Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 25/09/2026TIL that SRY, the sex-determining Y chromosome gene, is expressed in midbrain dopamine neurons, which are involved in voluntary movement, motivation, learning, & other functions. SRY expression might help explain the male bias in DA-mediated diseases, eg, Parkinson's 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... 021
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/09/2026If you need to transfer large files from your laptop/desktop to someone else, I've had good luck with this open source app. It's peer-to-peer (no server involved), end-to-end encrypted, and uses the well-regarded iroh library under the hood: github.com/tonyantony30...github.comGitHub - tonyantony300/dashbeam: Share files nearby and beyond.Share files nearby and beyond. . Contribute to tonyantony300/dashbeam development by creating an account on GitHub. 060
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 20/09/2026Jesus, too, was an apocalyptic prophet 🙂 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histori... 031
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/09/2026A macOS shortcut to count lines, words & chars in any selected text (falls back to clipboard) #AcademicSky Keyboard: ctrl-opt-cmd w Review the shell cmd before using this or any shortcut Shell: wc | awk '{printf "Lines: %s\nWords: %s\nCharacters: %s\n", $1, $2, $3}' www.icloud.com/shortcuts/69...icloud.comwordcountShared with iCloud 050
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/09/2026"Violence was endemic in Neolithic Europe, sometimes reaching levels of intergroup hostilities that ended in the utter destruction of entire communities" 🧪 #BioAnth www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...pnas.orgConflict, violence, and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe | PNASBioarchaeological evidence of interpersonal violence and early warfare presents important insights into conflict in past societies. This evidence i... 0134
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 10/09/2026The title of this cool new paper is accurate (dental evidence c. 25-16k BP). However, routine consumption of ethanol is likely ancient: 1) Wild chimpanzees consume perhaps the equivalent of 1.4 drinks/day from naturally fermenting fruit; 2) ADH genes are widespread🧪🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgBetel nut sucking is the earliest recorded evidence for the habitual use of a neuroactive plant drugThe modern custom of chewing betel nuts is practiced by around 1 in 10 people worldwide, yet the earliest beginnings of this widespread drug use habit are unknown. We report rare skeletal remains of t... 1115
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 09/09/2026The #rstats {livelink} package packs your short R script / shiny app into a (long!) URL. No server. No file upload 🧪 webr_repl_link("myscript.R")→url→R console, your script, plot pane, in the users' browser shinylive_r_link("myapp.R")→url→running app in the browser 👇 shinylive.io/r/app/#code=...shinylive.ioShiny App 160
Reposted by Ed HagenChive @chive.pub · 08/09/2026Alongside a bunch of bug fixes, we've got a few new features on chive.pub we're excited about. Most of them involve connecting a paper to other things that relate to it on the Atmosphere and beyond.chive.pubChive | Decentralized Eprint ServiceDecentralized eprints on ATProto. 1216
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 08/09/2026This #rstats package can help you avoid doxxing the participants in your study when you publish your data 🧪 #AcademicSky: sdctools.github.io/sdcMicro/sdctools.github.ioStatistical Disclosure Control Methods for Anonymization of Data and Risk EstimationData from statistical agencies and other institutions are mostly confidential. This package, introduced in Templ, Kowarik and Meindl (2017) <doi:10.18637/jss.v067.i04>, can be used for the generation ... 0187
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 03/09/2026Academia in the US 🧪 #AcademicSky My plot of data from: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1121
Reposted by Ed HagenCharles C Roseman @evoroseman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026RE: freedom of speech, academic freedom, and race science. In this (long) thread, I’m going to 1) establish my bona fides on academic freedom and race science, 2) show why academic freedom and freedom of speech are different and… 1/34 519094
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 22/08/2026All of us posting on social media (or producing for any media) should be aware of the results of this 2015 meta-analysis 🧪 doi.org/10.1542/peds... 1112
Reposted by Ed HagenEd Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/08/2026To understand the Santa Barbara school of ev psych (SBEP), put aside the brain for a moment, and consider the rest of the body: It's been recognized since the time of Empedocles, if not before, that 1. organisms comprise specialized parts benefitting the organism... blog.edhagen.net/posts/2019-0...blog.edhagen.netA theory of natural selection, 5th century BC – GrasshoppermouseBlog posts and talk slides 155
