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Alexandra A. de Sousa

@alealisousa.bsky.social
360 followers 194 following 63 posts

Brain evolution alealisousa.github.io

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Reposted by Alexandra A. de Sousa
Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The enshittification of the National Science Foundation will go down as one of the greatest moral injuries I've experienced in my career.
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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We surpassed the shooting ourselves in the foot phase and went straight to the shooting ourselves in the chest phase 
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Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🚨 I AM HIRING a 3-year postdoc & 4-year PhD student 🚨 [PLEASE SHARE WIDELY] My Emmy Noether @dfg.de funded Neural Circuit & Systems Evolution lab (🌟) at the @unimainz.bsky.socialÍ wants to start existing. So..., what do we need? WELL... we need you! APPLY UNTIL 21 SEPTEMBER.
static.klipy.com
ALT:
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Michael Proulx @michaelproulx.bsky.social · 28/04/2024
New paper! We studied how media, other social pressures, and our senses contribute to how we feel about our bodies by focusing on people with or without visual impairments. This work is open access and free for all to read journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... @alealisousa.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com
Sociocultural Pressures, Internalization, and Body Esteem in Congenitally Blind, Late-Blind, and Sighted Men and Women - Sara Dell’Erba, Meike Scheller, Alexandra A. de Sousa, Michael J. Proulx, 2024
Introduction: Visual experience has a substantial effect on how individuals construct a template of their own bodies in space. Whether the absence of total or p...
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Spoke on Energetic Constraints on Brain Organization in Human Paleoneurology @fens.org symposium Trajectories and Drivers of Brain Evolution Through Deep Time, Sabadell. Thanks to org @ornellabertrand.bsky.social. Last saw Myotragus balearicus, fossil goat with forward-facing eyes, last millennium.
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Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The University of Exeter is not in budget deficit. Yet are proposing to cut 150 academic jobs. This include my job. Please sign and share the petition, write our Vice Chancellor, to your MP, and get the word out about the act of self harm this university is about to commit. c.org/yKcx6Zr29H
c.org
This campaign needs you now
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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EvoKE @evokeproject.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
💡 Idea inspired by Telma G. Laurentino 🔗 Further reading: bit.ly/4bSIJTo (EN) bit.ly/4s43ZM2 (PT)
bit.ly
What If Understanding Evolution Could Help Save Us?
I have been fascinated by biodiversity and nature since I can remember, so I took that passion and dedicated my life to the study of…
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Delighted to be a co‑author on this new work on feline brain aging 🧠🐱 Great collaboration across institutions!
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Thrilled to speak at #CorticalEvolution2026 in Bilbao last week on “Energetic Constraints on Brain Organization”. Fascinating talks from behavior to development. Here I am after my talk!
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The vOICe vision BCI 🧠🇪🇺 @seeingwithsound.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they're not good www.nature.com/articles/d41... (archived at archive.ph/cZZZC) Similar risks for blind people relying on smartglasses for AI scene description, where hybrid skills matter for long-term resilience and agency.
nature.com
Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good
Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.
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Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 22/06/2026
My department has funding for 2-year MByRes studentships (full tuition fees and research allowance) on ecosystem resilience, broadly defined. Apply to do a project with me modelling social-ecological networks. #culturalevolution #socialnetworks ecologyconservation.exeter.ac.uk/masteer-coho...
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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 12/06/2026
Nature reports on how labs are teaming up to run a host of huge projects that aim to bring rigour to cognitive science. #cogpsyc 🧪
go.nature.com
Can an army of babies and dogs rescue psychology from its reproducibility crisis?
Labs are teaming up to run a host of huge projects that aim to bring rigour to cognitive science.
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The new NIH policy requiring co-authorships with foreign scientists to be reported seems like an opportunity for a mass protest-by-cooperation: if each of us requested permission for each of our co-authorships (1 email per ms), the NIH would be deluged with these and it would convey how absurd it is
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
tl,dr; Scientists no longer allowed to use federal funding to publish, attend meetings, or talk to the public. They cannot collaborate internationally. Grants can be cancelled for any reason, at any time, political appointees have a final say over what gets funded, and who gets funded.
