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Numerous studies have found that exercising outside has a slight edge on boosting both our physical and mental health, even when the conditions outside are less than ideal

Starring Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher, this film sets out to deconstruct men's objectification of women, and asks good questions about why we want robots at all. Shame about the logical hole at its centre

A new exhibition at Somerset House in London, SOIL: The World at Our Feet, wants us to rediscover how key soil is to our lives and to the planet’s future

A terrifying but fascinating book, Our Brains, Our Selves by Masud Husain shows how our identities hang by slender neurological threads

We need to think more carefully about how we categorise the universe, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

In Feedback's true crime exclusive, we look into calls for a fresh inquest into the murder of Catherine Eddowes in the 19th century – and discover that a rather crucial part of the puzzle may be missing

Humans learn very differently to machines, thanks to our biased, malleable memory – and that's a good thing, says Charan Ranganath, director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California, Davis

Millions of years after humans vanish, fossil clues showing how we lived and dominated the planet may confuse future civilisations, says a new book by Sarah Gabbott and Jan Zalasiewicz

Nobody doubts that human activities have dramatically transformed Earth, so why has there been no official recognition of the Anthropocene?

Researchers find large language models process diverse types of data, like different languages, audio inputs, images, etc., similarly to how humans reason about complex problems. Like humans, LLMs integrate data inputs across modalities in a central hub that processes data in an input-type-agnostic fashion.

Six days ago I posted a group letter to the Presidents of three ecology/evolution/systematics societies who had issued a joint statement that many of us found deeply misguided. As I wrote at the time:

The Presidents of three organismal-biology societies, the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the American Society of Naturalists (ASN) and the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) sent a declaration addressed to President Trump and all the members of Congress (declaration archived here)  Implicitly claiming that its sentiments were endorsed by the 3500 members of the societies, the declaration also claimed that there is a scientific consensus on the definition of sex, and that is that sex is NOT binary but rather some unspecified but multivariate combination of different traits, a definition that makes sex a continuum or spectrum—and in all species!

I objected to this declaration, and Luana Maroja of Williams College, who agreed with me, drafted a letter that was signed by about two dozen people, many but not all of them members of at least one of the three societies. The point was to show that there is not a biological consensus that sex is a spectrum—indeed, the societies’ letter implied that biologists agree that sex is a spectrum in all species. Nonsense!

Further, the “tri-societies letter” did not involve polling the members of the SSE, the ASN, and the SSB to see if they agreed with the Presidents.  Finally, I am not sure that their letter, addressed to President Trump and “Members of the U.S. Congress,” has actually been sent. Because it may have been changed since the first iteration, I archived it at the link above as soon as it appeared.

When I put up our response, because we were collecting signatures and had not yet asked the signers whether their names could be publicized, it was signed publicly only by Luana and me. Since then, we’ve asked all the signers if they wanted to “go public” with their names.  All but a few agreed, and so I am putting the signed letter below, except for the names of those who objected to going public.

Further, I have heard independently from several other prominent biologists who were peeved at the tri-societies letter and/or were writing their own individual letters to the societies.

This is only the first stab at a response, and we intend to collect more signatures and have devised a method for doing so.  So think about it, and we would like signatures only of those people who don’t mind going public. You need not be a member of any of the societies (though it would be a boon), and can add your society affiliation if you wish. And, of course, you must be a biologist or affiliated with biology

In the meantime, I’m putting up what we have just so the letter at this stage of its evolution can have a public URL.  Ponder whether you’d like to join in, and you should hear more by later today or tomorrow.  Do not email me or put in the comments that you want to be included, as we have a much more efficient way.

What is below is just a start. Our letter is below the line:

Dear presidents of the Tri-societies: ASN, SSB and SSE,

We, Tri-society members and/or biologists, are deeply disappointed by your recent letter “Letter to the US President and Congress on the Scientific Understanding of Sex and Gender” issued last Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025, in response to Trump’s executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government”.

While we agree that Trump’s executive orders are misleading, we disagree with your statements about the sex binary and its definition. In animals and plants, binary sex is universally defined by gamete type, even though sexes vary in how they are developmentally determined and phenotypically identified across taxa. Thus, your letter misrepresents the scientific understanding of many members of the Tri-societies.

You state that: “Scientific consensus defines sex in humans as a biological construct that relies on a combination of chromosomes, hormonal balances, and the resulting expression of gonads, external genitalia, and secondary sex characteristics.”

