Caroline VanSickle (she/her)

On October 26, 1996, a brave group of intersex people, backed by transgender allies, demonstrated for the first time against the harms, including nonconsensual surgeries, they’d experienced from doctors. This was declared the first #IntersexAwarenessDay.

"Policies that aim to define or restrict a person’s sex or gender are not rooted in scientific reality; they’re based on political ideology."

"My parents did everything in their power to make sure I would be normal. Fortunately, they failed," writes Thea Hillman Keshet Chief Communications Officer in @advocate.com to mark Intersex Awareness Day. Read more: bit.ly/iad-advocate

Three years ago, I was checking out the reading clubs in Leuven; turns out there was no sciency one discussing societal topics. So, I started one myself. It grew into a steady community, and now I finally gave it a home online as well feminist-reading-club.com

When Betsy Driver’s mother took her to medical appointments as a child, she asked whether other children were like her daughter. According to Driver, doctors told her no. Years later, Driver found people with the same intersex variation who had been treated at the same hospital. "We were lied to."

I love this. Dissection is such an important part of the curriculum, as we need health providers to understand the amazing variation and history written into the bodies of their patients. Here, the daughter of a donor writes beautifully about her experience of grief and honoring her mother's wishes.

This story was great for complicating how we use the term "fit" today vs. in the past, and how the term relates to classism, racism, sexism, eugenics, nationalism, fascism, and modern ideas that link physical fitness with morality/personal value. A lot to cover in only 40ish minutes!

This bird looks so surprised it can fly

Hi, I’m a sighted alt text user! Here are some reasons I use it: - Slow Internet on an airplane - I’m over 40, I have no idea who that celebrity is - Bluesky broke images again - My vision sucks and that text is too small to read otherwise - Conveys further context and authorial intent

I love the dedication in My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinhem

My colleague, Heather Garvin, and I both previously conducted research on the sex differences of #HomoNaledi, only for a recent study to show that all of the fossils were female. While we weren't involved with the new study, it has implications for our future research. www.dmu.edu/blog/2026/08...

Today in #WomensHealth: Often, ovarian cancer is actually fallopian tube cancer. Removing the tubes prevents the cancer and can be done with any abdominal surgery (including c-sections). Part of why we're bad at finding ovarian cancer early enough to treat is that we're looking in the wrong organ!

If you ever wonder if you work in a low-diversity field, Google Image search your job title. Of the first 33 images returned for "paleoanthropologist", 2 are women, 3 are non-white, and 7 are Lee Berger (not surprising given his commitment to outreach). #Paleoanthropology we can surely do better!

This is particularly concerning. For an academic to deliver a keynote presentation and be unable to answer questions because he's not actually familiar with the works he just discussed (recited?) – wow, just wow at how bad this is.

Wild story. I'm curious if he was paid to be the keynote speaker and if the organizers knew he wouldn't be presenting his own work?

NEW: Trump's gross Aliens.gov site claims to map where immigrants have been taken into custody, but it includes more 83 spots where Americans alone were arrested. Over 700 locations include citizen arrests. The counter is fake. The music was ripped. And Puerto Rico is listed as a foreign country.

The first cat to be cloned was a calico female named Rainbow (left). The clone, produced at Texas A&M University in 2001 was named "CC" for Carbon Copy or CopyCat (right). Notice something odd about the "identical copy"? Not very identical is she? But they *are confirmed* genetically identical.

Surprised to learn scientists can't agree on a definition of sex? Don't be! To be honest, we can't even agree on a definition of species. Many so-called natural categories are hard to define once we look at the evidence. Biology is too complex for simple definitions, which is a feature, not a bug.

"The fact that there is no current consensus of biological sex is not antithetical to science... However, the field urgently needs an ethical and reproducible approach for discussing sex" There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

My friend started an academic copyediting business! I can confirm that her attention to detail and formatting skills are phenomenal (high praise from me, I'm judgy). Contact her with drafts that need proofreading, copy editing, or formatting. She'll even fix your references! www.misfitediting.com

FYI: #AABA2026 hashtag is slow (not updating?) this morning, but searching aaba2026 seems to find more posts.

#AABA2026 plenary speaker Pontzer showed graphs that explain why my metabolism was higher in high school (rude). Also showed that higher activity populations don't have higher metabolisms. Exercise may change basal metabolic rate (aerobic activity decreases BMR, weights increase BMR).

The feed for the annual meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists is live! bsky.app/profile/brid... LMK if there is a post that is missing that you think should be added, or unrelated posts that don't belong. #AABA2026 #HBA2026 @bioanth.org 🧪 #BioAnth #HumanEvolution

Any other #AABA2026 attendees stuck on a plane at the Denver Airport because of an airport power outage? Gotta admit, this is a new one for me!

In South Africa, paleontology has been dominated by white people. Lazarus Kgasi is changing that dynamic — and coloring in the picture of the world our distant ancestors once inhabited. n.pr/49WF6w1

Gray of Gray's Anatomy died at age 34?? I need to learn more, but what a legacy. I always assumed he lived to old age and published a lot over a long career, thus the fame!

TIL that in APA7, your first in-text reference might have a "b" after the year (e.g., "(Berndt, 2004b)"). And that the new suggestion is to include more specific date info if available. Purdue OWL: Teaching me about citation styles since, uh, forever! owl.purdue.edu/owl/research...