Selected publications

1- Martins, P.T. and C. Boeckx. 2020. Vocal learning: Beyond the continuum.PLoS Biology 18(3):e30000672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000672. 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000672

2- Theofanopoulou, C., Gedman, G., Cahill, J. A., Boeckx, C., & Jarvis, E. D.(2021). Universal nomenclature for oxytocin-vasotocin ligand and receptor families. Nature, 592(7856), 747–755. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03040-7

3- Kuhlwilm, M., & Boeckx, C. (2019). A catalog of single nucleotide changes distinguishing modern humans from archaic hominins. Scientific reports, 9(1), 8463. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598019-44877-x

4- Caporale, N., O. Leonardi, C. E. Vila, A. Vitriolo, C. Boeckx and G. Testa.2025. Tile by tile: capturing the evolutionary mosaic of human conditions. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development 90:102297. 10.1016/j.gde.2024.102297

5- Zanella, M., Vitriolo, A., Andirko, A., Martins, P. T., Sturm, S., O’Rourke,T., Laugsch, M., Malerba, N., Skaros, A., Trattaro, S., Germain, P. L.,
Mihailovic, M., Merla, G., Rada-Iglesias, A., Boeckx, C., & Testa, G. (2019). Dosage analysis of the 7q11.23 Williams region identifies BAZ1B as a major human gene patterning the modern human face and underlying self-domestication. Science advances, 5(12),eaaw7908. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw7908

6- Funato, N., Heliövaara, A., & Boeckx, C. (2024). A regulatory variant impacting TBX1 expression contributes to basicranial morphology in Homo sapiens. American journal of human genetics, 111(5), 939–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.03.012

7- Moriano, J., Leonardi, O., Vitriolo, A., Testa, G., & Boeckx, C. (2024). A multi-layered integrative analysis reveals a cholesterol metabolic program in outer radial glia with implications for human brain evolution. Development, 151(16), dev202390. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.202390

8- Theofanopoulou, C., S. Gastaldon, T. O’Rourke, B. D. Samuels, P.T. Martins, F. Delogu, S. Alamri, and C. Boeckx. 2017.Comparative Genomic Evidence for Self-Domestication in Homo sapiens. PLoS One 12(10):e0185306. 10.1371/journal.pone.0185306

9- O’Rourke, T. and C. Boeckx. 2020. Converging roles of glutamate receptors in domestication and prosociality. Neuro-science and Biobehavioral Reviews 108:341-357. 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.004

10- O’Rourke, T., P.T. Martins, R. Asano, R. O. Tachibana, K. Okanoya and C. Boeckx. 2021. Capturing the effects of domestication on vocal learning complexity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 25(6):462-474. 10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.007 

I am a strong supporter of preprints (and am a proud Biorxiv affiliate)

You can find some of my recent preprints here:

Cerrito, P., C. P. van Schaik, C. Boeckx, J. M. Burkart, A.- L. Giraud, D. Bavelier, B. Bickel. Pleistocene origins of cultural and linguistic diversification: how Homo sapiens and Neanderthals differed. 2025. EcoEvoRxiv doi:10.32942/X2C35Z

Aprile, D., O. Leonardi, A. Petrella, D. Castaldi, L. Culotta, C. Cheroni, A. Valente, M. Bonfanti, A. Vitriolo, J. Moriano, F. Mirabella, A. Tintori, C. Boeckx, G. Testa. Benchmarking cerebellar organoids to model autism spectrum disorder and human brain evolution. 2025. Biorxiv 10.1101/2025.05.14.653684

Skaros, A., A. Vitriolo, O. Leonardi, V. Finazzi, M. F Pereira, F. Prazzoli, S. Trattaro, J. Moriano, D. Capocefalo, C. Emanuele Villa, M. Boettcher, C.
Boeckx, G. Testa. Regulatory logic of human cortex evolution by combinatorial perturbations. 2025. Biorxiv 10.1101/2025.04.28.651083 8/33

Leonardi, O., E. Lewerissa, D. Aprile, T. S. Barakat, L. Culotta, R. Deng, L. Haazen, K. Lina, M. Majoie, A. Mordelt, A. Ortale, A. Oudakker, F. Prazzoli, S. Puvogel, N. Scheefhals, H. J. Schelhaas, C. Schoenmaker, E. van Hugte, H. van Bokhoven, J. Verhoeven. A. Vitriolo, C. Boeckx, G. Testa and N. Kadif Kasri. CHD2 Dosage Ties Autolysosomal Pathway to Cortical Maturation in Disease and Evolution. 2025. Biorxiv
10.1101/2025.01.21.634145

BOOKS
The following volumes are intended to be more accessible than my technical monographs:

Raviv, L. and C. Boeckx, ed. 2025. The Oxford Handbook of Approaches to Language Evolution. Oxford University Press.

Boeckx, C. 2021. Reflections on language evolution: From minimalism to pluralism. Language Sciences Press. Chinese translation, 2024, Shanghai Foreign Language Audiovisual Publishing House

Boeckx, C. 2009. Language in cognition: Uncovering mental structures and the rules behind them. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. Japanese translation, 2012, Iwanami Shoten.