Follow the links to donate to a fund to help widows and children of slain rangers.

HiveMind: I am teaching a graduate proposal writing seminar, and would appreciate suggestions for syllabi, readings, etc about how to write a good research proposal.

#GreatAdaptations. Two points for ingenuity, no points for neighborliness. Building Nests Is Hard. That’s Why Some Birds Steal. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/s...

It's taken a while, but I have finally discovered the secrets of academic success. Find a great postdoc and ask your friends to share their data. And voila, new insights about social structure in papionin primates. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Congratulations to my SHESC (ASU) colleague, Amber Wutich on her election to NAS. Her work on water security is more timely than ever.

“we analysed data for 1436 mammal species, confirming that group-living and pair-living species exhibit longer lifespans than solitary species…findings suggest that while group-living may reduce predation risk, pathogen transmission costs in larger groups may constrain longevity benefits”

#GreatAdaptations Such a great adaptation that angler fish did it again and again www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/s...

#GreatAdaptations Why do people find this so surprising? Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/s...

#GreatAdaptations Curiosity + careful observation --> discovery. Interspecific mutualisms in ants: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/s...

#GreatAdaptations The Ngogo research team documents the events that led to a community fission. (Spoiler: it was not neat or peaceful) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We knew it was coming, and now it's here.

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

This project (with Stacy Rosenbaum and Nick Grebe) began in the dark days of Covid, and is finally ready to share. We've built a living database of primate paternity data (52 species, 3000 paternities) and completed first wave of analyses of paternity distribution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Wish I could find all those students who I misled about the why bugs used to be so big www.science.org/content/arti...

#GreatAdaptations Many arms, many uses www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

Is it ironic, sad, or all-too-predictable that this news item would be in the same new cycle as the announcement of Birute Galdikas' death?

#GreatAdaptations What a clever (not previously articulated, but in hindsight sensible) idea to test.

The last of the three pioneers of great ape studies has died. Galdikas, Fossey, and Goodall dedicated their lives to understanding the lives of these extraordinary creatures.

Support the Leakey Foundation during International Women's Month and quadruple your impact. Make your $$ go further to support research on human origins! leakeyfoundation.donorsupport.co/page/whm2026...

Back to the future: Sarah Mathew and Rob Boyd reflect on how our thinking about cooperation among nonkin has changed since Axelrod and Hamilton's classic paper.

I am amazed that Bob Trivers could slip from the world so quietly. You would think that the loss of such a brilliant and complicated man would rock the universe.

My colleague, Charles Perreault, has published cool new paper documenting impact of culture on human capacity for adaptation: http//www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2523038123

Data from large number of captive groups support findings from studies of wild bonobos and chimpanzees: bonobos are more aggressive than we thought.

This is a helpful review for those who study physiology, but less about effects of social context. Or for those who study social context, but know less about physiology.

If, by chance, we get to come back in another form, I think I would like to be a cockatoo.

Joe Henrich has won the Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences: "Henrich’s fundamental contributions have transformed our understanding of how cultural evolutionary forces shape human behavior and psychology." www.nasonline.org/award/john-j...

And, science is the product of individual labor and passion. The impact of funding cuts on scientists:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00091-0?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20260122&utm_source=nature_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CONR_41586_AWA1_GL_DTEC_054CI_TOC-260122

The data tell the story: US science is in crisis www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Excited for the new Transmissions episode on ASU's Sarah Mathew on how human warfare evolved, and her fieldwork in Kenya. Watch here: youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?... New Episodes monthly! Created by @ferylbadiani.bsky.social and @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social CC: @arizonastateuni.bsky.social

Just in case you need a visual: xkcd.com/1379/

#GreatAdaptations The adaptive value of diversity www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

#GreatAdaptations Intransitive strategies in lizards www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

How exactly does this work? FEWER staff will get LESS outside help and this will REDUCE their workload. Color me skeptical. www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

#GreatAdaptations Because we all need a bit of levity these days.

#GreatAdaptations This is clearly a very early April Fool's joke

My bet is 2026 is going to look much worse. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It wasn't hard to see this coming, but even so it's hard to accept. Anyone know whether other divisions were affected?

#GreatAdaptations Sadly males may be able to impress females, but not see them.

#GreatAdaptations Lethal intergroup aggression in chimpanzees has adaptive benefits (for the victors) www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

#GreatAdaptations New data from a species that keeps teaching us more about how females hold their own in reproductive conflicts with males.

Hard to think of a better epitaph for a scientist than this: “She inspired us to see the world with both rigor and heart” onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

So very sad and so very unnecessary.

The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond

More interesting data on Guinea baboons and more evidence of the diversity in social/mating systems among the awesome Papionins

Post-doc position with James Higham at NYU looking at the effects that hurricanes have on aging and how sociality may mitigate these effects. bioanth.org/jobs/post-do...

An interesting (and unusual) fission event in olive baboons. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Lovely new data on how Himba women learn to breastfeed successfully.

Did everyone but me know about CtrF to search PDFs?

There are a lot of disappointed second year graduate students whose have already invested time and energy in preparing GFRP applications. There is no excuse for phasing in this new rule without prior notice.

🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...