Randolph Nesse
@randynesse.bsky.social
A founder of evolutionary medicine now trying to help psychiatry find its missing foundation in evolutionary biology.
Why can't we find specific genes and brain abnormalities that cause and define specific mood disorders? It is because, like heart and renal failure, mood disorders are failure modes of control systems that can have diverse causes.
🧪 @evmed.bsky.social
www.nessays.com/p/mood-disor...
🧪 @evmed.bsky.social
www.nessays.com/p/mood-disor...
September 15, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Why can't we find specific genes and brain abnormalities that cause and define specific mood disorders? It is because, like heart and renal failure, mood disorders are failure modes of control systems that can have diverse causes.
🧪 @evmed.bsky.social
www.nessays.com/p/mood-disor...
🧪 @evmed.bsky.social
www.nessays.com/p/mood-disor...
I will give 2 talks on evolutionary psychiatry in Tokyo on Sept 24 mentalhealth-unit.jp/plugin/blogs...
and 1 in Kyoto on the 25th.
ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/event/eve...
I look forward to meeting Japanese colleagues.
@evmed.bsky.social @humbehevosoc.bsky.social 🧪 @evolmtg.bsky.social @evol
and 1 in Kyoto on the 25th.
ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/event/eve...
I look forward to meeting Japanese colleagues.
@evmed.bsky.social @humbehevosoc.bsky.social 🧪 @evolmtg.bsky.social @evol
September 14, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I will give 2 talks on evolutionary psychiatry in Tokyo on Sept 24 mentalhealth-unit.jp/plugin/blogs...
and 1 in Kyoto on the 25th.
ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/event/eve...
I look forward to meeting Japanese colleagues.
@evmed.bsky.social @humbehevosoc.bsky.social 🧪 @evolmtg.bsky.social @evol
and 1 in Kyoto on the 25th.
ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/event/eve...
I look forward to meeting Japanese colleagues.
@evmed.bsky.social @humbehevosoc.bsky.social 🧪 @evolmtg.bsky.social @evol
Not perfectly clear about epistasis? The illustrations and formulas in my new Nessay should help. 🧪
@umehap.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org @ent3c.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com @eikofried.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/randynes...
@umehap.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org @ent3c.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com @eikofried.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/randynes...
September 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Not perfectly clear about epistasis? The illustrations and formulas in my new Nessay should help. 🧪
@umehap.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org @ent3c.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com @eikofried.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/randynes...
@umehap.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org @ent3c.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com @eikofried.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/randynes...
Ah, a badly designed system! But why is it badly designed? Which of the following possibilities are likely suspects?
(from my new article on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
(from my new article on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
June 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Ah, a badly designed system! But why is it badly designed? Which of the following possibilities are likely suspects?
(from my new article on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
(from my new article on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How amazing and wonderful that all 3 winners of this year's @ncse.bsky.social Friend of Darwin Award ncse.ngo/friend-darwi... are evolutionary medicine researchers! Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social was one of the first faculty I recruited for the @cemasu.bsky.social at ASU.
June 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
How amazing and wonderful that all 3 winners of this year's @ncse.bsky.social Friend of Darwin Award ncse.ngo/friend-darwi... are evolutionary medicine researchers! Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social was one of the first faculty I recruited for the @cemasu.bsky.social at ASU.
Here is an insightful essay by
Rob Kurzban on the pressure to produce novel counterintuitive articles to get attention in academia. We need a name for false ones that spread fast.
Perhaps "#MemeArticles" is catchy enough to spread fast.
Rob Kurzban on the pressure to produce novel counterintuitive articles to get attention in academia. We need a name for false ones that spread fast.
Perhaps "#MemeArticles" is catchy enough to spread fast.
April 5, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Here is an insightful essay by
Rob Kurzban on the pressure to produce novel counterintuitive articles to get attention in academia. We need a name for false ones that spread fast.
Perhaps "#MemeArticles" is catchy enough to spread fast.
Rob Kurzban on the pressure to produce novel counterintuitive articles to get attention in academia. We need a name for false ones that spread fast.
Perhaps "#MemeArticles" is catchy enough to spread fast.
#TacitCreationism is pervasive and problematic. Dan Stein and I explain why, and why it matters, in our just-published article. 1/3
@evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social ky.social @eikofried.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social ky.social @eikofried.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
March 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM
#TacitCreationism is pervasive and problematic. Dan Stein and I explain why, and why it matters, in our just-published article. 1/3
@evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social ky.social @eikofried.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social ky.social @eikofried.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The chaos from Washington in the last week has made travel planning impossible for many scientists, so the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health meeting is allowing submission of talk abstracts until Feb 28. 🧪 #EvMed @evmed.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social evmed.org
February 6, 2025 at 9:52 PM
The chaos from Washington in the last week has made travel planning impossible for many scientists, so the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health meeting is allowing submission of talk abstracts until Feb 28. 🧪 #EvMed @evmed.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social evmed.org
Looking forward to seeing everyone in Nashville!
And to hearing some talks that look super.
And the food.
