Rob Foley
@robfoley.bsky.social
Professor of Human Evolution and Fellow of King's College Cambridge. Emeritus, so I now do the research there was never time to do before. Interested in anything evolutionary, from humans to lithics to ecology and stars.
It was a wonderful day and so deserved. Very proud!
Today was the ceremony for new fellows at the #BritishAcademy - it was wonderful 🤩. I am thrilled and so grateful to the colleagues who nominated me, elected me, and the many colleagues, students, friends, our kids & family, & specially Rob 😍 who have so enriched my life and career ❤️
October 14, 2025 at 5:52 AM
It was a wonderful day and so deserved. Very proud!
Reposted by Rob Foley
Episode 3 of our Ng'ipalajem video series with Justus Erus Edung, talking about the biggest discovery of his career, Kenyanthropus!
Sehemu 3 ya video Ng'ipalajem na Justus Erus Edung anazungumza uguduzi mkuu wa maisha ya kazi yake, Kenyanthropus!
Sehemu 3 ya video Ng'ipalajem na Justus Erus Edung anazungumza uguduzi mkuu wa maisha ya kazi yake, Kenyanthropus!
Justus Erus Edung was only 25 years old when he discovered Kenyanthropus platyops in a team led by Prof. Meave Leakey in 1999.
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
July 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Episode 3 of our Ng'ipalajem video series with Justus Erus Edung, talking about the biggest discovery of his career, Kenyanthropus!
Sehemu 3 ya video Ng'ipalajem na Justus Erus Edung anazungumza uguduzi mkuu wa maisha ya kazi yake, Kenyanthropus!
Sehemu 3 ya video Ng'ipalajem na Justus Erus Edung anazungumza uguduzi mkuu wa maisha ya kazi yake, Kenyanthropus!
Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾
July 18, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾
Reposted by Rob Foley
Episode 2 of our Ng'ipalajem video series showing this summer's research! Today, I show some antelope teeth I'm using to understand paleoenvironments
Sehemu 2 wa Ng'ipalajem video inaonyesha utafiti wa kiangazi hiki! Leo naonyesha meno wa nyumbu na swala ambayo natumia kwa kuelewa mazingira ya kale
Sehemu 2 wa Ng'ipalajem video inaonyesha utafiti wa kiangazi hiki! Leo naonyesha meno wa nyumbu na swala ambayo natumia kwa kuelewa mazingira ya kale
Episode 2: Faunal identification with @deadbovids.bsky.social
Other than identification, tooth wear pattern can give us exciting insights into faunal diet and palaeoecology.
Other than identification, tooth wear pattern can give us exciting insights into faunal diet and palaeoecology.
July 15, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Episode 2 of our Ng'ipalajem video series showing this summer's research! Today, I show some antelope teeth I'm using to understand paleoenvironments
Sehemu 2 wa Ng'ipalajem video inaonyesha utafiti wa kiangazi hiki! Leo naonyesha meno wa nyumbu na swala ambayo natumia kwa kuelewa mazingira ya kale
Sehemu 2 wa Ng'ipalajem video inaonyesha utafiti wa kiangazi hiki! Leo naonyesha meno wa nyumbu na swala ambayo natumia kwa kuelewa mazingira ya kale
Reposted by Rob Foley
The joy of sorting LSA lithics from Turkana under the guidance of @robfoley.bsky.social
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
July 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The joy of sorting LSA lithics from Turkana under the guidance of @robfoley.bsky.social
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
Reposted by Rob Foley
It's a bit late for #FossilFriday but I have to show this lovely young adult Palaeoloxodon (giant elephant) jaw from the new Middle Pleistocene site I'm working at in Turkana, Kenya!
July 12, 2025 at 12:29 PM
It's a bit late for #FossilFriday but I have to show this lovely young adult Palaeoloxodon (giant elephant) jaw from the new Middle Pleistocene site I'm working at in Turkana, Kenya!
