Rachel Kendal
@rachkendal.bsky.social
Interested in cultural evolution, evolutionary anthropology, psychology, primatology, equitable academia, cats, dogs, wild swimming and camping. Prof at Durham Uni, UK (she/her)
Thanks @patrickesavage.bsky.social great to see the door stop being used in great teaching @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @durhamdcerc.bsky.social
This thicc 71-chapter book (academic.oup.com/edited-volum...) arrived just in time to use as the textbook for my new "Cultural Evolution" class I've just started teaching!
Featuring this chapter from @cailinmeister.bsky.social @psmaldino.bsky.social & Jingyi Wu as well as much more including...
Featuring this chapter from @cailinmeister.bsky.social @psmaldino.bsky.social & Jingyi Wu as well as much more including...
November 6, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Thanks @patrickesavage.bsky.social great to see the door stop being used in great teaching @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @durhamdcerc.bsky.social
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
This graph never fails to be shocking: "The US has experienced the earliest and greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements among higher-income countries, reported Eileen Crimmins. “We have horrible life expectancy—and it’s getting worse and worse”"
www.prb.org/resources/se...
www.prb.org/resources/se...
October 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
This graph never fails to be shocking: "The US has experienced the earliest and greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements among higher-income countries, reported Eileen Crimmins. “We have horrible life expectancy—and it’s getting worse and worse”"
www.prb.org/resources/se...
www.prb.org/resources/se...
First paper out in FACE-UP project on protecting children from urban air pollution www.growkudos.com/articles/10.... with Judith Covey and @clairehorwell.bsky.social. @durhamanthropology.bsky.social
Children’s preferences for features and designs of KN95-style respirators: A comparative study between Indonesia and Nepal
This study explores children’s preferences for different designs of KN95-style respirators in two highly polluted cities: Kathmandu, Nepal and Bandung, Indonesia. It aims to understand which designs a...
www.growkudos.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
First paper out in FACE-UP project on protecting children from urban air pollution www.growkudos.com/articles/10.... with Judith Covey and @clairehorwell.bsky.social. @durhamanthropology.bsky.social
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
Standing up for science is one way to push back against political attacks on the university sector 👇 Experts in biology and anthropology have put together this statement to counter misinformation about race. Please consider signing and sharing
Trump's very first example of the Smithsonian's "corrosive ideology" was an exhibit that correctly stated "Race is a human invention." How is scientific consensus (that biological races don't exist in humans) corrosive? We are asking scientists to co-sign our statement: forms.gle/kqKQF9CZ3jPB...
September 27, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Standing up for science is one way to push back against political attacks on the university sector 👇 Experts in biology and anthropology have put together this statement to counter misinformation about race. Please consider signing and sharing
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
We are delighted to announce that the CES2026 conference website is now live! We invite you to submit your presentation proposals using the link on the webpage, deadline November 16th:
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES
airess.fgses-um6p.ma
September 13, 2025 at 3:01 AM
We are delighted to announce that the CES2026 conference website is now live! We invite you to submit your presentation proposals using the link on the webpage, deadline November 16th:
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
Cool stuff!
There's a lot more in the paper itself, here's the link!
Opening strategies in the game of go from feudalism to superhuman AI | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Opening strategies in the game of go from feudalism to superhuman AI - Volume 7
www.cambridge.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Cool stuff!
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
💙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 7:52 AM
💙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...
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
Apply now to study at Durham! Not only would you be working with Sheina or Lynda, both fantastic scholars, but you'd be part of a department with a thriving PGR community, and a member of DCERC!
@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised!
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution
2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions.
Please share and apply!
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Fees and Funding - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Apply now to study at Durham! Not only would you be working with Sheina or Lynda, both fantastic scholars, but you'd be part of a department with a thriving PGR community, and a member of DCERC!
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
PhD post! 2 students sought to join the BIRES project, taking a body image intervention developed in Nicaragua and Colombia and examining how (and if!) It can be adapted in other LatAm and African youth.
