New on the Archive: Baxter, Janella (2026) From the Elephant to Butyric Acid Bacterium – it is [Not] all the Same! How the Genetic Code is Not Universal (with apologies to Albert Jan Kluyver). [Preprint] https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/28372/

@laurennross.bsky.social I am teaching your paper Multiple Realizability from a Causal Perspective to my philosophy of biology students this week. I'm using it to help them answer the question: why is there diversity in the life sciences? It's been a pleasure to prepare lecture. It is so clear!

I feel like Americans are so desperate for wholesome, mundane news that Mamdani's NYC weather briefings have become top views on Youtube this weekend.

A long-time shero to me and many feminist scholars, Elizabeth Spelman, has passed away. She was one of several feminist philosophers who inspired me as an undergraduate. Our community has lost a tremendous scholar. www.legacy.com/us/obituarie...

Mayor Mamdani visited a pre-k school with Ms. Rachel and it is the best of humanity. Check it out if you need a few moments of happiness.

I love how my Philosophy of Biology syllabus features so many women authors! It's so lovely.

My new Gould paper is out today in Paleobiology (OA)! It is, in effect, a synthesis of some of my historical work on Stephen Jay Gould’s early career, which explores the curious position of punctuated equilibria in his early vision for evolutionary paleontology www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

🚨We're hiring! A tenure track position at McGill University in the area of #bioethics and / or philosophy of science, with a special focus on the ethics of medical technologies. Please share widely. #philsky #ethics #philsci philjobs.org/job/show/30402

Following the brilliant @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social: I've been performing small acts of resistance by holding on to hope, practicing empathy, and finding levity in times of darkness. There is hope.

#philsci at a meeting where an upper administrator is telling us there's no problem of scientific funding when there's plenty of private funding to go around...

It's always a great day when I get to cite Jonathan Harwood's work. #philsci

Hello bluesky community! I'm hiring a postdoc to do machine learning in population genetics. Starting to build up a lab at Indiana University Bloomington where I just started a faculty position. Apply with the below link: indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/30325

3 Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Positions in the History of Science, Technology, Medicine, and the Environment at Texas State University 🗃️ #HPS #histsci #histmed #envhist networks.h-net.org/jobs/68829/t...

@matthewcobb.bsky.social I'm working on a paper on the frozen accident, nonstandard genetic codes, and the great man history that surrounds Crick. I have some questions about the influence work of Sonneborn (1965) and Zuckerkandl & Pauling (1965) had on Crick's 1968 paper.

The HOPOS 2026 website is up. Detailed call for papers coming soon. Keynotes by Peter R. Anstey and Heather Douglas. hopos2026.dryfta.com #philsci

Check out our newly released special issue, "Reproductive Objects"! Through a collection of stellar articles, it traces the material "stuff" that constitutes the uneven tapestries of power, authority, and knowledge making around human reproduction. www.press.jhu.edu/journals/bul...

Nemik's manifesto from Andor. There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction.

Postdoc opportunity w/ @rachelankeny.bsky.social & philosophy group at Wageningen University on topics such as philosophy of science & technology, philosophy of biology, agricultural & food ethics, human-animal relations for 2026-27. For full consideration, application draft by 30 August #philsci

New special issue in HPLS! Rethinking the History of Microbiology, edited by Matheus Alves Duarte da Silva & Mathilde Gallay Keller. link.springer.com/collections/... #hps #philsci

3 year postdoc in STS of health (“health” and “STS” construed broadly) here at Egenis! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

#philsci arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Williams College declines federal research funding because of the Trump administration insistence on omitting DEI language www.science.org/content/arti...

It seems like an opportune time to plug this excellent book: www.bloomsbury.com/us/philosoph...

The NHGRI and its historical archive of genomics research at the NIH is an invaluable asset to our public memory and ongoing research (including my own!). I send my friends at the NHGRI all my love. I stand with you.

