'The serious question for the academy right now is: How can we lean in to defend the academy, and society, rather than capitulate and close up shop?' Beautifully on-point essay from @anthrofuentes.bsky.social, especially about #gender #sex #race #biology #anthropology #highered

Well worth a read! Thanks @anthrofuentes.bsky.social !

My latest @sciencepolitics.bsky.social sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/25/h...

"It’s something quite different when those false assertions become governmental policy and policymakers use them to seek to legislate classroom content." sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/25/h...

My latest @sciencepolitics.bsky.social sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/25/h...

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.

Every time I post about endometriosis and dare to make it, gender inclusive, I always get a lot of comments from people angry that I didn’t just say “women” And every time, I think about how Rowling has enough money to cure endometriosis forever. But she doesn’t actually give a fuck about women.

I'm sorry but if y'all can't give up Happy Potter to help out trans people I have zero faith that you're going to do literally anything else to help us. You're well within your rights to decide that you don't want to support trans people, but that is the choice you're making and the thing we see.

Out today is our paper 'Genomic history of early dogs in Europe', in which we uncover the identity of the dogs that lived in Europe before agriculture—during the Paleolithic & Mesolithic periods: doi.org/10.1038/s415.... A thread ⬇️ (10) @biouea.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social

🦧Very sad news that Dr Birutė Galdikas, world-renowned anthropologist and orangutan researcher, has died at the age of 80 One of the Leakey Trimates she was the first scientist in the world to begin in-depth studies of orangutans The Loss of Professor Birutė Galdikas 👩‍🔬🏺🧪 www.vdu.lt/en/vmu-commu...

Fun show, w/me chatting with Bianca Nobilo plus other stuff. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bD8...

Bringing emotional cognition to deep time @johnhawks.net open.substack.com/pub/johnhawk...

“If we want healthier public discourse and a public debate that actually advances our understanding of gender dynamics, we must stop feeding on vibes and start demanding nourishment.” What’s On Her Mind author Allison Daminger, with Eve Rodsky and @corinnelow.com for @latimes.com:

I guess with race science discourse still percolating, I should re-up my starter pack for people who work on the topic

my former postdoc has a new paper out! It was fun to watch this experiment come together and so grateful to all who helped her with it www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cool story about 150-year-old forest gardens tended by First Nations groups in BC www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump: I’m going to put ICE in the airports, where they will target and arrest all the illegals, especially Somalis, because I hate the Democrats Headlines: Trump puts ICE officers in airports to ease long lines, provide relief for weary travelers

Just joined the @debtcollective.bsky.social. Already a member of @aaup.org. Time to fight to save this thing we call education. And make it affordable and just.

I spoke with @rollingstone.com about the Trump administration's new AI framework. At a moment when a majority of Americans are asking for AI guardrails, this proposal moves in the opposite direction. Rather that constrain companies, it releases them from accountability. 🧵 www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

The undermining of academic institutions, and thereby academic freedom, is happening from the right, not the left, aided by prominent academics who cast ordinary disagreements with colleagues as “censorship” 🧵👇

@anthrofuentes.bsky.social: It is “academic malpractice” to not have a #scicomm component in your program. #aaba2026

Undergraduate poster session!!! 86 posters. #AABA2026.

i'm so tired y'all

Our article on investment feminism and women's health is out now in Signs! doi.org/10.1086/738995 You can check out the explainer blog post here: www.genderscilab.org/blog/investm...

yeah same

41 people have died in ICE detention since the start of the second Trump administration. 12 of those deaths have occurred since January 1, 2026, roughly one every six days. Adam Sawyer and I mapped every death. Here's what the data shows. 🧵

Am teaching a course on Pain & the humanities this yr, and I can't stop thinking about this 1950 experiment conducted in New York hospitals and Cornell University hospital, where physicians burned the hands of women in labor (IN LABOR) to create a measure for pain/study pain thresholds. #histmed

The important thing here is that hiring decisions are precisely when judgement about the content of a candidate's research should be at the forefront. Once someone is hired, and especially once they are tenured, the balance shifts to academic freedom. /1

They already did that and it did not work so maybe they could try … something else?

me too!

Was Our Emotional Intelligence The Key Driver Of Human Evolution? Social and emotional cognition in Pleistocene hominin evolution: The role of biocultural processes 🏺🧪 @anthrofuentes.bsky.social , @marckissel.bsky.social, et al www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I wrote a more honest version of what's happening on campuses recently. newrepublic.com/article/2068...

Can scientists really resurrect the dodo? No. This article is the latest to give a platform to the (shifting) goalposts of Colossal Biosciences, this time focusing on ecological function. I wrote a long post about de-extinction. Here's the ecological function part: bsky.app/profile/ferv...

Videos included DOGE members unable or unwilling to define DEI; discussing how they used ChatGPT and terms such as “black” and “homosexual” to flag grants for termination but not “white” or “caucasian,” and acknowledgements they failed to achieve the stated goal of lowering the government deficit.

Please note most federal grants *required* information on how the grants would benefit underserved or understudied groups. If you applied for a grant, you *had to* include something that would speak to diversity and equity.

fighting the institutional adoption of ai is slow and difficult. but as individuals, we can still largely opt out, at least from direct use. i sincerely believe that those who do so will find solidarity in creativity, imagination, and humanity. in intelligence.

"a CNN investigation last year found more than two-thirds of the executive orders Trump signed in his first week in office were "closely aligned" with a conservative blueprint designed to reshape the US government, dubbed Project 2025" www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Social and emotional cognition in Pleistocene hominin evolution: The role of biocultural processes @anthrofuentes.bsky.social Jennifer French @johnhawks.net @marckissel.bsky.social Penny Spikins www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Come work with The Public's Science team @ the Institute for Advanced Study. Hiring a fellow to develop digital infrastructure for public engagement, and are seeking someone committed to reimagining the social contract for American research. Please share widely. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37962820...

Spot on, from @bakerdphd.bsky.social. Higher ed did NOT defend academic freedom in the McCarthy era, and most faculty were silent or indifferent. And now?

The 2026 National Science Foundation budget is $8.75 Billion.

YES WE DO! Join the fight at standupforscience.net

A heads down approach will not save science. We need to speak up, live our values, and demand integrity. www.statnews.com/2026/03/12/n...

Some photos from the event.

Thanks to all who attended, especially the students who asked great questions.

Who Speaks for the Dead? Of Communities and Stewardship in Legacy Collections of Human Remains onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

AABA Task Force on the Ethical Study of Human Remains Recommendations: Proposal for the Management and Oversight of Community Partnership and Ethical Stewardship of Human Remains onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Billionaires’ % share of federal election spending in: 2008: 0.3% 2024: 19% @nytimes.com #GildedAge www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/u...

Marlene Zuk, author of Outsider Animals (publishing 3/17) spoke with scientists about why gulls try to intrude on our meals. Find out what she learned over at National Geographic:

“Several years ago, nephrologists attempted a first-of-its-kind effort: remove race from a key clinical algorithm, and attempt to undo the harms… A new study found the change had big results, impacting 27% of Black patients and resulting in 5.3 more transplants per 1000 Black candidates.”