Kostas Kampourakis

@kampourakisk.bsky.social

2K followers 150 following 310 posts

Author and editor of books intended to help non-experts understand science. Interested in anything about evolution, development, heredity and nature of science.

Videos

Philosophy 29%

Biology 23%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 1d

A nice evening last Monday at the CUP.gr bookstore in Athens, about the Greek edition of my book Ancestry Reimagined

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis, Philippe Huneman, Lesley A. Hall

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.

Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 2d

If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure

Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Kostas Kampourakis, Philippe Huneman , and 1 more Joanna Bryson, Kostas Kampourakis, Philippe Huneman, Steven H. Seggie

Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 2d

If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure

Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Ricard V. Solé, Kostas Kampourakis

Nathaniel Comfort @nccomfort.bsky.social · 3d

James D. Watson is dead. Stay tuned for some thoughts, based on my research on his biography, to be published soon.
While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...

James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97

www.nytimes.com

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 20d

Here is the full report: www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

www.hepi.ac.uk

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 23d

Doesn't this look like "purity" in modern terms?

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 23d

Why don't geneticists frame people's differences in relative terms - that some individuals have less diverse (most likely recent) ancestry than others? Imagine a journalist reading this in the abstract: "...10,000 single-origin individuals from 35 worldwide populations..."?

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 23d

What is a "single-origin" individual? How can one identify "single-origin individuals" in a way that is not arbitrary, or at least operational?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Tracing human genetic histories and natural selection with precise local ancestry inference - Nature Communications

Here the authors present a local ancestry inference algorithm with superior accuracy, and use it to shed light on the demographic histories of Latin Americans and the Askenazi Jewish, and to map a can...

www.nature.com

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 28d

This is a lovely review of my (brief) history of alchemy by Kit Chapman. As Kit says, I wanted neither to duck the esoteric/spiritual aspects of the alchemical tradition & make it out to be *just* early chemistry, nor to over-emphasize those things as some books have.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Client Challenge

www.nature.com

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Kostas Kampourakis, Rebecca Sear , and 2 more Simon J. Greenhill, Kostas Kampourakis, Rebecca Sear, Awais Aftab, Will M. Gervais

Eric Turkheimer @ent3c.bsky.social · 28d

In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.

Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are

Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · 29d

All about why we get Mendel wrong and why it matters. Watch the video where I explain the issues, or read excepts from several book reviews.

kampourakis.com/how-we-get-m...

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · Oct 3

New Cambridge Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—fully #openaccess! @thomasreydon.bsky.social explores how evolutionary theory crosses over from biology into other fields, showing how these crossovers embody a broader style of reasoning: 'evolutionary thinking' bit.ly/48z3h36 #HPbio #evosky

Book cover of “The Scope of Evolutionary Thinking” by Thomas A. C. Reydon, in the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Biology series. Against a black background, the title is surrounded by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations of marine organisms—radial, symmetrical forms in vivid blues, oranges, reds, and greens.

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Oct 2

Here is the Greek edition of my book Ancestry Reimagined. If you happen to be in Athens, Greece, on November 3, there will be a book discussion at the publisher's main bookstore. More info to come.

cup.gr/book/ethniki...

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis, Nikki Fairchild, Elizabeth Ewan

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Sep 20

“The big perspective change from ancient DNA study is that people living today are almost never the descendants of the people in the same place thousands of years before”

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

Pure bloodlines? Ancestral homelands? DNA science says no. — Harvard Gazette

Geneticist explains recent analyses made possible by tech advances show human history to be one of mixing, movement, displacement.

news.harvard.edu

Reposted by Kostas Kampourakis

Kostas Kampourakis @kampourakisk.bsky.social · Sep 15

Why studies about reconstructing the past based on contemporary DNA makes me think of the streetlight effect

open.substack.com/pub/kostaska...

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