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
Sometimes tidyverse drives me mad by being too clever. Just spent 20 mins debugging this:
October 22, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Sometimes tidyverse drives me mad by being too clever. Just spent 20 mins debugging this:
IF SIGN STILL HERE, STORM IS NOT TOO BAD 👍
September 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
IF SIGN STILL HERE, STORM IS NOT TOO BAD 👍
Happy to see that all of DeGruyter's journals link clearly to "Safety and product resources".
Handy to have this so accessible in case, I don't know, you get a paper cut while flipping through the journal.
#academicpublishing
Handy to have this so accessible in case, I don't know, you get a paper cut while flipping through the journal.
#academicpublishing
September 14, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Happy to see that all of DeGruyter's journals link clearly to "Safety and product resources".
Handy to have this so accessible in case, I don't know, you get a paper cut while flipping through the journal.
#academicpublishing
Handy to have this so accessible in case, I don't know, you get a paper cut while flipping through the journal.
#academicpublishing
I'm reminiscing on how lectures used to be (instead of revising mine for next month)
September 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
I'm reminiscing on how lectures used to be (instead of revising mine for next month)
I got bored with the tired old tree visualisations you see everywhere and asked an AI to make me an exciting one.
Here is the Uto-Aztecan language phylogeny visualised in what it calls "space jellyfish" mode.
#phylogenetics #spacejellyfish
Here is the Uto-Aztecan language phylogeny visualised in what it calls "space jellyfish" mode.
#phylogenetics #spacejellyfish
September 3, 2025 at 4:25 AM
I got bored with the tired old tree visualisations you see everywhere and asked an AI to make me an exciting one.
Here is the Uto-Aztecan language phylogeny visualised in what it calls "space jellyfish" mode.
#phylogenetics #spacejellyfish
Here is the Uto-Aztecan language phylogeny visualised in what it calls "space jellyfish" mode.
#phylogenetics #spacejellyfish
"The Cultural Macroevolution of Arcade Video Games: Innovation, Collaboration, and Collapse"
#gaming
https://doi.org10.1017/ehs.2025.10015
#gaming
https://doi.org10.1017/ehs.2025.10015
August 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
"The Cultural Macroevolution of Arcade Video Games: Innovation, Collaboration, and Collapse"
#gaming
https://doi.org10.1017/ehs.2025.10015
#gaming
https://doi.org10.1017/ehs.2025.10015
Large Language Models underestimate moral differences across societies:
"The tested models seem to propagate a homogenized view on cross-cultural moral values, identifying most topics as cross-culturally agreed on as more morally acceptable than empirically observed."
arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21319
"The tested models seem to propagate a homogenized view on cross-cultural moral values, identifying most topics as cross-culturally agreed on as more morally acceptable than empirically observed."
arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21319
August 23, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Large Language Models underestimate moral differences across societies:
"The tested models seem to propagate a homogenized view on cross-cultural moral values, identifying most topics as cross-culturally agreed on as more morally acceptable than empirically observed."
arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21319
"The tested models seem to propagate a homogenized view on cross-cultural moral values, identifying most topics as cross-culturally agreed on as more morally acceptable than empirically observed."
arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21319
"Articles of fraudulent provenance have an apparent growth rate greater than that of the entire scientific enterprise and already far outpace the scope of science integrity measures currently in use. "
August 12, 2025 at 9:27 PM
"Articles of fraudulent provenance have an apparent growth rate greater than that of the entire scientific enterprise and already far outpace the scope of science integrity measures currently in use. "
Paper in @pnas.org shows 'industrial scale' academic fraud: Fake papers are not rare & are generally not detected (only ~25% get retracted). Facilitated by 'brokers' - "22 editors accept articles that were retracted significantly more frequently than one would expect by chance".
August 12, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Paper in @pnas.org shows 'industrial scale' academic fraud: Fake papers are not rare & are generally not detected (only ~25% get retracted). Facilitated by 'brokers' - "22 editors accept articles that were retracted significantly more frequently than one would expect by chance".
