M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
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petinozappala.bsky.social
M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
@petinozappala.bsky.social
97 followers 37 following 220 posts
hopefully monstruous evolutionary biologist transitioning into HPS
🇦🇷 in 🇩🇪

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M-Alejandra-Petino-Zappala
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petinozappala.bsky.social
this has been slowly brought to the mainstream of evo psych for some time. I wonder if the field can still be "saved" by the people who do not think like this, but it will take a lot of work and a lot of *actively* opposing such views.
rebeccasear.bsky.social Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 11h
A new Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology has just been published, in which it is claimed that the human species is polytypic: not only is race biologically meaningful but the races are distinct enough to be considered subspecies. Published by Elgar. In 2026.
Chapters in Part III take stock of the current state of evolutionary psychology, by casting wider attention to other social and behavioral sciences and assessing the field's influence on them. In Chapter 11 ('Evolutionary psychology and anthropology'), Heiner Rindermann identifies three major forces that oppose scientific anthropology: Religion, National Socialism ('Nazism'), and woke leftist ideology. Ironically, in this sense, woke left ideologues, who include most anthropologists themselves, geneticists, and other university academics, share much in common with the Nazis in their common opposition to scientific anthropology. Rindermann's extensive review of the literature leaves no doubt that humans are genetically polytypic and contain different biological races or 'subspecies' At the end of the chapter, Rindermann delivers devastating rebuttals to all potential arguments against the notion of races/subspecies among humans.
October 8, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
malinowska.bsky.social
@terezahendl.bsky.social and I are very happy to finally share the full programme of our workshop, “Mind the Gap: Engaging Europe’s East in Global Health Debates”!

29–30 October
Berlin or online
Free participation
Apply until 9 October:
www.globalhealth.de/news/view/mi...

#philsci
October 6, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
roto-rub.bsky.social
New semester, new lecture series! This time with the fantastic @federicabocchi.bsky.social, @rossbrooks.co.uk, @drandyflack.bsky.social and others. Join us online on Mondays at 4pm (CET). Just click here to register: www.pe.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophie/...
#HPBio #HistSci #PhilSci
Poster for the RUB Lecture Series of the Chair of History and Philosophy of Science. Find all talks here: https://www.pe.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophie/i/wtwg/colloquium/hpls.html.de We also have additional reading group meetings on 19 October, 30 November and 18 January. To participate, just write an e-mail to jan.baedke[at]rub.de
October 6, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
philipcball.bsky.social
Oh I have been waiting for someone to dig into this issue. 👏
"The spectre of population collapse serves highly concrete economic purposes...world-building and market domination go hand in hand in the current fertility obsession manifested by tech elites."
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Tech oligarchs’ obsession with pronatalism and fertility markets
Published in Science as Culture (Vol. 35, No. 3, 2026)
www.tandfonline.com
September 30, 2026 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
alejandrofabregastejeda.com
My 📗 is #openaccess thanks to the D2O program of @mitpress.bsky.social: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon... This initiative for equitable access to scholarship has just opened its new funding cycle: mitpress.mit.edu/the-mit-pres... 🙏 help spread the word & if you represent a library, do consider joining!
Promotional image of the Direct to Open (D2O) initiative of the MIT Press that allows academic books to be read open access. Promotional graphic on a beige background for the book "The Organism–Environment Pairing: A Historical and Philosophical Reappraisal" (MIT Press, 2026) by Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda. The book cover appears in the center of the image and has a green gradient background. The book series label “The Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology” appears at the top. The title is set in large, bold lettering using three colors: white (“The” and “Pairing”), warm yellow (“Organism–”), and bright green (“Environment”). The subtitle appears below in smaller white text, and the author’s name is printed at the bottom. In the lower right, a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) rests on clusters of pink milkweed flowers. Behind it, a large pale-green butterfly silhouette fills the background; its outline follows the shape of a red lacewing butterfly (Cethosia biblis).
September 14, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
victorerikray.bsky.social
I'll again note that the folks willing to sign a letter supporting a raging eugenicist (purportedly in defense of his academic freedom to be racist) aren't nearly as motivated when it comes to *actual* threats to academic freedom, like this.
August 26, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
ptrbck.bsky.social
@gill1109.bsky.social has been so kind to put the op-ed on his blog, making it more easily accessible.

