Thomas MacGillavry
@thomasmacgillavry.bsky.social
PhD student researching birds of paradise |
Interested in avian rhythm and “dance” 💃🏻🕺🏼|
Love music, nature, bouldering, and exploring wild places 🌴 |
he/him |
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
Interested in avian rhythm and “dance” 💃🏻🕺🏼|
Love music, nature, bouldering, and exploring wild places 🌴 |
he/him |
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
A new #PhD opportunity supervised by @drmambobob.bsky.social and me at the @uniofreading.bsky.social on dragonfly and damselfly evolution!
It is competition funded through the CROCUS partnership, and involves a mix of palaeontology and comparative biology.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
It is competition funded through the CROCUS partnership, and involves a mix of palaeontology and comparative biology.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM
A new #PhD opportunity supervised by @drmambobob.bsky.social and me at the @uniofreading.bsky.social on dragonfly and damselfly evolution!
It is competition funded through the CROCUS partnership, and involves a mix of palaeontology and comparative biology.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
It is competition funded through the CROCUS partnership, and involves a mix of palaeontology and comparative biology.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Review on language evolution just published - haven't read properly yet but from a quick skim looks important!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 20, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Review on language evolution just published - haven't read properly yet but from a quick skim looks important!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
🚨Good news, everyone!
1) I'm thrilled to be joining the behavior powerhouse that is Indiana University!! So stoked, starting Jan 2026.
2) I'm recruiting grad students! Are you (or your trainee) interested in sensory ecology? behavior? evolution? fieldwork? spiders? Drop me a line Jstafstr(at)iu.edu
1) I'm thrilled to be joining the behavior powerhouse that is Indiana University!! So stoked, starting Jan 2026.
2) I'm recruiting grad students! Are you (or your trainee) interested in sensory ecology? behavior? evolution? fieldwork? spiders? Drop me a line Jstafstr(at)iu.edu
November 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
🚨Good news, everyone!
1) I'm thrilled to be joining the behavior powerhouse that is Indiana University!! So stoked, starting Jan 2026.
2) I'm recruiting grad students! Are you (or your trainee) interested in sensory ecology? behavior? evolution? fieldwork? spiders? Drop me a line Jstafstr(at)iu.edu
1) I'm thrilled to be joining the behavior powerhouse that is Indiana University!! So stoked, starting Jan 2026.
2) I'm recruiting grad students! Are you (or your trainee) interested in sensory ecology? behavior? evolution? fieldwork? spiders? Drop me a line Jstafstr(at)iu.edu
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
📢Two fully-funded #PhD opportunities to work with us:
Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation
UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6
NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp
Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork
Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation
UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6
NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp
Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork
November 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
📢Two fully-funded #PhD opportunities to work with us:
Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation
UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6
NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp
Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork
Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation
UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6
NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp
Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Interested in the evolution of human language? Check out our new paper in @science.org where we synthesize latest findings and outline a multifaceted, bio-cultural approach for studying how language evolved. Super proud of this work, and hoping it leads to exciting new research! tinyurl.com/ykacvanp
November 21, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Interested in the evolution of human language? Check out our new paper in @science.org where we synthesize latest findings and outline a multifaceted, bio-cultural approach for studying how language evolved. Super proud of this work, and hoping it leads to exciting new research! tinyurl.com/ykacvanp
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
November 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
🚨 Uh-oh!!! A suuuper hot #PhD opportunity just dropped! My friend and collaborator Massimo De Agrò is looking for someone to explore jumping spider vision and neurophysiology! #psychophysics #jumpingspiders #greatPI - apply!!!! (Deadline December 17th) 🚨
November 21, 2025 at 9:49 PM
🚨 Uh-oh!!! A suuuper hot #PhD opportunity just dropped! My friend and collaborator Massimo De Agrò is looking for someone to explore jumping spider vision and neurophysiology! #psychophysics #jumpingspiders #greatPI - apply!!!! (Deadline December 17th) 🚨
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Ecological Constraints Alone Cannot Explain Delayed Dispersal in Splendid Fairywrens | doi.org/10.1093/behe... | Behavioral Ecology | #ornithology 🪶
November 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Ecological Constraints Alone Cannot Explain Delayed Dispersal in Splendid Fairywrens | doi.org/10.1093/behe... | Behavioral Ecology | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
A huge thankyou to @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social for covering our research in the Marshall Islands for the @nytimes.com !
