This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

It doesn't seem such a novelty spotting satellites go by these days.. www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...

Now to prosecute the Crown Prosecution Service

This week's Cooperation Colloquium: Minhua Yan @minhuayan.bsky.social @iast.fr The persistence and adaptation of social norms: Theory and field evidence Date: March 27 Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 10 am ET (NYC) Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...

One of the weirdest thing in about academia is hearing people vent about how their department and/or university” is a shitshow, but then when their departments are hiring their like “come work with me, my department and university are the best place to work in the world!”

"How's your next paper going?" "It's very complete, pretty much".

As someone who was recently punched while I was down (after being punched to the ground), I can't say I find this particularly clever

Any chance of one of the many reasonable and rational folks over there in the US taking over for a bit. Don't be shy. The rest of the world would appreciate it. Thanks.

Three weeks ago I spent a few days in one of our global dark sky sanctuaries in Rakiura Stewart Island New Zealand. Never has deep time felt so real or so close. But every now and then one of Elon's dumbfuck satellites would interrupt the eternal rhythms of the stars. Let's not let it get worse.

Realising I've been making the same scientific point since before the target author was born...

1/ 🎮🌍 Shared Horizons Seminar Series We’re delighted to welcome Dr Patricia Kanngiesser (University of Plymouth) to Brunel Psychology for: “Games for the future: Using experimental games to study sustainable behaviour across ages and populations.” 🗓 25 Feb 2026 | 2-4pm open to all 🔓

Evolution is often framed as a cosmic struggle of all against all. Yet everything we observe about life is the product of cooperation. Understanding how cooperation is sustained is a key insight for thinking about how to organise society. www.optimallyirrational.com/p/cooperatio...

1. I’m quite happy with this popular piece that Lee Dugatkin and I wrote recently. For the next two weeks it’s free to read on the American Scientist website.

New @aeon.co essay just out! On how institutions let us scale trust and cooperation - and when things start to unravel. Big thanks to editor Sam Dresser. For the more technical version, see thread & paper below👇

We're excited to announce the Spring 2026 Cooperation Colloquia! With @yanchenl.bsky.social @minhuayan.bsky.social @saptarshi.bsky.social @aronszekely.bsky.social @shafenbraedl.bsky.social @shuxianjin.bsky.social @smconstantino.bsky.social and more Sign up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...

The Norwegian government is staying fairly quiet for now, but as a sign of the shifting vibe here the former head of Norway’s armed forces has come out and called the US a “neo-fascist banana republic” and a “hostile great power without norms”. www.dn.no/politikk/tid...

A nice morning for a walk in the Cairngorms

Researcher looking for a desk / fieldwork. I'm currently without a job / home / commitments so if you know of a spare desk in a friendly lab, or fieldwork that needs doing then let me know. Evolutionary biology / behavioural sciences.

It’s amazing how people who know nothing about Darwinian evolution—or what was has held up (and not held up) over time—confidently invoke “Darwin was right” to justify hateful, eugenic sentiments.

An important statement from the desk of Robin Ince

This week's Cooperation Colloquium: Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com Experimental evidence that reputation-based partner choice facilitates information sharing in humans Date: December 5 Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 9 am ET (NYC) Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...

I still like to think of myself as a behavioural ecologist. I think a training in behavioural ecology is hard to beat.

I used to enjoy impressing people by identifying birds from a faint call in a wood. Now, thanks to the phenomenal success of the Merlin app, many people are telling me about the birds they have heard. Interesting to read the story of the Merlin app here - www.birds.cornell.edu/home/the-mag...

Hands up those using ChatGPT to write lecture slides www.theguardian.com/education/20...

"Multiple men have remained in senior roles at Oxford for months or years after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against them, Bloomberg found in a nine-month investigation based on interviews with almost 50 people as well as documents and other records."

Apply now for a NERC-funded PhD position with @andyradford.bsky.social & Patrick Kennedy at @bristolbiosci.bsky.social (with me as friendly 2nd supervisor down the road in @crab-exeter.bsky.social). Network cognition, cooperation, competition...what's not to like? www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

First exercise since being beaten up in Sept. Hoping to manage my first hour of research later...

In an increasingly divided world, how do strangers become friends? Parakeets might have something to teach us! New paper on formation of affiliative relationships, led by Dr. Claire O’Connell doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Just been watching the latest David Attenborough. Worth more than any number of Trumps.

"Regrettably, and despite the null hypothesis being simple, elegant and often underpinned by evidenced or reasoned convictions, conventional p-value analysis can only argue against the null hypothesis, never in favour of it."

Sir David Attenborough champions landmark Rothbury Appeal to raise £30m for nature and the nation (spot my beloved home, Simonside Cottage, in the background)

How long does a 'black eye' take to develop? (1) It's visible immediately (2) it may take a few days

Looking for a #PhD? Interested in #SocialBehaviour #BiologicalMarkets #Fieldwork? Want to be based in #Bristol? Check out this project with me, @ljnbrent.bsky.social & #PatrickKennedy: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6 For UK-domiciled Black-heritage applicants Get in touch for more information Please #share

Thank you Guardian for reporting on this magic www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Do we really keep score in our friendship? See what @athenaaktipis.bsky.social and I have to say about why this isn’t always the case theconversation.com/friendships-...

I was woken by a notification from the "Calm" app about hacks for better sleep. Couldn't get back to sleep after that. Really annoying 😜

The American Society of Naturalists is looking for a new Editor-In-Chief to begin Jan 2027. Info here: www.amnat.org/announcement...

Report on Australian Higher Education finds: 🔹️ Council members have no lived experience of universities 🔹️ Council members have COIs with consultancy firms 🔹️ Council meetings are closed affairs that lack transparency 🔹️ Leaders' exorbitant salaries could not be justified

Got my nose broken by a punch that came out of nowhere in the dark as I walked down the garden path then my face kicked in while I was lying on the ground. In shock so don't think I'll be going to bed tonight, especially as the psycho lives next door.

Cooperation Colloquium this week: Talbot M. Andrews @talbotmandrews.bsky.social (Cornell): Overcoming the social dilemma of climate change Friday, Sep 26, 15:00 UTC+2 Vienna / 9 am NYC Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...

What Makes a Good Reputation? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ecol... #BehSci @psychologytoday.com

UK officially recognises Palestine as a state Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK - alongside Australia and Canada - was taking the step "in the face of growing horror" in the Middle East news.sky.com/story/uk-off...

Pink footed geese over the house this morning - it must be autumn

A wader-fest at E. Chevington, Northumberland for world shorebirds day. White-rumped and pectoral sandpipers, black tailed godwits, ruff, greenshank among the highlights. (Bit distant for my camera though!)

Wondrous