Michael Hochberg
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mkhochb.bsky.social
Michael Hochberg
@mkhochb.bsky.social
560 followers 220 following 120 posts
University of Montpellier - Santa Fe Institute. Working these days on intelligence in biological and artificial systems. Website https://mehochberg.wixsite.com/blog/academia
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mkhochb.bsky.social
Michael Hochberg @mkhochb.bsky.social · 11d
Latest preprint where I analyze a simple coevolutionary model of somatic mutation rate and fitness lifespan. Evolution is mediated by disease, notably cancers. The model can explain the non-linear empirical relationship between somatic mutation and lifespan, and more. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Disease as a Mediator of Somatic Mutation - Fitspan Coevolution: Model Analysis and Empirical Tests
Multicellular organisms are confronted not only with germline mutations, but also mutations emerging in somatic cells. Somatic mutations can lead to various conditions, diseases, and cancers in partic...
www.biorxiv.org
mkhochb.bsky.social
if you understand geometry you will understand what is going on
January 3, 2026 at 4:28 PM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Thanks to Barry Sinervo for leading decades-long research on the amazing side-blotched lizards. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/s...
This Diminutive Reptile Plays Rock-Paper-Scissors
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
robjohnnoble.bsky.social
Abstract submission is now open for the 2026 ISEEC Conference (21st-24th May in Crete). The theme is human-tech cooperation for the evolutionary management of cancer but we welcome submissions on all topics related to evolution, ecology and cancer. Submit abstracts by 10th Jan via www.evocancer.com
ISEEC
The International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
www.evocancer.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:55 AM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Latest preprint where I analyze a simple coevolutionary model of somatic mutation rate and fitness lifespan. Evolution is mediated by disease, notably cancers. The model can explain the non-linear empirical relationship between somatic mutation and lifespan, and more. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Disease as a Mediator of Somatic Mutation - Fitspan Coevolution: Model Analysis and Empirical Tests
Multicellular organisms are confronted not only with germline mutations, but also mutations emerging in somatic cells. Somatic mutations can lead to various conditions, diseases, and cancers in partic...
www.biorxiv.org
December 23, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
danielbolnick.bsky.social
Putting on my hat as @asn-amnat.bsky.social ASN President for a minute for a string of announcements, please share widely!!!

1. Student research awards are open for applications, to fund research expenses for 10 graduate students ($2000 each)
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Student Research Award
<p>The ASN Student Research Awards support research by student members that advances the goals of the society: the conceptual unification of ecology, evolution, and behavior. Each award consists of a ...
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mkhochb.bsky.social
After about a year of almost daily use, I'm having my first argument with ChatGpt. Seems it differs in "opinion" with Gemini about the employment of e-folding for return times to equilibrium between nodes and foci. Getting to the bottom of this!
December 10, 2025 at 11:56 AM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Was happy to run into a pair of Buthus occitanus during a hike. They seemed happy too.
December 4, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
bjjbarrett.bsky.social
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz

files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
files.newsletter2go.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Nice discussion of our recent paper led by
@paulbrainey.bsky.social on possible routes to Human - AI interdependence and emergence of a new evolutionary individual www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7LM...
#48 Could humans and AI merge into an evolutionary individual?
YouTube video by The DeepDive lab
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
thomaslenormand.bsky.social
Un poste d’IE en bioinformatique est actuellement ouvert au CEFE à Montpellier pour travailler dans le cadre de l'ERC RegEvol.

Détails ici:

emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Début 01/01/2026 pour 18 mois potentiellement renouvelable.

candidature jusqu'au 29/11

N’hésitez pas à diffuser largement
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Ingénieur d'études en bioinformatique (H/F)
emploi.cnrs.fr
November 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
alexmesoudi.com
Come and do a PhD at Exeter with me and Chico Camargo (Computer Science) on human-genAI coevolution

"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"

www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...

