Heather Heying | |
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![]() Heying in 2019 | |
Education | UC Santa Cruz (BA) University of Michigan (PhD) |
Occupation(s) | Author, podcaster |
Spouse | Bret Weinstein |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Evolutionary biology |
Thesis | The evolutionary ecology and sexual selection of a Madagascan poison frog (Mantella laevigata) (2001) |
Doctoral advisor | Arnold Kluge [1] |
Website | www |
Heather E. Heying (born 1969) is an American evolutionary biologist, former professor, and author, who came to national attention following the Evergreen State College protests in 2017. She has been associated with the informal group known as the intellectual dark web [2] and testified at the US Department of Justice forum on Free Speech on College Campuses in 2018. [3] Heying opposed COVID-19 vaccines and promoted the unproven belief that the drug ivermectin is effective in treating the disease. [4]
Heying was born in Santa Monica, California in 1969 and grew up in Los Angeles. [5] [6] She obtained a BA degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1992, and subsequently went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she received a PhD in Biology in 2001, [6] [7] with the dissertation titled "The evolutionary ecology and sexual selection of a Madagascan poison frog (Mantella laevigata). [8]
Until 2017, Heying was a professor of biology at Evergreen State College in Washington State. Her doctoral research focused on the evolutionary ecology and sexual selection of Mantella laevigata , a Madagascan poison frog. [9] In addition to papers in the reproductive evolutionary adaptations of frogs, Heying has also published a popular work describing her graduate student research in Madagascar, Antipode: Seasons with the Extraordinary Wildlife and Culture of Madagascar (2002). [10] [11]
In July 2017, following a year of student protests at Evergreen State College, which disrupted the campus, including one altercation between protesters and Heying's husband and fellow professor of biology at Evergreen, Bret Weinstein, the pair brought a lawsuit against the college; the $3.85 million suit alleged the college failed to "protect its employees from repeated provocative and corrosive verbal and written hostility based on race, as well as threats of physical violence." [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] A settlement was reached in September 2017, in which both Heying and Weinstein resigned, and received $250,000 each. [15]
Following her resignation, Heying has written articles and opinion pieces related to evolution and cultural politics for journals and newspapers such as The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education. [17] [18] She co-hosts a weekly podcast, the Darkhorse Podcast, with her husband on his YouTube channel. [19]
Heying was a 2019–2020 James Madison Program Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, a fellowship which continued for the 2020–2021 year. [20] [21] With Weinstein, they presented a theory on the evolutionary adaptation of consciousness on 29 April 2020 . [22]
In 2021, Heying and Weinstein's book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, was published. Reviewing it for The Guardian , Stuart J. Ritchie wrote that the authors "lazily repeat false information from other pop-science books", and that overall the book was characterized by an annoying, know-it-all attitude. [23] Writing for Willamette Week , Nancy Koppelman and Leo Blakeslee said that the book did well at covering basic topics around evolution and biology, but faltered when the authors claim expertise beyond their own fields such as in matters related to politics. [24] Another review, written for Areo Magazine by English Literature graduate Daniel James Sharp, said the book was "a great, if also greatly flawed, achievement.". [25]
On January 29, 2021, Heying appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher along with Weinstein, presenting the "Lab Leak" hypothesis around the origins of SARS-CoV-2. [26]
Heying has said that she has taken ivermectin to guard against COVID-19 and that she and Weinstein have not been vaccinated "because we have fears [about the side-effects of the COVID-19 vaccines], as we have discussed at length on this podcast." Heying compared the use of ivermectin for this purpose to taking anti-malarial drugs. [4] Whereas all WHO-approved vaccines have shown a high level of safety and efficacy in all populations, [27] there is no good evidence of benefit from ivermectin in preventing or treating COVID-19. [28] [29]
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches. Starting with a single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different morphological and physiological traits. The prototypical example of adaptive radiation is finch speciation on the Galapagos, but examples are known from around the world.
Steven Todd Kirsch is an American entrepreneur. He has started several companies and was one of two people who independently invented the first version of the optical mouse. Kirsch has been both a philanthropic supporter of medical research, and a promoter of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a predetermined path of study. Full-time students can enroll in interdisciplinary academic programs, in addition to stand-alone classes. Programs typically offer students the opportunity to study several disciplines in a coordinated manner. Faculty write substantive narrative evaluations of students' work in place of issuing grades.
Poison dart frog is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are diurnal and often have brightly colored bodies. This bright coloration is correlated with the toxicity of the species, making them aposematic. Some species of the family Dendrobatidae exhibit extremely bright coloration along with high toxicity — a feature derived from their diet of ants, mites and termites— while species which eat a much larger variety of prey have cryptic coloration with minimal to no amount of observed toxicity. Many species of this family are threatened due to human infrastructure encroaching on their habitats.
