Gregory Kohn
@kohngregory.bsky.social
Professor specializing in bird social behavior and ethology. Enactive cognition, developmental systems thought, ontogenetic niches, organismal agency, ייִדיש. PI: Animal Social Interaction lab, kohnlab.wordpress.com
Pinned
A story of a nest takeover in three panels.
November 16, 2025 at 10:51 PM
A story of a nest takeover in three panels.
A Southern Two-striped Walkingstick in the lab this morning. My favorite insect in Florida.
November 16, 2025 at 2:23 PM
A Southern Two-striped Walkingstick in the lab this morning. My favorite insect in Florida.
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
NEW PAPER: Introduced house sparrows showed more numerous, larger, and more variable DNA-methylation changes after simulated infection than native birds, suggesting distinct epigenetic responses that may aid introduction success.
➡️ vist.ly/4eq4a
#ornithology #birds #plasticity #stress 🪶
➡️ vist.ly/4eq4a
#ornithology #birds #plasticity #stress 🪶
November 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
NEW PAPER: Introduced house sparrows showed more numerous, larger, and more variable DNA-methylation changes after simulated infection than native birds, suggesting distinct epigenetic responses that may aid introduction success.
➡️ vist.ly/4eq4a
#ornithology #birds #plasticity #stress 🪶
➡️ vist.ly/4eq4a
#ornithology #birds #plasticity #stress 🪶
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Our special issue on Evolutionary Functions of Consciousness, coedited with Tecumseh Fitch and Adina Roskies, now online royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
Contributions by (1) Irina Mikhalevich; (2) Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg; (3) Nicholas Humphrey; (cont'd)
Contributions by (1) Irina Mikhalevich; (2) Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg; (3) Nicholas Humphrey; (cont'd)
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1939
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Our special issue on Evolutionary Functions of Consciousness, coedited with Tecumseh Fitch and Adina Roskies, now online royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
Contributions by (1) Irina Mikhalevich; (2) Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg; (3) Nicholas Humphrey; (cont'd)
Contributions by (1) Irina Mikhalevich; (2) Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg; (3) Nicholas Humphrey; (cont'd)
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Today is the day! Our reply to the two concurrent critiques (from the same set of authors) is now published in the journal Intelligence 🧵 1/
November 12, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Today is the day! Our reply to the two concurrent critiques (from the same set of authors) is now published in the journal Intelligence 🧵 1/
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
NEW on #theBOUblog from Roni Ostreiher
To leave or to stay home? Sex-dependent dispersal decisions in a cooperative desert bird
bou.org.uk/blog-ostr...
Based on this IBIS paper doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
#ornithology 🪶
To leave or to stay home? Sex-dependent dispersal decisions in a cooperative desert bird
bou.org.uk/blog-ostr...
Based on this IBIS paper doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
#ornithology 🪶
November 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
NEW on #theBOUblog from Roni Ostreiher
To leave or to stay home? Sex-dependent dispersal decisions in a cooperative desert bird
bou.org.uk/blog-ostr...
Based on this IBIS paper doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
#ornithology 🪶
To leave or to stay home? Sex-dependent dispersal decisions in a cooperative desert bird
bou.org.uk/blog-ostr...
Based on this IBIS paper doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
#ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
New from @carriej.bsky.social: Folks, we’ve got a white loon. 🪶https://www.audubon.org/magazine/once-lifetime-photos-capture-rare-white-loons-first-summer
‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Photos Capture a Rare White Loon’s First Summer
Montana photographer Tony Gangemi documented a season in the life of a leucistic Common Loon, from its first days as a “little cotton ball” up until its first flight.
www.audubon.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:15 PM
New from @carriej.bsky.social: Folks, we’ve got a white loon. 🪶https://www.audubon.org/magazine/once-lifetime-photos-capture-rare-white-loons-first-summer
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
"The Riddle of Organismal Agency" is now available as a paperback version! Edited by @alejandrofabregastejeda.com, Jan Baedke, Guido Prieto and Gregory Radick, the volume puts together reflections from #HistSci and #PhilSci on the topic of organismal agency.
#HPBio
www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o...
#HPBio
www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o...
November 5, 2025 at 2:37 PM
"The Riddle of Organismal Agency" is now available as a paperback version! Edited by @alejandrofabregastejeda.com, Jan Baedke, Guido Prieto and Gregory Radick, the volume puts together reflections from #HistSci and #PhilSci on the topic of organismal agency.
#HPBio
www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o...
#HPBio
www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o...
