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Sam Ellis

@samellisq.bsky.social
1.1K followers 130 following 17 posts

Lecturer at the University of Exeter. Interested in general but especially in life history evolution and social behaviour.

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Sam Ellis @samellisq.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Brilliant talk from. @libbychaps.bsky.social presenting her work on sociality ontogeny, and vigilance in rabbits at @isbe2026.bsky.social in an absolutely huge room!
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Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Our model has advanced and we've finished the Platyrrhini (spoiler alert!) Come find me at poster 151 on Tuesday 21st at #ISBE2026 to find out how long the monkeys of Central and South America live and how we calculated it! (no really, the graph took me 3.5 days to draw - please come see it 🙏😭)
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Amanda Melin @amelinlab.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
It’s out! We show that fecal cellular DNA methylation profiles provide accurate molecular clock for age estimation in wild capuchins; age-associated differences in DNAm are relevant to development, membrane excitability, and control of cell cycle. New opportunities for epigenetic study in the wild!
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Sam Ellis @samellisq.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I and the rest of CRAB have been really deeply touched by the response to this letter- it has helped us all through some less than cheerful times here. We think it could help do even more. Thank you to everyone who has signed. And if you haven't and feel able to there is a link in the post below.
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The University of Exeter is not in budget deficit. Yet are proposing to cut 150 academic jobs. This include my job. Please sign and share the petition, write our Vice Chancellor, to your MP, and get the word out about the act of self harm this university is about to commit. c.org/yKcx6Zr29H
c.org
This campaign needs you now
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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Baptiste Sadoughi @bsadoughi.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
NEW RESEARCH 🔍 #Aging and early life adversity are associated with increased mortality risk. But how similar are they at the molecular level? We investigated #epigenetic profiles across tissues in macaques and you can find the full story in our @science.org article! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Age and early life adversity shape heterogeneity of the epigenome across tissues in macaques
Age and early life adversity (ELA) are key determinants of health, but whether they affect similar physiological mechanisms across tissues is unknown. We generated DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles acro...
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Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) @crab-exeter.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
CRAB Summer Bash & Croquet Tournament in the beautiful Devon "sunshine"! Congratulations to Lisa, Una, @libbychaps.bsky.social and Sophie- inaugural winners of the coveted BLUE CRAB trophy.
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Delphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Does it matter whether you use focal sampling or scan sampling to collect animal behaviour data? We used simulations to find out, testing how accurate and precise each method is across a range of behaviours, study systems, and observation protocols.
Illustration comparing which subset of the true occurences of behaviour is recorded using focals vs. scans.
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
New paper! We use simulations to test received wisdom on the observational sampling method to use and find that Altmann 1974 was right all along (never bet against Jeanne!). Focal follows capture rare, fleeting behaviours, scans captures long, common behaviours. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Observation methods in animal behaviour: a simulation study of performance
Most behavioural studies rely on systematic behavioural sampling, as observing and recording all behavioural events that occur is rarely feasible. Cho…
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Barbara Tschirren @btschirren.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
We are recruiting 🌟2 postdoctoral researchers🌟 for a NERC Large Grant project on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of badger - bovine tuberculosis (bTB) interactions.
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Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Primate Profile #27: Colombian Night Monkey Being nocturnal and socially monogamous makes these big-eyed monkeys odd among the primates. The male assumes most parenting responsibilities besides nursing, and the female will not do much else to help, even if he dies! Image: D Monroy (iNat.org)
3 night monkeys in a bush, looking down at the camera. They are very clumped together with the top one apparently lying on top of the middle one. The one on the right is partially obscured by the vegetation.

These monkeys are grey with huge eyes to help them see at night. The patches of white fur on their faces give them an almost clown-like appearance. They have a large dark V on top of their head.
