New paper with Mary Shenk's team out, demonstrating inverse association between betel quid use and diabetes in Bangladesh. w/ @kwander.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our latest in EMPH - an #evolutionarymedicine perspective on betel nut chewing in Bangladesh: academic.oup.com/emph/article...

Thanks to all who have signed so far. We have 73 signatories across a variety of disciplines. Let's see if we can break 200 before we send it off next week. Please re-post and send on to your colleagues. Thank you!

Longer thread here. bsky.app/profile/drto...

@anthrofuentes.bsky.social and I are working on a letter regarding the archiving of #NSF #DDRIGs in the #SBE Directorate and impacts on our fields. What did you/your students discover as a result of a DDRIG award? What other impacts resulted from the award? Post here or DM. Please repost for viz.

Many of you are aware that NSF has terminated DDRIs for anthropologists and archaeologists. This is obviously a blow to these fields. It means we need to be proactive in revising expectations and training programs. This sort of thing reminds us again how important it is to be able to pivot.

A sign of the times:

Gutting basic science WON'T make America great. It WILL hurt our understanding of the world around us, and make us vulnerable to propaganda and misinformation. It will make it harder to see that history is repeating itself. www.science.org/content/arti...

I am so clear with students: if they are sick, they should keep their germs at home, their absence will be excused. They get it, and mostly comply. The critical second part of the message is, I do not need or want a thorough run down of their symptoms. They don't always remember this part

This letter appeared in the Bloomsburg PA Press Enterprise this morning. I am assured the writer is who he purports to be, an Air Force veteran.

Chris I saw someone this very morning say “we don’t need NOAA, there’s weather apps on my phone” I am so tired.

Measles kills: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...

The chaos for sure is the point.

Need To Know Basis is launched ! The team is now working on data collection in the Farafenni region of The Gambia. Thank you to the team for all their work in the field and for their sensitivity asking men and women about information sharing and FGC!

Shout out to the PI team: @kwander.bsky.social @johnhshaver.bsky.social Bettina Shell-Duncan and Carla Cerami. Our awesome collaborating institution is: MRC Unit The Gambia @LSHTM. Funded by the NSF. Finally, learn more: laurespake.netlify.app/project/

How does iron nutrition affect risk for COVID-19? 🧪 Both anemic and iron replete healthcare workers in Nigerian hospitals were at elevated risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection This fits some - but not all - of the predictions of the optimal iron hypothesis: doi.org/10.1093/emph...

Resignation of the Journal of Human Evolution Editorial Board: We are saddened to announce the resignations of The Joint Editors-in-Chief, all Emeritus Editors retired or active in the field, and all but one Associate Editor. Press release below.

Curious grad students: ready to reimagine how societies understand & manage risk? DM me if you're game. #gradresearch #riskscience #interdisciplinarywork Spread the word!!

But then the pandemic hit. And we sent all those children with asthma home to their supposedly dirty homes. And guess what? Severe asthma WENT AWAY! During quarter 2 2020, when there would typically be 1400 kids in #pedsICU’s around the US, there were 241. 6/17 journal.chestnet.org/article/S001...

🎉IAS is recruiting🎉 UCSB Integrative Anth Sciences is hiring a tenure-track evo anthropologist (assist/assoc prof): Apply by 1/06/25 To apply: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02866 Please retweet! Estimate: Assist:$95,000-$135,000 & Assoc:$120,000-$180,000. UCSB is an AA/EOE, including disability/vets.

A stuffie Salmonella seemed like a cute conversation starter for my lab office but now somehow I’m arguing with the 11 yo about whether gonorrhea is an appropriate Christmas present

A new Bluesky starter pack listing biological anthropologists. Let me know if you want to be added go.bsky.app/CnJLf95

For bio anthros interested in the immune system of milk, here is our latest: doi.org/10.1002/ajhb... Maternal age and previous pregnancies seem to be the primary predictors of in vitro milk responses to bacteria.

Just returned from the 2023 Stakeholders’ Meeting for the Child Health and Development in Kilimanjaro project’s iron deficiency research, funded by NSF Bio Anth. We discussed initial findings, plans for disseminating results, and future research directions. SO happy to see everyone again!

Cambridge is glad to remind everyone that this edited volume, Human Behavioral Ecology, will be available in February. While summarizing the state of the field, it also looks ahead to rising cohorts of early-career behavioral ecologists and the insights that await. www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...

Female academics less likely to win prizes, even when the award is named after a woman. Analysis: 9,000 awardees & 346 scientific prizes, medals published in Nature Human Behaviour, found men win 8 prizes for every 1 won by a woman. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (it isn't) phys.org/news/2023-11...

My baby is out: #NSF DCL requesting conferences and supplements to support access and engagement in fundamental #disabledinSTEM research. Apply and spared the word! nsf.gov/pubs/2023/ns...

Please share. We're looking for a Cultural Anthropologist with a specialty in Native North America at UMass Boston. employmentopportunities.umb.edu/boston/en-us...

Here’s the thing This kind of threat only has to happen a few times to have a chilling effect on all academic lecturing. With this in your head, how do you NOT think: “Anything dangerous in my lecture?” as you write/deliver it? Threats of violence can be as effective—even MORE—than real violence.

We contend that a strict sex binary is useful in some circumstances (evolutionary questions about sexual reproduction or utilizing historical demographic data, for example), but in others it is inadequate (e.g., associations between the sexes, hormones, and athletic performance).

Anybody else using their sabbatical cross “jury duty” off of your to-do list? 😒

Searching for a new colleague! Please help spread the word. Assistant Professor, Biological Anthropology, University of Alberta www.careers.ualberta.ca/Competition/...

“The grim statistics are there for all to see — and yet the political establishment has largely skirted the issue.” This story is scary and heartbreaking, but completely unsurprising www.washingtonpost.com/health/inter...