iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

📢NEW paper out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org #RSOS. 📖Practical implications of temporal body mass variation for biologging and comparative studies. 🌟Showcasing the value of #long-term studies - 1000s of body-mass measures analysed. 👥Led by @benmocha.bsky.social doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I am part of a team guest editing a special issue of the American Journal of Primatology on "Digitization and use of legacy datasets in primatology” and we are seeking out submissions due on 1 September 2027. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

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Christos C. Ioannou @ccioannou.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

📢 📢 📢 Three days left 📢 📢 📢 to apply ASAB Childcare Grants www.asab.org/childcare DEADLINE MIDNIGHT 1ST OCTOBER @asab.org asabpsgbwinter.github.io//2026/

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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

📣🎓 Open #PhD Position (3.5 years) 🎓📣 Want to come work with me on culture and social bonds in apes? 🐵 Apply to join my new group in the @livingingroups.bsky.social at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social. Full job posting: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/131133/cultu... Deadline 📅 23 October 2026 Please share widely!

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laserhedvig @laserhedvig.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Interdisciplinary research is great and necessary, and also has consistently lower funding success www.nature.com/articles/nat... #academiclabourmarket #academia #research

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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 17/09/2026

If you hate reading papers so much, maybe you shouldn't be in Academia

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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

ACE Research Grant Alert 🚨! CES will give out two awards of up to $3000 each to support early career research projects in cultural evolution. The award is open to applicants worldwide, with an application deadline of October 9th 2026, 9:00 AM AoE. Applications: forms.gle/dsLdKQuNBH4W...

forms.gle

ACE Early Career Research Grants

CES will give out two awards of up to $3000 each to support research projects in cultural evolution. To learn more about the Advancing Cultural Evolution (ACE) initiative, see here. Deadline: Appli...

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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Imagine you are a white-faced capuchin monkey on Jicarón island learning how to use stone tools 🔨 Your mother does not use tools, so who do you turn to as a model? Our new manuscript answering this question is out now in Animal Behaviour @asab.org. doi.org/10.1016/j.an.... A 🧵 of our findings (1/10)

A juvenile white-faced capuchin monkey eating a coconut. Photo credits Christian Ziegler

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AEA Data Editor @aeadata.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"Stata, like any other software package, has fixed criteria to convergence declaration. It's not foolproof. There will be always cases where convergence will be 'declared' and it shouldn't."

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

The primary reason my PhD took so long.

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NPR @npr.org · 22/07/2026

About 24% of U.S. employees stay in unwanted jobs just for health insurance, a report out Wednesday finds. Up significantly since 2021, the uptick in "job lock" is a concerning sign for the U.S. economy. n.pr/4gQIY5E

n.pr

Staying in a job for the health insurance? About 1 in 4 Americans do, a survey says

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Manuscripts with women as corresponding authors are less frequently sent out for review at Science. The ones reviewed receive less favorable reviews by both male and female reviewers.

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

reading @apvelilla.bsky.social @psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social paper and realizing this is the kind of thing I say to my kids when they hurt each other. maybe i need new word choices. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...

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Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

In many fields, pilot studies are critical for methods & tool development & refinement, yet are often overlooked & rarely reported Any ecologists & evolutionary biologists with a special interest and experience in piloting in ecology & evolution: suggested reading, previous research, etc...?

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Alice Auersperg @auersperga.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

We have an exciting new position in our group for a PhD on parrot innovation !!! The position will be part of our new @fwf-at.bsky.social Emerging Fields project with @barbaraklump.bsky.social , @mohara.bsky.social , @christophvoelter.bsky.social and Justus Piater. Apply & share!!

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

One reason I like Bayeisan stats is that you can model the importance of rare event's like this and why i find ways to fit Gamma, zero-augmented Gamma, and zero-augmented Beta distributions at all costs. "Rare events of great biological import likely live in the tails of probability distributions"

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Theiss Bendixen @theissbendixen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

New research! 📚 We built the largest database to date of cephalopod species - octopuses, squids and cuttlefish - and their brains, habitats and behaviors 🐙🧠📈 What did we find?👇 Press release: www.lse.ac.uk/news/ecologi... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

spitting fire in my soon to be neglected grant applications:

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

reading some economics papers and the footnotes are fire.

