Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoins, are becoming more and more prevalent in our lexicon today, the broad common understanding being that it is a financial system that is based on technology. However, for most of us, there is still a lot more to know and understand how cryptocurrencies work, and how such a technology can affect social relationships. Enrico Petracca, along with Shaun Gallagher, in their new paper, apply the philosophy of mind concept of the "socially extended mind" to the case of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. They see cryptocurrencies as institutions that perform some cognitive work (e.g., transaction verification) and identify trust as an unavoidable and desirable condition for performing such cognitive work. (Click on title to continue…)

In their new paper published in Neuroscience & Behavioral Reviews, Philipp Mitteroecker and Giuseppe P. Merola present new theory for the puzzle of the evolution of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia persist in human populations despite its negative effects on a person’s evolutionary fitness. They develop a mathematical model, the cliff-edge model of the evolution of schizophrenia, based on the idea that schizophrenia is the extreme manifestation of a trait that, within a normal range of variation, confers an evolutionary advantage. (Click on title to read more..)

KLI fellow Enrico Petracca questions the problem’s main assumption: That cognitive phenomena can be categorized based on their inherent complexity or representation-hunger.

Laura Menatti and Mariagrazia Ranzini 's new paper explores the effects of Covid lockdowns on relationships and connectedness, with important implications for future health policy.

New paper by Caniglia and Vogel outlines how queer theory can help transdisciplinary sustainability researchers to embrace transgressive orientations.

New paper in Nature Sustainability by Caniglia et al. outlines a new role for practical wisdom and virtue ethics in knowledge co-production for transformative change.

How do participants in arts–science collaborations reason together to overcome disciplinary boundaries and to co-create interventions? This article by Luana Poliseli and Guido Caniglia chronicles how inter- and transdisciplinary reasoning unfolded in such a collaborative project involving experts from the natural sciences, humanities, and the arts. It appears that embracing of differences rather than seeking consensus among diverse perspectives allows inter- and transdisciplinary reasoning to help navigate unpredictable situations effectively by capitalising on and leveraging differences. (Click on the title to read a summary article of this new paper!)

New paper by Hari Sridhar and Priti Bangal revisits the ‘nuclear species’ concept, finding frequent mis-citations of core ideas.

What has Conspiracy Theories got to do with individual personality traits and socio-environmental factors?? Quite a lot actually, according to a new multi-author paper including Guido Caniglia, published in SN Social Sciences. (Click on title to read more…)

A new article co-authored by Guido Caniglia combines niche construction theory with social-ecological systems science to better understand the relationships between sociocultural and environmental co-evolutionary processes that have led to the current planetary crisis.

Co-authored by KLI fellow Christian Dorninger, their new paper shows that rich countries rely on a large net appropriation of resources from the global South.

Gerd B. Müller and Ehab Abouheif's new entry on evo-devo offers an introduction to characteristic themes and highlights selected papers that address crucial conceptual aspects.

A group around KLI fellow Nicole Grunstra and Philipp Mitteroecker developed new methods to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships from morphology.

We welcome our new writing-up fellow Gregory RUPIK (University of Toronto) who will work on the project "Organismal Agency in Romantic Biology and Today."

We welcome our new postdoctoral fellow Alice LACINY who will work on the project "Eco-Evo-Devo in Action: Parasite-Induced Morphologies in Ants."

We welcome Lorenzo DEL SAVIO (University of Munich) to the KLI who will work on his project "Are Humans Self-domesticated Animals?"

Biological Theory Issue 13:1 is online now. Enjoy the introduction to the thematic section / guest editorial ...

Several KLI fellows have come together in summer 2023 to work on an interdisciplinary project on climate adaption strategies funded by the Social Science & Humanities for Climate, Energy and Transport Research Excellence (SSH Centre).

KLI Colloquium: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti (Tomsk State University), 3 September, 5.00 pm

Welcoming Alejandro back as a postdoc fellow!