The 42nd Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology was held at the KLI from 8th to 11th October 2024. The topic for this edition, organised by Joeri Witteveen and Federica Bocchi of the University of Copenhagen, was "Aims, Norms, and Values in Scientific Classification for Biodiversity Conservation". The workshop brought together 14 scholars from Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, UK, and USA, spanning the biological sciences, social sciences and humanities, and working on aspects of classification and categorization in taxonomy, biodiversity science and conservation biology. The workshop was co-funded by the KLI and the research project “Tackling the Conservationist’s Dilemma,” sponsored by the Independent Research Fund, Denmark. (Click on title to read more.)
The 42nd Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology was held at the KLI from 8th to 11th October 2024. The topic for this edition, organised by Joeri Witteveen and Federica Bocchi of the University of Copenhagen, was "Aims, Norms, and Values in Scientific Classification for Biodiversity Conservation". The workshop brought together 14 scholars from Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, UK, and USA, spanning the biological sciences, social sciences and humanities, and working on aspects of classification and categorization in taxonomy, biodiversity science and conservation biology. The workshop was co-funded by the KLI and the research project “Tackling the Conservationist’s Dilemma,” sponsored by the Independent Research Fund, Denmark. (Click on title to read more.)
Isabella Sarto-Jackson was featured in the Austrian national newspaper 'Die Presse', in an article titled, “Missbrauch und Stress verändern das junge Gehirn” (translation: abuse and stress change the young brain), in the section 'Neurobiologie'. In this article by Cornelia Grobner, which was posted on 19 October 2024, Isabella explains how negative experiences in early childhood and adolescence can deeply impact the growth and development of the brain. (Click on title to read more.)
Isabella Sarto-Jackson was featured in the Austrian national newspaper 'Die Presse', in an article titled, “Missbrauch und Stress verändern das junge Gehirn” (translation: abuse and stress change the young brain), in the section 'Neurobiologie'. In this article by Cornelia Grobner, which was posted on 19 October 2024, Isabella explains how negative experiences in early childhood and adolescence can deeply impact the growth and development of the brain. (Click on title to read more.)
In a recent paper published in PNAS, co-leads Barbara Fischer (KLI & University of Vienna) along with Katharina Pink (Medical University of Vienna) and team reported that female Japanese macaques, despite having the same pelvis-to-fetal-head ratio as female humans, do not suffer the same birth complications as human mothers. This is supported by evidence from a long-term demographic data showing zero maternal mortality linked to childbirth in these non-human primates. This study contributes to our current understanding of the interplay between pelvic morphology and birth dynamics and provides further insights into how to provide better care for human mothers to lessen complications during physiological births. The study made it to the cover of the journal.
In a recent paper published in PNAS, co-leads Barbara Fischer (KLI & University of Vienna) along with Katharina Pink (Medical University of Vienna) and team reported that female Japanese macaques, despite having the same pelvis-to-fetal-head ratio as female humans, do not suffer the same birth complications as human mothers. This is supported by evidence from a long-term demographic data showing zero maternal mortality linked to childbirth in these non-human primates. This study contributes to our current understanding of the interplay between pelvic morphology and birth dynamics and provides further insights into how to provide better care for human mothers to lessen complications during physiological births. The study made it to the cover of the journal.
We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Wiktor Rorot to the KLI! Wiktor comes from a background in cognitive science and philosophy, and is currently a PhD student at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, University of Warsaw. He will be working on his project “Scale-Free Communication? An investigation of the use of the concept ‘communication’ in biology and cognitive sciences”, at the KLI from 1 Sep 2024, to 31 Mar 2025. Here’s wishing Wiktor a warm welcome and a fruitful time at the KLI. (Click on the title to read more.)
We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Wiktor Rorot to the KLI! Wiktor comes from a background in cognitive science and philosophy, and is currently a PhD student at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, University of Warsaw. He will be working on his project “Scale-Free Communication? An investigation of the use of the concept ‘communication’ in biology and cognitive sciences”, at the KLI from 1 Sep 2024, to 31 Mar 2025. Here’s wishing Wiktor a warm welcome and a fruitful time at the KLI. (Click on the title to read more.)