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
A Voyage Into the Art of Finding One’s Way at Sea
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
A huge thankyou to @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social for covering our research in the Marshall Islands for the @nytimes.com !
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
PLEASE SHARE
🚨🚨 6-month RA position available at the Univ. of St Andrews to work with Sue Healy (@cogwild.bsky.social), Simone Meddle (@simonemeddle.bsky.social) and I on the behavioural neuroendocrinology of early reproduction in zebra finches.
tinyurl.com/577cx9tj
Deadline: 03/12/2025
⬇️
🚨🚨 6-month RA position available at the Univ. of St Andrews to work with Sue Healy (@cogwild.bsky.social), Simone Meddle (@simonemeddle.bsky.social) and I on the behavioural neuroendocrinology of early reproduction in zebra finches.
tinyurl.com/577cx9tj
Deadline: 03/12/2025
⬇️
November 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM
PLEASE SHARE
🚨🚨 6-month RA position available at the Univ. of St Andrews to work with Sue Healy (@cogwild.bsky.social), Simone Meddle (@simonemeddle.bsky.social) and I on the behavioural neuroendocrinology of early reproduction in zebra finches.
tinyurl.com/577cx9tj
Deadline: 03/12/2025
⬇️
🚨🚨 6-month RA position available at the Univ. of St Andrews to work with Sue Healy (@cogwild.bsky.social), Simone Meddle (@simonemeddle.bsky.social) and I on the behavioural neuroendocrinology of early reproduction in zebra finches.
tinyurl.com/577cx9tj
Deadline: 03/12/2025
⬇️
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Annual Meeting coming up in Grünau in February - don't miss out!
📢 #Ethology2026 – A Double Event
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
November 19, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Annual Meeting coming up in Grünau in February - don't miss out!
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely
September 3, 2025 at 10:33 PM
This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
I'm so, so tired of reading, reporting on and seeing these results. This was easily one of the prettiest places in the world, forever changed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Deathly silent’: two out of three corals in world heritage-listed Ningaloo reef have been killed, scientists confirm
One expert says she is ‘starting to visualise the point where all we have left of corals and reefs is memories’
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:42 AM
I'm so, so tired of reading, reporting on and seeing these results. This was easily one of the prettiest places in the world, forever changed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Blink to the beat! Human movements are known to synchronize with rhythmic patterns in #music. This study reveals that spontaneous #EyeBlinks also align with musical beats, linking this to brain activity, #WhiteMatter structure & dynamic attention @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/44gYBMi
November 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Blink to the beat! Human movements are known to synchronize with rhythmic patterns in #music. This study reveals that spontaneous #EyeBlinks also align with musical beats, linking this to brain activity, #WhiteMatter structure & dynamic attention @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/44gYBMi
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Indeed. A terrible state for the world, including for science. See for instance: irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge
Cite as: van Rooij, I. (2025) AI slop and the destruction of knowledge. This week I was looking for info on what cognitive scientists mean when they speak of ‘domain-general’ cognition. I was curio…
irisvanrooijcogsci.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Indeed. A terrible state for the world, including for science. See for instance: irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Johnston et al (2025) Widespread influence of artificial light at night on ecosystem metabolism 💡🧪🔓
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natclimate.nature.com
(H/T @zarahpattison.bsky.social)
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natclimate.nature.com
(H/T @zarahpattison.bsky.social)
Widespread influence of artificial light at night on ecosystem metabolism - Nature Climate Change
The authors combine light intensity data with eddy covariance observations from 86 sites to show that artificial light at night increases ecosystem respiration and alters carbon exchange, with impacts...
