Revathe Thillaikumar
@revathe.bsky.social
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow @ the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior | PhD @ JNCASR, India | sociality, learning, development, allomaternal care, culture | Asian elephants & great apes | she/her
Pinned
Young Asian Elephant Calves Show Differentiated Social Relationships With Conspecifics
We studied spatial and behavioural interactions between young calves (< 6 months old) and conspecific females to understand social ontogeny in a wild Asian elephant population. We found differentiate...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A very nice end to the year: my PhD work on the development of differentiated social relationships in wild Asian elephants is now published in Ethology!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
"When Ben Hania heard Hind’s voice, it brought her to an abrupt halt in the airport terminal, as travellers milled around her. This was a young child calling on adults to protect her amid the appeal of Palestine to be saved from genocide – and on both counts, the world had failed."
Soon to be released in the UK:
The Voice of Hind Rajab
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/07/the-voice-of-hind-rajab-film-palestinian-girl
The Voice of Hind Rajab
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/07/the-voice-of-hind-rajab-film-palestinian-girl
‘It felt like she was asking me to save her’: the film based on a five-year-old Palestinian girl’s dying pleas
The Voice of Hind Rajab has stunned audiences with its use of the real-life audio of a girl’s call for help after her family’s car was attacked by an Israeli tank in Gaza. Its director explains why she had to tell Hind’s tragic story
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:55 AM
"When Ben Hania heard Hind’s voice, it brought her to an abrupt halt in the airport terminal, as travellers milled around her. This was a young child calling on adults to protect her amid the appeal of Palestine to be saved from genocide – and on both counts, the world had failed."
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
People are recollecting George H W Bush signing the UNFCCC in 1992. Yes, he did. At the same Rio Earth summit he also said "the American way of life is not up for negotiation." International law has always had near-zero relevance among both political parties in the US
January 8, 2026 at 7:23 AM
People are recollecting George H W Bush signing the UNFCCC in 1992. Yes, he did. At the same Rio Earth summit he also said "the American way of life is not up for negotiation." International law has always had near-zero relevance among both political parties in the US
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Four days left to apply for two postdocs in social evolution with me and @dustinrubenstein.com
Based at the University of Bristol (UK), conducting fieldwork with wasps in Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa.
Based at the University of Bristol (UK), conducting fieldwork with wasps in Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa.
POSTDOC ALERT🚨
Two exciting social evolution postdoc positions live today!
We're looking for two excellent field biologists. Join us to explore the evolution of sociality in wasps across Africa. Apply by 11th January.
Collaboration with
@dustinrubenstein.com
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
Two exciting social evolution postdoc positions live today!
We're looking for two excellent field biologists. Join us to explore the evolution of sociality in wasps across Africa. Apply by 11th January.
Collaboration with
@dustinrubenstein.com
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
January 7, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Four days left to apply for two postdocs in social evolution with me and @dustinrubenstein.com
Based at the University of Bristol (UK), conducting fieldwork with wasps in Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa.
Based at the University of Bristol (UK), conducting fieldwork with wasps in Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa.
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
theconversation.com/the-5-stages...
theconversation.com/the-5-stages...
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.
theconversation.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:54 PM
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
theconversation.com/the-5-stages...
theconversation.com/the-5-stages...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
And our work is one of three papers published in Current Biology showing importance of social dynamics on sleep. Commentary here: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Sleep: Primates bear a social cost
Field studies of baboons, orangutans and chimpanzees suggest that social rank and
group living can shorten and fragment sleep. The findings highlight the physiological
costs of maintaining social bond...
www.cell.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:39 AM
And our work is one of three papers published in Current Biology showing importance of social dynamics on sleep. Commentary here: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Our paper is published today in Current Biology and is featured on the cover!
We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.
We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.
January 6, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Our paper is published today in Current Biology and is featured on the cover!
We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.
We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.
By framing this brazen act of aggression in euphemistic terms, the media is falling in line with Trump.
