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Joan Silk

@jbsilk.bsky.social
1.5K followers 166 following 336 posts

Evolutionary anthropologist, primate behavioral ecologist.

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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Henrich's report is compelling reading.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I am so sad to hear this news. Nick was an admirable scholar and an incredibly kind person.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Why can't we all be more like raccoons?
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Academic inequity: "US tenure-track faculty hiring is dominated by a small minority of US universities that train a large majority of all faculty and sit atop steep hierarchies of prestige." www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Quantifying hierarchy and dynamics in US faculty hiring and retention - Nature
An analysis of the academic employment and doctoral education of faculty members at all PhD-granting US universities from 2011 to 2020 shows that a small minority of universities (20.4%) supply a...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
#GreatAdaptations So, not only cats have nine lives
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Science and art happily co-exist www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Dolly Parton dies aged 80 — researchers celebrate her contributions to science
The country singer was an advocate for vaccines, public health, literacy and marginalized communities.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Social sciences are included in the list of fields that will be supported. Details about application process and review criteria here: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
nsf.gov
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Social scientists don't miss the last paragraph in this piece: we are being driven to extinction www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
We somehow expect students to learn how to write scientific papers by osmosis. But we can help students by steering them to useful papers like this one.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
People don't get enough credit for doing the right thing, so this is quite welcome news.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
What a tragedy.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Domestication has its discontents
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
True or False tests in nature: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/s...
nytimes.com
For Real, a Natural History of Misinformation
It’s not just humans who suffer from leading one another astray. So do fish, flies and even bacteria.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I have a completely different take. This is exactly how we should be using technology --- to enhance our ability to do hard and useful things like recognizing individual monkeys, folding proteins, and solving difficult computational problems.
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Reposted by Joan Silk
Barbara J. King @bjking.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Oh no- save all the primates from AI?! #primates #primatology #Anthropology #animalcognition #AI
nytimes.com
In This Costa Rican Forest, Monkeys Come Face-to-Face With A.I.
CapuchinAI, a portable testing station equipped with a touch screen and facial recognition software, could help scientists study primate intelligence in the wild.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Sigh. Would like to know how this compared with journals that have adopted double blind reviewing practices.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Heritable variation in the lifetime fitness of female baboons; it's an amazing feat to document LRS in a long-lived animal like baboons, and even more amazing to estimate genetic heritability.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Coverage of the opening of the Obama Presidential Center reminds me of where we've been and where we can hope to return Presidents Line Up for Obama’s Long-Awaited Center in Chicago www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/u...
nytimes.com
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Ok, maybe environmental sex determination is interesting. But what about those markings---the pink polka dots and pink nose are really quite lovely.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Is it ironic that this policy is being imposed by an administration that does not seem to understand the concept of conflict of interest?
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
#GreatAdaptations When life gives you lemons, make lemonade www.nytimes.com/2026/06/06/s...
nytimes.com
Looking for Love in the Big City? It’s Tough for Bowerbirds, Too.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Work on ontogeny and context of peering in capuchin monkeys by Susan Perry (2020) also emphasizes its role in social learning.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Nice to know that all of those focal observations that I have asked/encouraged/pressured my colleagues and research assistants to do over the years were worthwhile.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Gender gap in authorship in high impact journals persists.
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Reposted by Joan Silk
Michael D. Green, PhD @michaeldgreen.phd · 28/05/2026
President of MIT not mincing words today in @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
So let me say it as clearly as I can: Without basic scientific research, supported by the kind of farsighted public investment that allows large-scale, undirected, curiosity-driven inquiry, the scientific pipeline will run dry.
In daily life, people may not feel the effects right away, or even in 10 years. But we will feel it. And when someone we love needs therapies that could have emerged but didn't or when other countries now
investing in science can launch new science-based industries or run their societies on vast resources of fusion energy or reap the benefits of quantum computing power or advanced medical breakthroughs, America will wish it sustained its leadership in scientific research here and now.
