Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance. Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn. We have been sent here to fight for people.

The not so distant future of the US? From Adam LeBor’s The Last Days of Budapest

Fantastic resource for running conjoint analysis in R by @andrew.heiss.phd www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2023/07...

You’ve been badly misled over COVID origins theconversation.com/how-conspira...

Instead of trying to extend the lives of a privileged few, we should invest in improving the lives of all people today. A piece for @undark.org on transhumanism, oligarchy, and biology 🧪 undark.org/2025/07/23/o...

Without a proper understanding of human nature, we are at the mercy of our biological heritage. A feature on cooperation, competition, and invisible rivalry for @newscientist.com: www.newscientist.com/article/2486... 🧪

Excellent and considered post. A must read

In a follow-up to our study on accent mimicry last year, we've found that natives are the best at detecting accent mimicry. People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners. @robfoley.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Talking yesterday evening with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social at the launch of his new book Invisible Rivals (yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... )

SO excited to announce that INVISIBLE RIVALS by the brilliant @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social publishes today! 'Working across philosophy, evolutionary biology, public policy, and politics, Invisible Rivals is unlike any other book I’ve read.’ - Devi Sridhar

In an article for @theguardian.com, I argue that we have a proclivity for blindly trusting success, leading us open to exploitation by autocrats. To counter this, we have a collective need to support others' capacity to think both critically and ethically. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m... 🧪

Excited to say that an advance copy of Invisible Rivals has arrived! Thanks so much to @agentbal.bsky.social and Jean Black of @yalepress.bsky.social for making this a reality – it's a funny feeling holding 5 years of work in your hands! Preorder available here: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

🎯 Our next #GenomicsLite session with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social will explore: Why trust #science? We'll be discussing the importance of #trust and what scientists can do to build trust with communities. 📅 Thurs 22 May, 3pm BST 🔗 cstu.io/28697e

A fab few days listening to great research and catching up with old friends @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social @judithbeier.bsky.social and prize winner 🏆@hannesrathmann.bsky.social at #HumanEvo25

After a few years in the making, our podcast Streets in the Sky is out! As global warming contributes to increasingly unsafe living environments, new housing developments that fail to account for local needs risk becoming public health crises. open.spotify.com/show/1pCB1qR... @cph.bsky.social

A few thoughts about dire wolves, credulity, and trust for the @newscientist.com @engagewcs.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2477...

Out this week @cogscisociety.bsky.social! @samhforbes.bsky.social & I ”urge extreme caution in the use of LLMs in classrooms lest we further normalize: pupils losing their privacy, reducing contact between learner and educator, deskilling teachers & polluting the environment” doi.org/10.1111/cogs...

Great piece in @undark.org on hereditarianism and ethical questions around open science Thanks to @rjmilne.bsky.social for sharing! undark.org/2025/03/26/u...

1. What's at risk by disrupting NIH? With only a bit of hyperbole: a mechanistic understanding of life itself, & therefore better treatments for cancer, dementias, autoimmune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, birth defects, aging & more 🧪 Notes on a revolution interrupted 🧵

Can’t recommend enough @robfoley.bsky.social’s book of essays on modern higher ed, Notes from Ivory Flats, which you can order here: www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Ivory-... Find out, for example, what the risk assessment for Darwin’s Beagle would look like today — and what it says about academic life now

Thanks so much to Jean Black @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social and @robfoley.bsky.social – would not have been possible without you @darwincollegecam.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @engagewcs.bsky.social

Knowledge, unlike antibiotics and bleach, is free – and the spread of information about how to help prevent contagion can only be good for healthcare systems and society more broadly. My latest for @uk.theconversation.com @engagewcs.bsky.social theconversation.com/can-making-t... 🧪

In an article for @uk.theconversation.com, @rjmilne.bsky.social and I argue that while the UK's plan to foster innovation through AI is ambitious, it will rely on public trust for success. Yet anyone can claim to be trustworthy: how do we tell who actually is? theconversation.com/government-n...

Budapest’s wartime descent into hell: A review of Adam LeBor’s fantastic new book illustrating the descent of a major European city in the face of fascism www.thetimes.com/article/c3c2...

