Alexis Breen
@alexisjbreen.bsky.social
Senior postdoc at MPI-EVA | #CrowCoG co-leader | http://www.alexisbreen.com/ | 🇩🇪 🇳🇨
Pinned
Alexis Breen
@alexisjbreen.bsky.social
· Nov 20
Hi 👋 I co-lead the recently formed Crow Cognition Group, studying the socio-ecological, cognitive, and cultural underpinnings of tool-related and general foraging behaviour in New Caledonian crows 🐦⬛ I’m also a (Stan) cognitive modelling enthusiast.
Reposted by Alexis Breen
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
November 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Reposted by Alexis Breen
📣 Apply now for the 🌵CaCTüS 3-month fully funded internship in Germany in 2026!
Work on ML, theor. neuroscience, computational psychiatry, behavioral experiments or data analysis at a top institution in Tübingen. For students facing barriers in higher education. 👉 cactus-internship.tuebingen.mpg.de
Work on ML, theor. neuroscience, computational psychiatry, behavioral experiments or data analysis at a top institution in Tübingen. For students facing barriers in higher education. 👉 cactus-internship.tuebingen.mpg.de
October 21, 2025 at 8:23 AM
📣 Apply now for the 🌵CaCTüS 3-month fully funded internship in Germany in 2026!
Work on ML, theor. neuroscience, computational psychiatry, behavioral experiments or data analysis at a top institution in Tübingen. For students facing barriers in higher education. 👉 cactus-internship.tuebingen.mpg.de
Work on ML, theor. neuroscience, computational psychiatry, behavioral experiments or data analysis at a top institution in Tübingen. For students facing barriers in higher education. 👉 cactus-internship.tuebingen.mpg.de
#CrowCoG is hiring🚨MULTIPLE PAID RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS 🚨for our 2026 field season (May - Sep)! Field and aviary-based positions - come help us study the remarkable tool-making New Caledonian crows. Apply here: bit.ly/3WlxxHE
October 27, 2025 at 8:57 AM
#CrowCoG is hiring🚨MULTIPLE PAID RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS 🚨for our 2026 field season (May - Sep)! Field and aviary-based positions - come help us study the remarkable tool-making New Caledonian crows. Apply here: bit.ly/3WlxxHE
Reposted by Alexis Breen
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
posted on October 16, 2025
We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...
hmc-lab.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Reposted by Alexis Breen
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
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
October 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
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
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 Alexis Breen
#bowerbirds are the only birds that build structures used specifically for courtship. But why and how did this remarkable ability evolve?
We discuss some possibilities in our new review in Emu - Austral Ornithology!
@fusanilab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0158...
We discuss some possibilities in our new review in Emu - Austral Ornithology!
@fusanilab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0158...
October 7, 2025 at 9:07 AM
#bowerbirds are the only birds that build structures used specifically for courtship. But why and how did this remarkable ability evolve?
We discuss some possibilities in our new review in Emu - Austral Ornithology!
@fusanilab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0158...
We discuss some possibilities in our new review in Emu - Austral Ornithology!
@fusanilab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0158...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...
September 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
September 11, 2025 at 10:15 AM
New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
New paper from my group led by Odd Jacobson, former PhD student & current postdoc @livingingroups.bsky.social : How do animal groups simultaneously balance between- and within-group competition in dynamic environments and does this impact movement and space use? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Between-group competitive advantage offsets foraging costs for bigger groups in harsher seasons
Larger animal groups are widely understood to require more space and travel farther to mitigate the foraging costs of within-group competition. Yet, between-group interactions and shifting resource di...
www.biorxiv.org
August 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
New paper from my group led by Odd Jacobson, former PhD student & current postdoc @livingingroups.bsky.social : How do animal groups simultaneously balance between- and within-group competition in dynamic environments and does this impact movement and space use? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
As an inveterate em-dash user, I loved this. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...
The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations
“In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...
www.mcsweeneys.net
July 18, 2025 at 2:49 AM
As an inveterate em-dash user, I loved this. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
“the widespread appeal of animal tool use is partly due to anthropocentrism”
👍 for this new comparison of how animal tools and nests are talked about, from Sally Street et al.
The need to slap a human-like ‘intelligence’ label on animals is a symptom of this bias (writing a book on that now) 🧪🪹🔨
👍 for this new comparison of how animal tools and nests are talked about, from Sally Street et al.
The need to slap a human-like ‘intelligence’ label on animals is a symptom of this bias (writing a book on that now) 🧪🪹🔨
Anthropocentric bias may explain research disparities between animal tool use and nest building
Scientists are not immune from bias. Studying nonhuman species objectively is inherently challenging, especially for ‘charismatic’ and ostensibly huma…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 29, 2025 at 7:32 PM
“the widespread appeal of animal tool use is partly due to anthropocentrism”
👍 for this new comparison of how animal tools and nests are talked about, from Sally Street et al.