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Dr Nathalie Stroeymeyt @nstroeymeyt.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
🚨 PhD opportunity 🚨 Fully funded PhD at the University of Bristol (UK) on how ant colonies remodel their nests to optimise performance under pressure, combining experimental work, quantitative analysis, and field work. Detail/how to apply: stroeymeyt-lab.co.uk/open-positio... Deadline: 5 June 2026
stroeymeyt-lab.co.uk
Open positions – Ant epidemiology Lab
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Gema Trigos-Peral @trigos-peral.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
📢Are you searching for a postdoc possition? Have a look to this very interesting opportunity to work with red wood ants in an amazing team! 🐜 @elvarobinson.bsky.social #postdoc #research #science #redwoodants
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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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Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I am currently building a database of primate age structures and I've realised how little I previously knew about primates. So I've decided to do a "Monkey of the Moment": each day I will introduce a new primate (not all monkeys!) with my favourite new fact about that species. Hope you enjoy! 🦧🦍🐒
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Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) @crab-exeter.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
CRAB Posters at #ASABSpring2026 from @helephantmylne.bsky.social , Bryony Jenkins, Eleanor Benson, Sophie Pettit , and Henry Moreau-Smith (Pictures taken in the very rare gaps when they didn't have customers)
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Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Hi all. I am very excited that after 6 years I finally got my phylogenetic comparative methods book and online exercises online. Feel free to use and share. The book is here: nhcooper123.github.io/pcm-primer/. Note that it is not finished, we had to abandon it before the sunk costs fallacy broke us
nhcooper123.github.io
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods
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Sam Ellis @samellisq.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Brilliant plenary from @elvarobinson.bsky.social at #ASABSpring2026 . Science! Advice! Ants! And a mention of me! In short everything you could want in a talk.
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Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) @crab-exeter.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
CRAB are at @asab-spring-2025.bsky.social in Bristol in strength for the next couple of days. Today @libbychaps.bsky.social presented work from her PhD on rabbit social ontogeny. More CRABers to come tomorrow!
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Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
How long do primates live? Come and find me at #ASABSpring2026 poster number 2 to find out about my model (or not if you aren't stats keen!) and how we are investigating the evolutionary causes of primate lifespan 🐒🦧
Me with my academic poster at ASAB Spring conference. Poster is titled "Live and Let Die: Unravelling the variation in primate lifespans.". My research investigates how we can estimate the duration of primate lifespans, so that we can run a comparative model of the causes of lifespan across primates.
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Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
With just over a month to go until #CityNatureChallenge 2026, great to see evidence that it does actually help! We are entering Exeter for the first time so anyone who would like to help with either species recording over the weekend or IDs across the following 2 weeks would be much appreciated! 🎉
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Josefine Bohr Brask @jbbrask.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Join us in Copenhagen in June for our summer course on programming in R! - Aimed at PhD students in behavioural ecology, others also welcome - No prior programming knowledge needed Deadline for sign-up: May 1 More info here: programmingintrocph.weebly.com
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Claire Bedbrook @clairebedbrook.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Aging may feel gradual… but what if it’s not? In our recent paper, we tracked fish continuously from puberty until death. This gave us a unique view of how aging unfolds across the adult lifespan. 🧵
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Franca Eichenberger @francae.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
New paper on age-related reproductive tactics & success in humpback whales, published in Current Biology.🐳🧬 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #marmam @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social @clairenea.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social 1/7
Humpback whale breaching in front of the New Caledonian coastline.
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me, @iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.
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Matthew Silk @mattjsilk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
A new paper in @plos.org Complex Systems from my time at @nimbios.bsky.social with Nina Fefferman. We set out some ways of classifying rules for social learning and knowledge exchange in higher-order networks. doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org
A typology of rules for knowledge exchange in higher-order interactions
Author summary Learning from each other is important to humans and other animals as it provides safe or quick ways to gather information about the world around you. Because of this ‘social learning’, ...
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Jaclyn Aubin @jaclynaubin.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Our new review of beluga sociality and culture just dropped at Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology! Some of our key conclusions summarized 🧵 doi.org/10.1007/s002... @marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org
A white beluga surfacing in greenish-brown waters. Overlaid is the title of a new review published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology: Beluga Societies: the social and cultural lives of an enigmatic odontocete.