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Aki Vehtari @avehtari.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

New paper "To select or not to select: predictively consistent priors instead of model selection" with Anna Elisabeth Riha, Leevi Lindgren, @davidkohns.bsky.social, @paulbuerkner.com arxiv.org/abs/2606.22850 Model selection is not a substitute for building good models in the first place 1/

To select or not to select: predictively
consistent priors instead of model selection

Anna Elisabeth Riha, Leevi Lindgren, David Kohns, Paul-Christian Bürkner, Aki Vehtari

Bayesian modelling workflows often consider multiple candidate models of varying complexity. Model selection is commonly used to navigate potential trade-offs between model complexity and generalisability to new data. We study when model selection is unnecessary or can even be harmful for predictive performance in finite data regimes and find that the need for selecting simpler models can depend on prior choice. We formalise predictively consistent priors, which keep prior predictive implications stable as model complexity increases. Across examples and numerical experiments, including adding covariates in linear and logistic regression, forward variable selection, and nonlinear modelling, flexible models with predictively consistent priors typically match or outperform selected simpler models in out-of-sample predictive performance. When selection helps, it can indicate poor joint prior implications, such as excessive prior mass on implausible predictive values. Based on our findings, we propose replacing the notion of sparsity or parsimony at the level of model components with specifying priors that remain sensible in predictive space as models become more complex.

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

excited about this one: using longitudinal movement data and dyadic models, we show that orangutan moms adjust their ranging patterns so their kids can play with age-mates independent of kinship, at personal costs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mothers with similarly aged offspring share more space, and their offspring play more.
Posterior effect sizes from social relations models (SRMs) of (a, b) infant-infant play scans (n = 996
infant-dyad-years across 79 mother dyads) and (c) mother-mother home-range overlap (Bhattacharyya coefficient; n
= 282 mother-dyad years across 71 mother dyads). Panel (a) shows the hurdle component (probability of play
occurrence), sign-flipped so positive values indicate higher probability of play occurrence; panel (b) shows the count
component (play frequency). Points and thick and thin lines show posterior medians with 66% and 89% credible
intervals, respectively. (d) Counterfactual home-range overlap for each dyad when offspring are the same age versus
6 years apart. Points show posterior medians across all mother-mother dyads (one horizontal bar per dyad);
background densities show population-level predictions. (e) Offspring age-difference effect on home-range overlap
versus intersection area. (f) Posterior difference between the two effects (BC overlap minus intersection area).

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Elspeth Ready @elspethready.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

my group is looking for a HiWi (student assistant) to help transcribe narrative interviews for our project on Inuit health and well-being. Must be a student enrolled in a bachelor or master's program at a German University. Link here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

eva.mpg.de

Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

1 week left to apply for scholarships ! If you are based at an institution in an ODA recipient country (e.g. Brazil, South Africa, India, Mexico; full list: tinyurl.com/5dv7vvs8), you can get all expenses covered to attend the summer school in Lausanne for a week.

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Odd Jacobson @oddjacobson.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

New paper out today in Nat Ecol Evol! On how within- and between-group competition jointly shape ranging in wild capuchins, and how the environment tips the balance. Thread below 🐒

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Post Peer-review pub out from my former PhD student @oddjacobson.bsky.social dissertation. Im proud of their integration of longitudinal demographic, behavioral, historical, remote sensing, climate & movement data under a causal inference framework using hierarchical social relations models & CTMM

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Jeremy Koster @jeremykoster.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting! www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

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Simon Chamaillé-Jammes @chamaillejammes.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

We are launching a global initiative on translocation & animal movement - to learn more about roles of memory, the environment and other drivers of space use, and about what works and what doesn't in conservation. But we want to do it collaboratively, so see Inès' post below! We need and want you!

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Julia Penndorf @julia-penndorf.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

🎉🦜NEW PAPER ALERT 🦜🎉 Which social learning biases underly the acquisition of novel food in wild parrots ? We (@lucymaplin.bsky.social, @bjjbarrett.bsky.social, @sonjawild.bsky.social, @drjohnmartin.bsky.social) presented >700 cockies with a novel, artificial food (🧵1/6)

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Charley Wu @thecharleywu.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

🚨Last week to apply for a 3 year postdoc with me and @dominikdeffner.bsky.social, embedded in theadaptivemind-excellencecluster.de Focus is on developing innovative experiments and computational models to understand social & cultural learning. Deadline is March 30th 👉 hmc-lab.com/SocialLearni...

hmc-lab.com

Postdoc position -- Social Learning and Cultural Evolution

Postdoc position -- Social Learning and Cultural Evolution posted on March 2, 2026 We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual...

