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Steven Phelps

@evolbrain.bsky.social
1.4K followers 756 following 123 posts

Biology of intimacy: Evolutionary, neural & genomic studies of sexuality & social bonds (in weird rodents, mostly). Write a bit on biology & culture. First-gen. 🏳️‍🌈 Austin, TX. phelpslab.net

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Reposted by Steven Phelps
Bryan Behar @bryanbehar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is there anything more MAGA than the smug arrogance of someone who’s dead wrong but doesn’t realize it yet?
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 21/09/2026
ICE shot a DoorDash delivery guy.
statesman.com
Attorney: Austin man shot by ICE agent was making DoorDash delivery
A Venezuelan man shot by an ICE agent in Austin was making a DoorDash delivery, his attorney said. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was later released from the hospital into ICE custody.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Joan Didion obv. I'm fond of lyrical nature writing, so Loren Eisley and Annie Dillard. Contemporaries: Leslie Jamison, Meghan O'Gieblyn, Sabrina Imbler, John Jeremiah Smith, Alexander Chee and Charles D'Ambrosio. Pick up a recent Best American Essays collection.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
If Trump wanted to crown himself emperor in the national cathedral alito and thomas would support it
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
And oh, Hot Chip! I mean, I think it's edible.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Bananarama
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Make a band edible: The Rolling Scones
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Neuroendocrinology and Behavior lab at UCLA @alwardlab-ucla.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I’m looking to hire a postdoc to join our lab at UCLA! We study the genes, hormones, and cells that regulate social behavior in the African cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni (in a separate post we’re looking for a PhD student) @sbn-bsky.bsky.social 1/3
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Quentin Bacquelé @quentinbacquele.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
1/ The world's songbirds sing in just 8 basic sounds. And where a bird lives decides which ones it uses. My first PhD paper is out now in @science.org (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee6239) Here is what we found:
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Science friends! This fall I'm teaching a class on "Scientists as Writers" and looking for model papers. What is a scientific paper you love for the quality of its writing? Maybe something you have used as a model in your own work? What do you love about it?
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
His stuff looks great, and news to me!
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Oh cool! Any one in particular stand out?
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Thx!
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Science friends! This fall I'm teaching a class on "Scientists as Writers" and looking for model papers. What is a scientific paper you love for the quality of its writing? Maybe something you have used as a model in your own work? What do you love about it?
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
45 years ago today. Buried on page 20 on a holiday Friday just like this one, news that changed the world. www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/u...
nytimes.com
RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS (Published 1981)
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
In case you missed this 2024 story: Scientists are building FROG SAUNAS, and it's letting one species of endangered frogs rid themselves of a deadly fungal pathogen. Also, they appear to just, like, enjoy it. Frog sauna. Or 'frauna'. Or, alternatively, 'hopspital'.
theguardian.com
‘Frog saunas’ could save species from deadly fungal disease, study finds
Australian scientists create brick refuges in greenhouses to help green and golden bell frogs survive infection
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Arkarup Banerjee @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
How did singing mouse evolve its song? Two research manuscripts published today shed light on peripheral and central circuit modifications underlying this novel vocal capacity.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
I would close with the items being scanned for their annual inventory myself.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I've seen this piece and it's striking. Isn't there some question of its authenticity? Is there anything similar to connect it to?
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
You need a hug.
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Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Distinct brain regions map olfactory and visual spaces (and hippocampus integrates them) www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
cell.com
Distinct brain regions map olfactory and visual spaces
The neural circuitry underlying multisensory integration for navigation and spatial memory is poorly understood. Here, Davoudi et al. discover modality-specific maps in different divisions of the ento...
