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lixingsun.bsky.social

@lixingsun.bsky.social

34 followers 14 following 85 posts

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Huge congratulations to Holly Buck, my Radcliffe colleague, for being selected as this year's recipient of the genius award, MacArthur fellowship! 2nd in a roll. Go Radcliffe! www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Holly Jean Buck

Investigating the social, ethical, and political dimensions of climate and energy policies and emerging technologies.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Huge congratulations to my Radcliffe colleague, Lauren Williams, for being selected as this year's recipient of the genius award, MacArthur fellowship! Lauren K. Williams - MacArthur Foundation share.google/GrER3LEEJmdC...

Lauren K. Williams

Uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Swarming and roosting in chimneys by migrating Vaux swifts are one of the most spectacular scenes in nature. I just made a short video for that. Hope you enjoy it. youtube.com/watch?v=jGd0...

600 Birds Vanish Into This Old Chimney at Sunset | Vaux swift | swarm | | roost | migration

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Another big relief to see a nice review in Science. I've been so worried about making stupid scientific mistakes in my book. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What do we know about sex?

It depends on whom you ask

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

www.facebook.com/share/1cghFb...

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Publication day for On the Origin of Sex! Here is a 13-minute video introducing 5 new ideas in the book. I've also made over 100 short videos (1 or 2 minutes for most) from the stories in the book. Hope you will also enjoy them. Love to hear from your thoughts. youtube.com/watch?v=_1sC...

The New Science of Sex: Five Ideas That Change Everything

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Like B-day celebration 😀 bsky.app/profile/basi...

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Thrilled to see a review on my On the Origin of Sex in New Yorker by the Pulizer winner Elizabeth Kolbert. Relieved to see no harsh words from her.😀 What’s the Point of Sex, Anyway? | The New Yorker share.google/PgGuUajND0lV...

What’s the Point of Sex, Anyway?

The world’s life-forms reproduce sexually in a bewildering variety of ways, even though scientists still aren’t sure why they bother.

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

A newly discovered 3rd circulatory system in our body? There will be a massive medical consequence! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Astounding Discovery That Could Link Eastern and Western Medicine

The detection of another circulatory system in the human body could have enormous scientific implications.

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I heard the story firsthand from Bob Mason, the snake researcher at OSU. Hope it perks up the day. youtu.be/HTE99oI2FaU?...

6.4 The Animal That Leaves a “Chastity Belt” After Mating | garter snake | mate guarding

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Tannyson's "Nature red in tooth and claw" is wrong. It's governed by rules of "Live & Let Live." Here is how social contract evolved. TGIF! youtu.be/h1eFtnTf_wU?...

6.3 The Evolution of a “Social Contract” in Animals | competition | selection | game theory

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Sperm competition was proposed partly as a joke by Geoff Parker some 50 years ago. It's a serious scientific endeavor now. Hope this short adds a little fun. youtu.be/awgPRD3mCMU?...

6.2 The Hidden Battle Inside the Body: Sperm Wars | sperm competition | mate competition

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

About human nature, do you agree with Rousseau or Hobbes? This little-known true story is a good test. youtube.com/watch?v=sfRO...

6.1 When Paradise Turns Deadly: The Biology of Male Violence | mate competition | sexual selection

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Frateral birth order & sexual orientation. My science videos about cell & molecular biology tend to be less impactful. Love to know your insights to improve. youtu.be/v4CYNrtiLcs?...

5.6 Your Gender May Be Influenced Before You’re Born | fraternal birth effect | sexuality

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Can your fingers reveal your prenatal gender development? I have doubts, but I can only speak for data. Let me know what you think. youtu.be/uZxk9A4Sfbk?...

5.5 The Finger Length Trick That Reveals Prenatal Hormones | 2D:4D ratio | testosterone level

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

When males get pregnant...Let me know whether your cortisol level goes down 2 minutes later. youtu.be/6FMHjvAbIQE?...

5.4 The Animal Where Males Get Pregnant | seahorse | pipe fish | sea dragon | gender reversal

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Ever done a team project & hated the guy who took advantage of others? See how fish solve this free riding problem. youtu.be/fcudFNjWpuA?...

The Fish That Forces You to Be Brave | cooperation | free riding | policing | risk sharing

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Males have testes; females have ovaries. Not true for European moles. Females have both, sth even not in our biology textbooks. youtu.be/Z3UiTp2hbgk?...