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 17/08/2026Growth and movement of cells in a human hair follicle. From this paper (see ALT for more details). 🧪 Mapping cell dynamics in human ex vivo hair follicles suggests pulling mechanism of hair growth www.nature.com/articles/s41... 0173
Reposted by Ed HagenHuman Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Membership fees will increase starting September 15 (see below for details). If you are currently on a one-year membership, you can upgrade to a three-year plan at the current prices. You have until September 15 to upgrade your one-year membership. www.hbes.com/hbes-members...hbes.comHBES membership fees are increasing starting September 15 - HBESMembership fees will increase starting September 15 (see below for details). If you are currently on a one-year membership, you can upgrade to a three-year plan at the current prices. You have until… 011
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/20261. Much human genetic variation has ~zero impact on phenotypes. Why? Cooperative genes are locked in a forever war w/ selfish genes (red queen dynamics). The cooperative genes have won most battles but now our genomes are littered w/ the dead & decaying bodies of a million selfish genes 🧵 🧪 #BioAnth 13310
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/08/2026From Tinbergen (1963), where he puts forward his famous four questions 🧪 #BioAnth 1224
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 12/08/2026Create an (almost) free personal/professional 1-page website in 4 steps using #rstats and R Markdown 🧪: 1. Buy a personal domain name (~ $10/yr): www.cloudflare.com/products/reg... 2. Create your page in R markdown using this R package (this is one of five templates): github.com/seankross/po... 1215
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 11/08/2026Many osf.io features could be built on #atproto: your project repos would be hosted on your PDS (eg your bluesky acct). Institutions could host PDSs, distributing costs. Every record would have a unique id (analogous to a doi). Multiple apps could access the records in multiple ways @atproto.science 0132
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 11/08/2026We've known since Galileo that objects of different substances and masses all fall at the same rate, right? So why did physicists spend €140M to test this "fact"? 🙂 Now est. to within 10⁻¹⁵. 🧪 Take home: even our most venerable scientific truths could fall. physics.aps.org/articles/v15...cnes.frMicroscope | CNESA microsatellite to test the universality of free fall 050
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 09/08/2026Take 15 mins to read this vital account of a how a swarm of AI agents created by OpenAI researchers collaborated to breach "bulletproof" guardrails using arcane methods to hack an external company Agent speed >> human Implication: bad guys have unleashed the same 🧪 drive.google.com/file/d/18sR4...drive.google.comOpenAI-HuggingFace-Incident-Plain-Language-Edition.pdf 3167
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 07/08/2026Geek afternoon: Wildfires are causing hazardous air quality conditions. IKEA sells a $35 Matter-enabled air quality sensor that connects to Apple Home, provides PM2.5 & CO2 values, & ain't bad. Challenge: log values every 15 min w/o using any 3rd party tools Solution: Shortcuts + launchd 🧪🧵 1/4 4254
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/07/2026Eminent evolutionary biologist David Haig weighs in on the sex binary controversy 🧪 link.springer.com/article/10.1... His conclusion: 1101
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 18/07/2026The relationship between testosterone and grip strength, an index of physical formidability, in a representative sample of US adult men (point sizes are survey weights). 🧪 34213
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 17/07/2026Just a reminder that even if most faculty in Academia are left-wing, the training and research that most of them provide supports a center-right constituency: business & industry. 🧪 #AcademicSky Data from all PhD-granting US universities from 2011-2020: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 2317
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 07/07/2026Some entertaining zingers from the judges on their decision upholding academic freedom. Worth a few minutes of your time 🧪 My favorite: "The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves" 04411
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 07/07/2026Just a reminder that, in an era when trust in many US institutions is low, trust in science and higher ed is pretty darn high 🧪 news.gallup.com/poll/692633/... 5312
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 05/07/2026In 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 🧪 0187
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 02/07/20261. A long post-reproductive lifespan is exceedingly rare in wild animals, so why do humans have one, i.e., menopause? In my new paper, I find that menopause averted a midlife energetic crisis: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 🧪 #BioAnth 🧵 1177
