Dave Leavens
@daveleavens.bsky.social
Comparative psychologist and primatologist interested in communication.
Recent papers:
https://tinyurl.com/5n8dwtdz (Bard et al., 2025)
https://tinyurl.com/52e5nc85 (Forman et al., 2025)
https://tinyurl.com/997fchv3 (Leavens et al., 2025)
Recent papers:
https://tinyurl.com/5n8dwtdz (Bard et al., 2025)
https://tinyurl.com/52e5nc85 (Forman et al., 2025)
https://tinyurl.com/997fchv3 (Leavens et al., 2025)
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Every tech update now is like: "Great news, the word processor you've relied on for twenty years has learned to juggle! Is it good at it? No! Does it help in any way? Of course not! Has it made it insufferable to use? Oh, absolutely."
August 19, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Every tech update now is like: "Great news, the word processor you've relied on for twenty years has learned to juggle! Is it good at it? No! Does it help in any way? Of course not! Has it made it insufferable to use? Oh, absolutely."
Another one of my terrific former students:
tinyurl.com/Rey-Maktoufi
tinyurl.com/Rey-Maktoufi
How Reyhaneh Maktoufi transforms science through story
Her research is helping build pathways between science and society.
tinyurl.com
July 13, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Another one of my terrific former students:
tinyurl.com/Rey-Maktoufi
tinyurl.com/Rey-Maktoufi
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Kristi Noem didn’t approve FEMA rescue teams for over 72 hours after the Texas floods, following a rule she imposed that required her personal sign-off on any operation over $100K.
This is inexcusable. She should resign.
This is inexcusable. She should resign.
July 10, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Kristi Noem didn’t approve FEMA rescue teams for over 72 hours after the Texas floods, following a rule she imposed that required her personal sign-off on any operation over $100K.
This is inexcusable. She should resign.
This is inexcusable. She should resign.
Reposted by Dave Leavens
If any vaguely traditional media outlet had done what Grok did today it would be all over. Regulators would come down like a hammer.
Somehow, Grok will end up getting a pass. But this is not a user misbehaving on a channel; it was configured to behave this way by the platform owner.
Somehow, Grok will end up getting a pass. But this is not a user misbehaving on a channel; it was configured to behave this way by the platform owner.
I'm not going to repost any of the insane antisemitic conspiracy bullshit that grok is spewing today, but it highlights how absolutely essentially is that we not let LLMs become a form of epistemic grounding for our society.
July 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM
If any vaguely traditional media outlet had done what Grok did today it would be all over. Regulators would come down like a hammer.
Somehow, Grok will end up getting a pass. But this is not a user misbehaving on a channel; it was configured to behave this way by the platform owner.
Somehow, Grok will end up getting a pass. But this is not a user misbehaving on a channel; it was configured to behave this way by the platform owner.
Reposted by Dave Leavens
🚨Second PhD chapter is out today! We show that elephants gesture intentionally to ask humans for food using many different gesture types!
Check it out 👉 tinyurl.com/elephant-int...
🧵TLDR 1/16
Check it out 👉 tinyurl.com/elephant-int...
🧵TLDR 1/16
a baby elephant eating leaves from a tree with the word mealtime written below it
ALT: a baby elephant eating leaves from a tree with the word mealtime written below it
media.tenor.com
July 9, 2025 at 9:04 AM
🚨Second PhD chapter is out today! We show that elephants gesture intentionally to ask humans for food using many different gesture types!
Check it out 👉 tinyurl.com/elephant-int...
🧵TLDR 1/16
Check it out 👉 tinyurl.com/elephant-int...
🧵TLDR 1/16
Reposted by Dave Leavens
A 2% wealth tax on UK's richest could have raised £160 billion in 32 years: “The top 40 families in the UK now own more wealth than 50% of the population, meanwhile 14.3 million people - including 4.3 million children - are living in poverty in the UK"
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/wealth-...
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/wealth-...