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Johnston et al (2025) Widespread influence of artificial light at night on ecosystem metabolism 💡🧪🔓
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natclimate.nature.com
(H/T @zarahpattison.bsky.social)
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natclimate.nature.com
(H/T @zarahpattison.bsky.social)
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
🚨 Calling all dog behavior & cognition researchers - ManyDogs Project is launching ManyDogs 2!
🔍🐕🦺We're studying overimitation: Do dogs copy irrelevant actions just b/c their favorite human does them?
Email manydogsproject2@gmail.com to collaborate globally and contribute to reproducible science!
🔍🐕🦺We're studying overimitation: Do dogs copy irrelevant actions just b/c their favorite human does them?
Email manydogsproject2@gmail.com to collaborate globally and contribute to reproducible science!
July 22, 2025 at 2:19 AM
🚨 Calling all dog behavior & cognition researchers - ManyDogs Project is launching ManyDogs 2!
🔍🐕🦺We're studying overimitation: Do dogs copy irrelevant actions just b/c their favorite human does them?
Email manydogsproject2@gmail.com to collaborate globally and contribute to reproducible science!
🔍🐕🦺We're studying overimitation: Do dogs copy irrelevant actions just b/c their favorite human does them?
Email manydogsproject2@gmail.com to collaborate globally and contribute to reproducible science!
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
📢 #Ethology2026 – A Double Event
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
November 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
📢 #Ethology2026 – A Double Event
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
PhD opportunity in NZ - Fabulous supervisor, exciting questions, great system! Get your applications in!
PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
November 18, 2025 at 8:39 AM
PhD opportunity in NZ - Fabulous supervisor, exciting questions, great system! Get your applications in!
Just leaving Melbourne after visiting good friends and seeing the amazing forests in the Dandenong range (feat. Koalas and wombats)
November 18, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Just leaving Melbourne after visiting good friends and seeing the amazing forests in the Dandenong range (feat. Koalas and wombats)
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Allowing far right vigilante groups
to protect women & girls from violence
is like employing a pack of wolves
to look after some sheep & goats ...
meme via Bernie Hastie
#SocialistSunday
to protect women & girls from violence
is like employing a pack of wolves
to look after some sheep & goats ...
meme via Bernie Hastie
#SocialistSunday
November 16, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Allowing far right vigilante groups
to protect women & girls from violence
is like employing a pack of wolves
to look after some sheep & goats ...
meme via Bernie Hastie
#SocialistSunday
to protect women & girls from violence
is like employing a pack of wolves
to look after some sheep & goats ...
meme via Bernie Hastie
#SocialistSunday
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
This may be the best thing ive read yet on AI in higher ed, and its written by a Yale undergrad. Highly recommend.
Inside Yale’s Quiet Reckoning with AI | The New Journal
Amid ChatGPT's rising popularity and a computer science cheating scandal, Yale students, professors, and administrators wrestle privately with the proper role of AI in education. What happens when eve...
thenewjournalatyale.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This may be the best thing ive read yet on AI in higher ed, and its written by a Yale undergrad. Highly recommend.
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Mammal colouration is typically drab, and iridescence virtually unheard of, except in the most unlikely place: blind, subterranean golden moles. Here, researchers quantitatively confirm iridescence in 14 mammal species: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #JRSocInterface #evolution
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Mammal colouration is typically drab, and iridescence virtually unheard of, except in the most unlikely place: blind, subterranean golden moles. Here, researchers quantitatively confirm iridescence in 14 mammal species: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #JRSocInterface #evolution
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
New theme issue of #PhilTransB on the evolutionary functions of #consciousness. Read: buff.ly/blMm4eR
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
New theme issue of #PhilTransB on the evolutionary functions of #consciousness. Read: buff.ly/blMm4eR
Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry
Fully funded #PhDposition in Comparative Cultural Psychology @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
www.eva.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Fully funded #PhDposition in Comparative Cultural Psychology @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