The Mantellidae are an amphibian family of the order Anura, and are endemic to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar and Mayotte. At first glance, the diminutive, brightly-coloured mantellas appear visually similar to the Latin American poison dart frogs, such as Dendrobates, Oophaga and Phyllobates, among others.
Aposematism is the advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or smell, sharp spines, or aggressive nature. These advertising signals may take the form of conspicuous coloration, sounds, odours, or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both predator and prey, since both avoid potential harm.
Marcus Daron Lamb was an American televangelist, prosperity theologian, minister, Christian broadcaster, and anti-vaccine advocate.
Mantella are a prominent genus of aposematic frogs in the family Mantellidae, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Members of Mantella are diurnal and terrestrial, with bright aposematic coloration or cryptic markings.
The strawberry poison frog, strawberry poison-dart frog or blue jeans poison frog is a species of small poison dart frog found in Central America. It is common throughout its range, which extends from eastern central Nicaragua through Costa Rica and northwestern Panamá. The species is often found in humid lowlands and premontane forest, but large populations are also found in disturbed areas such as plantations. The strawberry poison frog is perhaps most famous for its widespread variation in coloration, comprising approximately 15–30 color morphs, most of which are presumed to be true-breeding. O. pumilio, while not the most poisonous of the dendrobatids, is the most toxic member of its genus.
The climbing mantella is a species of diurnal poison frog of the genus Mantella that resides in the subtropical regions of northeast Madagascar. Although it spends a significant amount of time in trees or bamboo forests, this frog species is not fully arboreal and actively seeks areas with a water source.
Mantella madagascariensis, common names Malagasy painted mantella, Madagascan mantella, Madagascar golden frog, Malagasy mantella and painted mantella, is a species of frog in the family Mantellidae.
Eric Ross Weinstein is an American investor and financial executive. As of 2021, he is managing director for the American venture capital firm Thiel Capital. Weinstein coined the term "intellectual dark web" and has proposed a theory of everything called "Geometric Unity" that has largely been met with skepticism in the scientific community.
Sexual selection in amphibians involves sexual selection processes in amphibians, including frogs, salamanders and newts. Prolonged breeders, the majority of frog species, have breeding seasons at regular intervals where male-male competition occurs with males arriving at the waters edge first in large number and producing a wide range of vocalizations, with variations in depth of calls the speed of calls and other complex behaviours to attract mates. The fittest males will have the deepest croaks and the best territories, with females making their mate choices at least partly based on the males depth of croaking. This has led to sexual dimorphism, with females being larger than males in 90% of species, males in 10% and males fighting for groups of females.
Bret Samuel Weinstein is an American podcaster, author, and former professor of evolutionary biology. He served on the faculty of Evergreen State College from 2002 until 2017, when he resigned in the aftermath of a series of campus protests about racial equity at Evergreen, which brought Weinstein to national attention. Like his brother Eric Weinstein, he is considered part of the intellectual dark web. Weinstein has been criticized for making false statements about COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, and for spreading misinformation about HIV/AIDS.
The intellectual dark web (IDW) is a term used to describe a loose affiliation of academics and social commentators who oppose the perceived influence of left wing–associated identity politics and political correctness in higher education and mass media.
Anna Leonidovna Khachiyan is an American cultural critic, writer, and co-host of the Red Scare podcast with Dasha Nekrasova, based out of New York City. She is the daughter of Soviet-American mathematician Leonid Khachiyan.
Pierre Kory is an American critical care physician who gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for advocating widespread off-label use of certain drugs as treatments for COVID-19, as president and co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC). Kory testified twice to the U.S. Senate regarding COVID-19. During his testimony in December 2020, Kory erroneously claimed that the antiparasitic medication ivermectin was a "wonder drug" with "miraculous effectiveness" against COVID-19.
Robert Wallace Malone is an American physician and biochemist. His early work focused on mRNA technology, pharmaceuticals, and drug repurposing research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Malone promoted misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that is well established for use in animals and people. The World Health Organization (WHO), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) all advise against using ivermectin in an attempt to treat or prevent COVID-19.
This timeline includes entries on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This includes investigations into the origin of COVID-19, and the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Social media apps and platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, have contributed to the spread of misinformation. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) reported that conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 began on "day one". CAHN reported on March 16, 2020, that far-right groups in Canada were taking advantage of the climate of anxiety and fear surrounding COVID, to recycle variations of conspiracies from the 1990s, that people had shared over shortwave radio. COVID-19 disinformation is intentional and seeks to create uncertainty and confusion. But most of the misinformation is shared online unintentionally by enthusiastic participants who are politically active.