And I hear they have music there.
isemph.org
Our Tenth Annual Meeting! #evmed @evmed.bsky.social
And to hearing some talks that look super.
And the food.
And I hear they have music there.
isemph.org
Our Tenth Annual Meeting! #evmed @evmed.bsky.social
January 31, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Looking forward to seeing everyone in Nashville!
And to hearing some talks that look super.
And the food.
And I hear they have music there.
isemph.org
Our Tenth Annual Meeting! #evmed @evmed.bsky.social
And to hearing some talks that look super.
And the food.
And I hear they have music there.
isemph.org
Our Tenth Annual Meeting! #evmed @evmed.bsky.social
The Abstract deadline is Feb 3 for the 10th annual meeting of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health in Nashville. All welcome, esp. students and clinicians. Full info at iemph.org Please repost #EvMed 🧪 @evmed.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
January 25, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The Abstract deadline is Feb 3 for the 10th annual meeting of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health in Nashville. All welcome, esp. students and clinicians. Full info at iemph.org Please repost #EvMed 🧪 @evmed.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
Today's visitor leaving a message for all other predators.
January 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Today's visitor leaving a message for all other predators.
Ending the year the same way we end every day...watching the light on the tank glow gold, then fade as the mountains go purple.
January 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Ending the year the same way we end every day...watching the light on the tank glow gold, then fade as the mountains go purple.
November 9, 2024 at 1:59 PM
Moonset over the lake.
November 8, 2024 at 1:04 PM
Moonset over the lake.
Bittersweet in the Michigan treetops.
November 7, 2024 at 11:15 PM
Bittersweet in the Michigan treetops.
Why is this lilac blooming in November in Michigan?
November 7, 2024 at 6:42 PM
Why is this lilac blooming in November in Michigan?
And today, just four days later, a freeze has taken the leaves. It is so important to appreciate every tree and person at every moment. How I wish Bill was still with us.
October 27, 2024 at 8:01 PM
And today, just four days later, a freeze has taken the leaves. It is so important to appreciate every tree and person at every moment. How I wish Bill was still with us.
Everytime I drive in Michigan at peak fall color, I think of the time I drove Bill Hamilton from Lansing to Ann Arbor. We talked the whole time about whether bright fall leaves are an honest signal of vigor that encourages aphids to go elsewhere.
October 23, 2024 at 7:19 PM
Everytime I drive in Michigan at peak fall color, I think of the time I drove Bill Hamilton from Lansing to Ann Arbor. We talked the whole time about whether bright fall leaves are an honest signal of vigor that encourages aphids to go elsewhere.
Every morning this fall the same display greets us, brightening a bit more each day.
October 22, 2024 at 4:38 PM
Every morning this fall the same display greets us, brightening a bit more each day.
Last week at Icy Strait Point Alaska we skipped the whale watching zodiac tour. As happy hour started, I saw a peculiar circle of bubbles next to the ship and took out my phone just in time to record a humpback whale bubble net feeding. Astounding!
July 6, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Last week at Icy Strait Point Alaska we skipped the whale watching zodiac tour. As happy hour started, I saw a peculiar circle of bubbles next to the ship and took out my phone just in time to record a humpback whale bubble net feeding. Astounding!
Before I write a foreword for a book, I read every page. For #Cancer through the Lens of #Evolution and #Ecology, edited by @JSomarelli and Norman A Johnson, reading was a pleasure but it was painful to realize that George Williams and I missed the boat 30 years ago. @ISEMPH 1/4
July 4, 2024 at 5:54 PM
Before I write a foreword for a book, I read every page. For #Cancer through the Lens of #Evolution and #Ecology, edited by @JSomarelli and Norman A Johnson, reading was a pleasure but it was painful to realize that George Williams and I missed the boat 30 years ago. @ISEMPH 1/4
Read this! Like all of Sarah Hrdy's work, an opportunity to read poetry that expresses important ideas.
May 14, 2024 at 4:58 PM
Read this! Like all of Sarah Hrdy's work, an opportunity to read poetry that expresses important ideas.
The single most important distinction for psychiatry-between #idiographic and #nomothetic explanations–was first presented 130 years ago on May 1st by Wilhelm Windelband in the lecture he gave in 1894 on assuming the Rectorship at the University of Strassburg. 1/7
May 6, 2024 at 1:08 AM
The single most important distinction for psychiatry-between #idiographic and #nomothetic explanations–was first presented 130 years ago on May 1st by Wilhelm Windelband in the lecture he gave in 1894 on assuming the Rectorship at the University of Strassburg. 1/7
Viewing mental disorders as distinct categories with specific causes promotes communication and research at the cost of concealing the reality that most are more like clouds with burry boundaries.
May 4, 2024 at 8:50 PM
Viewing mental disorders as distinct categories with specific causes promotes communication and research at the cost of concealing the reality that most are more like clouds with burry boundaries.
This morning's Black-headed Grosbeak with Cathedral Peak always there.
April 19, 2024 at 5:16 PM
This morning's Black-headed Grosbeak with Cathedral Peak always there.