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Arlyssa D. Becenti ✍️🗞️ @abecenti.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
From me: Chaco Canyon listed as 'endangered' as tribes, feds spar over drilling
azcentral.com
Chaco Canyon listed as 'endangered' as tribes, feds spar over drilling
The Chaco Canyon area was recognized as an endangered historic place as a debate continues over new drilling and mining claims.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
This is the horror cherry on top of the egregious fraud, waste, and abuse sundae. DOGE fired the people who send NIH money to research labs—which is a complicated process—so now even more labs are going to go under. All while Jay Bhattacharya goes on a podcast and says no NIH funding was cut.
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Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
1999. People are “participants” in research [not "subjects"] www.bmj.com/content/318/...
bmj.com
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Arlyssa D. Becenti ✍️🗞️ @abecenti.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
From me: Border wall crews damage 1,000-year-old site as tribe warns of risks www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
azcentral.com
Border wall crews damage 1,000-year-old site as tribe warns of risks
Tohono O'odham leaders met with Homeland Security officials about border wall construction, even as workers damage a 1,0000-year-old site.
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Nature @nature.com · 29/04/2026
A Nature analysis shows that the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 advisory committees to science agencies — and reduced the transparency and independence of those that remain go.nature.com/4cVC2Am
go.nature.com
Key US science panels are being axed — and others are becoming less open
A Nature analysis shows that the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 advisory committees to science agencies — and reduced the transparency and independence of those that remain.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/04/2026
Trump Fires Board Members of Group That Oversees U.S. Science Funding. Gift link: nyti.ms/4u7I3kr
nyti.ms
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The vOICe vision BCI 🧠🇪🇺 @seeingwithsound.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
On the ongoing collapse of the United States and US science and engineering: Trump has terminated several members of the independent National Science Board www.engadget.com/science/trum... #NSB #NSF
engadget.com
Trump has terminated several members of the independent National Science Board
The Trump administration sent letters to several members of the National Science Board, informing them that their positions were "terminated, effective immediately."
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The vOICe vision BCI 🧠🇪🇺 @seeingwithsound.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation's governing body www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s governing body
Dismissal of the National Science Board is widely seen as latest move to erase NSF’s independence
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Arthropod Abbey (Abigail Hayes) @arthropodabbey.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Learning how to work interlibrary loan!!! That was huge in my grad career, it felt like I unlocked the world!
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Wobbologist @wobbologist.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Academics: What are free resources you wish you knew about sooner or ealier in your career? (That are still helpful today.) Anything from paper access, scheduling time, writing help, etc. Not everyone gets access to this knowledge so let's share and spread what is available :) #academia
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The vOICe vision BCI 🧠🇪🇺 @seeingwithsound.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Simply sticking electrodes into primary visual cortex (V1) to evoke phosphenes ignores the feedback loops from higher visual areas back to V1. A Neuralink Blindsight brain implant will almost certainly perform very poorly. Engineering is one thing, biology/neuroscience another.
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
This meeting was amazing in 2024!
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allen institute @alleninstitute.org · 10/04/2026
Applications are open for the Lake Conference on Comparative and Evolutionary Neurobiology - co-hosted with Circuit Neuroscience Basel! 🗓️ Oct. 25-29, 2026 📍 Seattle, WA 🧠 All career stages welcomed. 🔗 alleninstitute.org/events/lake-conf…
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Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
TONIGHT is ROUND 1 of the Extinction is Forever Division of species lost in recent decades & centuries due to the actions, and inactions, of humans. #HumanImpacts #Anthropocene #2026MMM
media.tenor.com
a black and white photo of a thylacine eating a snake in a room .
ALT: a black and white photo of a thylacine eating a snake in a room .
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Thinking on your feet: potentially enhancing phylogenetic tree learning accessibility through a kinaesthetic approach evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com
Thinking on your feet: potentially enhancing phylogenetic tree learning accessibility through a kinaesthetic approach - Evolution: Education and Outreach
Background Phylogenetics is one of the main methodologies to understand cross-cutting principles of evolution, such as common ancestry and speciation. Phylogenetic trees, however, are reportedly chall...
