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Ann Kennedy

@antihebbiann.bsky.social
4.1K followers 256 following 312 posts

Theoretical neuroscientist interested in brain-body interactions and evolution of adaptive behavior. Associate Professor at Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.

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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Check out this more detailed rundown on our adapting networks preprint from @rgast.bsky.social!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Preprint time! This is a cool one. Complex systems, be they neural nets, interacting genes, or power grids, can produce diverse dynamics-- things like point attractors, limit cycles, and chaos. The dynamic landscape you get depends on how elements interact. But those interactions can also change!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We are recruiting an experienced research programmer to drive the next steps of several exciting generative modeling and biotechy projects! (You will see this ad again soon accompanying preprints of said projects, but here's a chance to apply early 🤓) recruiting2.ultipro.com/SCR1003TSRI/...
recruiting2.ultipro.com
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JAX Genomic Education @jaxeducation.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
💥 SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: Hear from faculty whose work explores AI and computational approaches in #Neuroskyence. 🔹 James Cotton, Ph.D., Northwestern 🔹 Kristin Branson, Ph.D., HHMI Janelia Research Campus @peabody124.bsky.social @kristinmbranson.bsky.social ⏰ Register soon at jax.org/autobehavior!
Dark blue graphic reads, ""AI Enabled Biomechanics for Precision Rehabilitation" | James Cotton, Ph.D. | Northwestern University | 2026 Machine Learning Short Course | October 11 – 16 | Bar Harbor, ME & Virtual."Dark blue graphic reads, ""Training & Interpreting Generative-AI models of Animal Behavior" | Kristin Branson, Ph.D. | HHMI Janelia Research Campus | 2026 Machine Learning Short Course | October 11 – 16 | Bar Harbor, ME & Virtual."
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Preprint time! This is a cool one. Complex systems, be they neural nets, interacting genes, or power grids, can produce diverse dynamics-- things like point attractors, limit cycles, and chaos. The dynamic landscape you get depends on how elements interact. But those interactions can also change!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
There are more submissions to ICLR this year (at least 62,000) than in all previous years of the conference combined.
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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 18/09/2026
Comb jellies are ancient marine predators whose hairlike extensions known as cilia refract light as they swim, giving them an iridescent shimmer. They are the largest animals known to use cilia for movement. www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
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Jeremiah Cohen @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
First off, these cells are gigantic. This one, for example, has >72 cm of axon! To our knowledge, it’s the longest neuron ever fully reconstructed. I leave it to the reader as an exercise to estimate the length of a human LC neuron. 5
The complete morphology of a single LC-NE neuron.
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physics.soc-ph @arxiv-soc-ph.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Effective Gravitational Field of the Ball in Association Football arxiv.org/abs/2608.20395
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Matt Henderson @matthen.com · 13/09/2026
Approximating the Lorenz attractor with a chaotic leaky water wheel. The orange dot is the centre of mass of the water. It traces (a projection of) the familiar attractor as the wheel spins seemingly randomly left and right.
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Fabrizio Musacchio @fabmusacchio.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New preprint by @shtakasu.bsky.social , Gast & @antihebbiann.bsky.social, showing that local exc/inh connectivity balance can strongly reshape #RecurrentNetwork dynamics, even when the connectivity spectrum remains unchanged. #CompNeuro #TheoreticalNeuroscience #RandomNetworks #PopulationDynamics
FIG. 1. Numerical simulations illustrating how local connectivity balance affects network dynamics.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New preprint on our favorite theme: same connectome + different neurons = different dynamics. @shtakasu.bsky.social looked at detail balance (E+I inputs sum to 0) in RNNs w/different activation functions, finding that it stabilized some networks and destabilized others. arxiv.org/html/2608.30...