Sally Kornbluth is the president of MIT.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Follow the links to donate to a fund to help widows and children of slain rangers.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
HiveMind: I am teaching a graduate proposal writing seminar, and would appreciate suggestions for syllabi, readings, etc about how to write a good research proposal.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
#GreatAdaptations. Two points for ingenuity, no points for neighborliness. Building Nests Is Hard. That’s Why Some Birds Steal. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/s...
nytimes.com
Building Nests Is Hard. That’s Why Some Birds Steal.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
It's taken a while, but I have finally discovered the secrets of academic success. Find a great postdoc and ask your friends to share their data. And voila, new insights about social structure in papionin primates. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Congratulations to my SHESC (ASU) colleague, Amber Wutich on her election to NAS. Her work on water security is more timely than ever.
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Reposted by Joan Silk
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
“we analysed data for 1436 mammal species, confirming that group-living and pair-living species exhibit longer lifespans than solitary species…findings suggest that while group-living may reduce predation risk, pathogen transmission costs in larger groups may constrain longevity benefits”
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Social Organisation Predicts Lifespan in Mammals
Using Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of 1436 mammal species, we show that pair-living and group-living species have longer maximum lifespans than solitary species after accounting for body mass and p...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
#GreatAdaptations Such a great adaptation that angler fish did it again and again www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/s...
nytimes.com
How Female Anglerfish Evolved to Have It All
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
#GreatAdaptations Why do people find this so surprising? Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/s...
nytimes.com
Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
#GreatAdaptations Curiosity + careful observation --> discovery. Interspecific mutualisms in ants: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/s...
nytimes.com
For Ants, a ‘Cleaning Station’ in the Desert
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
#GreatAdaptations The Ngogo research team documents the events that led to a community fission. (Spoiler: it was not neat or peaceful) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
We knew it was coming, and now it's here.
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Reposted by Joan Silk
Pam Davis-Kean, PhD @umpamdk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This project (with Stacy Rosenbaum and Nick Grebe) began in the dark days of Covid, and is finally ready to share. We've built a living database of primate paternity data (52 species, 3000 paternities) and completed first wave of analyses of paternity distribution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Wish I could find all those students who I misled about the why bugs used to be so big www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
How did ancient bugs get so big? The prevailing theory may be wrong
Flying insect respiratory systems suggest abundant oxygen can’t explain ancient gigantism
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
#GreatAdaptations Many arms, many uses www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
sciencemagazinedigital.org
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Is it ironic, sad, or all-too-predictable that this news item would be in the same new cycle as the announcement of Birute Galdikas' death?
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
#GreatAdaptations What a clever (not previously articulated, but in hindsight sensible) idea to test.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
The last of the three pioneers of great ape studies has died. Galdikas, Fossey, and Goodall dedicated their lives to understanding the lives of these extraordinary creatures.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Support the Leakey Foundation during International Women's Month and quadruple your impact. Make your $$ go further to support research on human origins! leakeyfoundation.donorsupport.co/page/whm2026...
leakeyfoundation.donorsupport.co
Quadruple your impact for women in science!
This Women's History Month, every dollar you give to The Leakey Foundation becomes four, supporting human origins research and the women who conduct it. 21 of the 30 most recent Leakey Foundation gran...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Back to the future: Sarah Mathew and Rob Boyd reflect on how our thinking about cooperation among nonkin has changed since Axelrod and Hamilton's classic paper.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
I am amazed that Bob Trivers could slip from the world so quietly. You would think that the loss of such a brilliant and complicated man would rock the universe.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
My colleague, Charles Perreault, has published cool new paper documenting impact of culture on human capacity for adaptation: http//www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2523038123
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Data from large number of captive groups support findings from studies of wild bonobos and chimpanzees: bonobos are more aggressive than we thought.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
This is a helpful review for those who study physiology, but less about effects of social context. Or for those who study social context, but know less about physiology.
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Joan Silk @jbsilk.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
If, by chance, we get to come back in another form, I think I would like to be a cockatoo.
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