Please share with your students.
#PsychSciSky
#Anthropology
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Please share with your students.
#PsychSciSky
#Anthropology
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
September 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
PhD post! 2 students sought to join the BIRES project, taking a body image intervention developed in Nicaragua and Colombia and examining how (and if!) It can be adapted in other LatAm and African youth.
Please share with your students.
#PsychSciSky
#Anthropology
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
Please share with your students.
#PsychSciSky
#Anthropology
www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...
What a week that was!
Can't believe it's already been a whole year since we hosted the CES 2024 Conference here at Durham! Such a fantastic week hearing about diverse and fascinating research @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social 1/4
September 9, 2025 at 8:37 AM
What a week that was!
A project started shortly before Covid hit has finally arrived in print, phew!
Physical copies of this 71-chapter tome now exist. Do encourage your library to buy a copy…also doubles as excellent door stop! Co-edited with Jamie Tehrani and @rachkendal.bsky.social. @oxunipress.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 2:32 PM
A project started shortly before Covid hit has finally arrived in print, phew!
New comparative paper on sequence cognition led by the wonderful @missdaffodil.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Humans may not have a uniquely enhanced sequence memory: sequence discrimination is facilitated by causal–logical framing in humans and chimpanzees | Royal Society Open Science
Humans have been suggested to possess uniquely enhanced memory for sequences, based on sequence discrimination learning (SDL) tasks involving arbitrarily ordered sequences with no functional connection to outcomes. Such tasks underestimate animals’ SDL as ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
July 16, 2025 at 9:47 AM
New comparative paper on sequence cognition led by the wonderful @missdaffodil.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Very cool!
been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...
June 12, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Very cool!
Fantastic new paper 👏
🚨New publication... Children's films contain innacurate gender stereotypes and these corresespond to children's (and adult's) implicit and explicit gendered associations.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Read thread for more details...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Read thread for more details...
Mr Predator and Mrs Prey: Gender Stereotypes in Children's Films Correlate With Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotyping
Children acquire gender stereotypes at a young age and these subsequently influence cognition and behavior. Stereotypes may be learned through a child's direct observation of gender differences as we....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 30, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Fantastic new paper 👏
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
I'm THRILLED that our book is out. This book, with other 60 contributors from across the globe (!!!) is a love letter to the science we want to do, and a how-to guide for how to do it. Please read it and share it!
OUT NOW: A Field Guide to Cross-Cultural Research on Childhood Learning reimagines how we study kids—globally. With voices from 21 countries, this inclusive, practical guide bridges disciplines and challenges Western-centric research. buff.ly/0qk1cOs
May 9, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I'm THRILLED that our book is out. This book, with other 60 contributors from across the globe (!!!) is a love letter to the science we want to do, and a how-to guide for how to do it. Please read it and share it!
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
The International Society for Neuroethology has a grant for disadvantaged scientists investigating the mechanisms of animal behaviour. Apply for funds to help overcome any barriers you face!
Membership fees can be included in your application.
Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
Membership fees can be included in your application.
Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
April 4, 2025 at 2:21 PM
The International Society for Neuroethology has a grant for disadvantaged scientists investigating the mechanisms of animal behaviour. Apply for funds to help overcome any barriers you face!
Membership fees can be included in your application.
Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
Membership fees can be included in your application.
Details here: www.neuroethology.org/diversity-aw...
A fab little book giving first hand insights
What a refreshing set of perspectives, including a chapter by ex-Durham Anthro student, Alex Hill.
