Sign in

Elijah Watson

@elijahjwatson.bsky.social
990 followers 2.4K following 145 posts

anthropologist-demographer | postdoc-ing @ UChicago | Tar Heel born 🐏 researching (ejwatson.github.io): • early life origins of aging & stratification🧑‍🍼👵 • birth cohorts as “natural” experiments🤰 • environment & (epi)genetics 🧬

PostsRepliesMedia
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Henrich treats bioanth as the healthy foil, counting statistics as rigor. He should have had Claude plot the distribution of p-values in the top bioanth journals over the past 4 decades. Shrinking faculty numbers contribute, but can't fully explain why huge swaths of bioanth silently resist reform
021
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Now everything is safe and nothing is funded. The labs are clean and the researchers are desperate. The fume hoods work perfectly and no one can afford to use them. We have replaced the danger of mouth-pipetting with the danger of a generation of scientists spending their most productive years writing grants that will not be funded. This is its own form of danger, just slower and less honest than the phenol.
18732
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Matthew Eadie @mattheweadie.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
BREAKING: Evanston police confirm a U.S. citizen was briefly detained by federal agents Sunday morning near Howard and Dodge before being released The man was taken to the hospital for injuries to his head, neck and teeth after agents drove off
evanstonnow.com
Federal agents detained U.S. citizen Sunday morning - Evanston Now
Police chief says officers responded to a man with injuries to head, neck and teeth on Howard and made contact with agents involved.
39466413498
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I spent the morning reading John Levi Martin's absolutely brutal takedown of the Vanderbilt report's assessment of politicization in sociology. I recommend it and hope it gets as much attention as the initial (crap) Vanderbilt report. A Reader’s Guide to the Rubin Report osf.io/preprints/so...
osf.io
OSF
314951
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
you can be arrested if you give water to people waiting on line to vote
1754221249
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Modeling non-response is an example I like to use when arguing that "descriptive" statistics also require causal inference. To describe the population, you have to model what causes the sample. Similar to occupancy modeling in ecology in many ways.
110319
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🧵 New DP from I4R co-director Lester Lusher, with Sonia Ale, Md Shafiqui Islam, Huda Osman & Jacob Stenstrom (Pitt): "When Samples Shape Significance." What happens when you re-estimate published results using fresh draws of the same data? Some evidence from Google Trends!
12914
Reposted by Elijah Watson
NBER @nber.org · 03/09/2026
The individual economic consequences of wildfires are unevenly distributed, extend beyond property damage, and persist for years as individuals and communities recover, from Patrick Baylis, Judson Boomhower, Jonathan M. Colmer, and John L. Voorheis www.nber.org/papers/w35675
0127
Reposted by Elijah Watson
The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 03/09/2026
From the LPM story: "Bevin was reportedly arrested while playing an extra on the set of a Christian film production there."
514238
Reposted by Elijah Watson
The Onion @theonion.com · 29/08/2026
God Concerned By Q3 Circumcision Numbers
theonion.com
God Concerned By Q3 Circumcision Numbers
THE HEAVENS—Noting that a marked downward trend had developed this fiscal year and showed no signs of stopping, The Lord God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, reported He was concerned Monday over what He...
1084064
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This looks fantastic. One of the best things on my feed is the papers you post. They always go straight into my Zotero to-read list. 😊 Thanks for sharing!
010
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
"we collect data from ~3500 sharing units (households) in 46 communities across the globe. In almost all communities, a sharing unit's material wealth is positively associated with the number of other sharing units it both helps and is helped by" arxiv.org/abs/2608.25488
arxiv.org
Social Network Structure, Wealth, and Wealth Inequality Across Cultures
Despite theory tying wealth inequality to social structure, empirical evidence has been limited to a few studies based on online social media data. This study uses a very different type of data, expan...
2132
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Connie Schultz @connieschultz.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
There was no one like her. Dolly Pardon has died. She was 80. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/a...
nytimes.com
Dolly Parton, Superstar Whose Songs Spoke to Millions, Dies at 80 (Gift Article)
Known for her outsize persona, appearance and talent, she rose from rural poverty to become a top-selling singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.
433029
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Backyard reads with Butters
I’m holding two books, All That’s Unseen by Emilee Hackney and Marked by Time by Robert J. Sampson, while my Shih Tzu, Butters, sits beside me in the backyard on a sunny afternoon.
000
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Jason Wilson @jasonaw.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It’s just not surprising that more than a quarter of American adults are functionally illiterate. There are well funded nationwide institutional networks dedicated to this outcome. sciencepolitics.org/2026/08/21/a...
sciencepolitics.org
Adult Literacy Is Mysteriously Declining Across Many High-Income Countries - Science Politics
COVID and smartphones alone cannot explain the decline. One thing we do know: both young and old need to retain the ability to gather and process information.
34112
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Zero new NSF grants in sociology, anthropology, political science and economics. The agenda of this US govt is to stop documenting the society in which we live while they are destroying it. We will find other ways to track and explain our times and fight to restore our research funding.
15893454
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Racist Zero under investigation by his current employer www.thenational.scot/news/2648073...
thenational.scot
Academic who sparked Jason Arday pile on under investigation by university
The academic who sparked the pile on which preceded a black British professor’s suicide has said he is under investigation by his university
43719226
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
NEW: The NIH is quietly restricting funding for research that evaluates how public policy impacts human health. According to internal documents I obtained, the agency no longer considers policymakers "mission relevant" — a massive shift for the biomedical funder. My latest for @nature.com:
nature.com
NIH limits funding for research on the health effects of public policy
US biomedical agency no longer considers policymakers as ‘mission relevant’, leaving dozens of grants in limbo.
19526385
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
After taking the rest of the month to relax and settle into my new apartment, I’m excited to share that I’ll be starting a postdoc this September at UChicago in the NIH/NIA T32 Demography and Economics of Aging training program. Looking forward to this next chapter!
030
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Thank you!!
010
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Just submitted my phd dissertation and mph research paper :)
static.klipy.com
Elijah Wood: It's Done - Lord of the Rings
ALT: Elijah Wood: It's Done - Lord of the Rings
120
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
These are all good things but it's a lot of good things at the same time 😮‍💨
000
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I defended my dissertation on Monday (🎉), have packed and cleaned from Tuesday through today, am moving to a new apartment tomorrow, presenting my MPH poster next Wednesday, finalizing my dissertation for submission by next Friday, and then my partner has a major surgery the following Wednesday 😵‍💫
110
Reposted by Elijah Watson
The Onion @theonion.com · 16/07/2026
What To Know About Cyclosporiasis theonion.com/what-to-know-about-cyc…
Q: How many cases have been recorded?

