DrTanyaMSmith.bsky.social

#AABA2026

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

There were so many of us, exactly when these emails were being written, expressly working to undo the harms of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in science. And so many people refused to believe us that any of it was real. It was all real.

19thnews.org/2026/02/epst...

Biological Anthropology Women's Mentoring Network Creating Connections and Supporting Women across Bioanthropology

Very excited to be #Co-Leading a World Cafe on Collective Action for @bawmn.bsky.social in Denver in one month - still time to register if you're going to #AABA2026 @bioanth.org!

We're got an awesome program with a workshop, off-site luncheon, and on-site Happy Hour ~ more details here: bawmn.org

Seasonality and water source strategies in the Neolithic Near East (ca. 8,000–5,000 BCE): Insights from multi-proxy isotopic and elemental analyses Previous studies have demonstrated that enamel oxygen isotope values (δ18O) reflect rainfall variability experienced by wild primates and ancient huma…

Excellent start to 2026 thanks to this outstanding study led by @jnavila.bsky.social

TLDR: We can now distinguish diverse water sources used by ancient people in arid regions, as well as predicting drinking water chemistry & rainfall patterns thousands of years ago from #Teeth. tinyurl.com/pnvhhp4n

The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.

Diagnosis for profound scientific malaise: "Enshittification... is a systemic issue that threatens the value and development of academic publishing. Academia has become increasingly guided by metrics. As a result, research quality is judged more by where it is published than by its intrinsic worth."

We miss you - get better soon!!!

Very proud of @emmasudron.bsky.social who just gave a solid talk on detecting physiological #stress from #nitrogen #isotopes in #teeth at @aushumanbiology.bsky.social #ASHB2025! And a shout out to the incomparable @mammalssuck.bsky.social for integral support on #monkey #milk #illness and #stress. 😎

Great keynote by Zaneta Thayer @aushumanbiology.bsky.social #ASHB2025 — while early life environments and experiences shape health trajectories, they do not make poor (or good) health inevitable. Presented fascinating data on negative health aspects of by-passing natural labour processes in Brazil.

Dear @griffith.edu.au Social Media Team - best practice to look up and then tag the person you are writing about in your original post. In this case: @yinika.bsky.social

Every opportunity politicians provide for you to tell them about how chronic underfunding of research in Australia is affecting your particular fields, people, working conditions etc. is extremely important.

Fill out the form here: lnkd.in/g8A_PAZG

Very proud of @emmasudron.bsky.social ~ who spent years mastering the Geomagic Micromill to sample #NitrogenIsotopes from #teeth at a very impressive resolution. She also obtained competitive @ansto.bsky.social funding to run highly sensitive elemental analyses of modern and archaeological samples!

Australia's top universities seek changes to key environmental reform Australia's top universities have aligned themselves with oil and gas producers, miners and developers on a a key piece of environment legislation, drawing the ire of dozens of academics.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.

#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.

Plus all elemental maps are available here: research-repository.griffith.edu.au/items/50ed65...

New #OpenAccess paper building on studies of
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:

Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions

#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records

As an English speaking country (with nice beaches to boot) for the cost of a small tax on fossil fuel exports or high incomes Australia could invest in science, recruit researchers fleeing the US and become the knowledge powerhouse of the 21st Century. Instead we're doing this.

MAJOR UNION WIN 🥳 The federal government will implement a new set of university governance principles to strengthen accountability, transparency and public trust following recommendations from the Expert Council on University Governance.

Read more: nteu.info/majorwin
@alisonbarnes.bsky.social

Promotional image from the Australian Academy of Science featuring a portrait of Professor Chennupati Jagadish against a blue background with the text: "Fundamental research is the 'D' without 'R'. Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FRS FTSE, Australian Academy of Science.

The Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) issues papers have failed to address declining investment in fundamental research, instead implying research is only important if it can be commercialised by industry.
Read our response: https://bit.ly/4hhDZZJ
https://bit.ly/4nWaEXu

One of our Research Office staff told me 'unlikely October, hopefully November...'

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

NO LOYALTY OATHS IN HIGHER ED!

Trump's attacks on our universities are an attempt to consolidate power. This loyalty oath directly undermines our right to academic freedom & goes against every democratic principle our country should uphold.

Please click below, sign, & share.

#DefendHigherEd

This week, Australian policymakers heard about the real and growing problem of climate misinformation. Stopping it would mean regulating the PR industry.

👉 theconversation.com/pr-firm...

RIP to Jane Goodall, who opened the world's eyes to our closest relatives. (Photo by NatGeo's Hugo Van Lawick)

Please for a *leisurely* visit to your favourite ex-pat?! With some advance notice I'll pop up a tent for you on 'the farm' and you can glamp with owls, possums and sugar gliders. A big echidna has been visiting lately too and digging up my native tree plantings. 🤨

New #SSRN #Preprint on #OxygenIsotopes and #TraceElements in Ancient #Teeth led by the amazing @jnavila.bsky.social and funded by @griffith.edu.au & #AustralianResearchCouncil #FutureFellowship.

#ArchaeologicalScience #BiologicalAnthropology & #EarthScience for the win!

dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...

#talesteethtell #biologicalanthropology #teeth | Tanya M. Smith Looking forward to sharing some #TalesTeethTell next week for the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research! All are welcome for a short and accessible introduction to #BiologicalAnthropology a...

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Opinion | Stephen Colbert just modeled how to take a political stance without anger What we need right now are examples of people who understand the strength in empathy and the power of fair and even-keeled discussion.

"I think the solution is going to come from the people, from us: community action, collective service, connection and empathy. What we do need are examples of people who understand the strength in empathy and the power of fair and even-keeled discussion."
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Is this Australia’s climate wake-up call? Official report reveals a hotter, harder future if we don’t act now The sobering assessment is a national call to action. The sooner Australia mitigates and adapts, the safer we will be.

Is this Australia’s climate wake-up call? Official report reveals a hotter, harder future if we don’t act now
theconversation.com/is-this-aust...

Great to see Senior Sergeant Donna MacGregor receiving the serious respect she deserves. We are lucky to have her as a member of the @aushumanbiology.bsky.social community!

Has meritocracy gotten the better of our universities? Why events at ANU are grounds for hope - ABC Religion & Ethics It’s not every day that the students and staff of a university succeed in forcing a vice-chancellor from office — that’s what happened last week at ANU, but why did change take so long when it was cle...

"If we want democratic universities then...When meritocrats consult, we must deliberate. Where meritocrats cherish distance, we need to seek proximity. If meritocrats show contempt, we ought to foster dignity—talk and listen respectfully, observe and act deliberately."
www.abc.net.au/religion/anu...

‘Publish or perish’ evolutionary pressures shape scientific publishing, for better and worse Scientists write papers to share their results – and gain prestige and advance their careers. In this competitive field, selection can favor AI-written papers, citation cartels, paper mills and more.

theconversation.com/publish-or-p...