The Media Refuses to Call Trump’s Venezuela Attack an Act of War
By framing the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro in euphemistic terms, the media is falling in line with Trump.
interc.pt
January 4, 2026 at 11:17 PM
I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Bombing Venezuela while coordinating a genocide in Palestine while threatening to attack Iran (again) while destabillizing Somalia while carrying out a heist in the DRC...
US imperialism is the greatest threat to peace and security in our world today and it's not even close.
US imperialism is the greatest threat to peace and security in our world today and it's not even close.
January 3, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Bombing Venezuela while coordinating a genocide in Palestine while threatening to attack Iran (again) while destabillizing Somalia while carrying out a heist in the DRC...
US imperialism is the greatest threat to peace and security in our world today and it's not even close.
US imperialism is the greatest threat to peace and security in our world today and it's not even close.
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Registrations are now open 📢 Want to join the conference and/or the workshop? Head to our website: culture-conference.com/registration/
As every year, attendance at the conference is free 🎉 (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soon—submit yours before Monday!
As every year, attendance at the conference is free 🎉 (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soon—submit yours before Monday!
Registration
Registrations for the conference and the pre-conference workshop are now OPEN! Register for the conference (26-27/02): Culture Conference 2026 – Registration form Register for the workshop (2…
culture-conference.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Registrations are now open 📢 Want to join the conference and/or the workshop? Head to our website: culture-conference.com/registration/
As every year, attendance at the conference is free 🎉 (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soon—submit yours before Monday!
As every year, attendance at the conference is free 🎉 (the workshop has a small fee).
Reminder: Abstract submission closes soon—submit yours before Monday!
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Check out our new paper on the #development of #gaze-following in wild #chimpanzees, led by @kris-sabbi.bsky.social, @zeppypearl.bsky.social, & Isabelle Monroe!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
January 2, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Check out our new paper on the #development of #gaze-following in wild #chimpanzees, led by @kris-sabbi.bsky.social, @zeppypearl.bsky.social, & Isabelle Monroe!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
A very nice end to the year: my PhD work on the development of differentiated social relationships in wild Asian elephants is now published in Ethology!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Young Asian Elephant Calves Show Differentiated Social Relationships With Conspecifics
We studied spatial and behavioural interactions between young calves (< 6 months old) and conspecific females to understand social ontogeny in a wild Asian elephant population. We found differentiate...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM
A very nice end to the year: my PhD work on the development of differentiated social relationships in wild Asian elephants is now published in Ethology!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Are you an animal behavior researcher? 🐸🦜🐒🪲🦋🦇🐍🐏Consider supporting @abcmicrogrants.bsky.social this holiday season ❄️🐝
It takes less than a minute and your money goes directly towards supporting #AnimalBehavior students!! 🎄🎄🎄
opencollective.com/animal-behav...
It takes less than a minute and your money goes directly towards supporting #AnimalBehavior students!! 🎄🎄🎄
opencollective.com/animal-behav...
December 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Are you an animal behavior researcher? 🐸🦜🐒🪲🦋🦇🐍🐏Consider supporting @abcmicrogrants.bsky.social this holiday season ❄️🐝
It takes less than a minute and your money goes directly towards supporting #AnimalBehavior students!! 🎄🎄🎄
opencollective.com/animal-behav...
It takes less than a minute and your money goes directly towards supporting #AnimalBehavior students!! 🎄🎄🎄
opencollective.com/animal-behav...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Thrilled about this new grant we are offering for under-represented early career scholars. The first cycle is for scholars in history and area studies. Please spread the word widely. @universitypress.cambridge.org
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Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr
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Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr
Amplifying voices
New Cambridge grant to help under-represented scholars publish
cup.org
December 17, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Thrilled about this new grant we are offering for under-represented early career scholars. The first cycle is for scholars in history and area studies. Please spread the word widely. @universitypress.cambridge.org
*********************************
Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr
*********************************
Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
1. LLM-generated code tries to run code from online software packages. Which is normal but
2. The packages don’t exist. Which would normally cause an error but
3. Nefarious people have made malware under the package names that LLMs make up most often. So
4. Now the LLM code points to malware.
2. The packages don’t exist. Which would normally cause an error but
3. Nefarious people have made malware under the package names that LLMs make up most often. So
4. Now the LLM code points to malware.
LLMs hallucinating nonexistent software packages with plausible names leads to a new malware vulnerability: "slopsquatting."
