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Mason Youngblood

@masonyoungblood.bsky.social
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New publication about my art piece "Alakaʻi 1777", which uses a mathematical model of the syrinx to reconstruct the lost song culture of an extinct bird called the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō! This project took over the last year of my life in the best possible way ❤️ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Alakaʻi 1777 – using immersive sound to communicate the nonhuman cultural extinction crisis | Biotechnology Design | Cambridge Core
Alakaʻi 1777 – using immersive sound to communicate the nonhuman cultural extinction crisis - Volume 4
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Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Really happy to be a part of this new paper investigating evolutionary forces behind word popularity. It relies on unique & rich data of Ukrainian language 🇺🇦 The project was led by @alexeykoshevoy.bsky.social, who used an innovative extension of ABC and did an impressive job overall. Check it out!
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
New tutorial preprint about simulation-based inference! Shows how to fit a cultural evo model to baby name data using approx Bayesian computation, random forests, and deep learning. Wrote for @eslr.bsky.social but wanted to share with others in @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social! :) osf.io/preprints/so...
osf.io
OSF
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Our new preprint explores how increasing interaction between humans and artificial agents and is reshaping creativity, from the perspective of cultural evolution! @katieeeeeeeeeee.bsky.social @manuelangladatort.bsky.social @camrobjones.bsky.social @gemschedel.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2609.02620
arxiv.org
Collective creativity in hybrid societies
Generative AI is changing how cultural artifacts are created and circulated, and with it our understanding of creativity itself. Researchers disagree about whether these tools enrich or impoverish cul...
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
@earthspecies.bsky.social is looking for folks to annotate bioacoustics data! earthspecies.org/2026/07/29/w...
earthspecies.org
We’re Hiring! Bioacoustics Annotators
Image credit: Stephen / Adobe Stock About Earth Species Project Earth Species Project (ESP) is a non-profit using frontier AI to decode animal communication. We believe the exponential progress we’…
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Doing a short workshop about simulation-based inference on Thursday for @eslr.bsky.social! Come hang out :)
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Looking for help w/something! Instagram locked my account after a "hack" (me on a new device) and won't return it. That account has all of my art and music scene connections, and is critical for the fundraising of my new nonprofit. Does anyone have connections at Instagram/Meta who could help?
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Tonight in Boston! Moderating a panel of folks on the cutting edge of animal communication research for swissnex.org/boston/event...
swissnex.org
Learning to Listen: Interspecies Communication - Swissnex in Boston and New York
Connecting Switzerland, North America and the world in science, education, innovation and art.
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Check out our (@sobchuk.bsky.social) special issue on the cultural evolution of the arts in Evolutionary Human Sciences, with papers from @mikekestemont.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social @svalver.bsky.social and more! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
New paper 🚨 "Cultural evolution – of the arts". Together with @masonyoungblood.bsky.social we wrote a short paper – half essay, half bibliometric analysis – aiming to describe this emerging research area (1/3) doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
doi.org
Cultural evolution – of the arts | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Cultural evolution – of the arts - Volume 8
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Julia Penndorf @julia-penndorf.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
🎉🦜NEW PAPER ALERT 🦜🎉 Which social learning biases underly the acquisition of novel food in wild parrots ? We (@lucymaplin.bsky.social, @bjjbarrett.bsky.social, @sonjawild.bsky.social, @drjohnmartin.bsky.social) presented >700 cockies with a novel, artificial food (🧵1/6)
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Feeling very honored. CES has been my intellectual home since the first conference in 2016, and has played such a huge role in my career/life. I can’t wait for Rabat! :)
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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
New special issue on "Cultural evolution of the arts" led by @sobchuk.bsky.social and @masonyoungblood.bsky.social confirms my intuition that this field has taken off in the past two decades, with a particularly strong representation from music! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
Figure 1. A) A co-citation network of papers studying the evolution of the arts. B) The yearly number of publications on the cultural evolution of the arts.
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
New paper out today! When baby zebra finches are tutored with manipulated songs with shuffled syllables, they transform them to be consistent with linguistic laws 🐥 Reanalysis of data from James and Sakata (2017) link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Zebra finches transform manipulated songs with shuffled syllables to exhibit linguistic laws - Animal Cognition
Animal Cognition - Linguistic laws are increasingly used as markers of efficiency in non-human communication, but it remains unclear how rapidly these patterns can emerge. In this re-analysis of...
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Great essay about a different vision for creative AI by @joelsimon.bsky.social - "Beyond Slop" www.joelsimon.net/beyond-slop
joelsimon.net
Beyond Slop
Visions for humane creative AI tools based on craft, process, and emergence.