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 22/06/2026TIL you can setup a VPN on your home network using your Apple TV and @tailscale.com, which is free for personal use (and has clients for macOS, Window, iOS, Android, and Linux): tailscale.com/docs/solutio...tailscale.comSecure your internet traffic on public Wi-Fi using an Apple TV · Tailscale DocsRoute Tailscale traffic through your Apple TV for secure, private browsing and access to region-locked content. 030
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/06/2026Were Margaret Mead's data on the ages of girls' heterosexual experiences out of the ordinary, and therefore she must have been hoaxed? Here is a plot of her data. Pastor: girls living in a pastor's boarding school 🧪 #BioAnth, 🧵 1/4 1132
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/06/20261. Attempted cancellations of prominent scholars as proxy wars on ideas one doesn't like: the case of Margaret Mead...and a mea culpa 🧪 #AcademicSky 25831
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 06/06/2026Andrew Gelman reviews several chapters from The War on Science, edited by Lawrence Krauss 🧪 statmodeling.substack.com/p/13-aspects...statmodeling.substack.com13 aspects of “the war on science”I’ll get to the 13 in a bit. 294
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 06/06/2026Remembering Uncle Ken on the anniversary of #D-Day www.aphidophaga.org/hagen.htm 170
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 30/05/2026I need #rstats #stats advice. 59 kids in 2 ethnic groups were observed for 2 hours each, & the # of times they learned something from parents (vertical), other adults (oblique) or peers (horizontal) was recorded. Each row is one child. Q: How to test if ethnicity is associated w/ learning mode? 421
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 29/05/2026I've updated this plot of data from @thefireorg.bsky.social on campus deplatformings and attacks on scholars (1) with complete data for 2025, (2) by changing the incidents plots to cumulative sums of incidents by year, and (3) adding the topics involved 🧪 #AcademicSky 183
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 26/05/2026The grandmother hypothesis is seen as the "feminist" version of human evolution, but if so it's a dark version. At its heart is the recognition that despite higher male mortality, menopause sharply restricted the pool of fertile women relative to fertile men👇 intensifying male-male competition 🧪🧵1/4 161
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 17/05/2026The joint @ces2026.bsky.social / #HBES2026 is a wrap. Local organizers @zhgarfield.com, @edseabright.bsky.social, @sarahalami.bsky.social, & @matcharbonneau.bsky.social & their amazing support team pulled off TWO back-to-back conferences. The vibe, food, high-tech venue & talks were fantastic! 0252
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 29/04/2026This is a very cool app: it's computing embeddings across bluesky posts. Enter your handle and find which clusters your posts belong to, along w/ nearby clusters. Apparently, most of my posts are in the, uh, mtcars cluster #rstats 🧪 divepool.social/pool/edhagen...divepool.social@edhagen.net | divepoolExplore Bluesky accounts by topic clusters. Discover interesting posts and people. 081
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 28/04/2026There's also standard.site support: emdash/packages/plugins/atproto github.com/emdash-cms/e... 010
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 18/04/20261. Steve Jobs realized that "People hate their phones". Apple invented a better one, made bank, & changed the world. Academics hate their scientific publishers. Bluesky invented a better publishing platform, & could bank some of the ~$20B/year sci pub revenue, changing science 🧪 @toni.bsky.team 🧵 98018
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/04/20261. In this paper, we included this word cloud of the top 200 words in the volume Man the Hunter. A reader wondered how could the top 200 words in a book with the title "Man the Hunter" include "woman" but not "man"? Doh! 🧪 #rstats #BioAnth #AcademicSky 🧵 1216
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 10/04/2026A great performance of this Zep classic: youtu.be/Ca3VI4aGDjc?...youtu.be“Ramble On” - Robert Plant with Saving Grace (LIVE on The Late Show)YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 040
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 07/04/202616 year old daughter visiting the Natural History Museum in NYC for the first time 🧪 2421
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 16/03/2026Our review of the import of the Man the Hunter conference and volume, which contrary to recent media coverage actually expressed diverse views on hunter-gatherers and inspired decades of research, is now published 🧪 #BioAnth authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... 1259
Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 13/03/2026A unique prediction of an evolutionary approach is that some puzzling aspects of psych & health are best explained by mismatches of modern environments to the ancestral one. Yet the utility of the mismatch concept has been questioned by @joshtybur.bsky.social & @danielnettle.bsky.social 🧪 #BioAnth 🧵 1112