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Nothing like a cozy afternoon of reverse birdwatching
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Dr. Or M. Bialik |📚|🔬|🌊|⚒️ @obialik.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Fish with electrical senses have unique brain cells specifically to process that information. The real trick they pull is separating the electricity they emit from the ones they sense. 🧪 Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-…
a, Schematic of the interference problem facing the passive electrosensory system of weakly electric fish. Responses of EAFs to prey are masked by responses to the EOD of the fish, which vary depending on factors such as water conductivity. b, Schematic of prediction and cancellation of responses to the EOD. Predictions are based on electric organ corollary discharge signals conveyed by GCs (granule cell basis) and require specific patterns of synaptic connectivity. c, Summary diagram of the synaptic connectivity patterns revealed in the present study. Only connections comprising >10% of the total synapses to a given cell type are shown in the diagram. d, Two example Output cells (blue and red) are shown along with EAF (pink) and GC (magenta) inputs overlaid on a cutout of the EM volume (424 × 427 × 45 µm; all EM connectomic data are from a single biological specimen). The dorsal–ventral and anterior–posterior dimensions of the skin surface are mapped onto the x- and z-dimensions of the volume, respectively. The top inset shows example excitatory GC synapses (magenta fill and star) onto apical dendritic spines of the ON cell (red fill). The magenta fill marks the example GC axon visualized in the volume; the magenta star marks another GC axon. The white star marks an inhibitory molecular layer interneuron synapse onto the dendritic shaft of the same ON cell. The bottom inset shows an example excitatory EAF synapse (pink fill) onto the ON cell basal dendrite (red fill). mol, molecular layer; ggl, ganglion layer; plex, plexiform layer; gran, granular layer. e–h, Example reconstructions of major ELL cell types. Axons are shown in black. ON/OFF, Output (h); MG+/MG−, medium ganglion (f); SG+/SG−, small ganglion (g); Gr+, granular; SP−, small plexiform (h). The inset in f shows an example inhibitory synapse between an MG+ cell (orange) and an OFF cell soma (blue).
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jonny (leachate composite form) @jo.nny.rip · 05/09/2026
Behold the future of research code from the GPT-6 press release: a notebook that writes an accessory script by string concatenation and inspecting code in a notebook, evals the script in place, and then ignores it entirely to write a hardcoded summary.
an ad-hoc "save data" script in a jupyter notebook that constructs a python module by constructing a string from a literal, catting the inspected source from live functions to it, calling eval, and then writing that out to a separate script? despite the fact that.... we are in a jupyter notebook??? and we can just.... write python??? and run it???
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Drew Schreiner @schreinerdrew.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
more evidence that neocortex and hippocampus are just there to act as cushions for the important bits
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Join me on Zoom tomorrow at 10am PST for a high-level talk on our hypothalamus work, plus a fun preview of our mouse behavior forecasting project. Talk title shamelessly stolen from the most badass Larry Swanson paper pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16254987/ luma.com/pfj56a5v
luma.com
Ann Kennedy | The anatomy of the soul: neural circuits for flexible and adaptive survival behaviors · Zoom · Luma
Foresight Institute’s Neurotech Group The anatomy of the soul: neural circuits for flexible and adaptive survival behaviors Abstract: The struggle for survival…
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Sonya Neal @neal-lab.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Come be my colleague!! 🎉 We’re hiring an Assistant Professor in Developmental Biology at UCSD! If you’re doing exciting work in development or regeneration, come join us!! Please spread the word and apply! apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04591
apol-recruit.ucsd.edu
Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology
University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!
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JAX Genomic Education @jaxeducation.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
💡 Learn to design behavioral workflows, apply ML approaches to behavioral modeling, and connect behavior to neural and experimental manipulations. Register: www.jax.org/education-an... Organized by: @vivekdna.bsky.social @antihebbiann.bsky.social @gordonberman.bsky.social @goldenneuron.bsky.social
Flyer for the Application of Machine Learning for Automated Quantification of Behavior Short Course. See the event webpage for more information at www.jax.org/autobehavior.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
the unreasonable thrill of lines overlapping
a handful of plotted lines with zero context provided but I promise you it will be cool in the paper
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Experimentalists are the new model organism
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Check out episode one, where @gauteeinevoll.bsky.social talks with Tatjana Tchumatchenko about her group's mathematical model for exploring how neurons can save energy by optimizing whether proteins are made locally or distally. #TheoreticalNeurosciencePodcast www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
thetransmitter.org
How energy determines where proteins are produced in neurons
Tatjana Tchumatchenko explains how mathematical modeling elucidates whether ion-channel proteins are produced locally in the soma or in the dendrites.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
There's still time to apply for our Short Course on the Application of #MachineLearning for Automated Quantification of Behavior! Join us October 11 – 16 at #JAXBehavior for expert lectures, hands-on workshops, evening sessions & more: www.jax.org/education-an... #Neuroskyence
jax.org
Short Course Machine Learning for Automated Quantification of Behavior
This course covers fundamentals of quantitative behavior analysis, machine learning, and data science for neuroscience, genetics, and biomedical researchers.