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UKIRSC Marine Mammals @ukirsc.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Charli Grimes discusses the social ontogeny of resident killer whales, exploring how lifelong social bonds form and change from early life through maturity. 🐋🤝 #UKIRSC26
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Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
We are hiring – postdoc position exploring how kinship shapes social ageing in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social and Prof Rufus Johnstone (Cambridge) starts 1st April 2026 and ends 31st March 2029. Apps close 2nd Feb. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPZ788/p...
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Tim Fawcett @timwfawcett.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026: 1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD 2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD #AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social
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Andrew King @shoalgroup.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Our paper is published today in Current Biology and is featured on the cover! We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.
Cover image with sleeping baboon
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Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) @crab-exeter.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Late-reporting, but last year some of our CRABbers headed up to Edinburgh to present their posters at the @asab.org Winter meeting. Well done all! @libbychaps.bsky.social @charli-ocean.bsky.social and @ Manuela Carona R
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Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) @crab-exeter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Festive Season in CRAB, which we celebrate with a quiz and by rediscovering the password to the CRAB Bluesky account.
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William O'Hearn @williamohearn.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
New paper out in iScience. We found the pattern of Guinea baboon meat transfers follows the shape of their nested multi-level society. Transfers of meat are more tolerant at the lower levels of the society and are more likely to occur along stronger social relationships. www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
cell.com
Meat transfer patterns reflect the multi-level social system of Guinea baboons
Wildlife behavior; Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology
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Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
❓ Want to join us? 📢 Fully funded #PhD for UK-domiciled Black heritage candidates 🐵 Biological market monitoring & manipulation in social animals #mongooses #macaques #fieldwork 👥 With me, #LaurenBrent & #PatrickKennedy 🎓 @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ℹ️ www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 🙏Share widely
Dwarf mongooseRhesus macaques groomingMeerkat
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Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
MSc by Res opportunity - developing behavioural indicators to inform killer whale conservation with @exeter.ac.uk @whaleresearch.bsky.social @seadocsociety.bsky.social People from underrepresented groups in marine science encouraged to apply. Deadline 19Dec www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
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Delphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*? In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts. tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
The Adaptive Relationships Framework illustrating how broad socioecological pressures shape the social solutions animals use to meet these challenges, and how these lead to social strategies and emergent structures that help them gain access to those solutions.
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Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
We are hiring - PDRA position exploring how information access shapes social dynamics in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/p...
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 25/08/2025
Ever stared at a table of regression coefficients & wondered what you're doing with your life? Very excited to share this gentle introduction to another way of making sense of statistical models (w @vincentab.bsky.social) Preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf... Website: j-rohrer.github.io/marginal-psy...
Models as Prediction Machines: How to Convert Confusing Coefficients into Clear Quantities

Abstract
Psychological researchers usually make sense of regression models by interpreting coefficient estimates directly. This works well enough for simple linear models, but is more challenging for more complex models with, for example, categorical variables, interactions, non-linearities, and hierarchical structures. Here, we introduce an alternative approach to making sense of statistical models. The central idea is to abstract away from the mechanics of estimation, and to treat models as “counterfactual prediction machines,” which are subsequently queried to estimate quantities and conduct tests that matter substantively. This workflow is model-agnostic; it can be applied in a consistent fashion to draw causal or descriptive inference from a wide range of models. We illustrate how to implement this workflow with the marginaleffects package, which supports over 100 different classes of models in R and Python, and present two worked examples. These examples show how the workflow can be applied across designs (e.g., observational study, randomized experiment) to answer different research questions (e.g., associations, causal effects, effect heterogeneity) while facing various challenges (e.g., controlling for confounders in a flexible manner, modelling ordinal outcomes, and interpreting non-linear models).