November 5, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Been reading "What is Innateness?" by Paul Griffiths (2002) philpapers.org/rec/EGRWII in which he offers this very sound advice:
November 2, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Been reading "What is Innateness?" by Paul Griffiths (2002) philpapers.org/rec/EGRWII in which he offers this very sound advice:
It’s going to be really ironic that the basic research the Silicon Valley bros fought so hard to cut to extinction is the thing that finally gives them real life extension.
How bowhead whales live for centuries—and how we might borrow some of their biology to extend our healthy lifespan. Gift link to my new column: nyti.ms/4hyD9ry
November 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
It’s going to be really ironic that the basic research the Silicon Valley bros fought so hard to cut to extinction is the thing that finally gives them real life extension.
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
“A lot of people are talking about how Jews in New York feel about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social...
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
October 28, 2025 at 6:37 PM
“A lot of people are talking about how Jews in New York feel about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social...
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
I can't get into the psyche of people who would cut off the world's best researchers from teaching their students because they happened to be born farther away from you than you are comfortable with. www.chronicle.com/article/flor...
Florida’s Public Universities Should No Longer Hire Foreign Employees, DeSantis Says
The Republican governor’s directive on H-1B visas comes as President Trump has initiated his policy of charging employers a new $100,000 fee to hire people from outside the United States.
www.chronicle.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM
I can't get into the psyche of people who would cut off the world's best researchers from teaching their students because they happened to be born farther away from you than you are comfortable with. www.chronicle.com/article/flor...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
50 years ago, King & Wilson published a foundational paper that underlies the cis-regulatory paradigm (CRP) of #DevoEvo #EvoDevo, i.e., that *almost* all morphological evolution is driven by mutations in regulatory elements, rather than proteins, and it all arose from simple misunderstanding 🧪 🧵
October 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Against imperialist, anti-Black narratives of “civil war” and “failed state” in Sudan, a movement resource on imperialism & counter-revolutionary war in Sudan, and how we can act in engaged solidarity with people in El-Fasher, in Darfur, and across Sudan.
www.weavingourworlds.ca/beyond-sloga...
www.weavingourworlds.ca/beyond-sloga...
Beyond Slogans: Free Sudan
Beyond Slogans: Free Sudan
The headlines are horrifying: Aid Blocked. El Fasher under siege. Ethnic cleansing. Famine. Millions displaced. Beyond slogans like Eyes on Sudan or Free Sudan, how can we a...
www.weavingourworlds.ca
October 28, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Against imperialist, anti-Black narratives of “civil war” and “failed state” in Sudan, a movement resource on imperialism & counter-revolutionary war in Sudan, and how we can act in engaged solidarity with people in El-Fasher, in Darfur, and across Sudan.
www.weavingourworlds.ca/beyond-sloga...
www.weavingourworlds.ca/beyond-sloga...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Spotted around NYC 👀 Early Voting is in full swing! Still in search of a voter guide? Check out ours: jfrej.org/ballot
October 26, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Spotted around NYC 👀 Early Voting is in full swing! Still in search of a voter guide? Check out ours: jfrej.org/ballot
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Enactivizing dialectics: from individual to social normativity and back
Andrea Gambarotto, Thomas van Es
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Andrea Gambarotto, Thomas van Es
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Enactivizing dialectics: from individual to social normativity and back - Topoi
This paper examines the relation between embodiment and sociality within the enactive approach, highlighting the continuity between biological autonomy and social normativity. The central claim is tha...
link.springer.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Enactivizing dialectics: from individual to social normativity and back
Andrea Gambarotto, Thomas van Es
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Andrea Gambarotto, Thomas van Es
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Old Yiddish ornithology pamphlet published in the USSR at an unknown date (~1919). Titled "How Birds Build Nests" (
ווי בויען פייגלאך נעסטן) by M. Bres. Seems to be from a series called "Nature and People" (נאַטור און מענש). www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/...
ווי בויען פייגלאך נעסטן) by M. Bres. Seems to be from a series called "Nature and People" (נאַטור און מענש). www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/...
October 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Old Yiddish ornithology pamphlet published in the USSR at an unknown date (~1919). Titled "How Birds Build Nests" (
ווי בויען פייגלאך נעסטן) by M. Bres. Seems to be from a series called "Nature and People" (נאַטור און מענש). www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/...
ווי בויען פייגלאך נעסטן) by M. Bres. Seems to be from a series called "Nature and People" (נאַטור און מענש). www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Scientists have described a new species of mouse opossum discovered in 2018 in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes, 2,664 meters (8,740 feet) above sea level. The find was reported by Mongabay Latam staff writer Yvette Sierra Praeli.
Scientists describe new-to-science mouse opossum from Peruvian Andes
Scientists have described a new species of mouse opossum discovered in 2018 in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes, 2,664 meters (8,740 feet) above sea level. The find was reported by Mongabay…
news.mongabay.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Scientists have described a new species of mouse opossum discovered in 2018 in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes, 2,664 meters (8,740 feet) above sea level. The find was reported by Mongabay Latam staff writer Yvette Sierra Praeli.
