Centre for Culture and Evolution
@brunelcce.bsky.social
2.6K followers 3.6K following 360 posts
Exploring the intersection of culture, evolution, psychology and anthropology. We study how culture and evolution shape human behaviour and society
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Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
jsmartin.bsky.social
New paper out now in Evolution, co-led with Dave Westneat!

Using long-term data on house sparrows, we find that quantity-quality tradeoffs near a local fitness ridge favor more or less canalized clutch size distributions in response to environmental variability.

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Measuring selection on reaction norms: Lack’s principle and plasticity in clutch size
We applied a novel multivariate analysis to measure linear and nonlinear selection on components of a complex reaction norm that was expected to be shaped
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
loraadair.bsky.social
So proud of this work and so grateful for my participants and my incredible collaborators 🫶✨
brunelcce.bsky.social
🧵 1/ Excellent and impactful work from CCE second in command @loraadair.bsky.social published in the New Metro over the weekend about Outcry Witness

It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.

No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
Home - Healing starts when people bear witness
Outcry Witness is the platform where survivors of sexual violence keep an anonymous record of their experience, always under their control.
outcrywitness.com
brunelcce.bsky.social
5/ Preparing your own narrative and sharing it, even just on an anonymous platform, likely assists with the self-understanding that is key to healing and resilience 🤍
brunelcce.bsky.social
4/ The team found that the site could ‘enable survivors to understand their own experiences better – many participants reflected that it can be challenging to label your experience” even just just anonymous reporting 💪
brunelcce.bsky.social
3/ 📣 Dr Lora Adair from @brunelpsy.bsky.social brings long-standing expertise on gender-based violence and working with community partners.

She conducted interviews with 30 users of the website, looking at whether they would find an anonymous reporting platform helpful 🧠🤝
brunelcce.bsky.social
2/ This matters – and where @loraadair.bsky.social came in – because trauma-informed practice shows that voice, control and validation help recovery. Anonymous “tell-your-story” spaces can offer agency without re-traumatisation and can signpost to support 📌💬
Anonymous website gives sex assault victims a place to safely 'tell their story'
Having a place where their story exists freely, without fear of judgment, offers a sense of catharsis, and that is very powerful
metro.co.uk
brunelcce.bsky.social
🧵 1/ Excellent and impactful work from CCE second in command @loraadair.bsky.social published in the New Metro over the weekend about Outcry Witness

It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.

No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
Home - Healing starts when people bear witness
Outcry Witness is the platform where survivors of sexual violence keep an anonymous record of their experience, always under their control.
outcrywitness.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
We're pleased to announce and congratulate the winners of the Advancing Cultural Evolution Course Design Awards! This competition recognises leading educators in the field of cultural evolution and their existing efforts to advance its teaching.

We have 7 winners and 2 runners up (listed below):
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
Cultural Evolution Paper Alert 🚨
sonjawild.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
ehbea.bsky.social
🚨 AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

EHEBA is calling for the Service to the Community Award 🙌

Do not hesitate to nominate someone that you know has contributed in the strengthening of our community beyond their research!

Deadline: December 19th, 2025

Here is the form👇

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
2026 service noimination form.doc
2026 EHBEA Services to the Community award Nomination Form Please submit this application form by e-mail to the EHBEA Secretary [email protected] Next Deadline: 5pm (GMT), 19th DECEMBER 20...
docs.google.com
brunelcce.bsky.social
🤩 Methods, stats and critical thinking is getting a massive overhaul at @brunelpsy.bsky.social thanks to the hard work of CCE @willgervais.com @replicatedtypo.bsky.social @michealdebarra.bsky.social and @abbeyepage.bsky.social 💪💅
willgervais.com
Teaching a fun science & critical thinking course this semester.

Trying out THAMES as a handy mnemonic for what to look for in evaluating science papers & such (obvs not all are as relevant for every paper)...
THAMES mnemonic for reading science:

T
Theory
•What BIG IDEA is the focus?

H
Hypothesis
•What SMALLER IDEA is actually getting tested?

A
Assumptions &
Alternatives
•What needs to be true to connect T:H?
•What else could explain results/predictions?

M
Methods:
Measures & Manipulations
•Were methodological tools validated?
•Evidence that we’re measuring/manip what’s claimed?

E
Evidence &
Ethics
•Are claims calibrated to EVIDENCE? Is EVIDENCE appropriate?
•ETHICALLY sound in practice/intent/implication/application?

S
Sampling
Statistical Model
•Who was studied? Who are claims about?
•Do stat results match verbal ideas?
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
willgervais.com
Teaching a fun science & critical thinking course this semester.