Figure illustrating model predictions. On the X-axis the predictor, annual gross income in Euro. On the Y-axis the outcome, predicted life satisfaction. A solid line marks the curve of predictions on which individual data points are marked as model-implied outcomes at incomes of interest. Comparing two such predictions gives us a comparison. We can also fit a tangent to the line of predictions, which illustrates the slope at any given point of the curve.A figure illustrating various ways to include age as a predictor in a model. On the x-axis age (predictor), on the y-axis the outcome (model-implied importance of friends, including confidence intervals).

Illustrated are 
1. age as a categorical predictor, resultings in the predictions bouncing around a lot with wide confidence intervals
2. age as a linear predictor, which forces a straight line through the data points that has a very tight confidence band and
3. age splines, which lies somewhere in between as it smoothly follows the data but has more uncertainty than the straight line.
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Sam Ellis @samellisq.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Pleasure and honour to have the opportunity to discuss some of the work we have been doing on over the last few years. Thanks to @behaviour2025.bsky.social for the invite (and great conference), @asab.org for the funding and everyone who turned up to listen at 9am on day 5.
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Animal Behaviour from Exeter and Bristol, plus some of our alumni, went to @behaviour2025.bsky.social in Kolkata and had mountains of rice. @crab-exeter.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social
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Sam Ellis @samellisq.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
It was a real pleasure to have accidently been involved in Joe Wilde's (not here) paper published last week: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... It has terrifying Bayesian Hidden Markov Models, important insights about dynamic sexual signalling, and a robot crab called "Wavey Dave"- what's not to love?
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Kate Laskowski @katelaskowski.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
BEHAVIOR IS THE WAY
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Daniel Redhead @danielredhead.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
🐒🕸️ New preprint! Confused about how to model animal social networks? ASNA can be confusing—but also full of opportunity. We break down 5 common misunderstandings in animal social network analysis and share solutions from behavioural ecology, anthro, stats, & network science. Hope it helps! A 🧵
ecoevorxiv.org
Five misunderstandings in animal social network analysis
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
I learned a lot working on this new paper with this group of network scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and behavioural ecologists. We're hoping it helps anyone who feels (understandably!) lost in the animal social networks weeds.
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Robin Morrison @robinmorrison.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Loved listening to this discussion, and so pleased our research on the gorillas monitored by @savinggorillas.bsky.social, led by the fantastic Vic Martignac is resonating with so many!
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
‪Come join us at the @asab.org Winter Conference 2025: how sensory info affects behaviour. 15th & 16th Dec, abstracts due end Aug. More info and registration asabwinter.github.io/2025 Co-hosted with @jtroscianko.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 09/07/2025
Geology Murder xkcd.com/3112/
Comic. [two people in labcoats look at body pierced with blade draped over bench] PERSON 1: We found him lying uncomformably on the lab bench. I wonder if the iron-rich intrusion in his back is related. PERSON 2 with ponytail: It could be clastic. Maybe a rift opened in his body, and the intrusive material later fell into the hole. [caption] The Geology Department Investigates Their First Murder
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Dieter Lukas @dieterlukas.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 08/07/2025
Our #study finds that #male #dominance isn't the norm among #primates, and starts to unravel what shapes flexibility in intersexual power paper (OA) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.25004… press release www.mpg.de/24986976/0630-evan-beyon…
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 12/06/2025
Good Science xkcd.com/3101/
5-panel comic. (1) [teacher with long hair next to whiteboard] TEACHER: I’m supposed to give you the tools to do good science. (2) [teacher addressing students] But what *are* those tools? Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results. What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science? (3) TEACHER: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important: [embedded list in sub-panel, cut off at end] Outcome variable: correct scientific results. Predictors: collaboration; skepticism of others’ claims; questioning your own beliefs; trying to falsify hypotheses; checking citations; statistical rigor; blinded analysis; financial disclosure; open data (4) TEACHER: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial: 1) genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and 2) ammonium hydroxide. (5) STUDENT: Wait, why did *ammonia* score so high? How did it even get on the list? LONG HAIR: ...And now you’re doing good science!
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