Reposted by Rob Foley
New blog posting, inspired by @robfoley.bsky.social 's witty critique of UK universities
The Great University Subsidy Scandal
21percent.org?p=2278
Many of us routinely invite the examiner to lunch or dinner at our homes with other students & postdocs at our expense
The Great University Subsidy Scandal
21percent.org?p=2278
Many of us routinely invite the examiner to lunch or dinner at our homes with other students & postdocs at our expense
June 27, 2025 at 8:37 AM
New blog posting, inspired by @robfoley.bsky.social 's witty critique of UK universities
The Great University Subsidy Scandal
21percent.org?p=2278
Many of us routinely invite the examiner to lunch or dinner at our homes with other students & postdocs at our expense
The Great University Subsidy Scandal
21percent.org?p=2278
Many of us routinely invite the examiner to lunch or dinner at our homes with other students & postdocs at our expense
Reposted by Rob Foley
In a follow-up to our study on accent mimicry last year, we've found that natives are the best at detecting accent mimicry.
People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners.
@robfoley.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners.
@robfoley.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
July 1, 2025 at 8:41 AM
In a follow-up to our study on accent mimicry last year, we've found that natives are the best at detecting accent mimicry.
People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners.
@robfoley.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners.
@robfoley.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Rob Foley
What does the Ng'ipalajem team do?
Ng’ipalajem, meaning Ancestors in Turkana, is an ERC-funded project.
Led by @martamlahr.bsky.social, the project investigates how the emergence of Homo sapiens is deeply intertwined with Africa’s long-term environmental and ecological history.
#humanevolution
Ng’ipalajem, meaning Ancestors in Turkana, is an ERC-funded project.
Led by @martamlahr.bsky.social, the project investigates how the emergence of Homo sapiens is deeply intertwined with Africa’s long-term environmental and ecological history.
#humanevolution
July 11, 2025 at 8:12 AM
What does the Ng'ipalajem team do?
Ng’ipalajem, meaning Ancestors in Turkana, is an ERC-funded project.
Led by @martamlahr.bsky.social, the project investigates how the emergence of Homo sapiens is deeply intertwined with Africa’s long-term environmental and ecological history.
#humanevolution
Ng’ipalajem, meaning Ancestors in Turkana, is an ERC-funded project.
Led by @martamlahr.bsky.social, the project investigates how the emergence of Homo sapiens is deeply intertwined with Africa’s long-term environmental and ecological history.
#humanevolution
Breaking the barriers! Important new paper by Daniel Green and others discovering 18 million years of proteins of East African mammals!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Eighteen million years of diverse enamel proteomes from the East African Rift - Nature
The isolation of dental proteins from fossils deposited 1.5 million to 18 million years ago in the Turkana Basin in Kenya, a tropical region, demonstrate the promise of dental enamel for palaeoproteom...
www.nature.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Breaking the barriers! Important new paper by Daniel Green and others discovering 18 million years of proteins of East African mammals!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Talking yesterday evening with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social at the launch of his new book Invisible Rivals (yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... )
June 19, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Talking yesterday evening with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social at the launch of his new book Invisible Rivals (yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... )
Reposted by Rob Foley
Race, ethnicity don’t match genetic ancestry, according to a large U.S. study www.science.org/content/arti...
Race, ethnicity don’t match genetic ancestry, according to a large U.S. study
Data from the All of Us program confirm what many geneticists have long promoted
www.science.org
June 7, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Race, ethnicity don’t match genetic ancestry, according to a large U.S. study www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Rob Foley
Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats? It’s human nature to trust strongmen, but we’ve also evolved the tools to resist them www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats?
It’s human nature to trust strongmen, but we’ve also evolved the tools to resist them
www.theguardian.com
May 19, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats? It’s human nature to trust strongmen, but we’ve also evolved the tools to resist them www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
Many congratulations, Rob! So deserved!
Happy to share the news that Rob Boyd was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He's not on social media, but I am happy to pass along messages.
April 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Many congratulations, Rob! So deserved!
