Joan Silk
@jbsilk.bsky.social
Evolutionary anthropologist, primate behavioral ecologist, and part-time baker.
Just in case you need a visual: xkcd.com/1379/
4.5 Degrees
xkcd.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:40 AM
Just in case you need a visual: xkcd.com/1379/
#GreatAdaptations The adaptive value of diversity www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
January 2, 2026 at 3:06 PM
#GreatAdaptations The adaptive value of diversity www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
#GreatAdaptations Intransitive strategies in lizards www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
January 2, 2026 at 3:04 PM
#GreatAdaptations Intransitive strategies in lizards www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
How exactly does this work? FEWER staff will get LESS outside help and this will REDUCE their workload. Color me skeptical. www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Science Magazine - NSF pares back grant-review process to ease workload
To ease the burden on a staff that has shrunk significantly since President Donald Trump took office, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is reducing the role of outside experts in reviewing...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org
December 19, 2025 at 1:57 PM
How exactly does this work? FEWER staff will get LESS outside help and this will REDUCE their workload. Color me skeptical. www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
#GreatAdaptations Because we all need a bit of levity these days.
Animals with misleading names. I'm seeing this go around as part of a viral tumblr thread so I thought I'd reshare it.
December 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
#GreatAdaptations Because we all need a bit of levity these days.
#GreatAdaptations This is clearly a very early April Fool's joke
So love wobbegongs. Everything is good about the wobbegong. Its name. Its flattened Oscar the Grouch face. Its frondy bits. Its lazy life as a hungry rug. And it’s a shark. Outstanding animal 10/10
The Tasselled Wobbegong is a master of disguise that can eat a fish almost as big as itself in one gulp. It's classified as a shark, but when it lays on the sea floor it looks like a harmless rug if you manage to see it. But with powerful jaws and sharp teeth they are no fish to mess with.
December 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
#GreatAdaptations This is clearly a very early April Fool's joke
My bet is 2026 is going to look much worse. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:53 PM
My bet is 2026 is going to look much worse. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
It wasn't hard to see this coming, but even so it's hard to accept. Anyone know whether other divisions were affected?
All NSF SBE DDRIG solicitations have been archived and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Grants currently submitted will be processed, but as always, chances of funding remain very low. This means anyone aiming for the upcoming deadline will not be able to submit. 1/3
November 27, 2025 at 11:48 PM
It wasn't hard to see this coming, but even so it's hard to accept. Anyone know whether other divisions were affected?
#GreatAdaptations Sadly males may be able to impress females, but not see them.
We had a new paper out yesterday in @royalsocietypublishing.org Biology Letters. About how the cranial feathers of male Golden and Lady Amherst’s Pheasants affect their visual fields. Nice to see it picked up The New York Times and Science. Paper link below.
November 27, 2025 at 11:38 PM
#GreatAdaptations Sadly males may be able to impress females, but not see them.
#GreatAdaptations Lethal intergroup aggression in chimpanzees has adaptive benefits (for the victors) www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
www.pnas.org
November 22, 2025 at 6:21 PM
#GreatAdaptations Lethal intergroup aggression in chimpanzees has adaptive benefits (for the victors) www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
#GreatAdaptations New data from a species that keeps teaching us more about how females hold their own in reproductive conflicts with males.
Not all sexual swellings signal fertility. Some signal strategy. In our new Current Biology paper, we show how gelada females “fake it” during male takeovers—and why it works.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
November 20, 2025 at 2:18 PM
#GreatAdaptations New data from a species that keeps teaching us more about how females hold their own in reproductive conflicts with males.
Reposted by Joan Silk
Hard to think of a better epitaph for a scientist than this: “She inspired us to see the world with both rigor and heart”
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
In Memoriam Jane B. Lancaster (1935–2025), a Pioneer in Anthropology
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Hard to think of a better epitaph for a scientist than this: “She inspired us to see the world with both rigor and heart”
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
So very sad and so very unnecessary.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
So very sad and so very unnecessary.
Reposted by Joan Silk
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
More interesting data on Guinea baboons and more evidence of the diversity in social/mating systems among the awesome Papionins
Nested Male Reproductive Strategies in a Tolerant Multilevel Primate Society https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.27.684814v1
October 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
More interesting data on Guinea baboons and more evidence of the diversity in social/mating systems among the awesome Papionins
Reposted by Joan Silk
Post-doc position with James Higham at NYU looking at the effects that hurricanes have on aging and how sociality may mitigate these effects.
bioanth.org/jobs/post-do...
bioanth.org/jobs/post-do...
Post-Doctoral Associate - AABA
Note - while the position is available immediately, the start date is flexible. Interested applicants should just apply as soon as possible - we will evaluate applications on a rolling basis. Descri...
bioanth.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Post-doc position with James Higham at NYU looking at the effects that hurricanes have on aging and how sociality may mitigate these effects.
bioanth.org/jobs/post-do...
bioanth.org/jobs/post-do...
An interesting (and unusual) fission event in olive baboons.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Social patterns underlying a new group formation in olive baboons
In group-living animals, social and ecological challenges can push groups to fission into two or more ‘daughter’ groups. Here, we describe the demographic and social behavioral changes that were assoc...
journals.plos.org
October 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
An interesting (and unusual) fission event in olive baboons.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Lovely new data on how Himba women learn to breastfeed successfully.
New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Social learning is critical to breastfeeding success: evidence from rural Namibian pastoralists
AbstractBackground and objectives. Lactation is one of the defining features of mammals, yet many humans struggle with breastfeeding. One reason for this i
academic.oup.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Lovely new data on how Himba women learn to breastfeed successfully.
Did everyone but me know about CtrF to search PDFs?
October 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Did everyone but me know about CtrF to search PDFs?
There are a lot of disappointed second year graduate students whose have already invested time and energy in preparing GFRP applications. There is no excuse for phasing in this new rule without prior notice.
🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 27, 2025 at 3:34 AM
There are a lot of disappointed second year graduate students whose have already invested time and energy in preparing GFRP applications. There is no excuse for phasing in this new rule without prior notice.
Reposted by Joan Silk
🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 26, 2025 at 6:55 PM
🧪The NSF has made changes to the GRFP solicitation and eligibility TODAY that may change your eligibility! PLEASE read through the solicitation if you were planning to apply and speak to your mentors about the merits of applying: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Some very good advice for thriving in graduate school dorsaamir.medium.com/modest-advic...
Modest Advice for New Graduate Students
Throughout the course of my years in graduate school, I kept a running list of the best advice given to me, and the strategies that helped…
dorsaamir.medium.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Some very good advice for thriving in graduate school dorsaamir.medium.com/modest-advic...
New evidence about how do people in a small scale society acquire foraging skills and knowledge?
💙New paper!💙
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 14, 2025 at 9:23 PM
New evidence about how do people in a small scale society acquire foraging skills and knowledge?
Good news. Better news, there are still GFRPs for Life Sciences (due Oct 27) and Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences (due Oct 28).
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Good news. Better news, there are still GFRPs for Life Sciences (due Oct 27) and Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences (due Oct 28).
#GreatAdaptations Better than science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
#GreatAdaptations Better than science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...