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I-270, Exit 1 @i270exit1.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This plan will make peer review less transparent and more confusing to applicants and program staff. Y'all killed it on the OMB proposal, you know what to do here. Comment deadline is October 13.
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Bryan Roth @zenbrainest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
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Champalimaud Research @champalimaudr.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It's a wrap for this year’s Cajal Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme at @champalimaudf.bsky.social! 👥 We hosted the courses ‘Quantitative Approaches to Behavior and Virtual Reality’ and "The Brain Prize Course – Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience".
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
AgRP neurons are fascinating. They get called "hunger" neurons, but this and work like the Krashes lab's suggest their activity is more like "motivation to forage". Finding food suppresses them; finding food that's far away/scary to access reduces suppression. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Toggling between food-seeking and self-preservation behaviors via hypothalamic response networks
Motivated behaviors are often studied in isolation to assess labeled lines of neural connections underlying innate actions. However, in nature, multip…
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Grace @gracekind.net · 04/08/2026
Today is the day from “There Will Come Soft Rains” users.wpi.edu/~zrbutzke/Docs/Bradbu…
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
New preprint led by @rgast.bsky.social- part 1 of Richard's ongoing effort to make a better firing rate model: developing mean-field models that can be fit to biological data to capture both the dynamics of neural populations and the underlying physiological heterogeneity that sculpt those dynamics.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Happy Monday! Come learn how jellyfish swim. In a review led by fluid dynamics maestro Alex Hoover, we outline how neuromechanical modeling will help us understand how modulation of neural activity allows jellyfish to jet and pirouette through fluids www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Figure 1. The fluid dynamics of jellyfish swimming. a) Minimum intensity projection of a video clip of swimming Clytia hemisphaerica recorded at 30 fps; dark spots capture trajectories of tentacle bulbs, mouth, and gonads over time. Blue outlines approximate the margin of jellyfish on the frame of maximum extent on two successive swim pulses; green arrow shows direction of swimming. b) Minimum intensity projection of the same animal during a period of turning, showing asymmetry in the movement of bulbs on the inside vs outside of the turn. c) 3D diagram of the bell of a swimming jellyfish, showing starting and stopping vortex rings and fluid flow into (blue) vs away from (purple) the bell during the passive energy recapture phase of swimming. d) Cross section of a swimming jellyfish showing fluid vorticity toward the end of a swim pulse relaxation phase, showing locations of the starting and stopping vortex rings and the boundary layer. e) Swim pulse dynamics of an oblate jellyfish under symmetric bell contraction, producing straight swimming. The starting vortex ring is generated by active muscle contraction of the bell (ii, purple arrows), while the stopping vortex ring is generated by passive elastic relaxation (iii-iv, green arrows) from the mesoglea. Forward motion during the relaxation phase arises from the interaction of the starting and stopping vortex rings, with the starting vortex ring pulling fluid away from the bell and the stopping vortex ring directing fluid into the subumbrellar cavity. f) Swim pulse dynamics under asymmetric bell contraction, producing turning. Initially at rest (i), the neuronal signal initiates a muscular contraction in the bell margin on the inside of the turn before a stronger contraction of the bell margin is observed on the outside of the turn (ii-iii, purple arrows). The corresponding passive restoration yields a stronger expansion of the bell margin on the outside of the turn (iv, green arrows).
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Igor Adameyko @adameykolab.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Two tiny hydrozoan jellies talking to each other (Melicertum octocostatum, 5 mm). Kattegat, The North Sea.
