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Centre for Culture and Evolution

@brunelcce.bsky.social
2.7K followers 3.7K following 486 posts

Exploring the intersection of culture, evolution, psychology and anthropology. We study how culture and evolution shape human behaviour and society

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Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 12h
A new Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology has just been published, in which it is claimed that the human species is polytypic: not only is race biologically meaningful but the races are distinct enough to be considered subspecies. Published by Elgar. In 2026.
Chapters in Part III take stock of the current state of evolutionary psychology, by casting wider attention to other social and behavioral sciences and assessing the field's influence on them. In Chapter 11 ('Evolutionary psychology and anthropology'), Heiner Rindermann identifies three major forces that oppose scientific anthropology: Religion, National Socialism ('Nazism'), and woke leftist ideology. Ironically, in this sense, woke left ideologues, who include most anthropologists themselves, geneticists, and other university academics, share much in common with the Nazis in their common opposition to scientific anthropology.
Rindermann's extensive review of the literature leaves no doubt that humans are genetically polytypic and contain different biological races or 'subspecies' At the end of the chapter, Rindermann delivers devastating rebuttals to all potential arguments against the notion of races/subspecies among humans.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"Eugenics making a comeback? @rebeccasear.bsky.social from @brunelpsy.bsky.social would like a word 🎤 Her “The Return of Eugenics” talk at the British Science Festival got people talking 💬 Brilliant to see so much audience engagement, with people queuing to keep chatting to Rebecca 🙌
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Maxime Derex @maximederex.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
One week left to apply!
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
@loraadair.bsky.social @w-plus-ebs.bsky.social @annepisor.bsky.social
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ugly drafts, excellent company ✍️🙌 @brunelpsy.bsky.social Lora Adair, W+EBS Chair-Elect, and Ashley Coventry launch a monthly writing group for W+EBS members on 5th Oct! First up: free-writing. No editing allowed 👀 Join W+EBS: tinyurl.com/3svhmrn3 Sign up 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
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W+EBS @w-plus-ebs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hi #WplusEBS! Interested in joining our October 5th writing group? See the attached flyer for more info & fill out this google form to receive a zoom link: forms.gle/RCkH3XaCF3Lq... Not a member yet? Join here: tinyurl.com/3svhmrn3
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Latest "ask a psychologist" podcast is out on the @Bruneluni psychology YouTube 📢 Today's star is Byron Creese whose research focuses on neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia 🧠
youtu.be
Alzheimer's Psychosis Explained: Hallucinations, Delusions, & Diagnosis | Ask a Psychologist
YouTube video by Psychology @ Brunel
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
CE Job Alert! 🚨 Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology at Stanford University: culturalevolutionsociety.org/jobs/assista...
culturalevolutionsociety.org
Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology - Cultural Evolution Society
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Scientific racists like to claim that eminent geneticist David Reich agrees with them about genetically-determined racial differences in IQ (and even, hilariously, that he plagiarised them). He does not. Here's a handy explainer.
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Great NSS news for psychology 🎉💙 We’re in the top 30% of psychology departments in the UK 💪
youtube.com
Brunel Psychology in the top 30% by NSS results!
YouTube video by Psychology @ Brunel
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Webinar coming up today 👇 If you can't make it, check out Celso's work, including his ERC-funded project answering an important question: "The study of human genetic differences is rapidly changing science, but how can we study these differences without promoting racism and social harm?"
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
New research from a large collaborative team exploring what fathers think fathering is. Gendered expectations were clear, but so was some flexibility around these expectations, as well as variability in the fathering role associated with child's sex and age
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Vote for our amazing @loraadair.bsky.social for the chair elect in of @w-plus-ebs.bsky.social ❤️💙💜💚🧡🤍🩷
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W+EBS @w-plus-ebs.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
🗳️ W+EBS elections are coming up! We're voting for two positions: Chair Elect and Secretary. Ballots go out by email tomorrow to #WplusEBS members only and are due July 31st. Not a member yet? Join before the ballot drops to make sure you get your vote 👇 linktr.ee/w_plus_ebs
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Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
🔺Psychology Job 🔺 Assistant Professor in Psychology (Grade 8) at Durham Uni to support our new MSc Psychology (Conversion) You should use computational approaches, incl machine learning and artificial intelligence Closing date 30th Aug Please share! #Psychology #AcademicSky #PhDSky More info 👇
durham.taleo.net
Assistant Professor (Research %26 Education)
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
4/ Poppy also wrote a very accessible blog for Clue explaining the findings and why menstrual cycle data matters for health research! 🩸
helloclue.com
Does Your Menstrual Cycle Affect Vaccine Side Effects?