More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
www.exeter.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
paulbrainey.bsky.social
😳😶‍🌫️🧐

youtu.be/Y7LM3ERa0SE
#48 Could humans and AI merge into an evolutionary individual?
YouTube video by The DeepDive lab
youtu.be
November 15, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
royalsocietypublishing.org
New theme issue of #PhilTransB on the evolutionary functions of #consciousness. Read: buff.ly/blMm4eR
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
mollyprz.bsky.social
SAVE THE DATE: the yearly NY Population Genetics meeting will be back on March 9 2026, generously hosted by the
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
clauswilke.com
My department at UT Austin is looking to hire an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology, broadly defined. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.
apply.interfolio.com/177547
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Still some hope. They did say "implies".
riannejar.bsky.social Rian Nejar 🦋 @riannejar.bsky.social · Nov 10
Physicists prove the #Universe is NOT a #SIMULATION [via UBC Okanagan] 🧪🥼🌌❌🔢

“[From] [math] theorems [of] incompleteness and indefinability, we [show] that a fully consistent and complete description of reality cannot be achieved through #computation alone”

news.ok.ubc.ca/2025/10/30/u...

#real
UBCO study debunks the idea that the universe is a computer simulation - UBC's Okanagan News
New study uses logic and physics to definitively answer one of science's biggest questions
news.ok.ubc.ca
November 10, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
pleunipennings.bsky.social
I started a new job in Montpellier, France!
Happy about new opportunities, sad about the state of things in the US.

abetterscientist.wordpress.com/2025/10/26/w...
We left the US and moved to France
Hello readers, I got big updates! Some of you already know this, but it’s getting more real and more official every month: my family and I have left the US and moved to France! A few months ago I q…
abetterscientist.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:19 PM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Hard to know what to say here. So much going on.
brenttoderian.bsky.social Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Nov 6
Last night’s election results, in a nutshell.

(watching this legitimately made me laugh out loud)
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Nov 3
just....enjoy this
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
trevorgraham.bsky.social
New @natgenet.nature.com paper from the brilliant @eszterlakatos.bsky.social presents evidence that chromatin alterations disrupt antigen presentation & neoantigens in colorectal cancer. Also that immune escape is part of the "Big Bang", at the outset of CRC growth. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Epigenetically driven and early immune evasion in colorectal cancer evolution - Nature Genetics
This study nominates immune escape as an early event in colorectal cancer and shows how this can be driven through both genetic and epigenetic changes.
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
nature.com
A new technique called ‘mind captioning’ generates descriptive sentences of what a person is seeing or picturing in their mind using a read-out of their brain activity, with impressive accuracy.

go.nature.com/3XbnxB1
‘Mind-captioning’ AI decodes brain activity to turn thoughts into text
A non-invasive imaging technique can translate scenes in your head into sentences. It could help to reveal how the brain interprets the world.
go.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
spp2389.bsky.social
@kostchristian.bsky.social has an open PhD position as a part of #SPP2389 !
#microsky #mevosky
kostchristian.bsky.social Christian Kost @kostchristian.bsky.social · Oct 28
#microsky #mevosky @spp2389.bsky.social

A PhD position is available in my lab to work on:

Emergence and self-organisation of bacterial metabolism in consortia of cross-feeding bacteria.

Please RT

Deadline: 12.11.25

More infos 👇
shorturl.at/rAKAT
October 30, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
nature.com
Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake

go.nature.com/3X5lbUg
From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected
Nature - In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.
go.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
sheldonbirds.bsky.social
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Examples of some recent papers from graduate students in my group - a full list of recent papers and preprints can be found here (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=pTdxVdIAAAAJ) and profile of the group here: https://egioxford.web.ox.ac.uk/members The annual Wytham Field Team Photo! Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025 Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Michael Hochberg
chaintist.bsky.social
Had to draw a cartoon for this fascinating finding!
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SymbioSky
A cartoon/ digital drawing summarising the findings of the paper "Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs" by T. Nishino et al published in 2025. On the top left, a female Megymenum gracilicorne bug shows off symbiotic organs on the hind legs where she carries Ascomycota fungi. These were previously assumed to be Tympanal organs in these bugs but only females had them?; that didnt make a whole lot of sense to the authors...To the right of the bug is a row of eggs lying side by side. The paper shows that the bugs deposit the symbiotic fungi on the egg surface after egg-laying. Next on the image, fungal conidia grow on the egg surface. The eggs are pinkish in colour. A few fungi wear sunglasses like they are body guards. The paper shows that they protect the eggs from Trissolcus brevinotaulus, a parasitoid wasp, that likes to lay its eggs inside the developing bug's eggs. There are two wasps in this cartoon "eyeing" the fungi and looking frustrated. Eggs turn from whitish to pinkish within 10-days because they are reflecting the body colour of the nymph within the eggs.
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
mkhochb.bsky.social
Looking forward to this binge
October 15, 2025 at 1:08 PM