A: Oh, the CDC doesn’t do that anymore.
252690536
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Finally reading this fully The part about forensic anthros being “coroners”, implying that they are workers not thinkers so they cannot contribute to debates in the field 🤯 (the field sure is happy to put them to work teaching 1st year seminars on CSI & Bones bc those classes get butts in seats)
030
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Something, something, the ontological turn & anthropology™ creating a world where (1) we endlessly qualify our claims as partial, situated, & positional, AND (2) dropping the cultural subfield prefix & treating humanism as the field’s all-encompassing mode of inquiry is the natural order of things
030
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Submitted the last of my three dissertation papers to my committee yesterday! And woke up with a cold today. My body really held out until the end 😵‍💫😂
010
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Jason Fletcher @jasonmfletcher.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Very happy to work with @nber.org to outline our research program (with @hamidnb.bsky.social), summarizing what we are learning about the impacts of early life circumstances on old age mortality and next steps.
nber.org
The Long Shadow of Early Life: Life Cycle Exposures and Old-Age Mortality
2116
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Center for Open Science @cos.io · 07/07/2026
⚙️ New on the COS blog: Principal Research Scientist Noah Haber (@whaleactually.com) shares how the SCORE project developed a collaborative reproducible manuscript workflow, walks through two different approaches, and introduces an open-source R package. www.cos.io/blog/toward-...
cos.io
Toward Collaborative Reproducible Manuscripts
COS Principal Research Scientist Noah Haber shares how the SCORE project developed a collaborative reproducible manuscript workflow, walks through two different approaches, and introduces an open-sour...
0159
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Atheendar Venkataramani @atheendar.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
This is perhaps the most impressive #medical study I have seen in years: www.nature.com/articles/s41... It will save a lot of lives.
nature.com
An ECG biomarker for sudden cardiac death discovered with deep learning - Nature
A deep-learning model trained on electrocardiogram (ECG) waveforms identifies an easily visible biomarker that predicts sudden cardiac death more accurately than the current clinical state of the art.
22614
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
This looks fantastic. So excited to read!!
010
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Hampton Gaddy @hggaddy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
A paper based on my master's thesis is out this morning in PDR! It offers a new way of theorising and estimating "demographic memory". In a week of heatwaves and political instability in the UK, these toy examples work as a nice graphical abstract 🌡️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Figure 2. The estimated annual level of global warming in the Northern Hemisphere from 1900 to 2025, compared to the 1861–90 average (panel a); a Lexis surface of the average memory of global warming from 1900 to 2025, in terms of average experience of warming after age 5 (panel b); population pyramids of Japan and Niger in 2025 with cohorts colored by their average memory of warming in 2025 (panel c); and the average memory of warming in Japan and Niger in 2025 across all cohorts since age 5 (panel d)Figure 3. The proportions of the life of the average British resident lived after age 18 (survivorship memory without individual-level forgetting) under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, Liz Truss, a male prime minister, an unknown prime minister (from August 2029 onwards), or outside the UK
3337
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Thank you for the suggestion! I now remember that I used ltmle for this exact CDE situation like three years ago, but had completely forgot about using it for this purpose. Problem solved!
000
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Lorenzo Fabbri @epilorenzo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
While it does not implement TMLE, you could in principle try causatr: github.com/etverse/caus.... It would be a nice “validation” for me 😅
github.com
GitHub - etverse/causatr: R package for the estimation of causal effects.
R package for the estimation of causal effects. Contribute to etverse/causatr development by creating an account on GitHub.
111
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Technically, they’re Remains now.
414208783864
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
