Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
@cvansickle.bsky.social
Feminist, paleoanthropologist, associate professor of anatomy. Website: carolinevansickle.com. Was once known as @cvans but no longer.
Gray of Gray's Anatomy died at age 34??
I need to learn more, but what a legacy. I always assumed he lived to old age and published a lot over a long career, thus the fame!
I need to learn more, but what a legacy. I always assumed he lived to old age and published a lot over a long career, thus the fame!
Henry Gray of Grays Anatomy in a dissection room, c.1845. Gray contracted smallpox after caring for his nephew, who eventually recovered. On 13 June 1861, the day he was to appear for an interview as a final candidate for a prestigious hospital post, he died at the age of 34. #histmed #skystorians
January 7, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Gray of Gray's Anatomy died at age 34??
I need to learn more, but what a legacy. I always assumed he lived to old age and published a lot over a long career, thus the fame!
I need to learn more, but what a legacy. I always assumed he lived to old age and published a lot over a long career, thus the fame!
TIL that in APA7, your first in-text reference might have a "b" after the year (e.g., "(Berndt, 2004b)"). And that the new suggestion is to include more specific date info if available.
Purdue OWL: Teaching me about citation styles since, uh, forever!
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research...
Purdue OWL: Teaching me about citation styles since, uh, forever!
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research...
![Screenshot from the Purdue OWL APA 7 citation page on Reference List: Author/Authors (link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html).
Text reads:
[Section Title] Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year
[Section Text] If you are using more than one reference by the same author—or the same group of authors listed in the same order—published in the same year, first check to see if they have more specific dates ([noted in red font] this recommendation is new to APA 7). Works with only a year should be listed before those with a more specific date. List specific dates chronologically. If two works have the same publication date, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. If references with the same date are identified as parts of a series (e.g. Part 1 and Part 2), list them in order of their place in the series. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your reference list, e.g.: "Berndt (2004a) makes similar claims..."
Berndt, T. J. (2004a). Children’s friendships: Shifts over a half-century in perspectives on their development and their effects. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 50(3), 206-223.
Berndt, T. J. (2004b). Friendship and three A’s (aggression, adjustment, and attachment). Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88(1), 1-4.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yg6xozhuldz7vprypbt2cavp/bafkreihpllpn5ywf7hmznwme3zlhsza3ehibi4fqhyk5hgl7gxz24tfdvy@jpeg)
January 6, 2026 at 6:21 PM
TIL that in APA7, your first in-text reference might have a "b" after the year (e.g., "(Berndt, 2004b)"). And that the new suggestion is to include more specific date info if available.
Purdue OWL: Teaching me about citation styles since, uh, forever!
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research...
Purdue OWL: Teaching me about citation styles since, uh, forever!
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research...
I’ve been guilty of thinking I can project loudly enough. I’m grateful for the HoH folks who took the time to inform me that wasn’t enough. Always use the mic.
Always use the mic at a conference even if you’re loud. People who can’t hear you *can’t hear you * when you ask if you can hear them in the back. Some of us went to one too many hardcore shows in our youth without ear plugs and our hearing ain’t what it used to be 🥺
#SICB2026
#SICB2026
January 4, 2026 at 6:54 PM
I’ve been guilty of thinking I can project loudly enough. I’m grateful for the HoH folks who took the time to inform me that wasn’t enough. Always use the mic.
I started reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan & found myself impressed by this take on drawing in the forward by David Allen Sibley.
I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.
I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.
December 30, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I started reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan & found myself impressed by this take on drawing in the forward by David Allen Sibley.
I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.
I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.
Imagine how much writing I (or anyone) would get done with help like that!
All it takes is being ok taking advantage of and disenfranchising half the population.
All it takes is being ok taking advantage of and disenfranchising half the population.
I am very fucking tired of reading woe-is-me essays from men who a few decades ago would have had a researcher, copyeditor, and sometimes ghostwriter working for free while she also did the cooking, cleaning, and childcare.
What you miss is women’s free labor.
womensagenda.com.au/life/meet-lo...
What you miss is women’s free labor.
womensagenda.com.au/life/meet-lo...
Meet the long-suffering 'wives' who seriously aided their writing husbands
Vladimir and Vera Nabokov in 1969.
womensagenda.com.au
December 29, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Imagine how much writing I (or anyone) would get done with help like that!
All it takes is being ok taking advantage of and disenfranchising half the population.
All it takes is being ok taking advantage of and disenfranchising half the population.
I like this assessment. I’ve not read Pratchett widely, but the books I have read all has surprisingly philosophical commentary tucked into what was otherwise a “fun fantasy”.
Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
December 25, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I like this assessment. I’ve not read Pratchett widely, but the books I have read all has surprisingly philosophical commentary tucked into what was otherwise a “fun fantasy”.
I consider myself a biological anthropologist who sometimes has to engage with evolutionary biologists.
In EB, too often the conclusions are about how biology determines culture. In BA, we learn that culture & biology are interrelated, affecting each other but not determining (that’s too narrow).