Nearly 50 years since David 'Analytical Archaeology’ Clarke died tragically young. A sunny day seemed the right time to pay a much overdue visit to where he is buried in Great Chesterford. Still much missed - not just for what he would have contributed but as a brilliant, witty and cheerful person.
April 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Nearly 50 years since David 'Analytical Archaeology’ Clarke died tragically young. A sunny day seemed the right time to pay a much overdue visit to where he is buried in Great Chesterford. Still much missed - not just for what he would have contributed but as a brilliant, witty and cheerful person.
Reposted by Rob Foley
Amazing work with a fabulous team 🤩
A reel of our recent field season in Turkana - a privilege & a joy to work with such fantastic people in an amazing place!
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
April 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Amazing work with a fabulous team 🤩
Reposted by Rob Foley
Our new paper on 3D GM has all the models and script available for others to apply our method. We use it to demonstrate interregional variability of Nubian Levallois cores but it has broader potential for lithic studies #openscience #archaeology #3DGM @icarehb.bsky.social @jmcascalheira.bsky.social
📢 We have a new paper out!! Led by the incredible @eshallinan.bsky.social we introduce a novel application of three-dimensional geometric morphometrics (GM) to quantify the shape variability of Nubian Levallois cores. #archaeology #openscience @icarehb.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Quantifying Levallois: a 3D geometric morphometric approach to Nubian technology - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Levallois technology, a hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic stone tool manufacture, involves sophisticated core reduction strategies that have major implications for understanding human cognitive and tech...
link.springer.com
March 25, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Our new paper on 3D GM has all the models and script available for others to apply our method. We use it to demonstrate interregional variability of Nubian Levallois cores but it has broader potential for lithic studies #openscience #archaeology #3DGM @icarehb.bsky.social @jmcascalheira.bsky.social
Reposted by Rob Foley
Excellent thread - the revolution in our understanding of cellular biology, critical for modern medicine, and now tragically impacted by US cuts to NIH funding
1. What's at risk by disrupting NIH? With only a bit of hyperbole: a mechanistic understanding of life itself, & therefore better treatments for cancer, dementias, autoimmune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, birth defects, aging & more 🧪
Notes on a revolution interrupted 🧵
Notes on a revolution interrupted 🧵
March 24, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Excellent thread - the revolution in our understanding of cellular biology, critical for modern medicine, and now tragically impacted by US cuts to NIH funding
Congratulations to @martamlahr.bsky.social on her News and Views in Nature on Ignacio de la Torre and colleagues' discovery of early bone tools at Olduvai. The site that keeps on giving!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The early origins of bone-tool manufacturing traditions by hominins 1.5 million years ago
Excavations at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, reveal evidence of the systematic use of animal bones as a raw material for prehistoric tools.
www.nature.com
March 21, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Congratulations to @martamlahr.bsky.social on her News and Views in Nature on Ignacio de la Torre and colleagues' discovery of early bone tools at Olduvai. The site that keeps on giving!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Rob Foley
Thanks so much to Jean Black @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social and @robfoley.bsky.social – would not have been possible without you
@darwincollegecam.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @engagewcs.bsky.social
@darwincollegecam.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @engagewcs.bsky.social
We are so excited to share that @yalepress.bsky.social has acquired the ground-breaking first book, Invisible Rivals, from social scientist @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social
Please follow the link to see the full deal announcement on our website, here: bit.ly/41K8QIa
Please follow the link to see the full deal announcement on our website, here: bit.ly/41K8QIa
Yale University Press has acquired the ground-breaking first book from social scientist Jonathan R. Goodman. - Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency
Yale University Press signs Jonathan R. Goodman’s Invisible Rivals, outlining a new approach to the evolution of human behaviour: Humans are inherently neither nice nor nasty, but we use cooperative a...
bit.ly
March 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Thanks so much to Jean Black @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social and @robfoley.bsky.social – would not have been possible without you
@darwincollegecam.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @engagewcs.bsky.social
@darwincollegecam.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @engagewcs.bsky.social
Reposted by Rob Foley
This morning, some of our researchers took part in a McDonald Institute knapping workshop focused on microlithic technologies with brilliant guidance from expert John Lord!