science4justice.nl/2026/08/23/w...
August 26, 2026 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
ptrbck.bsky.social
We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter.

forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond to the negative and incorrect framing of Ghent University’s decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. With th...
forms.gle
August 25, 2026 at 6:12 PM
petinozappala.bsky.social
At some point it needs to be discussed that there are pockets of academia in which having an "edgy" idea or take is taken as a value in itself. The ... "journal" where this was published has consistently some of the most bigoted and abysmal-quality scholarship imaginable. It's academic ragebait.
nateo.bsky.social Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · Aug 24
🚨BREAKING🚨

In more serious news, I have been told on good authority by a third source that Flemish media has revealed the racist academic, de Vries, is the real author behind the pseudonymous article, 'Refugees’ IQs are Normatively Consequential'

Thank you to all the sources that contacted me
Refugees’ IQs are Normatively Consequential Tavren Oshal (pseudonym) How to Cite: Oshal, T. Refugees’ IQs are Normatively Consequential. Controversial Ideas 2025, 5(3), 6; doi:10.63466/jci05030006. Received: 18 December 2024 / Accepted: 23 September 2025 / Published: 11 November 2025 Abstract: Responding to an article by Rindermann et al. (2024), which reports that refugees in Germany, on average, have significantly lower intelligence than the German host population, Bradley Hillier-Smith has argued that such cognitive disparities – if they exist – are irrelevant to states’ moral duties toward refugees. This article challenges his position. It further contends that even if we adopt a cosmopolitan perspective that denies states the right to prioritize the interests of their own populations, it is not clear that states in the Global North are morally required – or even permitted – to admit large numbers of relatively low-IQ refugees from the Global South. This, I show, is especially true given that assistance could instead take the form of supporting their relocation to a safe country within the region. Keywords: refugees; migration; intelligence; hereditarianism; innovation; Global South; nationalism; cosmopolitanism
August 24, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
roto-rub.bsky.social
To the 40 philosophers who signed this list: Esp. you should know that academic freedom has legal limits & is constrained by others’ rights. Thus “academic misconduct” includes not only plagiarism but also behaviors that violate others’ rights or seriously interfere with academic work.
#PhilSci #HPS
roterote.bsky.social roterote @roterote.bsky.social · Aug 22
There are dozens of academics signing this open letter to defend the American Eugenicist Nathan Cofnas from the consequences of his own actions.

They are calling him a “whistleblower”
As academics, we are concerned that Ghent University's disciplinary proceedings against Dr Cofnas appear to constitute retaliation, at least in part, for publicizing academic misconduct that occurred in British universities.
johnarmstrongmaths.com
August 23, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
rebeccasear.bsky.social
Scientific racism is now mainstream again but Andrew Winston explains here why treating it as mainstream science is a mistake - tackling it with the ordinary scientific methods of peer review won’t be enough to stop it because it’s a “community project”, not science
August 24, 2026 at 7:25 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
nateo.bsky.social
Plagiarism is only one part of a much broader scope of academic misconduct, and ‘race realism’ is itself a form of academic misconduct: using academia to launder long-discredited and empirically refuted white supremacist propaganda. It is disseminating pernicious lies into broader society
August 20, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
roto-rub.bsky.social
This is the peak of a weekend filled with sad philosophical news… The damage this guy is doing to our philosophy of biology community is enormous. #PoS #hpsbio
kohngregory.bsky.social Gregory Kohn @kohngregory.bsky.social · Aug 14
In the wake of Arday's death, Nathan Cofnas (who led the X mob against him) states his motivation. Beyond whistleblowing, he states that after a 'revolution' removes professors like Arday, it will open opportunities for him to become 'head of the department of eugenics and race science at Harvard'.
August 16, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
dialecticbio.bsky.social
Awful. Think about how little media attention other high profile cases of academic fraud have received compared to Arday. Ariely, Gino, Pruitt, Richard Lynn... barely a peep compared to this media frenzy. But obviously, all those fraudsters were not Black
August 14, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
rebeccasear.bsky.social
So the department at the prestigious Belgian university where Cofnas was hired wrote a detailed statement raising concerns about his appointment process, and then had their concerns censored 👇
ptrbck.bsky.social Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · Aug 15
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t47r5... Statement of the department. Has been taken offline due to complaint of the prof who hired Cofnas
www.dropbox.com
August 15, 2026 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
tryangregory.bsky.social
If you're a biologist, especially one in a field that has a history of eugenics and racism (which absolutely includes my own field of evolutionary biology) and you choose to remain "neutral" as race science once again crawls out from under its rock, you are not in fact neutral.
August 15, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
santiginno.bsky.social
Mi charla sobre las tensiones entre el antiesclavismo y la jerarquía racial en la obra de Darwin. En el Encontro de História e Filosofia da Biologia (2026), ABFHiB, en Maringá. ¡Hermoso congreso!