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Fernando Garcia-Moreno @phylobrain.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄? Because many of the biggest open questions in neuroscience still revolve around the cerebral cortex — how it emerged, expanded, diversified, and why it differs so much across species. #CorticalEvolution2026
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Fernando Garcia-Moreno @phylobrain.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
We now describe the cortex in extraordinary detail: cell types, layers, gene expression, developmental programs. Yet description alone doesn’t explain why the cortex is built the way it is — or why evolution took such different paths in different lineages. #CorticalEvolution2026
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Fernando Garcia-Moreno @phylobrain.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Importantly, cortical evolution is not just about the past. Many vulnerabilities of the human brain, from developmental disorders to psychiatric disease, may be inseparable from the evolutionary trajectories that shaped cortical expansion and complexity.
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Fernando Garcia-Moreno @phylobrain.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. Only by comparing species can we distinguish what is conserved from what is derived, what is fundamental from what is contingent, and which features come with hidden costs. #CorticalEvolution2026
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Fernando Garcia-Moreno @phylobrain.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗼. To bring together evolutionary, developmental and systems perspectives and to rethink where the field is going next. June 15–17, 2026 Spain #CorticalEvolution2026
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity, writes @lmprida.bsky.social. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/defining-cel...
thetransmitter.org
From genes to dynamics: Examining brain cell types in action may reveal the logic of brain function
Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity.
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Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
😱😱😱
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Zoltan Molnar @zoltan-molnar.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
CORTICAL EVOLUTION CONFERENCE June 15-17, 2026 Organizers: Verónica Martínez Cerdeño, Fernando García Moreno, Elena Vecino, and Stephen Noctor. ventricular.org/corticalevol...
CORTICAL EVOLUTION CONFERENCE 
June 15-17, 2026
Organizers: Verónica Martínez Cerdeño, Fernando García Moreno, Elena Vecino, and Stephen Noctor.
https://ventricular.org/corticalevolution26/
Topic: The Cortical Evolution symposium will promote the dissemination of novel ideas and concepts to shed light on evolution of the mammalian cerebral cortex. The goal of this conference is to further our understanding of factors involved in cortical evolution that are relevant for human brain function under normal and pathological conditions. Experts from prestigious research universities in the Americas, Europe, and Africa will present their most recent findings at the meeting. 150 faculty, students, and interested parties are expected. Attendees will have the opportunity to present their work in poster format, and six abstract submissions will be selected for a short oral presentation. The meeting will be organized into topical 5 sessions:

Cortical Development
Cortical Evolution
Evolution of Cellular Types
Evolution of Cortex and Behavior
Paleoanthropology
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
I am looking forward to speaking at this fantastic conference!
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The Integrative Biology of Brain Evolution (TIBBE)- Network @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Missed our amazing seminar with @stanley-heinze.bsky.social on insect connectomes and insectbraindb.org? You can catch up at the link here www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
crowdcast.io
Comparative databasing
Register now for Comparative databasing on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on January 28, 2026, 04:00 PM GMT+1.
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Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
😍
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The Integrative Biology of Brain Evolution (TIBBE)- Network @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Stanley Heinz on comparing insect connectomes
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The Integrative Biology of Brain Evolution (TIBBE)- Network @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Stanley Heinz explains the amazing comparative database insectbraindb.org
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Exciting insect brain database talk on right now! www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
crowdcast.io
Comparative databasing
Register now for Comparative databasing on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on January 28, 2026, 04:00 PM GMT+1.
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Come to the TIBBE seminar next Wednesday, where we will learn about the insect brain database!
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The Integrative Biology of Brain Evolution (TIBBE)- Network @tibbe-evolneuro.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar: Comparative databasing January 28, 3–4pm UTC This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...
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PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? "High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions." Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones. NB: study in the mouse #neuroskyence doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Our ancestors were nerds 🤓
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Alexandra A. de Sousa @alealisousa.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Who did it?
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Caley Orr @caleyorr.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
The oldest documented rock art in the world.
nature.com
Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi - Nature
A hand stencil painted on a cave wall on a small island off the coast of Sulawesi more than 67,800 years ago suggests a very early occupation of Wallacea.
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Arlyssa D. Becenti ✍️🗞️ @abecenti.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Native American Rights Fund Gathered this info for Native folks to know their rights and what to do should they be stopped by ICE.
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