Wonderful article by @olivia.science. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
October 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Wonderful article by @olivia.science. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
How did regulation and agency arise before genes?
Shirt-Ediss et al. model evolving protocell ecologies with the Araudia platform—showing how simple metabolic systems can “learn” to adapt to changing environments
dialecticalsystems.eu/publications...
Shirt-Ediss et al. model evolving protocell ecologies with the Araudia platform—showing how simple metabolic systems can “learn” to adapt to changing environments
dialecticalsystems.eu/publications...
New Paper (2025): Modelling the prebiotic origins of regulation and agency in evolving protocell ecologies - Dialectical Systems
How could the first living systems learn to regulate themselves before the emergence of genes? In their new paper, Ben Shirt-Ediss, Arián Ferrero-Fernández, Daniele De Martino, Leonardo Bich, Álvaro M...
dialecticalsystems.eu
October 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
How did regulation and agency arise before genes?
Shirt-Ediss et al. model evolving protocell ecologies with the Araudia platform—showing how simple metabolic systems can “learn” to adapt to changing environments
dialecticalsystems.eu/publications...
Shirt-Ediss et al. model evolving protocell ecologies with the Araudia platform—showing how simple metabolic systems can “learn” to adapt to changing environments
dialecticalsystems.eu/publications...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Add birdsong learning to the list of things Aristotle *did* think about:
"Of little birds, some sing a different note from the parent birds, if they have been removed from the nest and have heard other birds singing..." (1/2)
"Of little birds, some sing a different note from the parent birds, if they have been removed from the nest and have heard other birds singing..." (1/2)
Is there anything Aristotle *didn't* already think about?
Aristotle noticed that when bees returned to the hive, they shook or "danced" in front of a group. Millennia later, scientists debated whether it was a form of "language" amid shifts in scientific methods and philosophies in the 20th century.
#histsci 🗃️ #bees
daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...
#histsci 🗃️ #bees
daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...
October 8, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Add birdsong learning to the list of things Aristotle *did* think about:
"Of little birds, some sing a different note from the parent birds, if they have been removed from the nest and have heard other birds singing..." (1/2)
"Of little birds, some sing a different note from the parent birds, if they have been removed from the nest and have heard other birds singing..." (1/2)
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
An excellent example of enormous intellectual effort wasted only because people inconsistently use certain words. Here is a simple explanation:
We know that every trait of an organism is determined *jointly* by the genes (G) and the environment (E) bc ...
We know that every trait of an organism is determined *jointly* by the genes (G) and the environment (E) bc ...
This is an awe-inspiring and fascinating study that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, the overall framing in terms of "innate versus learned” is unnecessary. The innate versus acquired dichotomy is outdated and has been for a long time. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Learned use of an innate sound-meaning association in birds - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Over 20 species of geographically and phylogenetically diverse bird species produce convergent whining vocalizations towards their respective brood parasites. Model presentation and playback experiments across multiple continents suggest that these learned calls provoke an innate response even among allopatric species.
www.nature.com
October 6, 2025 at 7:57 AM
An excellent example of enormous intellectual effort wasted only because people inconsistently use certain words. Here is a simple explanation:
We know that every trait of an organism is determined *jointly* by the genes (G) and the environment (E) bc ...
We know that every trait of an organism is determined *jointly* by the genes (G) and the environment (E) bc ...
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Next, we share a new adaptation of the rousing Yiddish folk classic "Ale Brider" by our very own Josh Waletzky, originally released in a new pamphlet by the Northern California Workers Circle for its 125th anniversary.
From the Workers Circle of Northern California: Doikayt through Yiddish Song
For the Worker's Circle of Northern California's 125th anniversary, a new adaptation of the classic Yiddish folk song "Ale Brider."
www.derspekter.org
October 7, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Next, we share a new adaptation of the rousing Yiddish folk classic "Ale Brider" by our very own Josh Waletzky, originally released in a new pamphlet by the Northern California Workers Circle for its 125th anniversary.
Reposted by Gregory Kohn
Still puzzled by the debate on organismal agency? Our edited collection brings historians, philosophers, and scientists into dialogue—offering a wide array of perspectives. An affordable paperback edition will be out at the end of the month! www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o... #HPS #evobio #philsky
October 7, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Still puzzled by the debate on organismal agency? Our edited collection brings historians, philosophers, and scientists into dialogue—offering a wide array of perspectives. An affordable paperback edition will be out at the end of the month! www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o... #HPS #evobio #philsky