youtu.be/GeK62vjlLcM?...
Tensiones darwinianas: antiesclavismo y jerarquía racial - Professor Santiago Ginnobili
YouTube video by ABFHiB - História e Filosofia da Biologia
youtu.be
August 10, 2026 at 4:10 PM
petinozappala.bsky.social
The Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires denounces Milei's statements, where he accused students, professors and researchers of being "terrorists in disguise"; they compel the university to pursue legal action.
norabar.bsky.social Nora Bär @norabar.bsky.social · Aug 4
Resolución del Consejo Directivo de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas de la UBA 👇Repudio a las expresiones calumniosas del presidente contra estudiantes, profesores e investigadores, y solicitud de acciones judiciales contra el titular del PEN por calumnias e injurias
August 5, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
ezequielvera.bsky.social
¡Ya está disponible el N.º 6 de Carnotaurus!

La revista de divulgación científica del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales suma una nueva edición con historias, descubrimientos y miradas que te acercan a la ciencia.

📖 Descargala gratuitamente de acá:
www.macnconicet.gob.ar/coleccion/ca...
August 4, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
rebeccasear.bsky.social
Webinar coming up today 👇 If you can't make it, check out Celso's work, including his ERC-funded project answering an important question:

"The study of human genetic differences is rapidly changing science, but how can we study these differences without promoting racism and social harm?"
brunelcce.bsky.social Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · Jul 14
1/ 🧬⚖️ New Brunel CCE/CCN Shared Horizons talk:

When is a methodological choice an ethical problem?

@celsoneto.bsky.social joins @brunelpsy.bsky.social
to unpack ancestry, racial stigma and human population genetics

Wed 29th July, 2-4pm | ESGW Beldam | also online via Teams 🔗👇
July 29, 2026 at 7:38 AM
petinozappala.bsky.social
Yay! Thanks to everyone who showed up and to the fellow presenters! 😊
roto-rub.bsky.social RUB History & Philosophy of Science @roto-rub.bsky.social · Jul 15
Day three of the HSS/ESHS meeting included the presentation of @petinozappala.bsky.social on C.H. Waddington and Ivan Schmalhausen and their ideas on canalization, genetic assimilation and evolution. The talk was part of a great session on evolutions in heredity.
#HistSci #HPBio #PhilSci
Alejandra next to the title slide of her talk entitled "Canalization, Genetic Assimilation and Evolution: A Case of Conceptual Gatekeeping in 20th Century Evolutionary Biology". Alejandra next to a slide on the classical vs. balance controversy
July 15, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
cassandrazieyang.bsky.social
Happening tomorrow! If you are joining us online, you can do so via this link: teams.microsoft.com/meet/3453882...

The workshop programme is available here: drive.google.com/file/d/1Mkuz...
July 13, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
stairwaytokevin.bsky.social
A thorough documenting of the statistical shenanigans in the embryo selection company Herasight’s claims about genetic IQ prediction.

The paper was published in a new Intelligence journal against the reviewers’ protest that the proprietary prediction model was not disclosed and so was unverifiable
Herasight: Latent Promises, Observed Failures
Many make the mistake of rejecting Herasight on ethical grounds, but doing so gives them too much credit.
open.substack.com
July 8, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
roto-rub.bsky.social
New paper out by our former visiting fellow Alberto Monterde Fuertes! It examines the methodological decisions structuring inquiry in engaged philosophy of science. Check it out here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#PhilSci
July 2, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
katieabson.bsky.social
Our paper is out! 📣 we find that molecular measures of genetic variation do not predict heritable genetic variation across species - important implications for the application of genomic data for conservation! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential | PNAS
The capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognized as a global conservation priority. Ad...
www.pnas.org
June 30, 2026 at 9:15 AM