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

To whom it may concern: I will be presenting at @bioanth.org in Denver and @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social annual meeting in Rabat so if you would like to meet up reach out

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Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama! Three positions, each including salary & a research budget. Applications due April, 15th. DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us! stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

stri.si.edu

3 Year Postdoctoral Fellowships in Animal Behavior

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Jenny Tung @jennytung.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

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...

uni-leipzig.de

Professorship in population genetics in the field of evolutionary anthropology and medicine (W2)

Faculties & Facilities

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

prior choice is the only thing that soothes my weary soul.

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 30/12/2025

on that note, see: bsky.app/profile/oliv...

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

now out, post peer review, led by @ehowaspi.bsky.social: empirically informed ABM suggesting that in orangutans dietary"know-what" requires social learning to develop

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AniMove @animove-course.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

🥳64 more days until the start of #Animove at #LaSelva Organization of Tropical Studies in #CostaRica. 22 participants, 6 tutors,2077 plant species,125 mammal species,470 bird species,48 amphibian species,87 reptile species,45 fresh water fish species and 10000 insects, arachnids and other.🐒🦇🦜🐊🦂

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Ben Kawam @benkawam.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

New paper! We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Each dyad (a, b) moves through four discrete states over time, represented by coloured circles. The dyad remains in a given state for a certain duration, or "holding time", before transitioning to a new state according to state-specific transition probabilities, indicated by arrows showing all possible (non-zero) transitions. Paintings by Sofia M. Pereira & Judith von Nordheim.

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

For your consideration, our paper about how we can build a better error culture around biologging is now out in Animal Behavio(u)r. A collaborative effort between researchers the veterinarians at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Burden of a failed error culture in biologging

Driven by technological advancement and low cost, biologging has rapidly transformed the study of animal behaviour and ecology, providing unprecedente…

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...

files.newsletter2go.com

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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Was asked about collinearity again, so here's Vahove's 2019 post on why it isn't a problem that needs a solution. Design the model(s) to answer a formal question and free your mind janhove.github.io/posts/2019-0...

tl;dr

Collinearity is a form of lack of information that is appropriately reflected in the output of your statistical model.
When collinearity is associated with interpretational difficulties, these difficulties aren’t caused by the collinearity itself. Rather, they reveal that the model was poorly specified (in that it answers a question different to the one of interest), that the analyst overly focuses on significance rather than estimates and the uncertainty about them or that the analyst took a mental shortcut in interpreting the model that could’ve also led them astray in the absence of collinearity.
If you do decide to “deal with” collinearity, make sure you can still answer the question of interest.

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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Do any stats nerds have a good reference/examples for how to write about Gaussian Processes models and communicate them to readers? I am estimating spatial autocorrelation of things measured in grids and need some inspiration to guide my writing.

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 07/10/2025

I really strongly feel that some fields of research would profit if researchers stopped collecting online data for some time and instead maybe just read a bit outside of their field.

The ‘harm hypothesis’ strikes me as being deeply rooted in contemporary WEIRD values rather than being the result of a specific ‘evolved’ or ‘innate’ instinct or psychological mechanism. And indeed the literature cited to support it seems to suggest this.

Costello & Acerbi cite 5 papers in the paragraph above to support the model:

Stewart-Williams et al., 2024: the sample here consists of Prolific users mostly in the UK.

FeldmanHall et al., 2016: the samples were MTurk users in the US and volunteers in the UK.

Curry et al., 2004: the sample is convicted offenders in Texas in 1991.

Graso et al., 2023: US MTurk users again.

Graso & Reynolds, 2024: this is a review paper which does make some cross-cultural claims, but when you check the references you can see some important limitations. For example, they write that “Across cultures, women were perceived as less powerful than men but were seen more positively,” and when you check the reference it goes to Glick et al., 2004, which samples from 16 nations. However, when you read that paper they note in the methods that, “Most samples consisted primarily of college students participating for extra credit.”

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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Want to know more about monkeys kidnapping other monkeys?🐒 I had an amazing chat together with @bjjbarrett.bsky.social on @sidedoorpod.bsky.social about the Coiban capuchins and their wild antics. Science really is stranger than fiction! Listen 👂 here: www.si.edu/sidedoor/mon...

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Alejandro Pérez Velilla @apvelilla.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

I am happy to announce that our project on risk and social learning is now in press at Psychological Review. Several new additions and revisions thanks to detailed feedback from colleagues and anonymous reviewers. osf.io/preprints/so... @psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social

osf.io

OSF

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