Trying out THAMES as a handy mnemonic for what to look for in evaluating science papers & such (obvs not all are as relevant for every paper)...
THAMES mnemonic for reading science:

T
Theory
•What BIG IDEA is the focus?

H
Hypothesis
•What SMALLER IDEA is actually getting tested?

A
Assumptions &
Alternatives
•What needs to be true to connect T:H?
•What else could explain results/predictions?

M
Methods:
Measures & Manipulations
•Were methodological tools validated?
•Evidence that we’re measuring/manip what’s claimed?

E
Evidence &
Ethics
•Are claims calibrated to EVIDENCE? Is EVIDENCE appropriate?
•ETHICALLY sound in practice/intent/implication/application?

S
Sampling
Statistical Model
•Who was studied? Who are claims about?
•Do stat results match verbal ideas?
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
rebeccasear.bsky.social
The EHBEA2026 conference website is now live 👇 Deadline for abstract submission: 15 December
ehbea2026.bsky.social
🚨𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀!
www.ehbea2026.com is now live for our 2026 European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (EHBEA) conference in Leiden (NL🇳🇱) Check for 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, first 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 & the [𝗔𝗜]𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸!
🗓️ 14–17 Apr 2026 | CBEN pre-conf 14 Apr
📍Pesthuis
#EHBEA2026
Overview | EHBEA2026
www.ehbea2026.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
ehbea.bsky.social
🚨AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

EHBEA is calling for SELF-nominations for their New Investigator Award.

If you are doing, or know someone, some really cool research as an early-career researcher please don’t hesitate to apply!

DEADLINE: December 19th, 2025

Here is the form👇
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
EHBEA-2026-New-Investigator-Award-nomination-form.docx
2026 NEW INVESTIGATOR AWARD Self-nomination Form Please submit this application form by e-mail to the EHBEA Secretary [email protected]. Next Deadline: 5pm (GMT), 19th DECEMBER 2026 ...
docs.google.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
rebeccasear.bsky.social
If one man marries two women, another man must go unmarried, right? No. Demography matters. If sex ratios are skewed towards women, then polygyny can exist alongside universal marriage for men (who want to marry women). If only more people understood demography 😊
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
rebeccasear.bsky.social
George Monbiot on Steven Pinker’s book Enlightenment Now: “Under-researched and over-claiming, deferring to authority rather than data, sloppy and derivative, Pinker insults the Enlightenment principles he claims to defend”
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
annepisor.bsky.social
📢 Come join us! Penn State Anthropology is hiring *two tenure-track assistant professors*, one in human reproductive ecology and one in archaeology. Here are just a few reasons why working at Penn State is awesome:
A photo of the Susan Welch Liberal Arts building at sunrise
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
abbeyepage.bsky.social
Happy to chat to any #ehbea member about the secretary role

just DM or email me at [email protected]
ehbea.bsky.social
EHBEA is looking for new PRESIDENT and SECRETARY for 2026-2029! 👀

If you know of anybody who could represent EHBEA, nominate them as president!

If you know with good organisational skills, nominate them as secretary!

DEADLINE: 16/12/2026

HERE IS THE FORM 👇

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
EHBEACommitteeNominationForm_Pres_Sec.doc
EHBEA Committee 2026-2029: Nomination Form The EHBEA Steering Committee is calling for nominations for the following open committee positions for 2026-2029. You are invited to nominate one or more c...
docs.google.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
tvpollet.bsky.social
With the help of some silicon friends, I built an open science escape room (works best on desktop) using Shiny and Shinylive in R. This is for a guest lecture to some 3rd years embarking on their thesis project. Give it a go if that's the sort of thing you like, tvpollet.github.io/shiny_live_o...
a kitten is sleeping in a cage .
ALT: a kitten is sleeping in a cage .
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Centre for Culture and Evolution
ehbea.bsky.social
EHBEA is looking for new PRESIDENT and SECRETARY for 2026-2029! 👀

If you know of anybody who could represent EHBEA, nominate them as president!

If you know with good organisational skills, nominate them as secretary!

DEADLINE: 16/12/2026

HERE IS THE FORM 👇

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
EHBEACommitteeNominationForm_Pres_Sec.doc
EHBEA Committee 2026-2029: Nomination Form The EHBEA Steering Committee is calling for nominations for the following open committee positions for 2026-2029. You are invited to nominate one or more c...
docs.google.com
brunelcce.bsky.social
8/ for more info read the paper or the lead authors great thread... 🥳
brunelcce.bsky.social
5/ Sooo what’s going on?

The authors suggest polygyny often coexists with strong pro-marriage norms which may explain why high-polygyny places don’t show a glut of single men 🧠🧩