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 31/03/2026
I hope all those people who said the US had done no planning for war in Iran will now apologise. www.ft.com/content/744e...
ft.com
Pete Hegseth’s broker looked to buy defence fund before Iran attack
Morgan Stanley wealth manager approached BlackRock about multimillion-dollar investment for US defence secretary
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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Now with pages @systbiol.bsky.social ! "Social Environment and the Evolution of Delayed Reproduction in Birds" with @pseudacris.bsky.social and Rick Prum Some comparative support for the hypothesis that the evolution of complex social contexts restructure life histories doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
doi.org
Social Environment and the Evolution of Delayed Reproduction in Birds
Abstract. One puzzling feature of avian life histories is that individuals in many different lineages delay reproduction for several years after they finis
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Kathryn Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
ORIGINAL SIN reviewed in Science (@science.org)! "... an ambitious, compact, and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics."
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Rebecca Watson @skepchick.org · 03/03/2026
I saved this to watch whenever I got a little overwhelmed today. I made it to 10am. I may need to watch it several times www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AVY...
youtube.com
De La Soul: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Oh yeah. Great mood. Fun to look at.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Best television shows to abandon after 1 season? I'll start: 1. Westworld 2. Your Honor 3. Hightown
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Alfons López Tena @alfonslopeztena.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
El miedo de los científicos en USA ha llevado a 'maquillar' proyectos para sobrevivir a la censura y los conflictos ideológicos. Investigadores extranjeros temen perder el estatus legal, no poder regresar al país tras estancias de campo, y deportaciones www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/...
elperiodico.com
Dos paleontólogos de prestigio de EEUU ya trabajan en Catalunya: 'Con Trump, estudiar la evolución humana se ha vuelto tabú'
Los investigadores, anteriormente afincados en Nueva York, son los primeros en incorporarse al ecosistema científico catalán gracias a las becas ICREA y al programa de captación Catalunya Talent Bridg...
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
My source on this btw is the wonderful history of Tinbergen, Lorenz and ethology "Patterns of Behavior" by Richard Burkhardt. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
press.uchicago.edu
Patterns of Behavior
It is hard to imagine, by their very name, the life sciences not involving the study of living things, but until the twentieth century much of what was known in the field was based primarily on specim...
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
I've found it very difficult to get the text of the papers he published in German, arguing for sympathy between evolutionary thinking and National Socialism. Do you by any chance know where I could find them as pdfs?
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
I think you can read his evasiveness as opportunistic too. I think he did eventually refute the Nazi positions but far too late. None of this meant to excuse or rehabilitate him. Taking an abhorrent political position motivated by self interest as well as racism doesn't excuse the racism.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
He was clearly sympathetic with Nazi ideas. His worries about the dangers of "domestication" extended to cosmopolitan people (Jews, presumably). And he was gleeful at the annexation of Austria. But he was also deeply ambitious and frustrated by his inability to gain a permanent position.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
The warmongering & global destabilization - NATO, Greenland, Panama, Ukraine - aims to precipitate the suspension of law. Vance, Musk, Thiel et al see the advantages of an authoritarian regime as exemplified by China & think they can do it better. They imagine we'll be better for it. Trump agrees.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
The secret to happiness.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
There's a dramatic contrast between him and his close colleague Niko Tinbergen, with whom he shared the Nobel, a Dutchman who was active in the resistance.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
He was clearly sympathetic to Nazi eugenics, but of course he claims not to have known what was going on in the camps, and minimized his role in the psychological testing.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
There was a NYT op-ed that protested 1973 Nobel. Also his Nazi-era papers were not listed in his Nobel CV. His joining of the Nazi party is widely viewed as opportunistic - he was desperate for a faculty position. Not exactly a redeeming reason.
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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Tonight was the final broadcast of PBS News Weekend due to federal cuts. Appearing on the show in November was a highlight of my year. The team was incredible to work with, and I was deeply grateful they covered this issue with the care it deserves. Public media at its best. Very sad to see it go.
pbs.org
Millions of full-time workers are struggling to afford a place to live. Here’s why
The skyrocketing cost of living has left millions of people struggling to afford a place to live despite working at full-time jobs or a number of part-time jobs. Journalist Brian Goldstone, author of ...
