Simon J. Greenhill
@simongreenhill.bsky.social
I study how languages and cultures evolve. Primarily with phylogenies and other assorted computational methods. Based at @Biology_UoA. Never met a language phylogeny or a cultural phylogeny I didn't like. #phylolinguistics
Infants expect plants to be food:
"Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet ... not everything that goes into another person's mouth is food: The fusilli is edible, but the fork is not"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet ... not everything that goes into another person's mouth is food: The fusilli is edible, but the fork is not"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Expectations about plant edibility in 6-month-old infants
Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet human diets and eating behaviors are complicated, and not everyth…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Infants expect plants to be food:
"Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet ... not everything that goes into another person's mouth is food: The fusilli is edible, but the fork is not"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet ... not everything that goes into another person's mouth is food: The fusilli is edible, but the fork is not"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
On the left, Alan Turing’s 1950 paper introducing the imitation game, where he says that using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent is absurd.
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
November 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
On the left, Alan Turing’s 1950 paper introducing the imitation game, where he says that using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent is absurd.
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
Congratulations to our two NOMIS & Science Grand Prize Winners @rachitdubey.bsky.social and Jiacheng Miao whose essays just published in @science.org
www.science.org/content/page...
www.science.org/content/page...
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Congratulations to our two NOMIS & Science Grand Prize Winners @rachitdubey.bsky.social and Jiacheng Miao whose essays just published in @science.org
www.science.org/content/page...
www.science.org/content/page...
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
another day, and more deafening silence from university admins regarding major cuts to humanities and science funding everywhere.
why don’t they care about these major revenue streams that support most research staff?
why don’t they care about these major revenue streams that support most research staff?
November 7, 2025 at 6:39 PM
another day, and more deafening silence from university admins regarding major cuts to humanities and science funding everywhere.
why don’t they care about these major revenue streams that support most research staff?
why don’t they care about these major revenue streams that support most research staff?
why has no-one written a book on the evolution of cooperation titled "Decent with Modification"?
#evolution #culturalevolution
#evolution #culturalevolution
November 6, 2025 at 11:13 PM
why has no-one written a book on the evolution of cooperation titled "Decent with Modification"?
#evolution #culturalevolution
#evolution #culturalevolution
Today I learned that Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears can hybridise to become Pizzly Bears (or Grolars).
Although all 8 known examples come from the same female polar bear, who I guess, has a certain taste in men.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly...
Although all 8 known examples come from the same female polar bear, who I guess, has a certain taste in men.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly...
Grizzly–polar bear hybrid - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 6, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Today I learned that Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears can hybridise to become Pizzly Bears (or Grolars).
Although all 8 known examples come from the same female polar bear, who I guess, has a certain taste in men.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly...
Although all 8 known examples come from the same female polar bear, who I guess, has a certain taste in men.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly...
The English language doesn’t exist – it’s just French that’s badly pronounced
www.frenchclasses.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
From the archive. New DNA analysis has revealed surprising diversity among remains from burial sites in Peru. A genetic anthropologist explains what this suggests about the 15th century Inca palace. Read more: www.sapiens.org/biology/inca...
Decoding Diversity and Power at Machu Picchu
A genetic anthropologist explains the diversity revealed in DNA analysis of remains recovered from Machu Picchu and Cusco.
www.sapiens.org
November 3, 2025 at 8:01 PM
From the archive. New DNA analysis has revealed surprising diversity among remains from burial sites in Peru. A genetic anthropologist explains what this suggests about the 15th century Inca palace. Read more: www.sapiens.org/biology/inca...
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Excellent science is extremely fragile.
All government shutdowns disrupt science − in 2025, the consequences extend far beyond a lapse in funding
The Trump administration is not just reforming the US research system – it is trying to remake it.
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Excellent science is extremely fragile.
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
Language can be tricky to parse without context. For instance, the sentence “Rowan fed his pet chicken” is ambiguous. Is the chicken Rowan’s pet or his pet’s meal? Some AI models can recognize the syntactic differences between these two possible meanings.
In a First, AI Models Analyze Language As Well As a Human Expert | Quanta Magazine
If language is what makes us human, what does it mean now that large language models have gained “metalinguistic” abilities?
www.quantamagazine.org
November 2, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Language can be tricky to parse without context. For instance, the sentence “Rowan fed his pet chicken” is ambiguous. Is the chicken Rowan’s pet or his pet’s meal? Some AI models can recognize the syntactic differences between these two possible meanings.
