Are you looking for a PhD position, hoping to learn sexual selection theory from one of the true experts in the field? Lehtonen's work is awesome - Look at this and apply! ats.talentadore.com/apply/doctor...

Doctoral Researcher in Theoretical Evolutionary Biology (1-2 positions)

The Department of Biological and Environmental Science is seeking to recruit Doctoral Researcher in sexual selection theory (1-2 positions) starting 1.9.2026, or as soon as possible after that for a m...

ats.talentadore.com

✨ SAVE THE DATE ✨ This year's AES Conference will be held jointly with our friends at the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists 🧬 📍 University of Wollongong 📆 2-4 December Mark it in your calendars ✏️ more information to come soon!

Does early-life environment stress affect future reproductive investment? 🌊🐟 Our new paper found that when raised in fluctuating salinity, mosquitofish females produce eggs with lower protein, while older males had higher ejaculate glycogen content! Read the full paper here doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Functional Ecology@funecology.bsky.social · 7mo ago

📰Published📰Salty start: How early-life stress and age change future reproductive investment🐟️ buff.ly/YB74uJO 🧪🌍️

Compelling meta-analytic evidence for female fitness benefits of polyandry in arthropods by Yan et al. academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

The adaptive significance of polyandry: a meta-analysis

Abstract. Polyandry is prevalent, but the optimal patterns of mating for females remain poorly understood despite their importance for our understanding of

academic.oup.com

Why is the human penis longer and thicker than those of other great apes, such as chimpanzees and gorillas? Read our @aunz.theconversation.com piece to find out! Full paper from @plosbiology.org below! 👇 1/3

The Conversation AUNZ@aunz.theconversation.com · 8mo ago

Compared to other great apes, human penises are mysteriously large, hinting they act as a signal to mates and rivals alike. 👉 Read the full article: theconversation.com/why-are...

The ClubEvMed on Dec 2 at Noon ET on this new book will be interesting! Laurence Hurst will kick it off, David Haig will comment, and I will MC a lively discussion. @evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social @tricem.bsky.social @evmedasu.bsky.social Register now! duke.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Oh wow! An excellent engaged review of I Dream of Theresa May. I couldn't be happier! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ “A whip-smart piece of queer political satire.“ www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/i-dr... On until the 29th @taratheatre.com: taratheatre.com/whats-on/i-d... (Spoilers in the review- you have been warned)

I Dream of Theresa May at Tara Theatre, London: dark, absorbing comedy

Read our review of I Dream of Theresa May at Tara Theatre, London: astute new political satire exploring British culture under a hostile-environment policy

thestage.co.uk

The final chapter of my thesis has just been published in Ecology and Evolution! @ecol-evol.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.

What is sexual selection all about... definitionally and mathematically? A super talented PI, Jussi Lehtonen, is looking for a postdoc to work it all out! Deadline end of this month. ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...

Dorsilla Anono Katimbwa, an expert in Metabolism, Biochemistry, and Genetics of Microorganisms, encourages other Kenyan women in science to believe in themselves—and to apply for the Humboldt Research Fellowship as well. Learn more about the programme here 👉 bit.ly/3Jhi7kU

ARC says Discovery Projects outcomes will be tomorrow (Tuesday). Linkage Projects (2025, round 1) on Wed. Over past ~year, it's often been at about 11am (Canberra). My bot will pick up the change to RMS & post immediately. ARC should email outcomes to lead CIs, but might take an 1hr or so for DPs

Developmental temp., not inbreeding, shapes life-history & behaviors in juvenile guppies. Warmer conditions accelerate maturity & reduce boldness with distinct male-female differences -key insights amid climate change: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... @mikejennions.bsky.social @mahmudalhasan.bsky.social

Developmental temperature, not inbreeding, shapes life history and locomotor behaviours in juvenile guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Abstract. Inbreeding plays a strong role in shaping life-history traits and behaviours. Supporting evidence for this role often comes from observational st

doi.org

Professor Evans … said he hoped the university’s leadership “will recognise the gravity of my concerns, which I know are shared by many others in the University community and am equally sure will be by the Minister for Education ...” www.canberratimes.com.au/story/902083...