Happy to say I've joined the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social as a staff scientist, where I will be focusing on the erosion of public trust from an evolutionary perspective. Glad to be joining a great team led by @rjmilne.bsky.social!

In a piece for the @financialtimes.com, I discuss how accents of languages, maybe more than any other signal, explain how trust forms among people, and serve as shibboleths through which we categorise them. #linguistics 🧪 🏺 www.ft.com/content/2464...

“Our findings highlight that both self-report accuracy and selective participation are competing biases and sources of poor reproducibility for biobank-scale research” www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨🚨 FINAL REMINDER! 🚨🚨 ⏳ Abstract submissions for #EHBEA2025 close TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT (GMT)! No extensions this time! Be part of this amazing conference in the vibrant city of Newcastle this April 🌉 Submit here now: ehbea2025.com 🚀 @ehbea.bsky.social #BioAnth #CultEvo #EvPsych #Evosky

In a new paper following a presentation at this year's Data for Policy conference, @rjmilne.bsky.social and I draw on interdisciplinary studies of social trust and behavioural ecology to propose a solution to what we call the trustworthiness recognition problem: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 🧪

It's been a huge amount of fun talking to people about our accent mimicry study and seeing the reaction to it. If you are feeling up to taking the test yourself, we've duplicated it for public participation: cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... We'll post the results soon! 🧪 #langsky

Fantastic new study on #accent mimicry by @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social & @robfoley.bsky.social 🤩! and it made it into Have I Got News For You this week 😁😁😁

We need to adapt how we learn to place trust and educate people about how to spot deception. My latest for @newscientist.bsky.social 🧪

Really glad to see our study on accent mimicry was picked up by @theguardian.com!

Happy to say our study into accent mimicry detection was just published in Evolutionary Human Sciences! Thanks so much to coauthors @ercrema.bsky.social, @robfoley.bsky.social, Emma Cohen, and Francis Nolan www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Our annual showcase is this week! Hope to see you all there.

🎄 Celebrate the Season with Festive Connections: Cambridge Public Health ECR Christmas Gathering! 🎄 Calling all early and mid-career researchers in public health at Cambridge! Join the CPH ECR Network to celebrate the festive season with a complimentary lunch and the chance to connect with peers!

Save the date — our annual showcase will be on 21 November!

Really enjoyed reviewing Jonathan Silvertown's new book for Nature. A quick and great read that asks some big questions about cooperation and parasitism — and how we often and mistakenly apply moral frameworks to the world of biology 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

It’s a Christmas miracle from Springer Nature! — for the low low price of $89 including shipping

Happy to say my central PhD chapter was just published in Biology & Philosophy. My key claim is that cooperation may remain high in groups only because the opportunity to cheat is not present, and consequently we should distinguish between "cooperation" and "cooperators." 🌱🐋 🧪 #CulturalEvolution

Hello bluesky archaeology! Join us for a fascinating seminar 'Shiny pebbles and Nordic aperitifs: case studies in multidisciplinary cultural evolution' with Prof. Fiona Jordan in our Michaelmas Garrod Seminar Series. 🗓️ 26/11/23 🕓 4pm 📍Cambridge, UK more : www.arch.cam.ac.uk/events/garro...

In the six days between the Hamas terror attack on Israel and the 13th CST recorded 190 antisemitic incidents across the UK. CST recorded 32 antisemitic incidents over the same six days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase of 494% this year. cst.org.uk/news/blog/20...

““From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” is a common call-to-arms for pro-Palestinian activists. It calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people.” www.ajc.org/translatehat...

People who chant “from the river to the sea” are not pro peace. They are pro ethnic cleansing — just of the Jewish people from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. Look at a map. You cannot claim to be marching for peace while calling for the erasure of a nation.

David Grossman's recent article in the Financial Times is the only piece of writing that to me has conveyed the complexity of what is happening in the Middle East. www.ft.com/content/50f3... A thread in photos for those who don't have access:

If you believe anyone deserves what Hamas has done in Israel you are guilty of the same rhetorical tools that resulted in the Holocaust

This conveniently ignores the many distinctions within both Palestinian and Israeli society. Both are complex groups and to say Hamas’s terrorist actions reflect or help the Palestinian struggle for liberation is absurd… (1/2)

I do know who needs to hear this: If you are not promoting peace, you are part of the problem