When nonstandard genetic codes were first discovered in mitochondrial DNA, their significance was minimized for various reasons. My favorite: "all sorts of nefarious genetics" are possible in the strange and mysterious organelle (Niels Lehman "Molecular Evolution: Please Release me, Genetic Code")

Only a few days left to apply for the postdoc position in the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists. Deadline 9 June.

#philsci Texas, not to be outdone by Utah, has passed SB37 -- a bill that imposes significant political/administrative oversight of college curriculum and has the power to eliminate programs with a small number of majors -- i.e., my own department. www.texastribune.org/2025/05/24/t...

If you are interested in hearing some thoughts about the so-called dire wolves resurrected from extinction, here is an interview I did. #de-extinction #publicphilosophy

1969 congressional meeting to discuss funds to build a particle collider at Fermilab outside of Chicago. Senator Pastore: Is there anything connected in the hopes of...the security of the nation?

1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world. 
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.

Congrats to #philsci Derek Skillings, Pat Forber, & Rory Smead on Templeton grant! "research will focus on holobionts or “superorganisms”... coral reefs or lichens... “We used to think these… amalgamations of symbioses were exception in nature. But now we are realizing...it’s probably everything”

Spread the word! The KLI & Biological Theory is hiring! kli.ac.at/content/en/t... #philbio #evobio #hps #biology

Sloan Foundation announced a program to support postdocs in philosophy, sociology, and metascience who want to understand how AI will affect science. Pass it along to anyone who might be interested, the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics might be interested in hosting sloan.org/programs/dig...

Leonard Peltier is being freed from prison today.

“All universities worthy of the name have always been centers of social protest. If American universities ever cease to be such centers, they will lose both their self-respect and the respect of the learned world.”—Richard Rorty, 1998

New blog post "Weaponized Metascience," on Ted Cruz' list of "woke DEI" NSF grants, NIH indirect cost fuckery, and using the trappings of science to undermine science dhicks.github.io/posts/2025-0... #philsci #sts

Sounding the Egenis #jobklaxon again! 3 year #sts postdoc investigating entanglements of race, biomedicine and genomics, working in collaboration with #philsci #philbio colleagues, including the fabulous @celsoneto.bsky.social. Come and join us!

I have run out of patience with the apparent silence of most US science institutions (and not just US) in the face of Trump & Musk's rampage. There are of so many facets of that, but in this column for @chemistryworld.com I talk about the assaults on inclusion. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/scie...

The Biological Engineering Collaboratory's next session, "If a squirrel falls in the woods", is tomorrow, 3pm (UK time). Rob and Sarah will talk about squirrels, gene drive technology and governance of environmental synthetic biology. Want to join us? It's online and open to all, DM me for details.

Who saw this coming?

Today is my husband's last day at his job. He is leaving his career as a data scientist to be full-time, stay at home dad. We are choosing our family over income. He is choosing my profession as a philosopher over his. We're nervous -- esp. wrt possible future inflation -- but hopeful.

I think this quote by Jean Paul Sartre is especially poignant at the moment. “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge.

A president’s executive order cannot undo a law or a Supreme Court decision, let alone a provision of the Constitution. Forget that and you do have a dictatorship on day one.

It's about time!

Where is the blurb about the PSA that explains to non-philosophers how fancy and prestigious the journal and conference are? Asking for tenure file.

With several major news outlets and social media platforms signaling their obedience in advance to the upcoming administration, I grow increasingly worried about a worsening post-truth society. Does anyone else feel they need a survivor's guide to the new dark age we're about to enter?

So far Phil Bio 2025 consists of the canonical topics on natural selection, species, adaptationism, drift, conservation biology & biodiversity. Also tentatively included are a unit on eugenics and ableism, Fausto-Sterling and sexing the body, and Lloyd on the female orgasm.

Happy New Year! Before you dive into a new series of to-do lists, please take a few moments to catch up on the Center’s winter news via newsletter from Director Alan C. Love. *Letter from Alan – https://buff.ly/3VT79VJ *Full newsletter – https://buff.ly/3VT79Fd #philsci