experiments. Apply by March 30! hmc-lab.com/SocialLearni... Pls share 🙏

📢 Talk announcement! 10th March with Dr. Luke Rendell: "Are we really about to talk to whales?" All are welcome, for details see: interactingminds.au.dk/events/singl...

Talk by Dr. Luke Rendell: Are we really about to talk to whales?

Organised by Elena Miu

interactingminds.au.dk

Very nice modeling work by a great team: @drelenamiu.bsky.social @ndersen.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social 👇

Elena Miu@elenamiu.bsky.social · 7mo ago

"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...

Really great new paper using agent-based modelling to show how an exploratory childhood can lead to innovation in the population at large. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

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

royalsocietypublishing.org

"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...

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

royalsocietypublishing.org

Proc B with @sampassmore.bsky.social! We used simulations to explore the innovation strategies of speed climbers 🧗‍♀️ Innovation is higher among slower athletes and lower when the population size is larger, and the overall balance of innovation and copying appears to be suboptimal 🔗 bit.ly/499QjZM

Simulation-based inference with deep learning suggests speed climbers combine innovation and copying to improve performance

Abstract. In the Olympic sport of speed climbing, athletes compete to reach the top of a 15 m wall as quickly as possible. Since the standardization of the

bit.ly

Today sees the publication of the Theme Issue featuring the CES Transformation Fund grant scheme. Enjoy! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3... @durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social

Huge thanks to @drelenamiu.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @ndersen.bsky.social for organizing an excellent & true _work_-shop @aiasdk.bsky.social. I go back with a long reading list, tons of notes & food for thought re: extended childhood, innovation & evolution 🙏

Cedric Boeckx@cedricboeckx.bsky.social · 9mo ago

First time in Aarhus. Grateful to @felixthehauskat.bsky.social @drelenamiu.bsky.social for inviting me to a great workshop on ontogeny, phylogeny, innovation & adaptation, seeking to understand what makes human childhood special @aiasdk.bsky.social @au.dk

Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!

How do humans keep inventing tools and technologies that no single person could create alone? Our new preprint, led by @anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837

@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised! 3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution 2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions. Please share and apply! www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

🚨 Kids LOVE fear?!🚨 Our new study led by Mihaela Taranu from the Recreational Fear Lab uncovers something surprising: Children across all ages actively seek out scary experiences - for fun! 📄 doi.org/10.1007/s105... [1/🧵]

Recreational Fear Across Childhood. A Cross-Sectional Study of Scary Activities that Children Enjoy - Child Psychiatry & Human Development

This study investigated the prevalence of children’s engagement in recreational fear activities — i.e., playful engagement with scary stimuli where both fear and enjoyment are experienced. A detailed ...

doi.org

A study of 22 rural communities in Poland looks at how female friendships influence women’s decisions about how many children to have. Educated women with more emotionally supportive friends outside their kin networks have fewer children. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Join us in congratulating Robert Boyd, a SHESC professor and research scientist with the @asuiho.bsky.social, who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences — one of the highest honors a researcher can receive! 🌟 news.asu.edu/20250505-uni...

ASU expert in cultural evolution elected to National Academy of Sciences | ASU News

A leading authority on cultural evolution, Robert Boyd, a professor in Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change and a research scientist with the Institute of Human Origi...

news.asu.edu

I'm THRILLED that our book is out. This book, with other 60 contributors from across the globe (!!!) is a love letter to the science we want to do, and a how-to guide for how to do it. Please read it and share it!

Open Book Publishers@openbookpublish.bsky.social · last yr.

OUT NOW: A Field Guide to Cross-Cultural Research on Childhood Learning reimagines how we study kids—globally. With voices from 21 countries, this inclusive, practical guide bridges disciplines and challenges Western-centric research. buff.ly/0qk1cOs

Job announcement 🚨: paid fieldwork opportunity with Sanguatsiniq research project! Details in thread ⬇️ Please share!

So much fun, thanks @masonyoungblood.bsky.social for putting it all together!

Mason Youngblood@masonyoungblood.bsky.social · last yr.

Kicked off our new research group at @IACSComputes with a 3-day workshop on "Collective Creativity" last week! Incredibly inspiring to bring these folks together for a few days 🫶 @gemschedel.bsky.social

New paper out with @heidicolleran.bsky.social in @pnasnexus.org academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...

Female friendship and the cultural transmission of low-fertility values: Evidence from rural Poland

Abstract. Understanding how demographic and cultural change interact is essential for understanding the trajectory of historical and contemporary societies

academic.oup.com

This paper is now published. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Paul Smaldino@psmaldino.bsky.social · last yr.

"Information Architectures: A Framework for Understanding Socio-Technical Systems" is in press at npj Complexity. Normally I might wait until publication to share, but given the relevance to our rapidly-changing world, it seemed worth sharing now. osf.io/preprints/so...

“the prolonged period of post-natal dependency experienced by infants contributes to development of social learning. Because of motor limitations, infants learn to interact with & act through caregivers, establishing social learning skills that continue to develop as children become less dependent”

Postnatal dependency as the foundation of social learning in humans | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Humans have developed a sophisticated system of cultural transmission that allows for complex, non-genetically specified behaviours to be passed on from one generation to the next. This system relies ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

With @sheinalew.bsky.social: Teaching is associated with the transmission of opaque culture and leadership across 23 egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies, in @naturecomms.bsky.social #evolution #culture 🧪 #LeadSciSky #CultEvo www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New pre-print out with @ndersen.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @felixthehauskat.bsky.social on how childhood exploration drives population-level innovation in cultural evolution www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚀COSMOS is BACK!!!💫 The Computational School on Modeling Social and collective behavior (COSMOS) will take place in RIKEN, Tokyo, between 29 Sept - 3 Oct, organised by me and fantastic @thecharleywu.bsky.social ! Application deadline: 25th April. For more details see 👉️ cosmossummerschool.github.io

amazing body of work and showcase of the value of long-term studies. beautifully illustrated summary 🧵 👇 saw this come to life years ago and am in awe of friend Sara Keen’s inspirational blue sky thinking and how @nilomr.bsky.social carried it forward, to new heights and Open Science excellence 🧪

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds.bsky.social · last yr.

New paper on the demographic drivers of cultural evolution in Great Tit song published today - epic work led by @nilomr.bsky.social with help from @andreaestandia.bsky.social Ella Cole & Sara Keen. Why did we do this, and what did we find? 🧵 follows: 1/n www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Language-like efficiency in whale communication

Whale vocalizations follow efficiency rules seen in human language, revealing striking similarities in communication systems.

science.org

🏰 PhD position on computational modelling | collective dynamics | cultural evolution 🏰 Get in touch with any questions you might have and join me in beautiful Marburg! stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/c... (Deutsch) stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/3... (English)

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛@rmcelreath.bsky.social · 2y ago

My former PhD @dominikdeffner.bsky.social is now a professor and is looking for a PhD student. Know someone who would fit? stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/3...