5.3 The Female Mole That Borrowed Male Biology | ovotestis | gender reversal

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Hyenas show why gender is an attribute biology is yet to appreciate. Bty, gender has no concesus in its biological meaning. youtu.be/5eiFehrvKpM?...

5.2 Why Female Hyenas Have Male Genitals | gender role reversal

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Gender flip in jacanas: males make nest, hatch eggs, & take care of chicks. Females goof around. This jacana inspired me to be a bird lover in '84. youtu.be/KSurCiCXPag?...

5.1 The Bird Where Males Are Caring Moms and Females Are Terrible Dads | Jacana | gender reversal

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Male bees don't have fathers due to a strange sex determining system called haplodiploidy. Fun to talk about it in behavior classes. youtu.be/zbYUL632Z-8?...

4.5 Why Male Bees Have No Fathers | sex determination | haplodiploidy | bee

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Temperature determines sex? I was shocked to learn this in 1986. Later, my lab tried to pin down the role of dmrt1 in the process. We failed, unfortunately. youtu.be/xB58K9mT9qY?...

4.4 What If Your Sex Was Decided by Temperature? | temperature-dependent sex determination | reptile

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

~ 500 species of fish change sex, inclusing clowndish, wrasse, & swamp eel (黄鳝). This is a story for about 30 species of clownfish. youtu.be/-ZdSkBl2m4o?...

4.3 The Fish That Changes Sex When the Boss Dies | clownfish | sex change | social sex determination

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The duck-billed platypus is the sexiest animal by one measure: it has 10 sex chromosomes. There is no Sry master regulatory gene either. youtu.be/Jpxojhl6Vkk?...

4.2 The Platypus Has 10 Sex Chromosomes—Why? | genetic sex determination | monotreme

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

This marine worm has the most flexible sex determination system I've learned. A proportion of them also use genetic sex determination. Is the use of my accented voice in the clip acceptable? youtu.be/mX0IfNL-Ei4?...

4.1 The Animal that Mates with Its Own Mother | Bonellia viridis | environmental sex determination

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Cost of male is just part of the story. Sex also breaks down the genome. Not sure you'd agree with my coining of "social cost." youtu.be/BW1-KKg23Ow?...

3.7 The Social Cost of Sex: the evolutionary trade-off you've never heard of | genetic conflict

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

A fun chat with BBC's Adam Rutherford about the all-important or stupid question: why sex? Why male? www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...

BBC Audio | Start the Week | Zoos, sex and conservation

Adam Rutherford on the origins of zoos and sex.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

More than 23,000 sexes in the split-gill mushroom? The popular media got this wrong. It has only ONE sex. Here is why. youtu.be/QGjc3pWA5wg?...

3.3. 23,000 Sexes? The Wild World of Mating Types | isogamy | mating type | proto-sex

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

This radical t-complex was unknown when Richard Dawkins published his book, The Selfish Gene, in 1976. youtu.be/DRnNCWZJpPo?...

3.5 The Gene That Cheats the System | t-complex | selfish gene | meiotic drive | segregation distort

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Glad the review captures the core idea about the adaptive value of fluid sex & gender. www.newscientist.com/article/2521...

newscientist.com

What to read this week: Lixing Sun's ambitious On the Origin of Sex

Ducks with corkscrew penises, fish changing sex – what do we really know about sex and reproduction on Earth? Less than we think, reveals a mind-boggling new book. Elle Hunt explores

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

So much confusion out there about biological sex. Here is the classical definition in a seminal paper led by Geoff Parker (1972). Your thought? youtu.be/VyvWnIGEPMs?...

3.2 What Is Biological Sex, Really? | biological definition | isogamy | anisogamy

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

This idea 50 years ago has changed my view of life forever. It made me love biology. youtu.be/708-7MWLMHw?...

3.1 Are You Just a Vehicle for Your Genes? | evolution | philosophy | teleonomy v teleology

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Genetic rescue is a powerful tool in saving critically endangered populations. youtu.be/HgBMUaVS9mo?...

2.6 One lone wolf walked onto an island… & saved an entire population | inbreeding | genetic rescue

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Genetic rescue is a powerful tool in conservation. Hope you enjoy the story in this short video. youtube.com/watch?v=HgBM...