'Gobsmacking': Former ANU chancellor's searing letter blasts university's leadership

Professor Gareth Evans shares some advice for Julie Bishop and Genevieve Bell.

canberratimes.com.au

Why did bees become haplodiploid & birds didn't? And why are stick insects perfect just the way they are? This is probably the coolest paper from @koraklein.bsky.social‬ 's PhD thesis (though there's Colias butterfly work in the pipeline which I shouldn't diss...) academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Sex ratio theory for facultative parthenogens: from fortuitously optimal stick insects to the origin of haplodiploidy in Hymenoptera

Abstract. Sex ratio theory usually assumes obligate sex; rare exceptions with facultative sex typically consider idiosyncratic cases of cyclic parthenogens

academic.oup.com

Interested in Postdoc Research here in Oxford? Many projects possible using long-term population studies of birds, field & lab experiments with insect consumers, phenology of trees all in Wytham woods & based in new Biology building marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...

It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.

Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

nature.com

Great news! I will definitely do this course out when I have time. I’ve already watched one video* and found it useful. * a discussion of the dangers of using LLMs to create lecture content.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2y ago

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? Jevin West (@jevinwest.bsky.social) and I have spent the last eight months developing the course on large language models (LLMs) that we think every college freshman needs to take. thebullshitmachines.com

Very happy and humbled to have received this award. A huge thanks to all my wonderful colleagues @scienceanu.bsky.social and abroad who made this possible!

And that’s a wrap! My last PhD research is now published 💪💪 Over 9 weeks we made males consistently experience winning or losing fights, with some winners/losers also able to mate, to test the impacts of contest outcome and reproductive investment on reproduction, growth and telomere length.

Journal of Evolutionary Biology@jevbio.bsky.social · last yr.

New Research: Winner-loser effects on life history traits doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... @laurenmharrison.bsky.social, Oliver Stuart and @mikejennions.bsky.social

Hi. Thank you to everyone - all 161 people - who signed the letter in support of nominating @arc-tracker.bsky.social for a Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science. The nomination was lodged last night. Keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome for our masked hero.

In case you’re trying to submit your response to the review of ARC grants, the Education Department’s portal is/was borked. Email instead👇

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com reporting on the proposed changes to the ARC grants system. There’s concern that getting rid of standalone fellowships will have lots of unintended consequences, especially for Early-Career Researchers. By @donnadlu.bsky.social

Changes to ARC grants will make it harder for Australia to combat Trump chaos, researchers warn

Plan to cut most standalone positions in favour of shorter fellowships will hurt international recruitment, critics say

theguardian.com

Great to see @nteuact.bsky.social coming right at this to make it crystal clear that academic freedom is not up for grabs in Australia and at ANU. Happy to talk with anyone about the issue who wants to know more.

The Tattooed Professor@schwessinger.bsky.social · last yr.

It appears that ANU just send an email to staff that violates their freedom of speech policy policies.anu.edu.au/ppl/document.... Academic freedom: the freedom of academic staff and students to express their opinions in relation to the higher education provider in which they work or are enrolled;

CONVERGENT EVOLUTION is the independent development of similar traits or features in distantly related or unrelated organisms, often occurring when they occupy similar ecological niches or face similar environmental pressures 🦉 🍏

This year I’m teaching a science writing course. When the course started, I had this exact conversation with the students - Your thoughts are fuzzy phantoms that ping around in your brain. If you want to catch and share those thoughts you need to pin them to the page.

Danielle Clode@dclode.bsky.social · last yr.

Writing is thinking. We get students to write so that they learn how to think and use their brains. Using LLMs to do your work is like trying to be an athlete by getting someone else to do your training for you.

Meanwhile, in Europe👇

Craig Nicholson@clanicholson.bsky.social · last yr.

ERC doubling funding to lure researchers to the EU www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

No budget increase for the Australian Research Council 😡

The loss of a legend- Kanzi, the language-competent bonobo, has died age 44. Kanzi was exceptional in so many ways and offered us profound insights into the linguistic & cognitive capacities of great apes. He has taught us so much and will be hugely missed. www.apeinitiative.org/remembering-...

I’ve long used FiveThirtyEight’s interactive “Hack Your Way To Scientific Glory” to illustrate the idea of p-hacking when I teach statistics. But ABC/Disney killed the site earlier this month :( So I made my own with #rstats and Observable and #QuartoPub ! stats.andrewheiss.com/hack-your-way/