You know you've asked an LLM a tough question when this is what it gives you after 20 minutes of thinking -- Deepseek-r1 brain explode 🤯
August 6, 2025 at 12:11 AM
You know you've asked an LLM a tough question when this is what it gives you after 20 minutes of thinking -- Deepseek-r1 brain explode 🤯
Always impressed at the ways Germans come up with to protest facism:
July 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Always impressed at the ways Germans come up with to protest facism:
Did alcohol facilitate the evolution of complex societies?
dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05503-6
From @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social & @kirrallina.bsky.social at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social
dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05503-6
From @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social & @kirrallina.bsky.social at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social
July 19, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Did alcohol facilitate the evolution of complex societies?
dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05503-6
From @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social & @kirrallina.bsky.social at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social
dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05503-6
From @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social & @kirrallina.bsky.social at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social
This is intriguing -- Language Dialect boundaries block the transmission of Pertussis, but not Measles or Smallpox.
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#linguistics
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#linguistics
June 12, 2025 at 11:41 PM
This is intriguing -- Language Dialect boundaries block the transmission of Pertussis, but not Measles or Smallpox.
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#linguistics
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#linguistics
Springer-Nature proudly serving those 10 million scientific documents to me.
June 12, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Springer-Nature proudly serving those 10 million scientific documents to me.
June 12, 2025 at 10:28 PM
This looks cool: The Areal Typology of Languages of the Americas (ATLAs) database
atlas.evolvinglanguage.ch
Paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#linguistics #languages #data
atlas.evolvinglanguage.ch
Paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#linguistics #languages #data
June 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
This looks cool: The Areal Typology of Languages of the Americas (ATLAs) database
atlas.evolvinglanguage.ch
Paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#linguistics #languages #data
atlas.evolvinglanguage.ch
Paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#linguistics #languages #data
Evolution is coupled with branching across many granularities of life
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
![Phylogenies inferred under the gradual+abrupt clock model. The three-point estimates summarize their respective tree posterior distributions using the conditional clade distribution 0 method [57]. Median estimates of branch spike sums are shown.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rew66rg22giiijehpsikchyl/bafkreihqeshse4numvq2yekn3fshef42o3iiapwdyz6rnzwrv24c375wke@jpeg)
May 28, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Evolution is coupled with branching across many granularities of life
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Apparently people who take lots of drugs like complex music...
I also appreciate the 'Groove Rating' metric.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I also appreciate the 'Groove Rating' metric.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
May 20, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Apparently people who take lots of drugs like complex music...
I also appreciate the 'Groove Rating' metric.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I also appreciate the 'Groove Rating' metric.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Fantastic paper in @science.org today revealing:
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
May 15, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Fantastic paper in @science.org today revealing:
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
While most linguists use the 'Comparative Method' to subgroup languages, others resort to the 'Imperative Method'.
#linguistics
#linguistics
May 13, 2025 at 8:16 AM
While most linguists use the 'Comparative Method' to subgroup languages, others resort to the 'Imperative Method'.
#linguistics
#linguistics
I love how constructive and collaborative linguists are.
May 5, 2025 at 7:24 AM
I love how constructive and collaborative linguists are.
Interesting article in Science today about why we should safeguard animal cultures too
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
April 4, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Interesting article in Science today about why we should safeguard animal cultures too
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
No, python, no I certainly do not 😬
March 31, 2025 at 12:28 AM
No, python, no I certainly do not 😬
Do you want to know how much it costs to publish open access in a journal?
I got sick of looking this up, so made this:
apc.simon.net.nz
#openaccess #academicpublishing #articlepagecharges
I got sick of looking this up, so made this:
apc.simon.net.nz
#openaccess #academicpublishing #articlepagecharges
March 28, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Do you want to know how much it costs to publish open access in a journal?
I got sick of looking this up, so made this:
apc.simon.net.nz
#openaccess #academicpublishing #articlepagecharges
I got sick of looking this up, so made this:
apc.simon.net.nz
#openaccess #academicpublishing #articlepagecharges