A 2% wealth tax on UK's richest could have raised £160 billion in 32 years
Report is the first dynamic analysis of a wealth tax on the UK wealth distribution.
www.kcl.ac.uk
July 1, 2025 at 6:57 AM
A 2% wealth tax on UK's richest could have raised £160 billion in 32 years: “The top 40 families in the UK now own more wealth than 50% of the population, meanwhile 14.3 million people - including 4.3 million children - are living in poverty in the UK"
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/wealth-...
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/wealth-...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences Call for Commentaries on Bard, Keller, and Leavens (2025)! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Call for Commentary Proposals - Let’s go WILD: Increasing Inclusivity in Theorie
Call for Commentary Proposals - Let’s go WILD: Increasing Inclusivity in Theories of Developmental Psychology
www.cambridge.org
June 28, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Behavioral and Brain Sciences Call for Commentaries on Bard, Keller, and Leavens (2025)! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
The James Webb Space Telescope has achieved a significant milestone by directly imaging exoplanet TWA-7b, a cold gas giant located 111 light-years from Earth! 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
June 27, 2025 at 9:59 AM
The James Webb Space Telescope has achieved a significant milestone by directly imaging exoplanet TWA-7b, a cold gas giant located 111 light-years from Earth! 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here we show that the skill of following pointing gestures was easily trained in 44 adult chimpanzees. We speculate that reports of apes' poor pointing comprehension likely stem from their inadequate learning histories, not their evolutionary histories.
dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0...
dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0...
APA PsycNet
dx.doi.org
June 27, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Here we show that the skill of following pointing gestures was easily trained in 44 adult chimpanzees. We speculate that reports of apes' poor pointing comprehension likely stem from their inadequate learning histories, not their evolutionary histories.
dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0...
dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
The new edition of 'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour', co-authored with
@kevinlala.bsky.social , is available!
Get 30% off (promotion code ASPROMP8): global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Ebook is available on Kindle.
Thank you to Prof. Clark Barrett for the endorsement! 🧪
@kevinlala.bsky.social , is available!
Get 30% off (promotion code ASPROMP8): global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Ebook is available on Kindle.
Thank you to Prof. Clark Barrett for the endorsement! 🧪
May 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
The new edition of 'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour', co-authored with
@kevinlala.bsky.social , is available!
Get 30% off (promotion code ASPROMP8): global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Ebook is available on Kindle.
Thank you to Prof. Clark Barrett for the endorsement! 🧪
@kevinlala.bsky.social , is available!
Get 30% off (promotion code ASPROMP8): global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Ebook is available on Kindle.
Thank you to Prof. Clark Barrett for the endorsement! 🧪
One of my favorite authors went to the military parade in Washington, DC.
June 15, 2025 at 7:48 AM
One of my favorite authors went to the military parade in Washington, DC.
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Reposted by Dave Leavens
𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼, 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. ✊🏻
June 11, 2025 at 12:06 AM
𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼, 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. ✊🏻
The indefatigable Kim Bard, Heidi Keller, and I wrote a critique and remedy for Western-oriented developmental psychology. Call for Commentary Proposals will likely be out soon.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Let’s go WILD: Increasing Inclusivity in Theories of Developmental Psychology | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Let’s go WILD: Increasing Inclusivity in Theories of Developmental Psychology
www.cambridge.org
May 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The indefatigable Kim Bard, Heidi Keller, and I wrote a critique and remedy for Western-oriented developmental psychology. Call for Commentary Proposals will likely be out soon.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
TLDR: new paper headed up by @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
Chimpanzee drumming shows rhythmicity and subspecies variation
Chimpanzees drum on the buttress roots of trees for communication. Eleuteri et al.
investigate the presence of key elements of musical rhythm and of regional variation
in chimpanzee buttress drumming....
www.cell.com
May 9, 2025 at 8:47 PM
TLDR: new paper headed up by @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Great thread here on an important new #bioacoustics study
TLDR: new paper headed up by @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
& with an awesome team, incl @andrearavignani.bsky.social , showing chimps have rhythm in their drumming & differences b/w east & west drum rhythms!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
But didn’t we know this already you ask? Well… 🧵1/16
Chimpanzee drumming shows rhythmicity and subspecies variation
Chimpanzees drum on the buttress roots of trees for communication. Eleuteri et al.
investigate the presence of key elements of musical rhythm and of regional variation
in chimpanzee buttress drumming....
www.cell.com
May 10, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Great thread here on an important new #bioacoustics study
Reposted by Dave Leavens
'Covid data indicating low levels across the UK.
