A screenshot of the article title: Reframing oxytocin as a behavioral flexibility hormone
Scientific claims in biobehavioral oxytocin research are dependent on a “derivation chain”. Theoretical models are the beginning of this chain, which are dependent on a theoretical core supported by auxiliary hypotheses. Efforts to improve biobehavioral oxytocin research have tended to focus on auxiliary hypotheses related to experimental models (e.g., improving oxytocin delivery to the brain, polygenic approaches for genetics studies), and statistical auxiliary hypothesis (e.g., appropriate sample sizes for research). However, even if these issues are addressed, a poorly specified theoretical core (and associated auxiliary hypothesis) can lead to unreliable scientific claims
Oxytocin is typically described as a "social" hormone. In our new article, we propose that it should instead be viewed a hormone that modulates behavioral flexibility
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
07.03.2026 08:16
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Very nice work about the division of labor between Cortex & Cerebellum 👇🧪🧠
05.03.2026 12:19
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Terrible headline (this is NOT what the new research - link below - shows!), terrible AI image! Argh!
Here’s the actual research:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Where do I start?! 1/4
27.02.2026 11:13
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Why I have changed my mind about AI and you should too
Both boosters and sceptics have strongly held opinions on AI tools like ChatGPT, but after an experiment in vibe coding, I have realised that both camps are wrong, says Jacob Aron
I have written a piece articulating what I believe is a reasonably new position on AI, or at least one extremely underrepresented in the discourse, and I hope people will read it. The full piece is behind the New Scientist paywall, but I will share some snippets www.newscientist.com/article/2516...
26.02.2026 09:40
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Front cover of my book, titled "Comparative musicology: Evolution, universals, and the science of the world's music" (published today by Oxford University Press)
1st of my 4-page essay published in Nature today titled "Music is not a universal language - but it can bring us together when words fail"
Picture caption: "Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny (centre) performed in Spanish at the half-time show of the 2026 American Football Super Bowl LX."
My book is now published! 🌏🎶🧪
You can download it for free at academic.oup.com/book/62353 - I’d be grateful if you do!
I also published an accessible summary with audio/video today in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Try reading that first, then give the whole book a read if you like it!
23.02.2026 12:10
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We’re hiring a Field Project Manager with the Moyen Bafing Chimpanzee Project!
Help run a growing wild chimpanzee research & conservation project in West Africa 🐵
Apply by 24 Feb (open until filled). More info via QR code in the image. Note: Right to work in the EU required. #job #conservation
28.01.2026 08:59
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Powered by MHR
We are recruiting a Lecturer in Psychology: mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web... and a Teaching Fellow: mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web.... Come and join the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology 🐶🐵🐴🐘🕷️🧒 www.port.ac.uk/research/res...
16.02.2026 09:37
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This study was an amazing collaborative experience. I'm really really grateful to all the wonderful people who contributed and made this happen.
It's the closest I have ever come to finding something like a "universal" in human cognition.
09.02.2026 12:32
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🚨 New paper alert! "Honestly exaggerated: howler monkey roars are reliable signals of body size and behaviourally relevant to listeners"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We show that formants advertise body size and mediate social interactions in black and gold howler monkeys.
19.12.2025 11:08
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A) Dendrogram of the development dataset showing the clustering structure and optimal cut points, and spectrograms of representative calls extracted from cluster 0 and cluster 1. Within the main
clusters, we observed further branching; B) UMAP projection divided into 𝐾 = 2 clusters using HAC.
Our new pre-print shows how unsupervised clustering methods can identify biologically meaningful differences in early vocal production, with no human feedback. @antorrisi.bsky.social
has led this interdisciplinary collaboration based on computational methods + #chicks 🐣 arxiv.org/abs/2601.12203
24.01.2026 13:15
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More coverage of Éadin's paper: oceanographicmagazine.com/news/immigra... 🐳🦑
23.01.2026 17:02
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The cerebellum supports high-level language?? Now out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social, we systematically examined language-responsive areas of the cerebellum using precision fMRI and identified a *cerebellar satellite* of the neocortical language network!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mUU83BtfH...
1/n 🧵👇
22.01.2026 17:21
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Really cool study @adriansoldati.bsky.social , and cool to see all the old names as co-authors too, they will be very proud of that !
21.01.2026 09:40
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Our new paper (with @biotay.bsky.social) is out and on the cover story of @currentbiology.bsky.social !!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
19.01.2026 16:07
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📖Published!
animal2vec and MeerKAT: A self-supervised transformer for rare-event raw audio input and a large-scale reference dataset for bioacoustics
A new transformative bioacoustic tool tailored for sparse and unbalanced bioacoustic data🦉
🔎 Find out more:
18.01.2026 08:15
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Brilliant overview here of the ongoing debate over dinosaur cognition. In short, it's complicated and evidence is fragmentary.
#neuroethology #neuroskyence #anatomy #brains
@tetzoo.bsky.social @gallinaciega.bsky.social @nomascus.bsky.social
12.01.2026 21:02
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How do curiosity and surprise intersect following a violation of expectation? Read our paper here🔥
@auersperga.bsky.social @ivojacobs.bsky.social @elifduran.bsky.social
29.12.2025 23:37
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Excited to share that the second paper of my PhD is now published!
Kea but not cockatoos are susceptible to a bait-and-switch magic trick. And check out that thermal imaging! ❤️🔥
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
17.12.2025 19:56
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https://www.zmescience.com/science/scientists-discover-cockroaches-good-survivors/
1/4 Positive and negative moods in cockroaches
Cockroaches change their mood depending on recent experiences: they become more pessimistic after exposure to light and more optimistic after perceiving an attractive smell.
(preprint) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
06.12.2025 18:25
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Young chimps play weird with tools and other objects & this can lead to innovation! Moss sponging, doll play, leaf clipping to ask for carrying. If copied and retained, rare kid innovations can contribute to cultural complexity 🧪🔬🐵
My fav article I've ever worked on: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
21.10.2025 12:15
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Image shows the first two printed pages of the paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” by Cecilia Lai and colleagues, published in Nature in 2001 (volume 413, pages 519-523). The abstract reads as follows:
Individuals affected with developmental disorders of speech and language have substantial difficulty acquiring expressive and/or receptive language in the absence of any profound sensory or neurological impairment and despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although studies of twins consistently indicate that a significant genetic component is involved, most families segregating speech and language deficits show complex patterns of inheritance, and a gene that predisposes individuals to such disorders has not been identified. We have studied a unique three-generation pedigree, KE, in which a severe speech and language disorder is transmitted as an autosomal-dominant monogenic trait. Our previous work mapped the locus responsible, SPCH1, to a 5.6-cM interval of region 7q31 on chromosome 7. We also identified an unrelated individual, CS, in whom speech and language impairment is associated with a chromosomal translocation involving the SPCH1 interval. Here we show that the gene FOXP2, which encodes a putative transcription factor containing a polyglutamine tract and a forkhead DNA-binding domain, is directly disrupted by the translocation breakpoint in CS. In addition, we identify a point mutation in affected members of the KE family that alters an invariant amino-acid residue in the forkhead domain. Our findings suggest that FOXP2 is involved in the developmental process that culminates in speech and language.
Twenty-four years ago today, our paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” was published: www.nature.com/articles/350....
A personal thread about the ups & downs of the journey we took to get to that point....1/n
🗣️🧬🧪
04.10.2025 13:32
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