My main roadblock is that the 'tmle' package estimates a “CDE,” but appears to assume no post-exposure confounding. It does allow sampling weights, which matters in my setting. 'DirectEffects' handles the post-exposure confounding piece, but AFAIK does not natively support sampling weights.
110
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I’m using the excellent DirectEffects package from @mattblackwell.bsky.social et al. for an AIPW estimator. Practically, this is sufficient for my application, but I’m curious whether TMLE code exists for the CDE, ideally with support for user-supplied weights or joint IPCW estimation.
220
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
#causalsky #biostatsky bat signal: Can anyone point me to TMLE code for a controlled direct effect adjusting for post-exposure confounders? (I've used medoutcon in other work for the IDE, but here I need a CDE 🙏) @nimahejazi.org @idiaz.bsky.social @kararudolph.bsky.social @aschuler.bsky.social
330
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Science Magazine @science.org · 22/06/2026
Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. scim.ag/4xY2KCm
science.org
Exclusive: NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders say
Unexpected shift in funds has meant sharp drop in grants this fiscal year
10345290
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Had a great first time participating in the Evolutionary Demography Society conference last week in Fort Collins, followed by a much needed weekend hiking trip to the Snowy Range Mountains in Wyoming 🏔️🐾
Me and my Shih Tzu dog in a dog backpack carrier in front of the Snowy Range mountains in Medicine Bow National Park in Wyoming Me wife Chelsea and I smiling for a selfie with a snow capped mountains and a lake in the background
020
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Luke Russert @lukerussert.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
After the tarp went up to try and stop the “Berlin Wall” moment, Cliff Owen of the AP got the iconic 📸 shot. 🇺🇸
18195852246
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Georgia Tomova @georgiatomova.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If anyone is interested in this but missed the talk, I'm afraid it wasn't recorded on this occasion, but the slides are now available on our webpage: ciig-seminar.github.io And Vanessa is more than happy to answer questions by email!
0107
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 08/06/2026
Now that's what I call a spicy opeing: Understanding mechanisms is not a research question.
"Understanding Mechanisms?"
"Understanding" is not a research question
- how do you verify understanding?
1711023
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Was really excited that my recent paper got its first (non letter-to-editor) citation! But, then I realized it's apparently an AI hallucination :/
010
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I'm most excited to be on the descending side of these troubling curves 🥲 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The impact of PhD studies on mental health—a longitudinal population study
Recent self-reported and cross-sectional survey evidence documents high levels of mental health problems among PhD students. We study the relationship…
000
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Very grateful to have secured a postdoc offer in this market. Excited to share more soon and to start chipping away at submitting a backlog of papers that have overstayed their welcome in my Dropbox drafts folder and, more pragmatically, there's nothing like a hard deadline to whip me into shape :)
110
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/05/2026
Meanwhile, more on the shitweaselry within the NSF. For unexplained reasons they've put all grants to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Duke on hold.
nature.com
Exclusive: NSF puts new research grants to top universities on hold
US science funder once again restricts awards to Harvard University and other research institutions.
512639
Reposted by Elijah Watson
Jonathan Basile @jonothingeb.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I wrote for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social about Kathryn Paige Harden's new book, an attempt to popularize the eugenics of criminality. I read it as a gambit to build liberal support for the project animating far right politics today, inspired by Replacement theory.
1222560
Elijah Watson @elijahjwatson.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Just saw the news after writing a self-promotional post about my research on fetal exposure to political violence. (tired of being reminded how ubiquitous it is 😵‍💫) Long story short: political violence in the womb can leave long term marks on cardiovascular health and molecular aging
010