One lone wolf walked onto an island… and saved an entire population | inbreeding | genetic rescue

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Small is beautiful, especially in solving big scientific puzzles. youtube.com/watch?v=mCPP...

Why Animals Switch Between Sex and Cloning | reproductive flip-floppers | sex for diversity

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

How can these 450 species of animals survive up to 80 million years by cloning? The secret? Horizontal gene transfer. youtube.com/watch?v=4Dbi...

The Animal That "Stole" Its Way Out of Extinction | bdelloid rotifers | horizontal gene transfer

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Friday 1-minute fun with science. Your questions and suggestions are particularly appreciated! youtube.com/watch?v=buni...

Your Y chromosome is failing - here is why | Muller's ratchet | asexual reproduction | genome decay

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Ever wondered whether males are evolutionarily useless? Here is the answer. youtube.com/watch?v=oigk...

Are males evolutionarily useless? The cost of sex / the cost of male

YouTube video by Wonders of Life

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Kirkus often does nasty reviews. But they didn't this time. Phew! ON THE ORIGIN OF SEX | Kirkus Reviews share.google/PkgsSw7ap5rA...

ON THE ORIGIN OF SEX | Kirkus Reviews

How—and why—sex evolved.

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

The review is great, though the cover pic is irrelevantly risque. Haha! The Evolutionary Paradox of Sex – Sri Lanka Guardian share.google/HaORe4c1zplA...

The Evolutionary Paradox of Sex

by Luxman Lixing Sun’s On the Origin of Sex sets itself an ambitious task: to explain one of evolutionary biology’s most persistent puzzles – why sexual reproduction exists at all....

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

A quick rundown about On the Origin of Sex. The youtuber did well despite a few slivers. youtu.be/IHCubiXEY4g?...

The origin of sex by Lixing Sun | Full podcast summary audiobook

YouTube video by podcastsummarybooks

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

On the Origin of Sex made it. The best new popular science books of March 2026 include a new book from Rebecca Solnit | New Scientist share.google/lWzmrVWYFQEm...

The best new popular science books of March 2026

A new book from Rebecca Solnit, promising to bring us hope in these “difficult times”, is among our pick of popular science titles out this month – along with a guide on how to talk to AI, and a look ...

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The birth of my new book today! Hope it gives you sime fun.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

A delight interview with Sally McDonald of The Sunday Post. share.google/DSgQH036M2Yc...

PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions

Digital newsstand featuring 7000+ of the world’s most popular newspapers & magazines. Enjoy unlimited reading on up to 5 devices with 7-day free trial.

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

The Times' review on the UK edition of On the Origin of Sex, avaible on March 5. www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

What’s the point of having sex?

In The Origin of Sex, the biology professor Lixing Sun investigates why so many species persist with it, when asexual reproduction is much easier

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Hope the Swift-esque humor in this little piece can make you laugh at ourselves. Why Babies Are Cute | Psychology Today South Africa share.google/nXasNo7BGmbH...

Why Babies Are Cute

Big eyes. Round cheeks. Brain chemistry ignites. Cuteness hijacks our minds to protect helpless infants and spills over to pets, cartoons, and brands. Evolution’s sweetest trick.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

A new, fun blog piece. Enjoy! Why Critical Thinking Is the Most Important Skill in Your Life | Psychology Today share.google/UFz5a678cCG5...

Why Critical Thinking Is the Most Important Skill in Your Life

In a world full of facts, fakes, and feelings, critical thinking is what keeps us from mistaking popularity for truth.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Hope Bayesian thinking helps. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lies...

psychologytoday.com

How Bayesian Thinking Helps Win Lotteries and Life

Bayesian thinking won’t guarantee a jackpot, but it can upgrade your life.

lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lies...

psychologytoday.com

Why Knowing Your Limits Can Be Your Major Advantage

A stubborn accent taught me a surprising lesson: Biology sets limits, but knowing them can free you to grow smarter, speak clearer, write better, and win in your own way.

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lixingsun.bsky.social @lixingsun.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Is soul for real? One of America's best essayists, David Barash makes a compelling anser in his new book, The Soul Delusion Losing the Soul, Finding Ourselves | Psychology Today share.google/XhgRAKvdFDI4...

Losing the Soul, Finding Ourselves

Is the soul for real? A new book by David Barash says no and explains why we are better off without this psychological metaphor.