New research with Clue users shows getting a vaccine during your follicular phase makes side effects 35% more likely. Here is what that means for you.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
3/ Menstrual cycles are not a niche side issue. They shape immune function, pain, mood and much more. Medical research has spent far too long treating that as inconvenient background noise 🫨
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
2/ Using Clue cycle-tracking data plus survey responses from 1,474 users, the study found that vaccination in the follicular phase (first half of the cycle) was linked to 35% higher odds of reporting side effects than vaccination in the luteal phase 💉
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
1/ Does your menstrual cycle affect how vaccines work? 🩸 New paper from @poppycooper.bsky.social and colleagues, including Brunel CCE’s @rebeccasear.bsky.social , in njp Women’s Health asks "does menstrual cycle phase affect COVID-19 vaccine outcomes?" Turns out, possibly yes...
nature.com
Menstrual cycle phase and its association with COVID-19 vaccine outcomes among period tracking app users - npj Women's Health
npj Women's Health - Menstrual cycle phase and its association with COVID-19 vaccine outcomes among period tracking app users
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
1/ Big #NSS moment for Brunel Psychology 🎉 This year we rose to 35th out of 118 Psychology departments nationally!! We are now above the sector benchmark in every single NSS theme 💙
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Duncan Stibbard Hawkes @dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Children drive all sorts of things, including me, to distraction; but they also shape culture. Important theory piece.
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Dr Emily Emmott @ehemmott.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Exploring autophotography as a quasi-naturalistic observational method. In Evolutionary Anthropology, participant observations are super important - but sometimes, we can't follow people! Autophotography could work as one of the solutions to address these challenges. doi.org/10.1002/evan...
doi.org
Diversifying Methods in Evolutionary Anthropology: Autophotography as a Tool for Quasi‐Naturalistic Observation of Human Behavior
A comprehensive evolutionary account of human behavior demands simultaneous consideration of biology, local ecology, and culture. Historically, evolutionary anthropology integrated these dimensions t...
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
A bunch of our lecturers have made videos about their modules so everyone can know what we teach here in Brunel 🎓🤓📽️ watch to learn more about neurodiversity, religion, evolutionary psychology, mindfulness and personality 💙
instagram.com
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
5/ So the key point is not just that cultural solutions evolve. Problems evolve too resulting in co-evolution 🔁🛠️ This makes human culture much more open-ended, strange and interesting! #BrunelCCE #CulturalEvolution #Psychology #Language #Culture #BehavioralAndBrainSciences
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
5/ The pyramid example makes this clear. “Build a pyramid” is not simply a universal human goal popping out of evolved psychology It is a culturally inherited problem that changed over generations through failure, materials, tools, labour, measurement and engineering 🏛️🛠️
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
4/ Language is a big part of this as allows people to coordinate around shared problems and argue what are in fact problems, and if there are actually 99 problems….. . 🛠️🗣️
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
3/ The commentary responds to @manvir.bsky.social l subjective selection framework, which explains cultural traditions through the choices people make to meet their goals 🎯 Winters and Charbonneau's take: that’s useful, but goals are not always fixed things sitting neatly in the mind 💡🧩
cambridge.org
Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the origins of the cultural manifold | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the origins of the cultural manifold - Volume 49
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
2/ TLDR: humans don’t just solve problems. We also invent them, share them, inherit them, and make them more complicated over time. 🧠
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1/ New Brunel CCE commentary in Behavioral and Brain Sciences by @replicatedtypo.bsky.social and @matcharbonneau.bsky.social 🧠🌍✨ “Subjective selection needs socially transmitted goals and culturally evolving problems”
doi.org
Subjective selection needs socially transmitted goals and culturally evolving problems | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Subjective selection needs socially transmitted goals and culturally evolving problems - Volume 49
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1/ Big week for Brunel Psychology at the CHMLS Awards 🎉 Huge congratulations to our Psychology winners: Nelli Ferenczi, Will Gervais and Byron Creese - recognised across inclusive education, teaching excellence and research leadership 💪🤩
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Brunel Psychology @brunelpsy.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
5/ Big shout-out too to Psychology @brunelcce.bsky.social runners-up @abbeyepage.bsky.social, Andrei Barbanta, @loraadair.bsky.social and @aiyanakoka.bsky.social 👏 Great recognition across research, teaching, technical support, external partnerships and public engagement
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
6/ So culture does not just solve problems. It also changes what counts as a problem 👀 Huge congratulations to James and the whole guest editor team! #CollectiveIntelligence #CulturalEvolution #Evolution #Psychology #CCE
royalsocietypublishing.org