In EB, too often the conclusions are about how biology determines culture. In BA, we learn that culture & biology are interrelated, affecting each other but not determining (that’s too narrow).
Hey, fellow evolutionary biologists:
If you support trans rights, like, comment, or repost this. I want to show that transphobes like Richard Dawkins are a loud minority that does not represent our community
If you support trans rights, like, comment, or repost this. I want to show that transphobes like Richard Dawkins are a loud minority that does not represent our community
And that’s a follow.
Actually I do have a question if you have a sec.
Without exception the most transphobic group of scientists I’ve run into online are evolutionary biologists. Every single one of them has expressed the same opinion: transness cannot be anything other than social contagion. Why?
Actually I do have a question if you have a sec.
Without exception the most transphobic group of scientists I’ve run into online are evolutionary biologists. Every single one of them has expressed the same opinion: transness cannot be anything other than social contagion. Why?
December 22, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I consider myself a biological anthropologist who sometimes has to engage with evolutionary biologists.
In EB, too often the conclusions are about how biology determines culture. In BA, we learn that culture & biology are interrelated, affecting each other but not determining (that’s too narrow).
In EB, too often the conclusions are about how biology determines culture. In BA, we learn that culture & biology are interrelated, affecting each other but not determining (that’s too narrow).
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
I just wish someone would be honest and say “we are ending civilian science in favor of science that is focused on serving national security and war”
December 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I just wish someone would be honest and say “we are ending civilian science in favor of science that is focused on serving national security and war”
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
💫New research out now!💫
Hutson and colleagues demonstrate that men get hired as faculty in archaeology PhD programs more often than women, putting strain on women PhD mentors. And they have some suggestions about what to do about it, too.
Read here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Hutson and colleagues demonstrate that men get hired as faculty in archaeology PhD programs more often than women, putting strain on women PhD mentors. And they have some suggestions about what to do about it, too.
Read here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Different Destinations: Clarifying and Addressing Pipeline Problems for Women in Academic Archaeology | Advances in Archaeological Practice | Cambridge Core
Different Destinations: Clarifying and Addressing Pipeline Problems for Women in Academic Archaeology
www.cambridge.org
December 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
💫New research out now!💫
Hutson and colleagues demonstrate that men get hired as faculty in archaeology PhD programs more often than women, putting strain on women PhD mentors. And they have some suggestions about what to do about it, too.
Read here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Hutson and colleagues demonstrate that men get hired as faculty in archaeology PhD programs more often than women, putting strain on women PhD mentors. And they have some suggestions about what to do about it, too.
Read here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
Another story from my years as a manager: there was a period of time when my group of I think eight direct reports consisted entirely of women, and one day a man from a different group made a comment about how "people are wondering when Snitty is going to hire some men."
December 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Another story from my years as a manager: there was a period of time when my group of I think eight direct reports consisted entirely of women, and one day a man from a different group made a comment about how "people are wondering when Snitty is going to hire some men."
Will an anthropologist be able to identify your sex and gender from your bones 100 years from now? I sure hope so!
Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve.
www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...
Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve.
www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...
An Anthropologist’s Perspective on Sex and Gender in the Skeleton
Anthropological methods show that skeletal sex is an estimate, not a certainty, revealing the limits of binary claims about human identity.
www.prosocial.world
December 18, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Will an anthropologist be able to identify your sex and gender from your bones 100 years from now? I sure hope so!
Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve.
www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...
Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve.
www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...
Some guy on the internet is apparently complaining about not getting hired because he’s a white dude.
It’s like he doesn’t realize his position is “white guys should get unfair advantages because we’re better” — aka classic white supremacy.
And he’s allegedly a historian! 🤦♀️
*
It’s like he doesn’t realize his position is “white guys should get unfair advantages because we’re better” — aka classic white supremacy.
And he’s allegedly a historian! 🤦♀️
*
December 17, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Some guy on the internet is apparently complaining about not getting hired because he’s a white dude.
It’s like he doesn’t realize his position is “white guys should get unfair advantages because we’re better” — aka classic white supremacy.
And he’s allegedly a historian! 🤦♀️
*
It’s like he doesn’t realize his position is “white guys should get unfair advantages because we’re better” — aka classic white supremacy.
And he’s allegedly a historian! 🤦♀️
*
In other work-related musings: I love it when my concern is not having enough to say in an article, only to find out I have too much to say. Future me will hate cutting this down, but right now, this draft is fun to write! Maybe I’ll find a way to save the cut text for a future piece.
December 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
In other work-related musings: I love it when my concern is not having enough to say in an article, only to find out I have too much to say. Future me will hate cutting this down, but right now, this draft is fun to write! Maybe I’ll find a way to save the cut text for a future piece.
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
…. I tried looking up what “Eastern Pacific“ means and our media stenography situation is such that they all reported that phrase without asking ANY questions
No judge. No jury. Just the Secretary of War.