The need to slap a human-like ‘intelligence’ label on animals is a symptom of this bias (writing a book on that now) 🧪🪹🔨
👍 for this new comparison of how animal tools and nests are talked about, from Sally Street et al.
The need to slap a human-like ‘intelligence’ label on animals is a symptom of this bias (writing a book on that now) 🧪🪹🔨
Reposted by Alexis Breen
🚀Join our team @tuda.bsky.social ! 🚀
I'm looking for 3 PhDs & 1 Postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu project “C4: Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture” to study learning across individuals, teams, and cultural timescales
👉 PhD: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
I'm looking for 3 PhDs & 1 Postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu project “C4: Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture” to study learning across individuals, teams, and cultural timescales
👉 PhD: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
June 11, 2025 at 8:00 AM
🚀Join our team @tuda.bsky.social ! 🚀
I'm looking for 3 PhDs & 1 Postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu project “C4: Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture” to study learning across individuals, teams, and cultural timescales
👉 PhD: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
I'm looking for 3 PhDs & 1 Postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu project “C4: Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture” to study learning across individuals, teams, and cultural timescales
👉 PhD: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
👇 New #preprint combining computational models with zebbie data: "Dynamic strategic social learning in nest-building zebra finches and its generalisability".
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵1/n
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵1/n
Dynamic strategic social learning in nest-building zebra finches and its generalisability
Animals often balance asocial and social information strategically, adjusting when and from whom they copy based on context. Yet the cognition driving this dynamic—and its broader implications—remains...
doi.org
June 7, 2025 at 8:41 AM
👇 New #preprint combining computational models with zebbie data: "Dynamic strategic social learning in nest-building zebra finches and its generalisability".
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵1/n
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵1/n
Reposted by Alexis Breen
Today, we're thrilled to announce two of our incredible speakers for the #SoapboxScience Berlin 2025 event.
First up is Dr Annika Tjuka ✨
@annikatjuka.bsky.social
First up is Dr Annika Tjuka ✨
@annikatjuka.bsky.social
May 26, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Today, we're thrilled to announce two of our incredible speakers for the #SoapboxScience Berlin 2025 event.
First up is Dr Annika Tjuka ✨
@annikatjuka.bsky.social
First up is Dr Annika Tjuka ✨
@annikatjuka.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexis Breen
Tool use in insects: Assassin bugs apply resin to their forelegs before a stingless bee hunt. This makes the bees attack the bug in just the right position to be caught!
Videos will worth watching
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Videos will worth watching
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Tool use aids prey-fishing in a specialist predator of stingless bees | PNAS
Tool use is widely reported across a broad range of the animal kingdom, yet comprehensive
empirical tests of its function and evolutionary drivers ...
www.pnas.org
May 17, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Tool use in insects: Assassin bugs apply resin to their forelegs before a stingless bee hunt. This makes the bees attack the bug in just the right position to be caught!
Videos will worth watching
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Videos will worth watching
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Alexis Breen
1/n 🆕📄: How do children learn to adapt to different environments when making repeated choices? And what do cognitive immaturity and probability matching have to do with it? Our new article explores how kids & adults differ in probability learning across statistical task structures: mpib.berlin/R3RFy
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
April 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM
1/n 🆕📄: How do children learn to adapt to different environments when making repeated choices? And what do cognitive immaturity and probability matching have to do with it? Our new article explores how kids & adults differ in probability learning across statistical task structures: mpib.berlin/R3RFy
Reposted by Alexis Breen
🚨 Lecturer in Animal Behaviour position @waikatouniversity.bsky.social. Fantastic opportunity for someone passionate about teaching & research in animal behaviour, preferably on birds, amphibians, reptiles or bats.
📍 Hamilton, NZ
Closes: 4th May 2025
🔗 www.seek.co.nz/job/83279795...
📍 Hamilton, NZ
Closes: 4th May 2025
🔗 www.seek.co.nz/job/83279795...
April 5, 2025 at 3:51 AM
🚨 Lecturer in Animal Behaviour position @waikatouniversity.bsky.social. Fantastic opportunity for someone passionate about teaching & research in animal behaviour, preferably on birds, amphibians, reptiles or bats.
📍 Hamilton, NZ
Closes: 4th May 2025
🔗 www.seek.co.nz/job/83279795...
📍 Hamilton, NZ
Closes: 4th May 2025
🔗 www.seek.co.nz/job/83279795...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
🚨RT!
The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/
The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/
March 23, 2025 at 8:22 PM
🚨RT!
