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Joshua B. Plotkin

@jplotkin.bsky.social
2.3K followers 830 following 119 posts

Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences, University of Pennsylvania evolution.sas.upenn.edu

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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Recommended. A clear explanation of new mathematical result, unsolved since Erdos. Gives me faith in humans. Note the most important parts of the video are when the human explains the intuition (about injectivity), without writing on the blackboard at all. www.youtube.com/embed/WJlyqP...
youtube.com
YouTube
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 19/09/2026
Explore peer-reviewed applied mathematics research from PNAS, including machine learning, stochastic modeling, quantum computation, biological systems analysis, and more. Discover articles that advance understanding across disciplines: ow.ly/TQx350ZPpR6
PNAS Logo. Featured Topics: Applied Mathematics. Explore peer-reviewed research using mathematics to understand complex systems.
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Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · 15/09/2026
The Department of Integrative Biology at UT Austin has two open positions for assistant professors, one in evolutionary biology and one in mechanistic processes. Please share. Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/193270
Two Assistant Professor Positions in Evolutionary Biology and Mechanistic Processes

Description
The Department of Integrative Biology at The University of Texas at Austin seeks to fill two faculty positions in the areas of Evolutionary Biology and Mechanistic Processes, broadly defined. We are looking for candidates who are advancing (1) evolutionary biology or (2) the mechanistic understanding of organismal processes. These positions will be filled at the level of Assistant Professor.


Qualifications
Candidates should be using innovative approaches in evolutionary biology and/or the mechanistic understanding of whole-organism processes. Mechanistic processes include, but are not limited to, behavior, biomechanics, cognition, physiology, and development. The phylogenetic scope of the Evolutionary Biology position may include eukaryotes, prokaryotes, viruses, and the scale may include individual molecules to entire ecosystems and beyond. Candidates for either position may employ experimental, theoretical, or computational frameworks, or a combination thereof. Special consideration will be given to applicants with demonstrated potential for integrating across our target disciplines. 

We seek applicants with a strong record of high-quality research, publications, potential for extramural funding, and a commitment to excellence in teaching and mentorship. A PhD or equivalent is required at the time of appointment, and postdoctoral research experience is strongly recommended.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
UrbanEx with F1 1/125, F1.7, ISO 100, 28mm, Ilford Delta 100 by RNI #blackandwhite #photography
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bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The evolution of family reputation extends indirect reciprocity www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Happy to share a new paper led by the terrific Anzhi Sheng. We find that allocation policies that promote cooperation tend to concentrate benefits among the well-connected. And so structured societies must weigh collective success against the inequality it generates. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cooperation conflicts with equality when allocating public goods

Anzhi Sheng, Qi Su, Alex McAvoy, Long Wang & Joshua B. Plotkin 
Nature  655, 1217-1225 (2026)