February 22, 2025 at 9:18 PM
A fab little book giving first hand insights
Great paper featuring @brucerawlings.bsky.social and @sheinalew.bsky.social from @durhamdcerc.bsky.social
The looks great: “cross-cultural developmental research poses distinct problems for ensuring high construct validity, owing to the nuances of working with children; the standard approach of transporting protocols designed & validated in one population to another risks low construct validity”
Construct Validity in Cross-Cultural, Developmental Research: Challenges and Strategies for Improvement | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Construct Validity in Cross-Cultural, Developmental Research: Challenges and Strategies for Improvement
www.cambridge.org
February 22, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Great paper featuring @brucerawlings.bsky.social and @sheinalew.bsky.social from @durhamdcerc.bsky.social
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
Join us in Durham Anthropology - we’re hiring an Assistant Prof in Anthropology of Data Science. durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Assistant Professor in Anthropology of Data Science (Research %26 Education) (ANT_01)
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
February 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Join us in Durham Anthropology - we’re hiring an Assistant Prof in Anthropology of Data Science. durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Fab project to postdoc in if you are into cultural evolution and modelling 👇
We're hiring! Are you a cultural evolutionary modeller who wants to understand how and why children's peer cultures evolve? Here's a postdoc position for you! @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @eslr.bsky.social
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
January 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Fab project to postdoc in if you are into cultural evolution and modelling 👇
Guaranteed to be a great book
🎉Publication day! The third edition of my book 'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour' co-authored with @kevinlala.bsky.social is now available!
Paperback and eBook formats (Kindle etc):
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#evolsky #philsci #philbio #PsychSciSky #HPbio #EHBEA🧪🏺
Paperback and eBook formats (Kindle etc):
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#evolsky #philsci #philbio #PsychSciSky #HPbio #EHBEA🧪🏺
December 16, 2024 at 7:38 PM
Guaranteed to be a great book
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
Reupping this POSTDOC position
- deadline Dec 20th
Some more info 👇 1/3
- deadline Dec 20th
Some more info 👇 1/3
Modeller? Interested in linguistic diversity? *Postdoc* position on DYNAMICS OF MULTILINGUALISM available in my group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit... 2 yrs working with an international & interdisciplinary team led by @justynaolko.bsky.social
Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
www.eva.mpg.de
December 6, 2024 at 10:25 AM
Reupping this POSTDOC position
- deadline Dec 20th
Some more info 👇 1/3
- deadline Dec 20th
Some more info 👇 1/3
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
I am excited finally to have my hands on the very first copy of the third edition of "Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour", co-authored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social.
The paperback will be available in just over two weeks time, from Oxford University Press.
The paperback will be available in just over two weeks time, from Oxford University Press.
December 3, 2024 at 4:38 PM
I am excited finally to have my hands on the very first copy of the third edition of "Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour", co-authored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social.
The paperback will be available in just over two weeks time, from Oxford University Press.
The paperback will be available in just over two weeks time, from Oxford University Press.
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
I'm so very happy to have been involved in this paper. Understanding children is key to understanding culture change - past, present, future - and here we get a glimpse onto some ice age kids doing their thing.
New paper out! Children actively made hand-stencils and flutings in the Upper Palaeolithic, but can we identify children's cave art without anatomical measurements? We present a new framework using universal features of young children's drawings 🏺 www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3...
Children as playful artists: Integrating developmental psychology to identify children’s art in the Upper Palaeolithic: Hunter Gatherer Research: Vol 0, No 0
Children’s agential behaviours in the archaeological record have often been overlooked.
Despite efforts to centre children in the past through ‘an archaeology of childhood’,
there remains a fundamenta...
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
December 2, 2024 at 1:24 PM
I'm so very happy to have been involved in this paper. Understanding children is key to understanding culture change - past, present, future - and here we get a glimpse onto some ice age kids doing their thing.
Reposted by Rachel Kendal
The 9th "national IQ" paper of 2024 has just dropped. Anyone want to place bets on whether there'll be a nice round 10 papers using this thoroughly discredited dataset before the end of the year?
November 29, 2024 at 8:44 AM
The 9th "national IQ" paper of 2024 has just dropped. Anyone want to place bets on whether there'll be a nice round 10 papers using this thoroughly discredited dataset before the end of the year?