...
In England, the Covid test positivity rate continued to increase slightly but remains at low levels. Meanwhile, hospital admissions for Covid decreased and are at low levels.'
@bob-hawkins.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
...
In England, the Covid test positivity rate continued to increase slightly but remains at low levels. Meanwhile, hospital admissions for Covid decreased and are at low levels.'
@bob-hawkins.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Covid Situation Report: May 8, 2025
Update on Covid providing information on prevalence and hospital admissions for England and its regions. This post is best viewed using the browser or Substack app.
substack.com
May 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
'Covid data indicating low levels across the UK.
...
In England, the Covid test positivity rate continued to increase slightly but remains at low levels. Meanwhile, hospital admissions for Covid decreased and are at low levels.'
@bob-hawkins.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
...
In England, the Covid test positivity rate continued to increase slightly but remains at low levels. Meanwhile, hospital admissions for Covid decreased and are at low levels.'
@bob-hawkins.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Our new paper is out! 🐒🔊
We compared two wild chimpanzee populations and found that individuals adjust pant hoot acoustics based on context (feeding vs. travelling). Most patterns are shared, but subtle community differences may hint at a small role for vocal usage learning.
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
We compared two wild chimpanzee populations and found that individuals adjust pant hoot acoustics based on context (feeding vs. travelling). Most patterns are shared, but subtle community differences may hint at a small role for vocal usage learning.
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
April 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Our new paper is out! 🐒🔊
We compared two wild chimpanzee populations and found that individuals adjust pant hoot acoustics based on context (feeding vs. travelling). Most patterns are shared, but subtle community differences may hint at a small role for vocal usage learning.
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
We compared two wild chimpanzee populations and found that individuals adjust pant hoot acoustics based on context (feeding vs. travelling). Most patterns are shared, but subtle community differences may hint at a small role for vocal usage learning.
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Sure to be fascinating… find out more about @gillyforrester.bsky.social and her work here www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
April 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Sure to be fascinating… find out more about @gillyforrester.bsky.social and her work here www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Cindy Blackman, US musician, widely respected drummer for Lenny Kravitz and Santana #WomensArt
March 24, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Cindy Blackman, US musician, widely respected drummer for Lenny Kravitz and Santana #WomensArt
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Does excessive digital media use mimic ADHD symptoms?
This editorial examines the rise of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the digital age, suggesting that excessive digital media use may mimic or exacerbate ADHD symptoms
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This editorial examines the rise of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the digital age, suggesting that excessive digital media use may mimic or exacerbate ADHD symptoms
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Genes and screens: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in the digital age | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core
Genes and screens: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in the digital age
www.cambridge.org
March 19, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Does excessive digital media use mimic ADHD symptoms?
This editorial examines the rise of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the digital age, suggesting that excessive digital media use may mimic or exacerbate ADHD symptoms
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This editorial examines the rise of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the digital age, suggesting that excessive digital media use may mimic or exacerbate ADHD symptoms
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
ScienceGrit (sciencegrit.com?srsltid=AfmB...) makes these mugs, which depict article abstracts with a figure from the paper. I gave this one to Jemma Forman when she passed her viva. I've also given these to former doctoral and master's students. These are top-quality mugs. Recommended by Dave.
March 7, 2025 at 9:06 AM
ScienceGrit (sciencegrit.com?srsltid=AfmB...) makes these mugs, which depict article abstracts with a figure from the paper. I gave this one to Jemma Forman when she passed her viva. I've also given these to former doctoral and master's students. These are top-quality mugs. Recommended by Dave.
Reposted by Dave Leavens
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
February 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
Reposted by Dave Leavens