LLMs can't stop making up software dependencies and sabotaging everything
: Hallucinated package names fuel 'slopsquatting'
www.theregister.com
April 12, 2025 at 11:43 PM
1. LLM-generated code tries to run code from online software packages. Which is normal but
2. The packages don’t exist. Which would normally cause an error but
3. Nefarious people have made malware under the package names that LLMs make up most often. So
4. Now the LLM code points to malware.
2. The packages don’t exist. Which would normally cause an error but
3. Nefarious people have made malware under the package names that LLMs make up most often. So
4. Now the LLM code points to malware.
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
The Royal Society's Newton International Fellowship scheme opens to applications Jan 15 with a March 11 deadline. It provides £280K (salary and research expenses) over 2 years to outstanding ECRs from outside the UK. Why not come and work with me (or anyone else) @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social?
Newton International Fellowships | Royal Society
This fellowship is for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK.
royalsociety.org
December 4, 2025 at 8:02 PM
The Royal Society's Newton International Fellowship scheme opens to applications Jan 15 with a March 11 deadline. It provides £280K (salary and research expenses) over 2 years to outstanding ECRs from outside the UK. Why not come and work with me (or anyone else) @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social?
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
The Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy is hiring two post-doctoral researchers to work on a project on the logic of reasons, under the supervision of Professor Hannes Leitgeb, Chair of Logic and Philosophy of Language. More info below: job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/7... #postdoc #philosophy
Postdoctoral Fellow (m/f/x)
job-portal.lmu.de
December 12, 2025 at 9:49 AM
The Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy is hiring two post-doctoral researchers to work on a project on the logic of reasons, under the supervision of Professor Hannes Leitgeb, Chair of Logic and Philosophy of Language. More info below: job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/7... #postdoc #philosophy
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance
A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts.
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
December 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
the reason its bad to run universities like businesses is that almost all businesses fail on any reasonable timeline of evaluation.
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
They claim financial exigency, but then turn down $4 million pledges to keep the PhD programs open and disregard financial analyses that point to the real problem—bad real estate deals, spending on consultants, and their own salaries 2/2
December 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
the reason its bad to run universities like businesses is that almost all businesses fail on any reasonable timeline of evaluation.
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Spotify is garbage on every count: Its treatment of artists, its ICE advertising, the CEO's investment in military AI, its leading role in the commodification and AI slopification of music, its terrible audio quality—you name it.
So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
How to quit Spotify
This Black Friday, here's a guide to finding the best Spotify alternative
www.bloodinthemachine.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Spotify is garbage on every count: Its treatment of artists, its ICE advertising, the CEO's investment in military AI, its leading role in the commodification and AI slopification of music, its terrible audio quality—you name it.
So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Revathe Thillaikumar
The #ASABWinter2025 Tinbergen lecture will be by @toshitakaszk.bsky.social on animal linguistics. He’s studied the communication system of Japanese tits, revealing striking parallels with human language, incl. referential calls, compositional messages & symbolic gestures.
A talk not to be missed…
A talk not to be missed…
December 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
The #ASABWinter2025 Tinbergen lecture will be by @toshitakaszk.bsky.social on animal linguistics. He’s studied the communication system of Japanese tits, revealing striking parallels with human language, incl. referential calls, compositional messages & symbolic gestures.
A talk not to be missed…
A talk not to be missed…