A recent paper in Nature Communications, co-led by Nicole Gunstra (University of Vienna), Anne Le Maître (KLI) and Philipp Mitteröcker (KLI and University of Vienna) revealed that animals with very little genetic relatedness, Afrotheria and their non-afrotherian counterparts, inhabiting similar habitats or having similar ecologies, showed high similarity in their inner ears—a clear case of convergent adaptive evolution, demonstrating high evolvability of the inner ear in mammals. The authors explain that this high evolvability is facilitated by the anatomical, genetic and developmental complexity of the ear, which bestows upon it a higher developmental modularity, and consequently leading to the high diversity observed in ears of mammals as compared to other vertebrates.

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 a recent paper, published in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Onerva Kiianlinna (KLI & University of Helsinki) argues that the enactivist and representationalist frameworks can and should be brought together when talking about aesthetic judging. (Click on title to read more.)

A team of KLI Fellows, co-led by Laura Menatti and Corey Bunce, and including Anna-Katharina Brenner, Joyshree Chanam, Marina Knickel and Hari Sridhar, contributed a book chapter titled, "Adapting to Heatwaves: Reframing, Understanding, and Translating Strategies from India to the EU" to the book "Strengthening European Climate Policy" produced by the European SSH CENTRE. This book chapter is the main outcome of an interdisciplinary project started in 2023, for which former KLI scientific director Guido Caniglia acted as facilitator. This book chapter proposes an innovative framework for understanding adaptation to climate change through an interdisciplinary approach. (Click on title to continue...)

In a recent review for a special issue of the European Journal of Neuroscience, Isabella Sarto-Jackson (KLI Executive Manager & Group Leader Evolution of Cognition) highlights the role of philosophy in advancing our understanding of evolutionary biology, especially with the concepts of genes and traits. Isabella advocates that a similar conceptual analysis in neuroscience using a philosophical framework could bring new insights on how genes, environment, and time interact in shaping the human mind. (Click on title to read more.)

KLI Fellow Enrico Petracca contributed a chapter in a book project dedicated to famous economist and cognitive scientist of the 20th century, Herbert H. Simon. Edited by Gerd Gigerenzer, (the late) Shabnam Mousavi , and Riccardo Viale, the book ‘Elgar Companion to Herbert Simon’ is now out, and with Enrico’s contributed chapter titled, ‘A double-edged metaphor: Simon and the scissors of bounded rationality’. (Click on title to read on.)

Isabella Sarto-Jackson contributed a chapter titled, "Die sozio-kulturelle Beschleunigung der Evolution (translated as The Socio-Cultural Acceleration of Evolution)" to the book Wechselwirkungen und Zufall in der Evolution (translated as Interactions and Chance in Evolution), edited by Markus Knoflacher (Club of Vienna). Each chapter in this volume examines characteristics of evolutionary processes that continue to challenge human society from a unique perspective, and also provides a compelling reflection that contradicts the dominant ideas of humans' complete control and predictability over all earthly processes—concepts which are increasingly encapsulated in the term "Anthropocene." In her chapter, Isabella explores the key factors influencing human evolution, and their interactions, highlighting how they have shaped the unique evolutionary trajectory of humans.(Click on title to read more.)

We welcome Richard Gawne from the Duke University to the KLI.

In a recent paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, KLI Senior Fellow Mauricio González-Forero and KLI alumna Aida Gómez-Robles (University College London) discuss a new explanation for evolution of large brain size in humans. Using in-silico experiments done in an evo-devo mathematical model that replicates major patterns of human development and evolution, Mauricio and Aida explain that brain size in humans, hitherto thought to be one of the greatest adaptations of all, instead evolves in the model as an evolutionary by-product of selection for reproductive capacity. (Click on the title to read more.)

Led by fresh KLI alumna Anna-Katharina Brenner, this paper explores the long-lasting impact of settlement arrangements in cities on sustainability, and emphasizes the importance of understanding the drivers that change settlement patterns.

A new study, co-authored by Guido Caniglia, highlights optimism and complexity thinking as key factors to foster interpersonal trust during times of crises.

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 a recent review paper published in the Quarterly Review of Biology, KLI postdoctoral fellow Silvia Basanta, along with Mihaela Pavlicev, explores endocrinological aspects contributing to the evolution of long gestation length in placental mammals. The authors show how numerous independently evolved traits affect gestation length in different lineages. (Click on title to read more.)

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.

A new clinical study by a team of researchers including Barbara Fischer (KLI Group Leader in Evolutionary Biology), reveals that the shape of a woman’s pelvis may significantly influence her risk of developing postpartum pelvic organ prolapse (POP). These results have the potential to be applied for risk assessment in preventive care. (Click on title to read more.)

This new paper by Enrico Petracca (KLI Senior Fellow) and Shaun Gallagher challenges the post-Northian idea in institutional economics that a norm’s content is physically located in the minds of the agents; rather, Enrico and Gallagher argue that norms are genuinely relational concepts emerging from a practical interaction, and are located in institutional practices. (Click on title to read more.)