Barbara Fischer, along with a team comprising of Lynn Chiu, Severin Bachmayer and others created a workshop titled Solving The Riddles of Inheritance, specifically designed to teach school students the different modes of inheritance as well as the interplay between genes and environment on the visible traits of an organism. With emphasis on familiarising students with scientific methods and scientific thinking, this workshop includes hands-on Art-Science Activity, Microscope Laboratory Activity, and a Science Quiz.
Barbara Fischer, along with a team comprising of Lynn Chiu, Severin Bachmayer and others created a workshop titled Solving The Riddles of Inheritance, specifically designed to teach school students the different modes of inheritance as well as the interplay between genes and environment on the visible traits of an organism. With emphasis on familiarising students with scientific methods and scientific thinking, this workshop includes hands-on Art-Science Activity, Microscope Laboratory Activity, and a Science Quiz.
In an interview with Hari Sridhar for the Reflections on Papers Past project, Gerd Müller shares the backstory of his well-known 2007 paper "Evo-devo: extending the evolutionary synthesis" published in Nature Review Genetics. The paper, written about 25 years after the field emerged, surveys evo-devo's research agendas and theoretical impulses at the time, and explores the implications of evo-devo findings for evolutionary theory. In the years following its publication, it served as a kind of trigger for the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, which developed over the next decade. (Click in title to read more)
In an interview with Hari Sridhar for the Reflections on Papers Past project, Gerd Müller shares the backstory of his well-known 2007 paper "Evo-devo: extending the evolutionary synthesis" published in Nature Review Genetics. The paper, written about 25 years after the field emerged, surveys evo-devo's research agendas and theoretical impulses at the time, and explores the implications of evo-devo findings for evolutionary theory. In the years following its publication, it served as a kind of trigger for the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, which developed over the next decade. (Click in title to read more)
Save the dates!! Here's announcing the Fall-Winter 2024-2025 KLI Colloquium Series! We have a great list of speakers for the Fall-Winter program starting on the 3rd of October: Martin Brüne (Ruhr-University Bochum), Mihaela Pavlicev (University of Vienna), Kevin Lala (University of St. Andrews), Stuart Newman (New York Medical College), Sarah Davies (University of Vienna), Barbara Fischer (KLI & University of Vienna), Simon Huttegger (University of California, Irvine), Sergio Porta (University of Strathclyde) and Martin Schmid (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU).
Save the dates!! Here's announcing the Fall-Winter 2024-2025 KLI Colloquium Series! We have a great list of speakers for the Fall-Winter program starting on the 3rd of October: Martin Brüne (Ruhr-University Bochum), Mihaela Pavlicev (University of Vienna), Kevin Lala (University of St. Andrews), Stuart Newman (New York Medical College), Sarah Davies (University of Vienna), Barbara Fischer (KLI & University of Vienna), Simon Huttegger (University of California, Irvine), Sergio Porta (University of Strathclyde) and Martin Schmid (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU).
Hurrah!
It is with great pleasure that we share this happy news!
KLI’s journal Biological Theory has now an Impact Factor!
Its current Impact Factor of 1.9 puts the journal in the top quartile of journals in its category.
We are happy to share this amazing news with you, and look forward to your submissions in the future!
Congratulations to the entire team at Biological Theory whose dedication and hard work over the years have played a huge part in the journal reaching this important milestone!
Hurrah!
It is with great pleasure that we share this happy news!
KLI’s journal Biological Theory has now an Impact Factor!
Its current Impact Factor of 1.9 puts the journal in the top quartile of journals in its category.
We are happy to share this amazing news with you, and look forward to your submissions in the future!
Congratulations to the entire team at Biological Theory whose dedication and hard work over the years have played a huge part in the journal reaching this important milestone!
In their recent published in Philosophical Transactions B, KLI Fellow Hari Sridhar, along with Judith L. Bronstein (University of Arizona) delve into the connexion between two different levels of cooperation, viz., within species cooperation and between-species cooperation. We are also happy to share that Hari's study system (mixed-species bird flocks) made it to the cover of this issue!
In their recent published in Philosophical Transactions B, KLI Fellow Hari Sridhar, along with Judith L. Bronstein (University of Arizona) delve into the connexion between two different levels of cooperation, viz., within species cooperation and between-species cooperation. We are also happy to share that Hari's study system (mixed-species bird flocks) made it to the cover of this issue!