Cooperation is typically seen as the ideal outcome in a social dilemma. Because cooperators are vulnerable to exploitation, much of the literature has focused on mechanisms, such as spatial structure, that support prosocial behaviour and the production of public goods1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Yet the rules for distributing these goods also shape behaviour and long-term prosperity. Here we study policies for allocating public goods, comparing equitable allocation, in which returns are proportional to potential contributions, with uniform allocation, in which all individuals receive equal shares. For most social networks, we find that uniform allocation facilitates the spread of cooperation compared with equitable allocation. But this success comes with a cost. Uniform allocation concentrates resources in a small number of highly connected individuals12, whereas peripheral individuals receive fewer benefits and may even be worse off than in a non-cooperative society. We develop a theoretical analysis of the tension between cooperation and equality, and we identify this conflict across diverse empirical social networks. Our results show that inequality may be an unavoidable consequence of allocation policies designed to foster cooperation in spatially heterogeneous populations. The question of how to promote cooperation is therefore incomplete: because policies that facilitate cooperation can also generate social stratification, we must weigh the benefits of cooperation against the inequality that accompanies it.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Port Richmond Station, Philadelphia, 1925. Coal unloaded from Delaware barges. Firemen watched twelve stoker fires through peepholes. Oilers judged bearings by bare palm, every pipe clad in asbestos. Turbines ran 24/7 under the 125-vaulted ceiling; for 60 years.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Port Richmond Electric #philly
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Port Richmond electric plant #philly
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Michael Sieber @michaelsieber.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Have ideas for your own, independent research program in Theoretical Biology? Then come and join us as a Group Leader at the @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social in Plön, Germany!
mpg.de
Group Leader in Theoretical Biology (m/f/d)
Experience in Theoretical Biology, Applied Mathematics, Theoretical Physics
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Mathematicians: Do a breakthrough. ChatGPT: (does a breakthrough in 88m) Every day now.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
A fun and terrifying read.
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Julien Lie-Panis @jliep.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Why do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵
Screenshot of article title page, "Why human societies adopt rigid moral rules"
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Shepherdess, Nubra Valley #Ladakh #pashmina
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Nubra valley, Ladakh
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Leh market, Ladakh.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Oh, there you are — Himalayas. #Ladakh
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Amazon and eBay give star ratings for seller trustworthiness — but should we trust eBay? Institutions that publicize reputations, from e-commerce to religious authorities, benefit from user participation. Hiro Okabe studied how such institutions will behave. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
And, here, in much more detail. This is an absolutely critical read for all federally funded scientists and institutions. Now is not the time to sit in the corner, hoping you won't be noticed - now is the time for action. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
elizabethginexi.substack.com
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Great Darwin Bay
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bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
From diminishing returns to entrenchment: a unifying theory of epistasis along adaptive walks revealed by Fisher's geometric model www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Geirangerfjord
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Storfjordan, Norway
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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Applications now open for the UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evolutionary Biology (31 Aug–5 Sep 2026, Lausanne)! For PhD & postdocs interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology (incl. social evo, life-history, species interactions). Scholarships available, Pls RP! shorturl.at/fo1GA
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Jorge Peña 🇵🇸 @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
🧵 New paper w/ Guillaume Cheikbossian: "Evolutionary branching of social preferences in a public good provision game" (ideas.repec.org/p/tse/wpaper...). Can behavioural heterogeneity in cooperation be an adaptive outcome? We think the answer is yes.
ideas.repec.org
Evolutionary branching of social preferences in a public goo
We study the evolution of other-regarding preferences in a public goods game where the production function exhibits varying degrees of complementarity between individual efforts. Individuals are ratio
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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 15/04/2026
Do animals have a favored tempo for communicating with each other? This study reveals a hotspot of 0.5-4 Hz for #communication across distinct species & modalities, hypothesizing that this may driven by biophysical commonalities of the receivers' #neurons @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ccWuhh
Tempo comparison across scales, taxa, modalities, and media. Top left: Spectrogram of cricket(s) chirping for 1 min. Top right: Spectrogram of nearby fireflies flashing for 1 min (N = 21). The colorbars in both heatmaps correspond to Power/frequency (dB/Hz). Bottom: Typical tempos at which different animals signal vs. their respective mean body weights on a logarithmic scale (N = 24). The plot consists of six main groups: insects, amphibians, birds, fish, crustaceans (these last four in an overlapping region due to similar weights—note that the labels here don’t necessarily correspond to specific points as the species are mixed), and mammals. The icons (light bulb, speaker, and a moving human) represent the form of the signal (light, sound, or gesture). Note that the signals are mostly transmitted through air, with two examples through water (both fish, written in blue).
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Pinchy!
drawing of a sperm whale with the name "Pinchy" next to it
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Hensley Lab @scottehensley.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
We are recruiting 1-2 postdoctoral fellows to investigate the specificity of human anti-influenza virus antibodies, and to determine how these antibodies impact global antigenic drift of influenza viruses. Join our lab at Penn in Philly. Reach out if you are interested in applying! Please repost!
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The last time I tried to engage with Jay Bhattacharya in dialogue I ended up on administrative leave. 🤷‍♀️
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The preliminary programme for @ces2026.bsky.social is now out. What a fabulous line up! airess.fgses-um6p.ma/CES2026?__cf...
airess.fgses-um6p.ma
Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Great Darwin Bay
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Three Galapagos penguins, Sombrero Chino Island.
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Galapagos flycatcher
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
How many teachers are enough? Zero? Hirotaka Goto and I analyze the optimal allocation of dedicated teachers in a population. @carlbergstrom.com www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Fascinating.. McChristal on when wars are necessary; what diversity means in combat; what leadership is valuable, what toxic. @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘Everything After This Will Be Harder’: Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Iran
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Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
China increases science funding again (by at least 7-% over the next 5 years) as it pledges billion-dollar spending boost for science 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
China pledges billion-dollar spending boost for science
Funding for national laboratories and important research projects would increase under the government’s plans.
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🇺🇲💥🧨‼️🦅Diana🦅‼️🧨💥🇺🇲 @citiesbydiana.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
#alysaliu WOKE IS BACK BABY MAKE OAKLAND CALIFORNIA THE US CAPITOL NOW!
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
-286 feet
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Zabriskie point, CA
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Shibuya
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EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Join the Women in Evolutionary Biology II workshop from June 1-3, 2026, at the Max Planck Institute in Plön, Germany. Open to all genders. More info: workshops.evolbio.mpg.de/event/144/…. Registration closes on Feb 20, 2026. #workshop
workshops.evolbio.mpg.de
Women in Evolutionary Biology II
Women in Evolutionary Biology is an event to promote diversity and equality in the field. For this purpose, we invited 6 outstanding women as keynote speakers, offering a unique opportunity to learn from their experiences and celebrate their achievements. While all keynote speakers are women, scientists of all genders and backgrounds in evolutionary biology are welcome to participate in scientific presentations and discussion sessions on topics relevant for women in science. The workshop’s...
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Can’t even
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Miharashi, Niseko
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Breakfast with Yotei-san
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Michishirube 道しるべ #Kabuchiko
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Here are some nice streetcars. #TodenLine #Tokyo
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Here are some nice trains. #Nippori #Tokyo
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NSF-Simons NITMB @nitmb.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Evolutionary game theory researches: Join us for the ‘Evolutionary Games: Mathematical Theory and Biological Insights’ workshop at NITMB! Travel applications are due Wednesday, March 11th - www.nitmb.org/evolutionary...
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Joshua B. Plotkin @jplotkin.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Photographic vibes, Colombia
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Piret Avila @piretavila.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
📢 I'm hiring! 3-year postdoc in theoretical evolutionary ecology at University of Helsinki 🇫🇮 Apply: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Postdoctoral-Researcher-in-Theoretical-Evolutionary-Biology/1348955157/ #AcademicJobs #Postdoc #EvolutionaryEcology #TheoreticalEcology #ScienceJobs #AcademicChatter
jobs.helsinki.fi
Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Evolutionary Biology
Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Evolutionary Biology
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