Joan Silk
@jbsilk.bsky.social
đ€ 1482
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Evolutionary anthropologist, primate behavioral ecologist.
Follow the links to donate to a fund to help widows and children of slain rangers.
add a skeleton here at some point
11 days ago
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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.
18 days ago
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#GreatAdaptations
. Two points for ingenuity, no points for neighborliness. Building Nests Is Hard. Thatâs Why Some Birds Steal.
www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/s...
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Building Nests Is Hard. Thatâs Why Some Birds Steal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/science/birds-steal-nest-material.html?smid=bs-share
20 days ago
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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/...
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PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2520774123
about 1 month ago
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Congratulations to my SHESC (ASU) colleague, Amber Wutich on her election to NAS. Her work on water security is more timely than ever.
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Rebecca Sear
about 1 month ago
âwe analysed data for 1436 mammal species, confirming that group-living and pair-living species exhibit longer lifespans than solitary speciesâŠfindings suggest that while group-living may reduce predation risk, pathogen transmission costs in larger groups may constrain longevity benefitsâ
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Social Organisation Predicts Lifespan in Mammals
Using Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of 1436 mammal species, we show that pair-living and group-living species have longer maximum lifespans than solitary species after accounting for body mass and p...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.73587
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#GreatAdaptations
Such a great adaptation that angler fish did it again and again
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/s...
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How Female Anglerfish Evolved to Have It All
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/science/anglerfish-lure-evolution.html
about 2 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Why do people find this so surprising? Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/s...
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Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/science/human-genes-natural-selection.html?smid=bs-share
about 2 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Curiosity + careful observation --> discovery. Interspecific mutualisms in ants:
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/s...
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For Ants, a âCleaning Stationâ in the Desert
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/science/harvester-cone-ants-cleaning.html
about 2 months ago
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#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/...
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https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeg6719#core-R1-1
about 2 months ago
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We knew it was coming, and now it's here.
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about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Pam Davis-Kean, PhD
about 2 months ago
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...
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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...
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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.02.716091v1
about 2 months ago
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Wish I could find all those students who I misled about the why bugs used to be so big
www.science.org/content/arti...
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How did ancient bugs get so big? The prevailing theory may be wrong
Flying insect respiratory systems suggest abundant oxygen canât explain ancient gigantism
https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-ancient-bugs-get-so-big-prevailing-theory-may-be-wrong?utm_campaign=Science+Magazine&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=ownedSocial
2 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Many arms, many uses
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
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https://www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagazine/library/item/02_april_2026/4334913/?Cust_No=41580980&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TXSCI2260402002&utm_content=gtxcel
2 months ago
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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?
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2 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
What a clever (not previously articulated, but in hindsight sensible) idea to test.
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2 months ago
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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.
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2 months ago
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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...
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Quadruple your impact for women in science!
This Women's History Month, every dollar you give to The Leakey Foundation becomes four, supporting human origins research and the women who conduct it. 21 of the 30 most recent Leakey Foundation gran...
https://leakeyfoundation.donorsupport.co/page/whm2026?utm_source=The+Leakey+Foundation+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c56e7f3a51-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025-iwd_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4f7c6a3b94-c56e7f3a51-340559333&mc_cid=c56e7f3a51&mc_eid=a256752af6
2 months ago
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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.
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2 months ago
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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.
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2 months ago
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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
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PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2523038123
3 months ago
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Data from large number of captive groups support findings from studies of wild bonobos and chimpanzees: bonobos are more aggressive than we thought.
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3 months ago
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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.
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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If, by chance, we get to come back in another form, I think I would like to be a cockatoo.
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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Joe Henrich has won the Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences: "Henrichâs fundamental contributions have transformed our understanding of how cultural evolutionary forces shape human behavior and psychology."
www.nasonline.org/award/john-j...
4 months ago
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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
4 months ago
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The data tell the story: US science is in crisis
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
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US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains
A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.
https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20260122&utm_source=nature_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CONR_41586_AWA1_GL_DTEC_054CI_TOC-260122
4 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Tim Waring
5 months ago
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
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Transmissions Episode 2 with Dr Sarah Matthew
YouTube video by Cultural Evolution Society
https://youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?si=OCNCCjI-RY-dAi2j
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Just in case you need a visual:
xkcd.com/1379/
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4.5 Degrees
https://xkcd.com/1379/
5 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
The adaptive value of diversity
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
5 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Intransitive strategies in lizards
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
5 months ago
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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...
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Science Magazine - NSF pares back grant-review process to ease workload
To ease the burden on a staff that has shrunk significantly since President Donald Trump took office, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is reducing the role of outside experts in reviewing...
https://www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagazine/library/item/18_december_2025/4312761/?Cust_No=41580980
6 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Because we all need a bit of levity these days.
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6 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
This is clearly a very early April Fool's joke
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6 months ago
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My bet is 2026 is going to look much worse.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/02/upshot/trump-science-funding-cuts.html
6 months ago
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It wasn't hard to see this coming, but even so it's hard to accept. Anyone know whether other divisions were affected?
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Sadly males may be able to impress females, but not see them.
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
Lethal intergroup aggression in chimpanzees has adaptive benefits (for the victors)
www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
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https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2524502122
6 months ago
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#GreatAdaptations
New data from a species that keeps teaching us more about how females hold their own in reproductive conflicts with males.
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Rebecca Sear
7 months ago
Hard to think of a better epitaph for a scientist than this: âShe inspired us to see the world with both rigor and heartâ
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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In Memoriam Jane B. Lancaster (1935â2025), a Pioneer in Anthropology
Click on the article title to read more.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.70164?campaign=woletoc
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So very sad and so very unnecessary.
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Don Moynihan
7 months ago
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
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More interesting data on Guinea baboons and more evidence of the diversity in social/mating systems among the awesome Papionins
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
Alexa Duchesneau
7 months ago
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...
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Post-Doctoral Associate - AABA
Note - while the position is available immediately, the start date is flexible. Interested applicants should just apply as soon as possible - we will evaluate applications on a rolling basis. Descri...
https://bioanth.org/jobs/post-doctoral-associate-2/
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An interesting (and unusual) fission event in olive baboons.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
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Social patterns underlying a new group formation in olive baboons
In group-living animals, social and ecological challenges can push groups to fission into two or more âdaughterâ groups. Here, we describe the demographic and social behavioral changes that were assoc...
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0333541
7 months ago
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Lovely new data on how Himba women learn to breastfeed successfully.
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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Did everyone but me know about CtrF to search PDFs?
8 months ago
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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.
add a skeleton here at some point
8 months ago
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reposted by
Joan Silk
itati santamaria de Collins
8 months ago
đ§ȘThe 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...
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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/grfp-nsf-graduate-research-fellowship-program/nsf25-547/solicitation
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