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
yesterday on RNZ I talked with Kathryn Ryan about cuts to NZ science funding and the risk of losing talent www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
here's some correspondence about the opposite problem: kiwi scientists who want to return home to work, but can't, given the bleak funding environment
#nzpol
here's some correspondence about the opposite problem: kiwi scientists who want to return home to work, but can't, given the bleak funding environment
#nzpol
October 30, 2025 at 9:33 AM
yesterday on RNZ I talked with Kathryn Ryan about cuts to NZ science funding and the risk of losing talent www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
here's some correspondence about the opposite problem: kiwi scientists who want to return home to work, but can't, given the bleak funding environment
#nzpol
here's some correspondence about the opposite problem: kiwi scientists who want to return home to work, but can't, given the bleak funding environment
#nzpol
basic research funding is vital. Cant harvest the fruit without feeding the trunk.
In praise of fundamental research
Our editorial this week argues that I n these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different
🧪
@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Our editorial this week argues that I n these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different
🧪
@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected
In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
basic research funding is vital. Cant harvest the fruit without feeding the trunk.
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
“Bonferonni correction”, an invaluable method in #statistics, refers to the act of repeatedly correcting misspellings of the word Bonferroni at multiple places in a draft manuscript.
#science #academia
#science #academia
November 11, 2024 at 2:52 PM
“Bonferonni correction”, an invaluable method in #statistics, refers to the act of repeatedly correcting misspellings of the word Bonferroni at multiple places in a draft manuscript.
#science #academia
#science #academia
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
The person Musk is quote-tweeting refers to himself as an “evolutionary behavioral scientist”. Having people like this “representing” us in the public eye, without much obvious pushback, is doing enormous reputational damage to the field
Elon Musk continues to try to socialise civil war, political & inter-ethnic violence in Britain. He combines an argument that violence is inevitable with his call at the Tommy Robinson rally for pre-emptive violence, on grounds of an existential threat & the inevitability of violence
October 29, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The person Musk is quote-tweeting refers to himself as an “evolutionary behavioral scientist”. Having people like this “representing” us in the public eye, without much obvious pushback, is doing enormous reputational damage to the field
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
So proud to see our new paper out in PNAS spearheaded by @emilypigott.bsky.social She found a tiny 46,000 yr old Neanderthal bone at Starosele (Crimea). DNA work revealed long-distance connections across Eurasia, supported by stone tool evidence @heasvienna.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
October 29, 2025 at 9:17 AM
So proud to see our new paper out in PNAS spearheaded by @emilypigott.bsky.social She found a tiny 46,000 yr old Neanderthal bone at Starosele (Crimea). DNA work revealed long-distance connections across Eurasia, supported by stone tool evidence @heasvienna.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
The problem with linguists proposing attention to language in the world is that their solution often seems to be just make people linguists. Which isn’t tenable, nor reasonable.
October 29, 2025 at 6:46 AM
The problem with linguists proposing attention to language in the world is that their solution often seems to be just make people linguists. Which isn’t tenable, nor reasonable.
I'm sure OpenAI is being very compassionate and empathetic about how they're handling this :eyeroll:
techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/o...
techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/o...
OpenAI says over a million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly | TechCrunch
OpenAI released data on just how many of ChatGPT's users are facing mental health challenges, and how it's addressing them.
techcrunch.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:45 AM
I'm sure OpenAI is being very compassionate and empathetic about how they're handling this :eyeroll:
techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/o...
techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/o...
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
#CrowCoG is hiring🚨MULTIPLE PAID RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS 🚨for our 2026 field season (May - Sep)! Field and aviary-based positions - come help us study the remarkable tool-making New Caledonian crows. Apply here: bit.ly/3WlxxHE
October 27, 2025 at 8:57 AM
#CrowCoG is hiring🚨MULTIPLE PAID RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS 🚨for our 2026 field season (May - Sep)! Field and aviary-based positions - come help us study the remarkable tool-making New Caledonian crows. Apply here: bit.ly/3WlxxHE
Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill
an MP pushing for this is literally the science minister, Shane Reti (he's in the district the road would service, obviously). Any journo can quote me: Chris Luxon is an idiot if he thinks the country needs a single road more than it needs an entire science establishment. Reti too. #nzpol
October 26, 2025 at 8:13 PM
an MP pushing for this is literally the science minister, Shane Reti (he's in the district the road would service, obviously). Any journo can quote me: Chris Luxon is an idiot if he thinks the country needs a single road more than it needs an entire science establishment. Reti too. #nzpol