However, we do not see sex as a “construct” and we do not see other mentioned human-specific characteristics, such as “lived experiences” or “[phenotypic] variation along the continuum of male to female”, as having anything to do with the biological definition of sex. While we humans might be unique in having gender identities and certain types of sexual dimorphism, sex applies to us just as it applies to dragonflies, butterflies, or fish – there is no human exceptionalism.   Yes, there are developmental pathologies that cause sterility and there are variations in phenotypic traits related to sexual dimorphism. However, the existence of this variation does not make sex any less binary or more complex, because what defines sex is not a combination of chromosomes or hormonal balances or external genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. The universal biological definition of sex is gamete size.

If you and the signers of this letter do not agree on these points, then the Tri-societies were wrong to speak in our names and claim that there is a scientific consensus without even conducting a survey of society members to see if such a consensus exists. Distorting reality to comply with ideology and using a misleading claim of consensus to give a veneer of scientific authority to your statement does more harm than just misrepresenting our views: it also weakens public trust in science, which has declined rapidly in the last few years. Because of this, scientific societies should stay away from politics as much as possible, except for political issues that directly affect the mission of the society.

Respectfully,

Daniel A. Barbash, Professor, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University
Alexander T. Baugh, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Swarthmore College
Kendall Clements, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland
Mark Collard, Chair in Human Evolutionary Studies, Simon Fraser University
Jerry Coyne, Professor Emeritus, Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago
David Curtis, Honorary Professor, Genetics Institute, University College London UK
Richard Dawkins, Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford
Gilly Denham, SSE member, Williams College
Joan Edwards, Samuel Fessenden Clarke Professor of Biology, Williams College
Brian Gill, retired natural history curator from Auckland Museum, New Zealand
Emma Hilton, Developmental Biology, University of Manchester, U.K.
Carole Kennedy Hooven, Senior Fellow, AEI; Affiliate, Harvard Psychology.
Edward Lee, SSE member, Williams College
Luana S. Maroja, Professor of Biology, Williams College
Gregory C. Mayer, Professor of  Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Axel Meyer, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz
Marcella McClure retired from Montana State University
Nicholas J. Matzke, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland
Anthony M. Poole, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland
Philip Ward,  Professor of Entomology,  University of California Davis

Scientists have taken a critical next step in creating a scalable process to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and 'recirculate' it as a renewable fuel. Chemists now describe their latest breakthrough in creating methanol -- a widely used liquid fuel for internal combustion and other engines -- from industrial emissions of CO2, a primary greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. The process could have far-reaching applications throughout industry.

From a tiny electric jolt when touching a doorknob to styrofoam peanuts that cling to a mischievous cat's fur -- the well-known and seemingly simple phenomenon of static electricity has puzzled people since antiquity. How could this ubiquitous effect, frequently demonstrated to bedazzled children by rubbing a balloon on their hair, still not be completely understood by scientists? For centuries, static electricity has been the subject of intrigue and scientific investigation. Now, researchers have uncovered a vital clue to this enduring mystery: the contact history of materials controls how they exchange charge. The groundbreaking findings explain the prevailing unpredictability of contact electrification, unveiling order from what has long been considered chaos.

Within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument's early data, scientists have uncovered the largest samples ever of intermediate-mass black holes and dwarf galaxies hosting an active black hole, more than tripling the existing census of both. These large statistical samples will allow for more in-depth studies of the dynamics between dwarf galaxy evolution and black hole growth, and open up vast discovery potential surrounding the evolution of the Universe's earliest black holes.

Scientists across Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe outline for the first time how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform the landscape of infectious disease research and improve pandemic preparedness.

A new laser-based device can scan almost any sample of gas and detect its molecular ingredients down to concentrations in the parts per trillion.

Scientists have discovered how to turn common minerals into materials that spontaneously remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In the lab, the materials pull CO2 from the air thousands of times faster than occurs with natural rock weathering.

A new study of more than 1400 adults who gamble and play online video games has found loot box buying is associated with real-world gambling, video gaming addiction, and other mental health issues. The international research brings new insights into the loot box phenomenon -- the virtual items offered in video games to give players random rewards including weapons, cosmetics or 'skins.'

A new study of more than 1400 adults who gamble and play online video games has found loot box buying is associated with real-world gambling, video gaming addiction, and other mental health issues. The international research brings new insights into the loot box phenomenon -- the virtual items offered in video games to give players random rewards including weapons, cosmetics or 'skins.'

Conventional drones use visual sensors for navigation. However, environmental conditions like dampness, low light, and dust can hinder their effectiveness, limiting their use in disaster-stricken areas. Researchers have now developed a novel bio-hybrid drone by combining robotic elements with odor-sensing antennae from silkworm moths. Their innovation, which integrates the agility and precision of robots with biological sensory mechanisms, can enhance the applicability of drones in navigation, gas sensing, and disaster response.