December 16, 2025 at 12:57 PM
…. I tried looking up what “Eastern Pacific“ means and our media stenography situation is such that they all reported that phrase without asking ANY questions
Last year around this time, I committed to taking two full weeks off at the end of the year. As the vacation days approach, I’m not contemplating “no deadlines December” for 2026, in which I avoid anything with a due date after Thanksgiving 2026. The name is a work in progress!
December 16, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Last year around this time, I committed to taking two full weeks off at the end of the year. As the vacation days approach, I’m not contemplating “no deadlines December” for 2026, in which I avoid anything with a due date after Thanksgiving 2026. The name is a work in progress!
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
December 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
🧪This is how global collaboration of science is supposed to work.
Via @sciencestories.bsky.social on IG
Via @sciencestories.bsky.social on IG
December 13, 2025 at 2:15 AM
🧪This is how global collaboration of science is supposed to work.
Via @sciencestories.bsky.social on IG
Via @sciencestories.bsky.social on IG
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
"I build the logistics that allow science to happen.
I build the trust that allows people to participate.
I build the culture that allows others to flourish.
For years, I chased independence; now I understand that interdependence is the true engine of
discovery." 🧪
I build the trust that allows people to participate.
I build the culture that allows others to flourish.
For years, I chased independence; now I understand that interdependence is the true engine of
discovery." 🧪
The Day I Was Told I Wasn’t Doing Science—And Why I’m Grateful for It
✅ Just Accepted
🔗 https://bit.ly/48P0wcJ
✅ Just Accepted
🔗 https://bit.ly/48P0wcJ
December 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
"I build the logistics that allow science to happen.
I build the trust that allows people to participate.
I build the culture that allows others to flourish.
For years, I chased independence; now I understand that interdependence is the true engine of
discovery." 🧪
I build the trust that allows people to participate.
I build the culture that allows others to flourish.
For years, I chased independence; now I understand that interdependence is the true engine of
discovery." 🧪
I would totally read a popular science article digging into how LLMs expose the intersection of language and culture that we typically take for granted. What does that intersection say about society today? How are LLMs changing society by changing language and culture?
This guy’s not on bsky but the experiments are really interesting, and fit my sense that LLMs will reliably give good answers about things that only highly specialized nerds have ever written anything about, and do better the larger that community of nerds is and the more unique their jargon is. BUT
December 12, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I would totally read a popular science article digging into how LLMs expose the intersection of language and culture that we typically take for granted. What does that intersection say about society today? How are LLMs changing society by changing language and culture?
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
UVic Anthropology's April Nowell was interviewed for this story on Neanderthals making fire using pyrite in the UK 400,000 yrs ago: www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
@uvic.ca @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social #anthropology #Neanderthals
@uvic.ca @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social #anthropology #Neanderthals
'It is the most exciting discovery in my 40-year career': Archaeologists uncover evidence that Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago in England
Archaeologists have found the earliest evidence yet of fire technology — and it was created by Neanderthals in England more than 400,000 years ago.
www.livescience.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
UVic Anthropology's April Nowell was interviewed for this story on Neanderthals making fire using pyrite in the UK 400,000 yrs ago: www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
@uvic.ca @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social #anthropology #Neanderthals
@uvic.ca @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social #anthropology #Neanderthals
I often wonder how LLM usage will change human language usage (picturing future-speak from Idiocracy and shuddering).
The idea that poor communicators with other humans will also be poor communicators with LLMs is amazing insight. We need more content like this.
The idea that poor communicators with other humans will also be poor communicators with LLMs is amazing insight. We need more content like this.
there’s a lot of irony around how writing a genuinely good prompt for LLMs requires the exact kind of clarity and precision in communication that is taught by good (human) writing instructors - who have now almost all been laid off by college admins
December 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
I often wonder how LLM usage will change human language usage (picturing future-speak from Idiocracy and shuddering).
The idea that poor communicators with other humans will also be poor communicators with LLMs is amazing insight. We need more content like this.
The idea that poor communicators with other humans will also be poor communicators with LLMs is amazing insight. We need more content like this.
I hear the US state dept has switched #fonts from #Calibri to #TimesNewRoman, because the former was chosen for better accessibility.
Hate to break it to you, but TNR was similarly developed to be accessible and underwent medical testing before being widely adopted:
www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12...
Hate to break it to you, but TNR was similarly developed to be accessible and underwent medical testing before being widely adopted:
www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12...
www.nypl.org
December 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I hear the US state dept has switched #fonts from #Calibri to #TimesNewRoman, because the former was chosen for better accessibility.
Hate to break it to you, but TNR was similarly developed to be accessible and underwent medical testing before being widely adopted:
www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12...
Hate to break it to you, but TNR was similarly developed to be accessible and underwent medical testing before being widely adopted:
www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12...
Reposted by Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
"All right, class, who knows what Watson and Crick discovered?"
"Rosalind Franklin's notes."
"That's correct."
"Rosalind Franklin's notes."
"That's correct."
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 PM
"All right, class, who knows what Watson and Crick discovered?"
"Rosalind Franklin's notes."
"That's correct."
"Rosalind Franklin's notes."
"That's correct."