A recent paper in Science by Vagheesh Narasimhan and his team from the University of Texas sheds new light on the 'Obstetrical Dilemma' – the long-debated conflict regarding the optimal pelvic structure for bipedalism and successful childbirth in humans. Christina Berndt of Süddeutsche Zeitung covers this new finding, along with perspectives and insights from international researchers in the field, including Barbara Fischer and Philipp Mitteroecker of the KLI. (Click on the title to continue.)

We are delighted to have KLI alumna Cristina Villegas join the KLI again, this time as 'Group Leader, Philosophy of the Life Sciences'. Cristina is a philosopher of biology specializing in causal explanations, probabilities and chance in evolutionary biology, with a special focus on evo-devo and evolvability research. She is particularly interested in the intersection between evolutionary developmental biology and evolutionary quantitative genetics, and her work revolves around the epistemological, ontological, and historical aspects of this intersection. We wish Cristina a wonderful new beginning at the KLI! (Click on title to continue...)

Luisa PALLARES, 2025-04-30 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

Elis JONES (KLI), 2025-04-10 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

The conference Bindung & Beziehung: Schnittstelle Neurobiologie & Soziale Arbeit, co-organised by Isabella Sarto-Jackson and colleagues, was held at the Rathaus, Vienna, on the 28th of March 2025. At this conference, scientists discussed findings from neurobiology, cognitive psychology, and cognitive science with the aim of generating new insights for social work and social-educational practice. It was shown that basic research can provide essential impulses for the development of theory-based action and intervention concepts for psychosocial support. (Click on title to read more.)

We are very happy to welcome our new Post-doc Fellow Silvia Basanta to the KLI. Silvia completed her PhD under the guidance of Prof. Mihaela Pavlicev, and has recently been awarded a doctoral degree from the University of Vienna for her thesis titled, “The evolution of signalling in mammalian pregnancy”. Silvia has an academic background both in philosophy as well as biology. During her post-doc research at the KLI, Silvia will investigate how the female body has been portrayed in contemporary evolutionary biology. (Click on title to read more.)

We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-up Fellow Marta Gómez-Recio to the KLI. Marta is currently a PhD student at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain, where she investigates human respiratory kinematics and their relationship to torso morphology. During her fellowship at the KLI, Marta’s project, “From Shape to Function: Evolutionary Dynamics of Human Breathing through 4D Geometric Morphometrics” aims to explore the relationship between torso shape and breathing kinematics in modern humans, with an emphasis on its evolutionary significance. (Click on title to read more.)

Detlev ARENDT (European Molecular Biology Laboratory/EMBL, Heidelberg & University of Heidelberg), 2025-04-03 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

Read the editors’ summary of the latest issue, out this month, with free reading links for everything in 20(1). Articles include an interrogation of the explanatory power of the Price equation, a review of the failure of current major theories to explain the evolution of cooperation, an exploration of the origins of the “temperature–size rule,” and an analysis of how to define the concept of organism. Also in the issue, a historical essay links Sachs’s 19th-century work on comparative plant sexuality to contemporary research, and our volume 20 cover debuts featuring work by ceramics painter Clarice Cliff. At the end of the summary, we’ve got bonus reading links for our December 2024 issue.

We are very happy to welcome Jules Macome as Visiting Fellow to the KLI. Jules is a PhD student at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the origins of life, particularly the application of evolutionary theory as a framework for explaining abiogenesis and its potential limitations. Jules will be a Visiting Fellow at the KLI from 7th to 31st March 2025.

Tudor POPESCU (University of Vienna), 2025-03-13 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

We are delighted to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Nina Kraus to the KLI. Nina is currently working towards her PhD at the University of Vienna within the Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution. Nina's research interest is in the realm of evolutionary medicine, specifically the evolutionary history of cardiogenesis and its implications for congenital heart diseases (CHD) in humans. Nina has studied and published her work on the development of the anuran heart for her her Master's thesis. Her PhD research explores how environmental factors influence the evolution and development of cardiac structures in humans. During her Fellowship at the KLI, from 1st March to 31st August 2025, Nina will be working on her project titled. “Environmental Drivers of Cardiac Evolution and Development”. (Click on title to read more.)

Save the dates! Join us at our Spring-Summer 2025 Colloquium series. This season, we have nine great colloquia lined up: Gentaro Taga (University of Tokyo), Tudor Popescu (University of Padova & University of Vienna), Detlef Arendt (EMBL Heidelberg), our own KLI Post-Doc Fellow Elis Jones, Luisa Pallares (Friedrich Miescher Laboratory, Tübingen), Sonia Kleindorfer (Konrad Lorenz Research Center, University of Vienna), Dean Falk (Florida State University, Tallahassee), Gregory Radick (University of Leeds), and Adam Linson (The Open University, UK). (Click on title to read more...)

Gentaro TAGA (University of Tokyo), 2025-03-06 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Merin Joji to the KLI! Merin is currently pursuing her PhD degree from the University of Copenhagen, studying the intricate patterns of shell shape variation in fresh water turtles in India, and how these variations relate to both ecological and anthropogenic factors. At the KLI, Merin will be working on her project, “3D shell asymmetry as a monitoring tool for environmental stress in India’s freshwater turtles”, from 15 Feb to 14 August 2025. Here’s wishing Merin a hearty welcome and a fruitful time at the KLI. (Click on the title to know more about Merin!)

We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Aleksa Ratarac to the KLI! Aleksa is currently pursuing his PhD degree at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research focusses on the evolutionary developmental biology, phenotypic plasticity, and computational modeling of developmental processes in insect wings. At the KLI, Aleksa will be working on his project, “Fly wing development in silico: A computational investigation of morphological plasticity in Drosophila wings”, from 15 Feb to 14 August 2025. Here’s wishing Aleksa a hearty welcome and a fruitful time at the KLI. (Click on the title to know more about Aleksa!)

We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Eva Zaffarini to the KLI! Eva is currently a PhD candidate in the Hallgrímsson Lab at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. At the KLI, she will be working on her project, “Genotype to phenotype mapping of feto-maternal trait covariation: a multivariate approach to understanding Cephalo-Pelvic disproportion”, from 1st Feb to 31st July 2025. Here’s wishing Eva a hearty welcome and a fruitful time at the KLI. (Click on the title to know more about Eva!)

We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Paul Knabl to the KLI! Paul is currently a PhD student in the Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, where he works at the Department of Neurosciences and Developmental Biology. At the KLI, he will be working on his project, “Developmental roles of Bone Morphogenetic Protein signaling in Cnidaria” from 1st February to 31st July 2025. Here’s wishing Paul a hearty welcome and a productive time at the KLI. (Click on the title to know more about Paul!)

Martin SCHMID (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna & KLI), 2025-01-23 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

Sergio PORTA (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow), 2025-01-16 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!