Three generations of Oxford zoologists grappling with the theological implications of evolutionary biology.

Great days in Kansas for the internal conflicts in biology and economics workshop. Thanks to all the speakers! collectiveagents.weebly.com

First copy of The Paradox of the Organism in the wild!

Speciation special with @jenncoughlan.bsky.social and @ecmoore.bsky.social! Thursday November 13.

Very excited for the arrival of Oren Harman’s latest book. Few combine deep knowledge of the history of biology with such compelling writing.

New paper out with Manus Patten and @arvidagren.bsky.social in Biology & Philosophy! We propose a framework to capture the severity of different types of internal conflict and how this allows for a quantitative approach to evolutionary individuality across different biological collectives.

*NEW PAPER* How much of a threat are within-organism conflicts, really? In Biology & Philosophy, @martijnschenkel.bsky.social, Manus Patten, and I present a mathematical framework to measure evolutionary individuality in the face of internal conflicts. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

John Maynard Smith and Richard Lewontin at the University of Sussex, 9 March 1972.

The legend of this 1905 Vanity Fair caricature of Ray Lankester reads: “His religion is the worship of all sorts of winged and finny freaks.” The @evornithology.bsky.social of his time.

Desmond Morris came late to football, but his interest seems to to be genuine. The current edition of his The Soccer Tribe comes with a (rather bland) foreword by none other than The Special One, José Mourinho.

Here is the message from JEB managing editor Nicki Cook.

Working any sort of within-organism conflict? Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!

David Lack gets a job in radar research during World War II.

The answer is John Krebs, then newly minted Baron Krebs of Wytham and crossbench member of the House of Lords.

Friday trivia: On the eve of Tony Blair’s resignation in 2007, which evolutionary biologist did incoming prime minister Gordon Brown phone to offer the job of Science Minister in the new government? The person turned it down, which they now regret.

Correction: seminar is today at 9am Eastern.

Theodosius Juan Dobzhansky. Great anecdote from @jowiph.bsky.social!

The second seminar of the year is on Thursday, October 16 at 10am Eastern. @salazarafra.bsky.social + @ellenclarke.bsky.social Join us! internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/seminars/

Meguro Parasitological Museum, Tokyo.

The kind of folder that gets you excited. From the John Bowlby file at the Wellcome Collection.

Ernst Mayr’s assesment of his fellow Crafoord Prize winners John Maynard Smith and George Williams. Told by David Haig, who had been summoned to Mayr’s office.

Ernst Mayr and David Lack in Oxford 1966.

An early review of The Paradox of the Organism by @publisherswkly.bsky.social. www.publishersweekly.com/9780674296381

David Lack (and V.C. Wynne-Edwards) on not letting students adress them by their first name.

Three covers for the Swedish translation of The Selfish Gene: from 1983, 1992, and 2019. Note how the 1992 edition has an added subtitle: “A study in sociobiology”, which was never used in English. I’m not aware of any other instance where a subtitle was added. Has anyone seen another example?

“He is nearly always right, and always sensible.” Alan Grafen on John Maynard Smith as the clearing-house for applications of game theory to biology. From Grafen’s review of Evolution and the Theory of Games (Times Higher Education Supplement, 18 February 1983).

In 1982, Mark Ridley called Peter Medawar “the best reviewer of scientific books in the English-speaking world”. Who deserves that title today?

John Krebs on growing up with a famous father (and not naming his daughters Hans).

First seminar is this Friday, September 19 at 9am Eastern. Laurence Hurst and Phil Madgwick. Join us!

Join us this Friday at 13:00 UTC for the first Internal Conflicts STN seminar of this academic year, featuring Laurence Hurst and Phil Madgwick! Details via internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/seminars/, also on several upcoming seminars.

Take a sneak peak at The Paradox of the Organism at Google books books.google.com/books?hl=sv&... Don’t forget to pre-order!

Excited to head back to Cambridge this weekend to celebrate David Haig.

Another fun Morris memory: Tinbergen was annoyed when grad students bought fish food instead of making their own. To him, it lacked the dignity of labour.

Desmond Morris learning the different stages of Tinbergen friendship through cigarettes. (Watching, 2006, p. 72)

If you work on the internal conflicts, do consider proposing a paper for our upcoming special issue in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. More info here: internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/special-issue/

I grew up in a country with a national church. For a while it was led by someone who wrote a PhD on the physics and theology of time. Here she is in English for the 2025 Boyle Lecture: Antje Jackelén, now Archbishop Emerita of Uppsala and Primate Emerita of Sweden. youtu.be/i3iaF395XS0?...

Doug Futuyma on Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, and the Germanic capacity of vast, all-embracing synthesis.

If you work on the internal conflicts, do consider proposing a paper for our upcoming special issue in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. More info here: internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/special-issue/

Getting ready for another semester of seminars for the @eseb.bsky.social STN Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation. First seminar on September 19 internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/seminars/

Opponent independent costs game vs. arms race. Geoff Parker on the importance of picking good terms.

Coming December 16!

Late to the party, but this is hugely well-deserved!

Thanks for all the guesses! The answer is Konrad Lorenz.

Hint: it’s about a fellow German speaker in an 1982 letter to Niko Tinbergen

FRIDAY QUIZ Whose writing did Ernst Mayr dismiss as follows? “To a layperson the big-sounding words and poetical sentences are very appealing, but that there is nothing behind it is not apparent to outsiders.”

During WWI, Alister Hardy became a camouflage officer only because he was confused with another Hardy, an actual professional painter. Even so, he could hold his own. He illustrated several of the books he wrote, including Rare and Unusual Fish in British Waters.

Finally had time to watch John Welch’s excellent AV Hill lecture Recent Controversies in Evolutionary Theory. youtu.be/iOnpLT8p500?...

Long road ahead but excited for this project.

Karl Popper on not being a determinist and not wanting to talk about sociobiology. (Segerstråle, 2000, p. 74)

Gorgeous cover for @ellenclarke.bsky.social’s fantastic new book The Units of Life (OUP 2025).