The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/
The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/
Reposted by Alexis Breen
A new study investigates termite fishing in chimpanzees using camera traps in Mbam and Djerem National Park. Researchers document 46 technique variations, with similarities to both savanna and rainforest communities, suggesting environmental influences shape tool-use behaviors:
Patterns of Technical Variation in Chimpanzee Termite Fishing Behavior in Mbam and Djerem National Park, Cameroon
Chimpanzees exhibit considerable inter- and intra-community variation in cognitively complex tool use behaviors, often attributed to social, genetic, and environmental factors. Termite fishing is a w....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 6, 2025 at 7:18 AM
A new study investigates termite fishing in chimpanzees using camera traps in Mbam and Djerem National Park. Researchers document 46 technique variations, with similarities to both savanna and rainforest communities, suggesting environmental influences shape tool-use behaviors:
Reposted by Alexis Breen
JUST OUT! 🚨 Time capsule birds' nests! 🪹
I'm proud to share our discovery of layers of vintage plastic in urban birds’ nests... going back decades in time! 👀
“You flip through these nests like through pages of a history book, uncovering the past.” 📚
Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x
#scicomm 🧪🪶
I'm proud to share our discovery of layers of vintage plastic in urban birds’ nests... going back decades in time! 👀
“You flip through these nests like through pages of a history book, uncovering the past.” 📚
Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x
#scicomm 🧪🪶
February 28, 2025 at 10:56 AM
JUST OUT! 🚨 Time capsule birds' nests! 🪹
I'm proud to share our discovery of layers of vintage plastic in urban birds’ nests... going back decades in time! 👀
“You flip through these nests like through pages of a history book, uncovering the past.” 📚
Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x
#scicomm 🧪🪶
I'm proud to share our discovery of layers of vintage plastic in urban birds’ nests... going back decades in time! 👀
“You flip through these nests like through pages of a history book, uncovering the past.” 📚
Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x
#scicomm 🧪🪶
Reposted by Alexis Breen
The word technology brings to mind silicon wafers or carbon fibers. But for most of human existence people relied on organic materials for most of their technology. In a handful of places natural conditions have preserved wooden artifacts from pre-human ancestors.
johnhawks.net/weblog/four-...
johnhawks.net/weblog/four-...
Four amazing Stone Age sites with wooden artifacts
From Africa, Asia, and Europe, these sites give us a rare window into the ways that organic technology shaped ancestral lives.
johnhawks.net
March 3, 2025 at 4:02 PM
The word technology brings to mind silicon wafers or carbon fibers. But for most of human existence people relied on organic materials for most of their technology. In a handful of places natural conditions have preserved wooden artifacts from pre-human ancestors.
johnhawks.net/weblog/four-...
johnhawks.net/weblog/four-...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
🚨Fully-funded PhD studentship on insect behaviour, cognition & muscles with me & @viveknityananda.bsky.social at @newcastleuni.bsky.social 🐝🍀🎓🙌Application deadline April 30, start date in September. Drop me an email if you have questions! www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate...
February 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
🚨Fully-funded PhD studentship on insect behaviour, cognition & muscles with me & @viveknityananda.bsky.social at @newcastleuni.bsky.social 🐝🍀🎓🙌Application deadline April 30, start date in September. Drop me an email if you have questions! www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
'Evolutionary drivers of caching behaviour in corvids', new paper by @coloeus.bsky.social in collaboration with @babeheim.bsky.social. We identify caching strategies in 63 species from 16 genera (out of 128 corvid species and 22 genera) #animalcognition #corvids link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Evolutionary drivers of caching behaviour in corvids - Animal Cognition
Caching has recurrently evolved across a range of animal taxa to withstand fluctuations in food availability and in the context of intraspecific competition. It is widespread in the corvid family, whi...
link.springer.com
February 26, 2025 at 7:43 AM
'Evolutionary drivers of caching behaviour in corvids', new paper by @coloeus.bsky.social in collaboration with @babeheim.bsky.social. We identify caching strategies in 63 species from 16 genera (out of 128 corvid species and 22 genera) #animalcognition #corvids link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
🚨New PDRA position available at the Healy Lab🚨
Project on avian nest construction. Duties will include conducting behavioural experiments with zebra finches on nest building. Post available for 24 months starting ASAP. Closing date 18 March
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Project on avian nest construction. Duties will include conducting behavioural experiments with zebra finches on nest building. Post available for 24 months starting ASAP. Closing date 18 March
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
February 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
🚨New PDRA position available at the Healy Lab🚨
Project on avian nest construction. Duties will include conducting behavioural experiments with zebra finches on nest building. Post available for 24 months starting ASAP. Closing date 18 March
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Project on avian nest construction. Duties will include conducting behavioural experiments with zebra finches on nest building. Post available for 24 months starting ASAP. Closing date 18 March
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Reposted by Alexis Breen
Job alert🐦 2yr post-doc position with Prof. Sue Healy on project "Mistakes in Action: From the Normativity of Goal-Directedness to Novel Investigations of Avian Nest Construction"🪺 Start asap. Contact: sdh11[at]st-andrews.ac.uk @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
February 21, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Job alert🐦 2yr post-doc position with Prof. Sue Healy on project "Mistakes in Action: From the Normativity of Goal-Directedness to Novel Investigations of Avian Nest Construction"🪺 Start asap. Contact: sdh11[at]st-andrews.ac.uk @uniofstandrews.bsky.social