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Coral City Camera @coralcitycamera.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Push it (get up on this 😤😤) #whitegrunt #gruntfight #pushit #mouthoff #coralcitycamera
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Dayu Lin @moccalin.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Happy summer! Share my short review on Oxytocin in Social Conflict. Full text link below. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...
urldefense.com
Oxytocin in social conflict
Nature Reviews Endocrinology - Although oxytocin is widely known as the ‘love hormone’, it is also released during social conflict, promoting acute social defence and facilitating...
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Researchers turned a friendly mouse into a bully to study how the brain updates an animal’s emotions about a social interaction. #neuroskyence By @natmesanash.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/social-behav...
thetransmitter.org
Friend to foe: How the brain updates feelings toward others
A specific pathway reassigns emotional valence to a known mouse, while the hippocampus’s own representation of that animal’s identity remains stable.
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Scripps Research @scripps.edu · 07/07/2026
We’re excited to welcome Joan Pulupa to Scripps Research as an assistant professor! Using smell-sensing neurons and advanced microscopy, including MINFLUX, Pulupa’s lab will explore how genome organization shapes brain cells and what it may reveal about neurodegenerative conditions.
ow.ly
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration
Using smell-sensing neurons and advanced microscopy, Pulupa’s lab will explore how genome organization affects brain cells, and what it may reveal about neurodegenerative conditions.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Freeman Dyson writes about having Hans Bethe as a thesis advisor. Uncovering the nature of the universe is impressive and all, but being the platonic ideal of a mentor on top of that? Good lord
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This is an extremely cool finding by our neighbors in the Ye lab: learning reduces the glucose consumption of neurons, even without changes in firing rates. Really want to try to model this!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
a figure comparing the scale of two videos in our Kaggle dataset
ᵐᵒᵘˢᵉ and  M  O  U  S  E
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Ye Lab @liye-tsri.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Using in vivo glucose sensors in behaving mice, we asked: what is the neuronal fuel cost of performing a learned task? Key finding: After learning, the same task required less fuel, suggesting learning may not only improve performance—it may lower the energy cost of computation. 2/3
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Ye Lab @liye-tsri.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Our new preprint is out!! The human brain runs on ~20 watts. Computers and modern AI systems require vastly higher energy. This gap raises a fundamental question: how does the brain compute so efficiently? In our new study, we take a critical step toward measuring and understanding this directly 1/3
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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Going to be in Nova Scotia for #CNS2026? Make sure you swing by the workshop I've organized with @rgast.bsky.social entitled "Neuronal heterogeneity's role in network dynamics and computation." The preliminary schedule and talk abstracts are now available! richlab.pnb.uconn.edu/cns2026/
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
And 11 months after getting our scores, an NOA has arrived!!!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Cajal Behavior summer course presentation day! After 5 days of hard work, we'll see data from student-designed projects on grooming and freezing flies, RL-learning and foraging robots, human VR exploration, and closed-loop loom escape in fish. An amazing group :)
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Grantham Research Institute at LSE @granthamlse.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
We regret that our event on Extreme Heat: Improving governance and strengthening action around the world has been cancelled due to the red extreme heat warning issued by the UK Met Office. Our apologies to everyone who was planning to attend the event.
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This magnet keeps yelling at me
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Matthew @mapoochoo.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
The Met put its entire collection online for free so I made a game out of it! 10 artifacts a day, and you guess where and when each one's from. Anthropeum.com if anyone wants to give it a shot and leave feedback :) #history #archeology #arthistory #museums
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Michael Baym @baym.lol · 11/06/2026
I love being too dangerous for an AI to even talk to
A conversation with Claude Fable 5 in which I ask it only “Who am I?” and it replies “You’re Michael Baym, a microbiologist” and immediately downgrades to Opus 4.8
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Braitenberg Vehicle day with Hugo Marques at QABVR: wire light, touch, and distance sensors to a pair of motors, then tune the sensor gains and motor outputs to play follow the leader
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
In Montreal for ICMNS! Come hear me talk about neuronal heterogeneity on Friday. www.crmath.ca/en/activitie...
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Martin Humphries @martinhumphries.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Hear, hear! Far too many paper titles now with "mapping", "profiling" and "landscape" in them. An abundance of data doesn't equate to a discovery.
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