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James Holland Jones @juemos.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Very cool paper here. I'm particularly intrigued by the finding that population size negatively predicts innovation since that has a nice resonance with some of our recent work (doi.org/10.1098/rstb...).
doi.org
Minority-group incubators and majority-group reservoirs support the diffusion of climate change adaptations
Abstract. Successful climate change adaptation depends on the spread and maintenance of adaptive behaviours. Current theory suggests that the heterogeneity
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
CE paper alert 🚨! Innovation and copying in speed climbers ->
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Proc B with @sampassmore.bsky.social! We used simulations to explore the innovation strategies of speed climbers 🧗‍♀️ Innovation is higher among slower athletes and lower when the population size is larger, and the overall balance of innovation and copying appears to be suboptimal 🔗 bit.ly/499QjZM
bit.ly
Simulation-based inference with deep learning suggests speed climbers combine innovation and copying to improve performance
Abstract. In the Olympic sport of speed climbing, athletes compete to reach the top of a 15 m wall as quickly as possible. Since the standardization of the
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication 🦜🦇🐋🐵👨‍🌾 masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
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Sonja Wild @sonjawild.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Out today in @plosbiology.org (1/5) Siblings and non-parental adults provide alternative pathways to cultural inheritance in juvenile great tits 🐦🧩 Link to study: 10.0.5.91/journal.pbio... Co-authors: @lucymaplin.bsky.social @galarconnieto.bsky.social
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Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
⚠️Paper Alert!⚠️ Excited to share this paper with @roccoro.bsky.social where we examined whether ceramic technology in Saharan Africa was the result of a single or multiple episodes of innovation & diffusion rdcu.be/eJi3g
rdcu.be
Bayesian analyses of radiocarbon dates suggest multiple origins of ceramic technology in Early Holocene Africa
Nature Communications - Several possible points of origin have been proposed for the spread of ceramic technology in Saharan Africa between 11–10,000 years ago. Here, the authors...
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Y'all these titles are getting out of control 😅
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ESLR @eslr.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
ESLR is currently undergoing a transition, and a new committee (@alexschakowski.bsky.social, @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social, @katebonner.bsky.social, @lucahahn.bsky.social, @mariapykala.bsky.social) is working on reinstating its presence and shaping its future. Please feel free to get in touch!
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Alejandro Pérez Velilla @apvelilla.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
My first PhD project is out there. Thank you to my advisor @psmaldino.bsky.social and to mentor, co-author and friend @babeheim.bsky.social for encouraging and helping build this exciting and insightful collaboration. Onwards!
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Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Fancy joining us? Check out this excellent @royalsociety.org Career Development Fellowship: royalsociety.org/grants/caree... If you're eligible & are interested in social behaviour, vocal communication or anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, feel free to DM or email me. @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
royalsociety.org
Career Development Fellowship | Royal Society
This scheme provides the most talented early career scientists from underrepresented groups in STEM with research funding and high-quality training opportunities to build a strong base for a successfu...
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
What if NIH had been 40% smaller?
Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research
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Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
**PhD POSITIONS** I am recruiting 1-2 PhD students to work on sociality and cognition in Monk Parakeets, starting Fall 2026. Full ad is here: hobsonresearch.com/index.php/20... (please help spread the word!)
Image showing Hobson Lab logo (with parakeets, a social network, and R code), two Monk Parakeets, and several individually-marked parakeets with the text "Now recruiting PhD students!!"
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Tomorrow!
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Bret Beheim @babeheim.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go! 400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco. Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee: Sarah Alami (co-chair) Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair) Zachary Garfield Edmond Seabright
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Keep yours eyes out for some incredible work from @sobchuk.bsky.social in the coming years 🥳
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Performing "Alaka'i 1777" at Index Space (NYC) on 9/21 for TechnoMirage—a creative gathering exploring AI and speculative futures. Come hear extinct birdsongs in immersive spatial audio! 🦜 lu.ma/xda8t4h1
lu.ma
TechnoMirage · Luma
Join us for Reclaim, Reimagine, Rewire, a 3-part journey that pierces through the illusion of creative progress projected by AI. TechnoMirage is a half-day…
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Paul Smaldino @psmaldino.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
As grant money starts drying up, it's more important than ever not to waste it on paying publishers' open access "article processing fees" when we can host PDFs for free. Tom Morgan and I wrote a paper on this, forthcoming at Science and Public Policy. Accepted draft here: osf.io/preprints/os...
Author-Paid PublicationFees Corrupt Science and Should Be Abandoned 
Thomas J. H Morgan & Paul E. Smaldino
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Tim Waring @twaring.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
🧠 Want to integrate cultural evolution into your course using award winning materials created by the field's experts, and get paid $2000 to do it? 💵 🚨 The Cultural Evolution Society is seeking applications for the ACE Teaching Innovation Awards. 🔖 Apply here: vuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
vuw.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
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Kevin Lala @kevinlala.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
I'm pleased to share this new article by @svenkasser.bsky.social, Laura Fortunato @anthrolog.bsky.social, Marc Feldman and myself. The article extends gene-culture coevolution to recognize evolutionary effects of culture arising through drift and migration. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
We are pleased to announce our newly elected committee members of the Cultural Evolution Society: Minhua Yan @minhuayan.bsky.social Helena Miton @helenamiton.bsky.social Wataru Toyokawa @watarutoyokawa.bsky.social & Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social Welcome and congratulations!!
