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!

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.)

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.)

Simon HUTTEGGER (University of California Irvine), 2024-12-05 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

Barbara FISCHER (KLI & University of Vienna), 2024-11-28 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

On 7th November 2024, the KLI hosted a symposium to launch Evolution Evolving, a book authored by KLI member Kevin Lala (University of St. Andrews), along with Tobias Uller (Lund University), Nathalie Feiner (Lund University), Marcus Feldman (Stanford University) and Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore College), and published by Princeton University Press. Evolution Evolving highlights the role of developmental processes in evolution, drawing upon new findings in areas such as evo-devo, epigenetics and symbiosis. The title of the book, according to the authors, alludes both to the evolution of the evolutionary process over time, as well as to the fact that evolutionary theory is evolving, which this book hopes to make a contribution towards. (Click on title to read more.)

Online Colloquium, 14 November, 3.00 pm. Join us via Zoom!

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.)

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.

The 42nd Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology with the theme "Aims, Norms, and Values in Scientific Classification for Biodiversity Conservation" is held at the KLI from 8th-11th October 2024. This workshop is organized by Joeri Witteveen & Federica Bocchi (University of Copenhagen) The aim of this workshop is to map, discuss and evaluate different perspectives on the role of values in species classification at the interface with conservation policy and practice.

Martin Schmid, along with co-authors Gertrud Haidvogl, Severin Hohensinner published an article titled ‘Waterway, power plant chain, river landscape: A short environmental history of the Danube’ in the magazine Geographic Round-view - Issue 10/2024 (October). This article is mainly targeted at Class level 11 (until 13th School year) The article (in Deutsch) tells the environmental history of the Danube river, its genesis, its former floodplains that are now being intensively built up, and basic knowledge for more sustainable use of the river in the light of current climate change.

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.

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)