Merin received this award for her work on asymmetry in the shell morphology of Testudines, the taxonomic order that includes turtles and tortoises. Shell development in Testudines has been known to be influenced by environmental factors, especially pollution, causing structural asymmetry. Using data from pre-industrial museum specimens as well as from online repositories, Merin demonstrated the presence of significant directional and fluctuating asymmetries in Testudines, even in specimens from pre-industrial times.
Merin received this award for her work on asymmetry in the shell morphology of Testudines, the taxonomic order that includes turtles and tortoises. Shell development in Testudines has been known to be influenced by environmental factors, especially pollution, causing structural asymmetry. Using data from pre-industrial museum specimens as well as from online repositories, Merin demonstrated the presence of significant directional and fluctuating asymmetries in Testudines, even in specimens from pre-industrial times.
KLI Senior Post-Doc Fellow Anne Le Maître presented a talk about her work at the Symposium of the Network of French Researchers in Austria, held at the French Embassy in Vienna on 22 May 2025, on the occasion of the France Alumni Day. This event is organised in May and June across the world to bring together alumni of French universities, and celebrate the laureates of research fellowships and scholarships for long stays in France. In her talk, “Evolutionary biology – Evolvability of the ear in primates”, Anne explained how understanding the relationships between ear morphology and primate ecology and behaviour provides insights into more general evolutionary processes related to the capacity for adaptive evolution, namely evolvability. (Click on title to read more.)
KLI Senior Post-Doc Fellow Anne Le Maître presented a talk about her work at the Symposium of the Network of French Researchers in Austria, held at the French Embassy in Vienna on 22 May 2025, on the occasion of the France Alumni Day. This event is organised in May and June across the world to bring together alumni of French universities, and celebrate the laureates of research fellowships and scholarships for long stays in France. In her talk, “Evolutionary biology – Evolvability of the ear in primates”, Anne explained how understanding the relationships between ear morphology and primate ecology and behaviour provides insights into more general evolutionary processes related to the capacity for adaptive evolution, namely evolvability. (Click on title to read more.)
KLI Post-Doc Fellow Somya Mani has been awarded the EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant for her project, “Exploring the role of novel genes in cell-type individuation in the Cnidarian Hydra vulgaris.” With this grant, Somya will be spending three months (Sep-Nov 2025) in Athens, Greece, where she will be working in collaboration with Dr. Nikolaos Vakirlis, Group Leader at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute. Somya's project aims to understand the role of novel genes in regulating and determining the identities of cell-types. Heartiest congratulations to Somya, and best wishes for the project! (Click on title to read more.)
KLI Post-Doc Fellow Somya Mani has been awarded the EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant for her project, “Exploring the role of novel genes in cell-type individuation in the Cnidarian Hydra vulgaris.” With this grant, Somya will be spending three months (Sep-Nov 2025) in Athens, Greece, where she will be working in collaboration with Dr. Nikolaos Vakirlis, Group Leader at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute. Somya's project aims to understand the role of novel genes in regulating and determining the identities of cell-types. Heartiest congratulations to Somya, and best wishes for the project! (Click on title to read more.)
We are happy to welcome our new Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow Mauricio Gonzalez-Forero to the KLI. Mauricio is an evolutionary biologist working at the interface of biology, mathematics, and anthropology. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology in 2006 at the University of Antioquia in Colombia, and his PhD degree in 2013 from the University of Tennessee in the USA. Mauricio has worked as a post-doc researcher at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland (2013-2016), and the University of St Andrew in the UK, first as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow (2016-2018), and then as a Research Fellow (2018-2024). (Click on title to read more.)
We are happy to welcome our new Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow Mauricio Gonzalez-Forero to the KLI. Mauricio is an evolutionary biologist working at the interface of biology, mathematics, and anthropology. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology in 2006 at the University of Antioquia in Colombia, and his PhD degree in 2013 from the University of Tennessee in the USA. Mauricio has worked as a post-doc researcher at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland (2013-2016), and the University of St Andrew in the UK, first as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow (2016-2018), and then as a Research Fellow (2018-2024). (Click on title to read more.)
We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Ben Kawam to the KLI. Ben is a PhD student in behavioural ecology at the German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany, in the research group of Julia Ostner and Oliver Schülke. He is also an external researcher in the Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. His research interest lies in building bridges between theory and data to explain variation in animal behaviour. Ben will be a Writing-Up Fellow at the KLI from 15 May to 14 November 2025. (Click on title to read more.)
We are very happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Ben Kawam to the KLI. Ben is a PhD student in behavioural ecology at the German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany, in the research group of Julia Ostner and Oliver Schülke. He is also an external researcher in the Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. His research interest lies in building bridges between theory and data to explain variation in animal behaviour. Ben will be a Writing-Up Fellow at the KLI from 15 May to 14 November 2025. (Click on title to read more.)
We are very happy to welcome our new Post-Doctoral Fellow Marcelo Domingos de Santis to the KLI. Marcelo is trained in Systematics and Phylogenetics. He received his Ph.D degree in Zoology in 2021 from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and has had Postdoc experiences at the Museu Nacional, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2022-23), and the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels, Bonn, Germany (2023-24). In his current research, Marcelo is interested in exploring new paths to address systematic problems, such as using EvoDevo research in phylogenetics. (Click on title to read more.)
We are very happy to welcome our new Post-Doctoral Fellow Marcelo Domingos de Santis to the KLI. Marcelo is trained in Systematics and Phylogenetics. He received his Ph.D degree in Zoology in 2021 from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and has had Postdoc experiences at the Museu Nacional, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2022-23), and the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels, Bonn, Germany (2023-24). In his current research, Marcelo is interested in exploring new paths to address systematic problems, such as using EvoDevo research in phylogenetics. (Click on title to read more.)
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.)
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...)
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...)
