iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

*New event from the @eseb.bsky.social ESEB Special Topic Network on Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation* Join us next week, October 15, for a virtual symposium on Internal Conflicts Across Asia-Oceania! Sign up here: internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/asia-oceania...

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Fantastic. All the Tinbergen alumni I’ve spoken to bring up how Niko would interrupt the invited speaker after only a few minutes to ask ‘what exactly do you mean by…’

Congrats! very excited to read.

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Elisabeth Anscombe on how to summon the courage to ask a question at a seminar.

Screenshot reading “And so I just went up to Miss Anscombe.
Everyone else was terrified off. And I
said, Miss Anscombe, how do you
manage to summon up the courage to
ask a question in one of these seminars?

And apparently, what Anscombe told her
was, I just repeat one of their sentences
back to them, look puzzled, and say, but
why? And then they look terrified at me.
And that does work.”

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Agreed! Am Nat has always been the prettiest, but these days there is no competition.

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The programme will also include contributed short talks, dedicated discussion sessions, and informal networking, with the aim of strengthening connections amongst researchers studying internal conflicts and organismal adaptation.

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Invited speakers: Beata Ujvari, Deakin University, Australia Jun Kitano, National Institute of Genetics, Japan Jackson Champer, Peking University, China Stephen Frankenberg, University of Melbourne, Australia

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BES Evolutionary Ecology Group @bes-evolecol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

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Reposted by Arvid Ågren

We are so excited to announce Arvid Ågren as our next webinar speaker on the 21st October at 3:30PM (BST). @arvidagren.bsky.social works on genomic conflict—the selective tensions within every cell and how they are resolved. Register (for free) here: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/evol...

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

John Maynard Smith was also approached to review it, but declined because he was drowning in work following a bout of flu.

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Same! I just realised we have same collection of countries, though mine is scrambled: 🇸🇪->🇬🇧->🇨🇦->🇺🇲

Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is great to see! The Atwoods also support the Atwood Colloquium in Ecology & Evolution at the University of Toronto in memory of the entomologist Carl Atwood.

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Thanks for the guesses! The answer is getting a first in Greats (Literae humaniores, the university's classics degree).

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That would have been my guess too! but it's something else.

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

THURSDAY TRIVIA What accomplishment of JBS Haldane did Peter Medawar describe as “the most prestigious thing an Oxford undergraduate could do”?

Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Great week in Oxford celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Selfish Gene.

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Ending the day here after spending the day in the Department of Zoology archive at Weston Library.

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The Royal Oak on Woodstock Road in Oxford. Where in early April 1976 Richard Dawkins met Walter Bodmer and Glenys Thomson, the two reviewers OUP had asked to assess The Selfish Gene, to go over their comments on the manuscript.

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Reposted by Arvid Ågren

Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Can selfish genetic elements get away with their selfishness? This depends on ecology of their host organisms. Under certain conditions, selfish genetic elements may spread virtually unopposed by selection: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... @martijnschenkel.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social & M. Patten

doi.org

The ecological theatre of selfish elements

Abstract. Some selfish genetic elements enhance their transmission to the next generation by interfering with and eliminating competing variants within the

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This is a super exciting opportunity!

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

From Doug Futuyma’s review of ‘Evolution: Essays in Honour of John Maynard Smith’ (1985) doi.org/10.1038/3190...

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

“Maynard Smith, perhaps more than any other single individual, has embraced both major strategies of explanation of evolutionary change: the formal theory of population genetics, including natural selection; and the phenotypic theory of adaptations.”

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Did the link doesn’t work for me. Can you send the full ref?

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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I didn’t know of this one. Thank you Looks perfect! @duhe.bsky.social

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Such a great line. This is from his 1986 Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford.

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In one of his last interviews he recommended young population geneticists to study plants because they don’t move, which means that they are easier to count :)

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I wonder where Lewontin’s career would have gone if it wasn’t for Wilson. (I’m reading the Lewontin chapter in Mystery of Mysteries and Michael Ruse makes a big deal of Sociobiology as a turning point following the pessimistic conclusion of Genetic Basis the year before).

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Yeah I can see that would make for a different reaction!

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Yeah me too. I’ve recently read enough about it to make me see it in a new light. Time to go back to the source.