Prof. Gillian Brown

Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11.
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...

Book cover of “Temporal Cognition in Animals” by Angelica Kaufmann in the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Biology series. Against a black background, the title is surrounded by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations of marine organisms—radial, symmetrical forms in vivid blues, oranges, reds, and greens.

Do non-human animals represent time? New Element in the #PhilBio series by Angelica Kaufmann—free to download until March 16! Kaufmann argues that temporal cognition is widespread across many animal species & advances comparative analyses 👇📕 www.cambridge.org/core/element... #evosky #HPS #cogsci

Come work with us! And get in touch with any questions you might have about the position, our labs or living/working in Germany #PostdocWanted

Development of cognition in corvids https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.27.708529v1

Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 26 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-026-00141-5The drivers of cognitive variation remain elusive. In this Perspective, Wooster et al. propose the predatory intelligence hypothesis, positing that the complex interactions between predator and prey promote cognitive variation on individual, developmental and evolutionary levels.

New online! Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution

Congrats!

Online Studies Psychological Science requires that authors who use samples from online data collection include a statement in the Method section explicitly addressing their approach to preventing and detecting automated or AI-generated responses. Rationale As large language models and other generative AI tools become more accessible, the risk of data contamination by non-human respondents has increased dramatically in research. Psychological science (and the social sciences generally) is particularly susceptible to this issue given its growing reliance on online data collection. Preventing automated responses during data collection and detecting them afterward often involve methodological trade-offs. For instance, technical barriers that aim to prevent LLM use (e.g., blocking copy-pasting functionalities) may eliminate behavioral indicators needed for detection (e.g., pasting rather than typing). This policy aims to enhance transparency and reproducibility of reported results by requiring authors to articulate their approach across both prevention and detection dimensions, enabling readers and reviewers to assess the likelihood of reported data being influenced by automated responses. Scope This policy applies to any submission with at least one study that includes data collected online without direct human supervision (e.g., via crowdsourcing platforms, student participants who complete the study online, online recruitment ads, or remote survey distribution tools). Required Reporting Authors must include in the Methods section either: A statement confirming that procedures were in place to prevent and/or detect and exclude automated or AI-generated responses, including a description of those procedures (e.g., explicit participant instructions against LLM use, disabled copy–paste functionality, CAPTCHA use, IP filtering, consistency checks, attention checks, adversarial prompting) as well as the types of automated responses that these procedures are suitable …

Maybe of interest: The submission guidelines of Psychological Science now demand an explicit statement on measures taken to reduce the risk of AI-generated responses for all online studies!

www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...

Biomedical and life science articles by female researchers spend longer under review Women are underrepresented in academia, especially in STEMM fields, at top institutions, and in senior positions. This study analyzes millions of biomedical and life science articles, revealing that f...

Median amount of time spent under review is 7.4–14.6% longer for female-authored articles than for male-authored articles and the differences remain significant after controlling for several factors - analysis of >36.5 million articles in >36,000 journals
doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Front cover of my book, titled "Comparative musicology: Evolution, universals, and the science of the world's music" (published today by Oxford University Press)

1st of my 4-page essay published in Nature today titled "Music is not a universal language - but it can bring us together when words fail" Picture caption: "Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny (centre) performed in Spanish at the half-time show of the 2026 American Football Super Bowl LX."

My book is now published! 🌏🎶🧪

You can download it for free at academic.oup.com/book/62353 - I’d be grateful if you do!
I also published an accessible summary with audio/video today in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Try reading that first, then give the whole book a read if you like it!

Great thread by @apvelilla.bsky.social about our new paper: "A Demographic Theory of Similarity-Biased Social Learning."

We use mathematical modeling to explore the functional role played by identity markers in how we learn from others, and in the evolution of social learning more generally.

Language as an evolutionary pressure of human handedness doi.org/10.1016/j.ac...

New preprint!!
Culture sets us apart: Cultural evolution as a solution to the challenges of social relationships osf.io/preprints/so...
Where I discuss how chatbots, washing machines, festivals and other cultural innovations offset costs, reduce friction and substitute social relationships.

⏰ Last chance! 🚨
Today is the final day for Early Bird registration for #EHBEA2026 in Leiden 🇳🇱🧠🌷

Sign up now to get the discounted rate—after today, standard pricing applies! Secure your spot for an inspiring conference full of science, networking & discovery 📅🎟️

Animal cultures matter for conservation, but also to animals - Learning & Behavior A growing acceptance that many nonhuman animal communities have distinct cultures – group-variable patterns of behavior and information sustained over time by social learning – is beginning to reshape...

"Animal cultures matter first and foremost because they matter to the animals themselves."

