We are happy to welcome back Richard Gawne as Visiting Fellow to the KLI. Rick is an evolutionary developmental biologist and an alumnus of KLI. He is currently working as Curator of Natural History at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. At the KLI, from 1 to 30 September 2025, Richard will be working on his project titled: “Wing Size and Shape as Mechanisms of Evolvability in Lepidopteran Color Patterns.” (Click on title to read more.)

We are happy to welcome Elisabeth Zimmermann to the KLI. Elisabeth joined the KLI in July 2025 as Managing Editor of the journal Biological Theory as well as KLI Communication Officer. She has a background in human biology and cognitive science, and received a MSc degree from the University of Vienna in 2008. Since 2006, Elisabeth has been the Program Coordinator for the Middle European Interdisciplinary Master's Programme in Cognitive Science based at the University of Vienna.

Save the dates! Join us at our Fall-Winter 2025-2026 KLI Colloquium series. This season we have nine great colloquia lined up: Richard Gawne (Nevada State Museum), Richard Cockett (The Economist), Ludo Schoenmakers (KLI), Ronald Planer (University of Wollongong), Thomas Hansen (University of Oslo), Cristina Villegas (KLI), Enrico Petracca (KLI), Patricia Beldade (Lisbon University), and Jan Baedke (Ruhr University Bochum). You can join either in person at the KLI or online via Zoom.

We are pleased to share that KLI alumnus Elis Jones was awarded the prestigious Callebaut Prize for Interdisciplinary Research at the ISHPSSB 2025, held in Porto, Portugal, in July. The prize is supported by the KLI, in honour of philosopher Werner Callebaut, who also served as Scientific Director of the KLI from 1999 to 2014. The KLI congratulates Elis to this success! (Click on title to read more.)

Elis Jones (former KLI Postdoc Fellow), along with Jose A. Cañada (University of Helsinki) and Sabina Leonelli (Technical University of Munich) have jointly contributed to editing a special issue for the journal History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, titled: ‘Values at Sea.’ This special issue comprises six original papers spanning diverse aspects of the study marine systems, highlighting the role of the blue humanities, especially in the face of ecological crisis. (Click on title to read more.)

We are happy to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Oryan Zacks to the KLI. Oryan is a PhD student in the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University under the supervision of Prof. Eva Jablonka. Her research interest lies in the evolution of imagination. (Click on title to read more.)

We are pleased to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Saudat Alishayeva to the KLI. Saudat is pursuing her PhD in the lab of Luisa F. Pallares, Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, Tuebingen, Germany, where she is investigating the effects of environmental stresses on the evolution of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster. She will be at the KLI from 1 September 2025 to 26 February 2026. (Click on title to read more).

We are pleased to welcome our new Writing-Up Fellow Henry Camarillo to the KLI. Henry is a PhD candidate in Martha Muñoz’s lab at Yale University. His research interests lie in understanding form-function evolution and investigating how biomechanical constraints may influence morphological evolution, especially focussing on the diversity of salamander cranial anatomy. During his fellowship at the KLI from 1 September 2025 to 26 February 2026, Henry will be working on the evolutionary anatomy of lungless salamanders. (Click on title to read more.)

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.)

The 43rd Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology, “The Waddingtonian Landscape: Rediscovering Conrad Hal Waddington's Legacies in Biology and Beyond” (June 17–20, 2025), was devoted to the life and work of the British polymath Conrad Hal Waddington on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his passing (1975–2025). Organized by Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven) and Francisco Vergara-Silva (National Autonomous University of Mexico), the workshop brought together philosophers of biology, evolutionary biologists, theoretical biologists, social scientists, historians of science, and historians of architecture from diverse backgrounds to offer the first interdisciplinary, critical reappraisal of Waddington’s lifelong work.

The year 2025 marks the centenary of Rupert Riedl, the founding president of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), which itself was established 35 years ago in 1990. Since its inception, the KLI has played a pivotal role in supporting research in theoretical biology. To commemorate this milestone, the KLI hosted a day-long symposium on 16 June 2025, under the theme "What is Theoretical Biology?" The event commenced with a welcome address by KLI President Philipp Mitteroecker, followed by a keynote lecture from Honorary President Gerd Müller, titled, "Rupert Riedl and the Austrian School of Theoretical Biology." Prof. Müller’s talk provided historical context for the academic environment in which Riedl developed his interest in theoretical biology and introduced key concepts of his theoretical approach to evolution. The symposium featured several distinguished speakers who explored different dimensions of theoretical biology. (Click on title to read more.)

We are happy to welcome our new Visiting Fellow Emilie Raymer to the KLI. Emilie is a faculty member in the Harvard College Writing Program. She holds a doctorate degree in the history of science and technology from Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include the development of the life and human sciences, the philosophy of science, epistemology, evolutionary theory, and environmental history. Emilie will be a Visiting Fellow at the KLI from 23 June to 6 July 2025. Her KLI project is titled, ‘The Web of Life: Ecology, Culture, and Reciprocal Evolution.’

KLI Senior Postdoc Fellow Enrico Petracca, along with James Grayot (University of Porto, Portugal), has contributed a chapter titled, “Mindshaping and the embodiment of rationality” in the recently published volume, The Routledge Handbook of Mindshaping. Mindshaping is described as ‘the complex, diverse, and flexible capacities to shape each other's minds though practices such as ‘sophisticated imitation, pedagogy, conformity to norms, and narrative self-constitution.’ The chapter connects mindshaping with the relatively new research on the embodiment of rationality, the view according to which rational behavior is not only an outcome of brain but of the interaction between brain, body, and environment. (Click on title to read more.)

KLI Senior Postdoc Fellow Enrico Petracca’s article, ‘Evolution at a Tipping Point’ in the journal Biological Theory, is a review of the book Evolution Evolving (Princeton University Press). The review points out how the book dispels common criticisms levelled at EES, which has over the years variously been accused of dealing with phenomena that are biologically impossible, rare, or of insufficient magnitude. The review also emphasizes how EES sets an inherently interdisciplinary research agenda in evolutionary theory by fostering a programmatic alliance with disciplines considered far from the evolutionary discourse, such as the social sciences and humanities. In Enrico’s words – “the reader (of the book) will feel the rare and invigorating sense of being on the verge of something momentous: the tipping point, at which EES becomes necessary.” (Click on title to read more.)

We are very pleased to welcome our new Visiting Fellow Adam Linson to the KLI. Adam is an Assistant Professor in Computing & Communications at the Open University (UK), where he develops neurobehavioural models of how perceptual uncertainty is resolved under stress and time pressure, in relation to impaired or enhanced cognitive flexibility. His research interests extends to other fields including cognitive science and music psychology. Adam is also a music composer and performer, and plays the double bass. He has performed internationally at live concerts and studio recordings, including BBC Radio 3. Adam will be at the KLI from 17 June to 15 August, 2025. He will also be presenting a talk at the KLI colloquium on 26 June 2025. We wish Adam a wonderful time at the KLI and in Austria.

We are very happy to have Kevin Lala with us again this June! Kevin is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Kevin is also an External Faculty at the KLI. He will be at the KLI from 1 to 30 June, 2025. As always, here’s wishing Kevin a wonderful time at the KLI.

Gregory RADICK (University of Leeds) June 12, 2025, 15:00 (CET). Please join our colloquium via Zoom!

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 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.)