The manosphere is a collection of online antifeminist men’s groups whose ideologies often invoke Darwinian principles and evolutionary psychological research. In the present study, we reveal that the manosphere generates its own untested and speculative evolutionary hypotheses, or “just-so stories”, about men, women, and society. This is a unique phenomenon, where lay (i.e., non-expert) individuals creatively employ evolutionary reasoning to explain phenomena in accordance with their particular worldview. We thus assembled the first dataset of lay evolutionary just-so stories extracted from manosphere content (n = 102). Through qualitative analysis, we highlight the particularity of the manosphere’s lay evolutionism. It is a collective bottom-up endeavor, which often leads to practical advice and exhibits a male gender bias. We further show that 83.3% of manosphere just-so stories pertain to sex differences, and that only 36.3% explicitly signal that they are speculative. Given this evidence that lay communities collectively engage in evolutionary hypothesizing, we reflect on implications for evolutionary scholars and for the field as a whole, in terms of ethics and public image. Lastly, we issue a call for renewed discussion and reflection on evolutionary hypothesizing, a central yet somewhat neglected feature of evolutionary behavioral science.

Our research focused on the Critically Endangered Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla in the Siang River basin of Arunachal Pradesh in north-east India, home to the Indigenous Adi People. We found evidence of a resident Chinese pangolin population in the study area after assessing pangolin presence from walking surveys and camera trapping at pangolin burrows. We assessed the effectiveness of positioning camera traps based on the local knowledge of the Adi People. Camera-trap capture rates (5.1%) were comparable to or higher than those reported in other studies across Africa and Asia, highlighting the value of incorporating local ecological knowledge in camera-trap surveys. Our findings underscore the complementary nature of Indigenous knowledge and scientific methods, especially for elusive species such as pangolins.

Global sodium consumption (4,310 mg/day), particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including Thailand, remains considerably higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for adults (2,000 mg/day) (1). The mean sodium intake of Thai adults (3,636, SD1,722 mg/day) is more than double the WHO recommendation, and especially high in southern Thailand (4,108, SD1,677 mg/day) (2). Currently, there is insufficient data on the sodium content of traditional food in southern Thailand. This study aimed to determine the amount of sodium in traditional food and determinants of sodium consumption behaviours among adults in southern Thailand.

A cross-sectional study recruited adults with hypertension on treatment from clinics in the Sichon district of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, southern Thailand. A self-administered questionnaire was used including questions ondemographics, perceived self-efficacy and practise of sodium consumption behaviour, access to low-sodium food, and salt/sodium substitute products. The questionnaire was reviewed by 3 health experts. Overall content validity was high at 0.84. The index of item objective congruence was above 0.5 and questionnaire reliability, measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was acceptable at 0.73. In addition, a salt meter determined the quantity of sodium chloride in food with total dissolved solids by measuring the electrical conductivity of sodium chloride in food expressed in 100 mg/100 mL (equivalent to 39.3 mg of sodium/100 mL) (3). Statistical analysis used SPSS v29.0. This study was reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Walailak University, Thailand.

A total of 469 adults completed the questionnaire, 316 (67%) were female with median age 62 years (IQR=42-95). Majority 220 (47%) were overweight or obese, and 413 (88%) usually ate home cooked foods. The majority were non-smokers (80%) and did not consume alcohol (67%). Most participants agreed that they avoid purchasing foods high in salt and sodium (70%) and consider manufacturers of salt and sodium substitute products to be reputable and trustworthy (68%). Additionally, 61% reported that they sometimes read nutrition labels before selecting pre-packaged food.

1,876 samples of foods were provided by participants for analysis of sodium chloride. In spicy curry (938 samples) the majority (89%) were classified as very salty (>0.9% salt), followed by 9% at safe levels (0.7-0.9% salt) and 2% as slightly salty (<0.7% salt) while sodium chloride concentration in clear soup (938 samples) were very salty (40%), followed by safe levels (30%), and slightly salty (30%). The average amount of sodium in spicy curry was 507, SD118 mg/100 mL, which was significantly higher (p<0.01) than that of clear soup (342, SD99 mg/100 mL).

Despite most participants reporting positive self-reported dietary behaviours, they are still consuming high sodium in both spicy curry and clear soup. These findings support public health campaigns to reduce sodium intake.

Many older adults are at risk of malnutrition, but older adults often reject oral nutritional supplements, which is the recommended treatment for malnutrition. The rejection of these unfamiliar foods can be ascribed to food neophobia – a reluctance to try unfamiliar foods. Food neophobia has been found to increase with older age. Food neophobia is commonly measured with the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS)(1). The scale has been validated, but it is unknown whether the FNS can adequately distinguish food neophobia from dietary restrictions. Many older adults have chronic medical conditions that require elimination of specific foods from the diet. Therefore, older adults may score higher on the FNS because they are reluctant to eat foods if it is uncertain whether the food meets their dietary requirements, while not actually being food neophobic. Younger adults with specific dietary restrictions score high on the FNS (e.g. people on a vegan/vegetarian diet, gluten free diet, or with food allergies), but to our knowledge no studies have focused on exploring this in older adults. We aimed to explore whether older adults with dietary restrictions score higher on the FNS than those without dietary restrictions, and whether poorer health status is related to FNS scores in older adults.

Health status was measured as physical- and mental health-related quality of life (QoL, SF- 12)(2), risk of sarcopenia (SARC-F)(3), and appetite (SNAQ)(4). Participants were recruited using convenience sampling, with help from local and national organizations with older adult members.

A total of 283 older adults took part in an online survey, of which 97 indicated to restrict their diet. The total sample contained 199 males and had a mean age of 74 ± 5 years old. FNS scores of older adults with dietary restrictions (31 ± 11) were not significantly higher than the FNS scores of older adults with no dietary restrictions (28 ± 9) when compared with an independent samples t-test. Regarding the relations between health status and FNS, Pearson correlations were used. We found that FNS scores were significantly correlated with poorer appetite (r = -.171, P = .004), but were not with physical or mental health-related QoL, or risk of sarcopenia. FNS scores were correlated with higher age (r = .212, P < .001), and lower education level (r = -.160, P = .007), but not with living status (alone or with others).

We conclude that the FNS scores are not different for older adults with or without dietary restrictions. The FNS scores may be higher for older adults with poorer appetite, but not for those with risk of sarcopenia or lower health related QoL. The FNS can be used to measure food neophobia in the older population despite the high prevalence of dietary restrictions.