If you enjoyed our recent episode on the value of animal cultures, you may be interested in this new paper by @simonfitzpatrick.bsky.social & @kristinandrews.bsky.social!
link.springer.com/article/10.3...

the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

The adaptive significance of polyandry: a meta-analysis Abstract. Polyandry is prevalent, but the optimal patterns of mating for females remain poorly understood despite their importance for our understanding of

Compelling meta-analytic evidence for female fitness benefits of polyandry in arthropods by Yan et al.

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap† By Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue* We show that subjective assessments of employee “potential” contribute to gender gaps in promotion and pay. Using data on 29,809 management-track employees from a large retail chain, we find that women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings. Differences in potential ratings account for approximately half of the gender promotion gap. Women’s lower potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues, both on average and on the margin of promotion. We highlight two mechanisms driving the gender potential gap: strategic retention and stereotyping. (JEL J16, J31, J71, L81, M12, M51)

"...women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings... lower potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues..."
pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

UZH: Professorship for Evolutionary Anthropology and Primatology We are seeking candidates in the field of Comparative Evolutionary Anthropology and Primatology for the Irene Staehelin Endowed Professorship at the University of Zurich. This position focuses on the ...

🚨 Job Alert: Professorship in Evolutionary Anthropology / Primatology at University of Zurich, focused on understanding evolutionary and cultural evolutionary foundations of gender-based inequality and violence, with research in non-human primates.

jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

Beyond Mendel: a call to revisit the genotype–phenotype map through new experimental paradigms Abstract. The long-standing notion that genotypes map to phenotypes through simple one gene–one trait relationships continues to shape both research in the

New Perspective!🔥It's fascinating how scientists from different fields but interested in the same question [e.g. genotype-phenoytpe relationship] can have such different perspectives. Here we put in our 2 cents wrt genetic effects being context-dependent, and pheno variation being mostly polygenic

The Power of Life by Jessica Riskin: 9780593852576 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books The tumultuous life and radical science of a revolutionary thinker, and the history of an idea that changed the world In the early nineteenth century, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck prop...

Excited to learn that Jessica Riskin has a timely reappraisal of Lamarck coming out soon.

📢📢📢Lectureships at Bristol!📢📢📢

We're hiring 3 x lecturers (=assistant professor) in Biological Sciences, across the discipline.

Great department, great colleagues, great building, great city

Details here:
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

2 x full-time teaching associate roles in psychology at the University of Nottingham.

One role is for a fixed-term contract for 18 months from 1 April 2026 and the second role is for a fixed-term contract ending on 31st July 2027.

jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Four images illustrating the CBC’s research themes: health and wellbeing, climate and sustainability, advancing behavioural science and its application, and organisational change.

⏰ 1 week left to apply for our Lecturer & Deputy Research Lead post.
Our interdisciplinary research tackles key societal challenges across four core themes, which you can read about on our website: www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-ch...
👉 Find out more & apply by 25 Feb: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Associate Professor (111338-0226) at University of Warwick Discover an exciting academic career path as a Associate Professor (111338-0226) at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

📢 We’re hiring!

The University of Warwick is recruiting for a full-time, permanent academic position in Psychology, available at either:

🔹 Assistant Professor
🔹 Associate Professor

📅 Application deadline: 5th April 2026

This new paper offers practical solutions for pluralistic ignorance (when people assume their opinon is unpopular when many others share it):

-in loose cultures, share accurate information
-in tight ones, lowering the costs of speaking up can spark social change.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New publication in @politicsgenderj.bsky.social!

Who perceives feminism as a threat, and why do a lot of women perceive feminism as threatening?

With @evaanduiza.bsky.social, we explore these questions in the context of Spain.

We find: ⬇️
doi.org/10.1017/S174...

Simulated trait distributions for two groups with different shapes. Top left: distinct skewness. Top right: distinct kurtosis. Bottom: different correlations between two traits for two groups.

Differences between M & F are pervasive, but we often focus on #SexDifferences in the mean. @pietropollo.bsky.social @danielwanoble.bsky.social @itchyshin.bsky.social &co present #stats tools that allow comparison of #skewness, #kurtosis & correlations b'n groups @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4093nJs

We are recruiting a Lecturer in Psychology: mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web... and a Teaching Fellow: mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web.... Come and join the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology 🐶🐵🐴🐘🕷️🧒 www.port.ac.uk/research/res...

Collection of six photos showing cherry blossom, snowdrops and othe spring flowers in pinks and whites.

Here are #sixonsaturday from my Scottish garden, including cherry blossom, snowdrops, hellebore and heather. The first sunshine of the year! 🌱 🌸 #flowers #gardening #Fife

The evolution of the concepts of ‘primate culture’ in Western science - Primates While most scholars across the social and biological sciences acknowledge that human culture is distinctive in the comparative context there is widespread acknowledgment that some form of culture does...

Article w/ @mfhansen.bsky.social out and open access. In it we outline key historical patterns and the changes in primatology and the behavioural sciences regarding the concepts of primate culture.
Interested in primatology and culture (and history)? check it out!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...