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Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
“Do not bend your neck for that which cuts necks.” A Sumerian proverb, as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
Photo of a fragment of a clay tablet shaped a bit like a diamond. Although it is only a fragment, the cuneiform text on it is well-preserved. There is a vertical line down the centre which indicates it once had at least two columns. The colour is reddish brown
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Kathryn Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
I wrote about Nucleus Genomics' "Have your best baby" ad campaign and Kris Jenner's "best version of myself" facelift, the parallels between embryo selection and cosmetic surgery, and competing definitions of "eugenics" kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/have-your-...
kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com
"Have Your Best Baby"
Four parallels between cosmetic surgery and polygenic embryo selection, two competing definitions of "eugenics," and one short excerpt from my forthcoming book
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Joseph M. Adelman @jmadelman.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Magic Johnson was the grand marshal of the Rose Parade today, and as someone who remembers his November 1991 HIV announcement: if you had told anybody that day that he would be alive and healthy 34+ years later, I don't think they would have believed you. Medicine and research—they work.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 31/12/2025
New: We got an internal ICE document revealing its $100 million ad plan to bring in 14,000 new hires: deals with "tactical" influencers; ads to gun & military buffs; and geo-targeting phones around NASCAR races and gun shows. A "wartime recruitment" mode with paramilitary branding: wapo.st/44QrP5j
wapo.st
ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires
An internal ICE document shared among immigration officials details plans to use influencers and geo-targeted ads to rapidly hire thousands of deportation officers.
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Earth Species Project (ESP) @earthspecies.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
🐦‍⬛ New paper in Animal Cognition covering our carrion crow project with partners at @Univeristy of Leon. 52 mini-biologgers were deployed on wild carrion crows in Spain — capturing 127K+ vocalizations. 🔗: www.earthspecies.org/blog/unlocki... (1/4)
earthspecies.org
Unlocking Avian Secrets: How Tiny Biologgers Are Revealing the Hidden Communication of Carrion Crows - Earth Species Project
Lightweight biologgers and ESP's machine learning tools reveal the hidden vocal world of wild carrion crows, capturing over 127,000 calls from quiet murmurs to long-distance signals.
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Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
I cannot tell you how angry I am right now. I can tell you that I tried to turn that anger into some constructive use. A Pox on Fools is intended to give the rest of us ammunition with which to counter the tsunami of bullshit that is MAHA. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/808113...
penguinrandomhouse.com
A Pox on Fools by Thomas Levenson: 9798217155002 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
An urgent and profound history of vaccine skepticism, seeking to understand how our three most common fears about vaccines hardened into a lethal ideology—from a leading science writer Since the...
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
The faction of the GOP that pretends to like Jews to send them to hell is at war with the faction that wants to skip the "pretends to like" part.
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Steven Phelps @evolbrain.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Giving dead fish fMRI.
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Ehud @duhe.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
I sat on this draft for three months and sent it out to my coauthors yesterday who for some reason still haven't returned it.
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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 08/12/2025
We're half a decade into studies finding that improving airflow in classrooms will reduce disease transmission enormously, and that bleaching surfaces etc. does very little. And yet nothing changes. Waves of flu and colds wash over schools, and the schools pretend it's an act of God.
nature.com
The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools - Nature Communications
The relative importance of close-proximity interactions, shared space and air quality to the transmission of respiratory viruses is not well understood. Here, the authors investigate this question by ...
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Ben Fletcher-Watson @bfletcherwatson.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view.
And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone.

"When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Advances in genomics are giving exciting new perspectives on biology of speech, language & reading. My latest peer-reviewed paper is a tutorial, guiding readers from different backgrounds through the history of the field, current state-of-the-art, & where we’re heading. A taster in this thread.🧪 1/n
pubs.asha.org
Genomic Investigations of Spoken and Written Language Abilities: A Guide to Advances in Approaches, Technologies, and Discovery
Purpose: The aim of this tutorial is to show how the rise of molecular technologies and analytical methods in human genetics yields exciting new ...
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