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Heidi Colleran

@heidicolleran.bsky.social

2.2K followers 730 following 70 posts

Anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://www.eva.mpg.de/ecology/staff/heidi-colleran/ Culture | Demography |Reproduction | Population | Existential dread. Humanist and scientist. Writing a book THE FACTS OF LIFE

www.eva.mpg.de

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · Apr 12

With the world turning away from diversity we need public anthropology more than ever. I’ve decided to do my bit to share what we know about cultures of reproduction & why they matter for human evolution. PEOPLE LIKE US coming in 2027 🙏🏻 @zcosini.bsky.social

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 10d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 17d

OTD in 1838, Charles Darwin read Malthus’s Principles of Population “for amusement.”

The idea of a “war of nature” was venerable, but D realized that such a war would tend to remove deleterious variations from populations. Natural selection would necessarily follow.

🌱🐋🧪#HistSTM #philsci 📈📉#evolbio

Cartoon of Darwin holding a copy of the Original, looking into a mirror and seeing as his reflection Malthus holding a copy off his Essay on the Principle of Population. By Tom Dunne for American Scientist.

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Kris Smith @kris-smith.bsky.social · 18d

We're hiring! WSU anthropology is looking to hire a TT Asst Prof in cultural anthropology, with a health, well-being, or human-environment interactions. This is a great dept with friendly folks! CV and cover letter due by 11/2 wsu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WSU_Jo...

Assistant Professor

Online applications must be received before 11:59pm on: November 2, 2025 If a date is not listed above, review the Applicant Instructions below for more details. Available Title(s): 270-NN_FACULTY - A...

wsu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

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Amanda Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 23d

Abortion bans making pregnancy more dangerous, shaming women for using tylenol, making the world more dangerous for babies: this is all pronatalist because pronatalism is about recreating mandatory childbearing, not making childbearing easier.

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · 22d

Oh cool let’s make it even harder for pregnant women to get through their day. Maybe they should all give up working to focus on…..wait a minute…🧐

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump officials unveil highly contentious conclusions on autism

Trump claims acetaminophen heightens autism risk when used by pregnant women but studies contradict statement

www.theguardian.com

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Michael Gurven @mgurven.bsky.social · 25d

An amazing opportunity with great multidisciplinary colleagues in the wonderful pink city of Toulouse

Jean-François Bonnefon @jfbonnefon.bsky.social · 25d

It's hiring season at @iast.fr!

- 2y research postdoc contract
- Full autonomy, you are your own PI
- Awesome multidisciplinary environment
- All social and behavioral sciences welcome
- Seed funding for projects and workshops
- Gorgeous city in the south of France

www.iast.fr/research-fel...

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · 25d

Ugh

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Michael Gurven @mgurven.bsky.social · 28d

Released today!
SEVEN DECADES: HOW WE EVOLVED TO LIVE LONGER
Now available at your favorite bookseller.

Leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon if you can.

Please help spread the word!

#sevendecades @princetonupress.bsky.social

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Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias @ceciliapad.bsky.social · 28d

At @ishe-society.bsky.social, we are looking for someone to review @mgurven.bsky.social new book, "Seven decades" for Human Ethology. It looks terribly interesting! DM/email for details (and to get a hard copy 😊)

@princetonupress.bsky.social

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Seven Decades

An anthropologist uncovers new evidence for the evolutionary origins of human longevity—and explains why growing old is an opportunity, not a burden

press.princeton.edu

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · 28d

Just got my copy! Congratulations Mike! 🥳

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Sep 15

"paper argues for the reintegration of mortality into studies of fertility transition by using net reproduction measures rather than total fertility rates. Incorporating mortality provides a more nuanced understanding of demographic transitions & has important implications for population policies"

Bringing mortality back into our understanding of fertility change: revisiting the onset of fertility transitions using net reproduction measures - Journal of Population Research

This paper argues for the reintegration of mortality into studies of fertility transition by using net reproduction measures rather than solely focusing on total fertility rates (TFR). Accounting for ...

link.springer.com

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Sep 12

Unveiling Mexico's Demographic Transitions: "Our spatial analysis reveals a concentric diffusion pattern, where fertility changes spread outward from urban, high-SES municipalities" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

<em>Studies in Family Planning</em> | Population Council Journal | Wiley Online Library

This study examines Mexico's fertility transition (1930–2015) and how socioeconomic status (SES), geography, and indigeneity shaped reproductive behaviors. Using net fertility—the number of surviving...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · Aug 25

Haven’t had time for a while, but I still think about Under The Skin, and Tár - two great female led movies

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Samara Greenwood @samaragreenwood.bsky.social · Aug 22

An absolute privilege to interview the scientist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy for @hpspodcast.bsky.social
She was so generous & honest in talking about the shifts she had to experience in order to 'see' that men could be expert carers of babies #philsci #hps #fathertime

The HPS Podcast @hpspodcast.bsky.social · Aug 21

This week, @samaragreenwood.bsky.social returns to The HPS Podcast with a special guest: renowned primatologist and evolutionary anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. Their interview, “Rethinking Our Starting Assumptions,” is available now — link below!
#hps #science

S5 E6 - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on ‘Rethinking our Starting Assumptions’

Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 21/08/2025 · 29m

podcasts.apple.com

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EHBEA @ehbea.bsky.social · Aug 25

Starting the week strong 💪 we share now the plenary talk of @heidicolleran.bsky.social, which was part of @ehbea2025.bsky.social

Here, she talks about the misconceptions and the biases behind the idea of “natural fertility”👶

Pass by, have a look, and stay tuned!

youtu.be/8Ch1t7zpW10?...