Thanks to @robfoley.bsky.social for organising this opportunity and to @kingscollege.bsky.social for kindly hosting us
Thanks to @robfoley.bsky.social for organising this opportunity and to @kingscollege.bsky.social for kindly hosting us
February 14, 2025 at 1:08 PM
This morning, some of our researchers took part in a McDonald Institute knapping workshop focused on microlithic technologies with brilliant guidance from expert John Lord!
Thanks to @robfoley.bsky.social for organising this opportunity and to @kingscollege.bsky.social for kindly hosting us
Thanks to @robfoley.bsky.social for organising this opportunity and to @kingscollege.bsky.social for kindly hosting us
Reposted by Rob Foley
In an article for @uk.theconversation.com, @rjmilne.bsky.social and I argue that while the UK's plan to foster innovation through AI is ambitious, it will rely on public trust for success.
Yet anyone can claim to be trustworthy: how do we tell who actually is?
theconversation.com/government-n...
Yet anyone can claim to be trustworthy: how do we tell who actually is?
theconversation.com/government-n...
Government needs to show that its AI plan can be trusted to deal with serious risks when it comes to health data
The use of patient data has been controversial in the past.
theconversation.com
February 4, 2025 at 9:38 AM
In an article for @uk.theconversation.com, @rjmilne.bsky.social and I argue that while the UK's plan to foster innovation through AI is ambitious, it will rely on public trust for success.
Yet anyone can claim to be trustworthy: how do we tell who actually is?
theconversation.com/government-n...
Yet anyone can claim to be trustworthy: how do we tell who actually is?
theconversation.com/government-n...
Reposted by Rob Foley
Very nice post from Daniel Nettle, honouring Margo Wilson
"..a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive"
www.danielnettle.eu/2025/01/26/m...
"..a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive"
www.danielnettle.eu/2025/01/26/m...
Margo Wilson, and how to do evolutionary human science
In October 2024, I had the great honour of travelling to Hamilton to give the Margo Wilson Memorial Lecture. It was fifteen years since Margo’s death. Preparing the lecture gave me the oppo…
www.danielnettle.eu
January 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Very nice post from Daniel Nettle, honouring Margo Wilson
"..a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive"
www.danielnettle.eu/2025/01/26/m...
"..a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive"
www.danielnettle.eu/2025/01/26/m...
The HEIRS meeting at ICArEHB last week was as enjoyable as it was impressive. A wealth of early career talent (and the occasional older ones!). The development of scientific and quantitative techniques is really transforming human evolutionary studies. Congratulations and thanks to the organisers.
Rarely have I been to such an inspiring event, meeting old friends and new ones - what an amazing group of people: @ceciliapad.bsky.social @heliosdlbs.bsky.social @smartenwinter.bsky.social @svalver.bsky.social @robfoley.bsky.social @eshallinan.bsky.social @hannesrathmann.bsky.social and many more!
February 3, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The HEIRS meeting at ICArEHB last week was as enjoyable as it was impressive. A wealth of early career talent (and the occasional older ones!). The development of scientific and quantitative techniques is really transforming human evolutionary studies. Congratulations and thanks to the organisers.
Reposted by Rob Foley
🏺🦣 Very pleased to share the latest chapter from my PhD (with Gonzalo Linares-Matás), “Setbacks in the use of a handaxe: lithic investment in the Early Acheulean” doi.org/10.1007/s125... /1
Setbacks in the use of a handaxe: lithic investment and seasonality in the Early Acheulean - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
From their first appearance in the archaeological record, the varying degree of biface presence in individual assemblages has long been a notable aspect of discussions surrounding the nature of the Ea...
doi.org
January 23, 2025 at 1:20 PM
🏺🦣 Very pleased to share the latest chapter from my PhD (with Gonzalo Linares-Matás), “Setbacks in the use of a handaxe: lithic investment in the Early Acheulean” doi.org/10.1007/s125... /1