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Such a pleasure to be the first guest on the new bioacoustics podcast Wild Resonance! 🦜🐳 youtu.be/1gEI7Ihibac?...
youtu.be
Wild Resonance ep. 1: Animal Syntax in the Trees and Seas - a Conversation with Dr. Mason Youngblood
YouTube video by Wild Resonance
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Garance Barbier @garant-b.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Our latest study on ant acoustic communication originated from a project about soil health monitoring. A picture being worth a thousand words, I will let my abstract explain it all! Here's the paper in #OpenAccess: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #acoustics #animalbehaviour #entomology
The drawing of an ant mound, titled "Soil secret surfaces: new communication method in an ant species?" with ants making various sounds. The sounds are labelled: "walking sound", "biting sound", "cleaning sound". 
One ant is producing a sound with a repeated pattern, and the label reads "unexpected sound". A text is under the representation of that sound, it reads: "Ants seem to react to it. Are they rubbing body parts to produce it?".
Questions are at the bottom of the drawing: "Want to know how we recorded? What the sound could means? Full link to the study below!". There is also in the corner a QR code leading to the article mentioned.
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animal prattle @animal-prattle.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
How much does it cost to caw? @wascherclaudia.bsky.social @masonyoungblood.bsky.social report that in 3 crow species, there is a strong negative relation b/t call sequence length & call duration --> they obey Menzerath's law of efficiency 1/2 #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Crow vocalizations show Menzerath’s law (indicator of efficiency), with some interesting age and sex differences! 🐦‍⬛
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Posted a new preprint! Re-analysis of data from James and Sakata (2017) shows that zebra finches transform random songs to exhibit linguistic laws 🦜 osf.io/preprints/ps...
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EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Bielefeld University seeks a postdoc for a 6-year scientific assistant position in Animal Behaviour, starting March 2026. Apply by Sept 10, 2025. More info: www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/biologie/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/behaviour #job
uni-bielefeld.de
Animal Behaviour - Bielefeld University
With a team of over 50 people, the different research groups study animal behaviour within the framework of the four questions of Tinbergen, both in the lab and in the field. Current model systems include laboratory studies on zebra finches (
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
My new installation Alaka’i 1777, which imagines the lost song culture of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, debuts in NYC 6/21-22! Come hear real-time simulations of extinct birdsongs in 24-channel spatial audio 🦜 Made possible by @cornellbirds.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @divintelligence.bsky.social
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Lucy Aplin @lucymaplin.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Two paper just out from the #clevercockieproject! @julia-penndorf.bsky.social reveals how cockies play politics when deciding who to aggress: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... & @barbaraklump.bsky.social describes a new 'drinking innovation': royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Impressive new analysis of music streaming data from @harinlee.info!
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
My new installation "Alaka'i 1777" debuts at the Reforesters Laboratory in Brooklyn on 6/21-22! Come hear real-time simulations of extinct birdsongs in immersive spatial audio 🐦 6/21 @ 2:30 PM: lu.ma/db1o64b7 6/22 @ 12 PM: lu.ma/h90muqr5
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Kensy Cooperrider @kensycoop.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
How are humans able to make sense of time? Not with special biology but with “time tools”—ideas, practices, and artifacts that render time more concrete. My new paper explores this vast, varied toolkit—one that makes use of knots, nuts, hands, flowers, mountains, shadows, and much more. (link 👇)
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animal prattle @animal-prattle.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
🙉🥁🌲 Buttress drumming dialects 🌲🥁🙉 @nakedprimate.bsky.social et al. show: 🙉 chimp drumming is rhythmic (w/help from @andrearavignani.bsky.social) 🙉 & has regional diffs (see 🧵👇) Raises lots of interesting ?s about cultural evolution!! (cc @masonyoungblood.bsky.social) #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
📢 CES launches Advancing Cultural Evolution (ACE) Course Design Awards! 🎉 $4000 award + global impact for your cultural evolution course materials. Course must be college/grad level with 10+ hrs content. Application link: vuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #CulturalEvolution #Education #Grants
vuw.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Catching up on big animal culture papers! Herrings have shifted their spawning locations northward, after overfishing wiped out collective knowledge of historical spawning grounds 🐟 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Herring spawned poleward following fishery-induced collective memory loss - Nature
A critically low abundance of older herring due to age-selective fisheries resulted in an approximately 800-km poleward shift in main spawning.
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