Heidi Colleran - EHBEA 2025

YouTube video by European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association

youtu.be

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IASToulouse @iast.fr · Jul 1

👋 Create links with the IAST community: either with alumni, or with current research fellows...

If you are part of the IAST community and would like to be added to the starter kit, send us a DM! 📩 #FriendsOfIAST

👇 Join the conversation ! 👇
go.bsky.app/5mQmnLF

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Justyna Olko @justynaolko.bsky.social · Aug 23

Even more linguistic-cultural diversity! I am truly grateful for this beautiful experience of fieldwork & learning along with Anja Becker. This is all possible thanks to the hospitality and trust of the community of Dixon Reef, Vanuatu #MULTILING-HIST @erc.europa.eu @heidicolleran.bsky.social

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Judith Beyer @judithbeyer.bsky.social · Aug 20

JOB: come work with me @uni-konstanz.de ! We have a junior professorship to fill from 1 April 2026 (6 years, non-tenured, as funding comes from the Centre for Cultural Inquiry).
The denomination is very timely: Environmental #Anthropology!
Details ⬇️
stellen.uni-konstanz.de/jobposting/2...

#academia

Junior Professorship (non-tenure) in Environmental Anthropology

Deadline: 01.10.2025

stellen.uni-konstanz.de

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Penny Bickle @pennybickle.bsky.social · Aug 14

The last piece associated with the brilliant team effort to rethink aDNA results and social relations in Neolithic Ireland is in this month’s Current Archaeology magazine with an absolutely gorgeous cover image of Newgrange (credit: Ken Williams) archaeology.co.uk

Current Archaeology

Britain's favourite archaeology magazine

archaeology.co.uk

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Justyna Olko @justynaolko.bsky.social · Aug 14

Mi hapi tumas mo tenkyu long janis blong wok wetem National Museum mo direktor Kaitip Kami mo wetem Kalja Senta long Vanuatu! Hemia daerekt patnasip wetem tim blong @heidicolleran.bsky.social long MPI-EVA we i gat longfala ekspiriens blong mekem risej long Malekula mo ol narafala ples long Vanuatu.

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Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · Aug 10

It's time to play, "1900, or 2025?"

From: Maria-Sophia Quine, Population Politics in Twentieth Century Europe (1996).

Malthus’ fear of over-population no longer seemed relevant to
observers who worried about dwindling national strength and
efficiency. The menace of ‘depopulation’ also became a subject of
medical and scientific study as experts from many different disciplines
explored its causes and consequences. Academic debate about fertility
decline became intertwined with wider concerns about the future of
the family, the nation and the economy which the educated public and
politicians from different parties shared. A haunting sense of
decadence and decay pervaded late nineteenth-century culture and
politics. Alarmists used terms like ‘sterility’ and ‘impotence’ to invoke
deep-seated fears about the disastrous consequences of ‘infecundity’
for great powers in an age of industry and empire. For political leaders
as much as for distinguished intellectuals, the drop in the birthrate
threatened to endanger the nation’s prospects for continued prosperity
and progress.

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Aug 10

Essay which clearly outlines the scientific and ethical problems with selecting embryos for polygenic traits. Scientists associating themselves with embryo selection companies, and those who’ve previously defended sociogenomics but are staying silent on these companies, come in for criticism here

Imagine a world in which a very effective polygenic score for depression is developed, and it really takes off. Everyone starts reproducing that way, and selecting embryos to try to protect their kids from depression.
What would happen? We have no effing idea what would happen. That means embryo selection companies face a dilemma: they can rely on the fact that polygenic scores for behavior don't work well enough to make a difference one way or another, or they are conducting unregulated experiments on human babies, never mind the human genome at large.

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Siobhán Cully 🇺🇸 🐱🥼🤓🩼 @siobhancully.bsky.social · Aug 5

The great Jane Lancaster has passed away. She was a titan and very kind to me all the years I was at UNM. See a tribute from her friend and mine, Bob Hitchcock here:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Jane Lancaster and Human Nature - Human Nature

Human Nature -

link.springer.com

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Kermyt G Anderson @kermytanderson.bsky.social · Aug 5

Jane Lancaster (1935-2025), a major figure in the development of human behavioral ecology, passed away yesterday. Jane was on my PhD committee and was always supportive of me and my work. She will be missed.
Here is the In Memoriam posted by UNM Anthropology:
anthropology.unm.edu/news-events/...

In Memoriam: Dr. Jane Lancaster, Pioneer in Human Evolutionary Sciences (1935-2025) :: Anthropology | The University of New Mexico

anthropology.unm.edu

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Heidi Colleran @heidicolleran.bsky.social · Aug 5

Oh gosh. RIP And condolences. 💐