Volume 381 Issue 1948 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | The Royal Society
Influential themed journal issues across the life sciences.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
5/ Winters and Charbonneau’s argument is that open-ended cultural evolution depends on the co-evolution of: 1. cultural systems -> techniques, artefacts, norms, knowledge 2. search spaces -> the needs, problems and goals societies are trying to solve
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
4/ Also in the issue is a new paper from @replicatedtypo.bsky.social and @matcharbonneau.bsky.social on “Modelling the emergence of open-ended cultural evolution” This asks why does human culture not just accumulate, but keep opening up new problems, new goals and new ways of thinking? 🤔
doi.org
Modelling the emergence of open-ended cultural evolution
Abstract. Humans stand alone in terms of their potential to collectively and cumulatively change their culture in an open-ended manner. This open-endedness
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
3/ There is a lovely range across the issue: self-organisation in animal groups, social learning, culture, leadership, consensus, deliberation, human cumulative culture, institutions, large language models, forecasting and collective responses to shocks 🫨
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
2/ The issue takes a proper evolutionary view of collective intelligence (how groups solve problems, make decisions, and generate knowledge) 1) where it comes from 2) how it works across species, and 3) what it might mean for human societies now 🗺️
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1/ Some very nice CCE news 📢 A new Philosophical Transactions B theme issue on The evolution of collective intelligence is out, co-edited by @replicatedtypo.bsky.social from @brunelpsy.bsky.social 🧠🧬👇
royalsocietypublishing.org
Volume 381 Issue 1948 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | The Royal Society
Influential themed journal issues across the life sciences.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Teams meeting to join: Meeting ID: 326 723 976 296 710 Passcode: wF9v9tS7
teams.microsoft.com
Join meeting on Teams
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
4/ Come along in-person or online if you’re interested in genetics, race, ethics, classification, scientific practice, or how apparently technical choices become very real social problems And if you come in person, there will be refreshments. Obviously important.
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
3/ The talk is hosted by @rebeccasear.bsky.social , Director of Brunel CCE, whose recent public work has focused on eugenics, scientific racism and how academia responds to these issues
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
2/ Celso’s talk looks at ancestry estimation in human genetics: useful for evolutionary history and medicine, but controversial because ancestry categories can echo older racial divisions and oversimplify human relatedness
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1/ 🧬⚖️ New Brunel CCE/CCN Shared Horizons talk: When is a methodological choice an ethical problem? @celsoneto.bsky.social joins @brunelpsy.bsky.social to unpack ancestry, racial stigma and human population genetics Wed 29th July, 2-4pm | ESGW Beldam | also online via Teams 🔗👇
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Happening this thursday 16th July 🤩📣
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
📢 New video on the @brunelpsy.bsky.social *Ask a psychologist podcast* with Francisco Gomezx Jimenez discussing his cross-cultural and evolutionary work on sexuality and gender diversity 🏳️‍🌈🌎🏳️‍⚧️
youtu.be
"Why are some people gay?" - Francisco Gomez Jimenez | Ask A Psychologist
YouTube video by Psychology @ Brunel
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Léo Fitouchi @lfitouchi.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Why do human societies adopt rigid moral rules? Our new paper, led by @jliep.bsky.social, proposes a new model in PNAS @pnas.org! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Why human societies adopt rigid moral rules: The efficiency–robustness trade-off | PNAS
Humans are capable of remarkably flexible moral judgment. Yet societies rely on rigid rules—obligations and prohibitions that apply categorically, ...
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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 05/07/2026
In her blogpost on the paper we jointly co-authored on the significance of Man the Hunter, Haneul does a better job explaining the significance of Man the Hunter than we did in our paper on the significance of Man the Hunter (if that makes any sense!). Check it out #BioAnth 🧪
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Haneul Jang @haneuljang.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
We are accepting expressions of interest or short abstracts (200 words) for both issue 1 and issue 2 until 31 August 💙 For further information or any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at haneul.jang@ird.fr or the editorial team at hgreditor+se@gmail.com
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Dieter Lukas @dieterlukas.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/07/2026
I compiled a list of 350 #funding opportunities for #postdoctoral research #fellowships: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J2M… I realized I should share this again after mentioning it to some folks at the #EFP2026
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
and last but not least postdoc Kat Ford presented on belonging in Glastonbury! For more information about the project see their lovely website: www.spiritsandsources.com
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
One of the PI of the project @aiyanakoka.bsky.social presented her exciting work with @loraadair.bsky.social on innovation in ritual 👏
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