Sign in

Ben Fulcher

@bendfulcher.bsky.social
1.5K followers 555 following 98 posts

I lead the Dynamics and Neural Systems Group at the School of Physics, the University of Sydney. We develop time series tools & physical models to understand the dynamics of complex (usually neural) systems. Also: @bendfulcher@fediscience.org

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
RIP. Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90
news.mit.edu
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90 | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
8453195
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Andrea Luppi, PhD @loopyluppi.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
1/ 🚨 Just out in @natneuro.nature.com! 🧠 We profiled >6,000 features of brain dynamics across humans, macaques, marmosets, mice, fish and worms 🧑🐒🐒🐁🐟🪱 to find a shared neural endpoint of anaesthesia: spatiotemporal isolation of local activity 🧵👇 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02460-4
23922
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It’s hard to capture the diversity of complex dynamical patterns in just 2 dimensions but this is my best attempt!
110
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Golia Shafiei @goliashf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
So excited that our work is now published in PLOS Biology!! 🎉 Check out the final version here: doi.org/10.1371/jour... And for a bit more context and what we found, here’s our earlier thread: bsky.app/profile/goli...
03917
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Haha good luck on the quiz! 😅
000
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today I'm releasing the "1000×1000 collection": a unified place to learn about dynamical structure. 1000 simulated time series (1000 samples each) spanning 133 dynamical processes. Have a play? 🐛 #timeseries #dynamicalsystems #complexity #opendata dynamicsandneuralsystems.github.io/1000x1000/
16137
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Can mathematics explain how biological patterns are formed? Alan Turing thought so. Join me, @benswedlund.bsky.social, as we explore his reaction-diffusion theory and how it transformed our understanding of pattern formation and self-organisation.
15426
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Now published in PLoS Computational Biology! A cortical model combining geometric wave propagation with connectome-wired fast-conducting non-local projections (which strongly shape rapid stimulus-evoked responses but contribute little to slower spontaneous fluctuations) doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org
Modeling the influences of non-local connectomic projections on geometrically constrained cortical dynamics
Author summary Despite the complex wiring patterns found in the cortical connectome, many dynamical properties of macroscale cortical activity can be surprisingly well explained by treating the cortex...
0177
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We are offering a new round of 4 Physics Foundation PhD scholarships @sydney.edu.au Available in any area of #physics or #astronomy. Please send to any students (domestic and international) who may be interested. Deadline 18th October. ⚛️ ☄️ www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
sydney.edu.au
Physics Foundation Scholarship
A stipend scholarship to support PhD students who are undertaking research within School of Physics, Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney.
02119
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We're excited about opportunities to track non-stationary variation in real-world systems, in extending beyond the many current analyses that assume stationarity. Preprint again: arxiv.org/abs/2609.01651
arxiv.org
Parameter inference from a non-stationary unknown process using statistical feature-based slow feature analysis
Non-stationary phenomena are ubiquitous, with examples to be found in climatological measurements, brain activity, and the behavior of financial markets. Starting with a time series from a non-station...
031
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
On sleep data, we show that non-stationary tracking methods can recapitulate a rich continuous fluctuation that broadly captures the manual categorical variation in sleep stage labels [developed in collaboration with Dr Tamaki (RIKEN)]
130
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Many 'complex sounding' problems involving non-stationary chaotic attractors, are trivially solved by tracking low-order moments. And on the difficult ones, other state-of-the-art methods fail
120
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The key innovation lies in the combination of: (i) a comprehensive time-series feature set (to be sensitive to a wide range of sources of non-stationarity); but (ii) using SFA for dimension reduction, to extract only those features that vary slowly. [cf. PCA would not work]
110
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New preprint from Kieran: We introduce a new data-driven method, feature-based slow feature analysis (f-SFA), to track non-stationarity from time-series data (with no generative model). It beats benchmarks on chaotic systems and tracks sleep depth continuously from EEG. arxiv.org/abs/2609.01651
Schematic of f-SFA method
1134
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 08/09/2026
Mathematicians at OpenAI announced that a group of 10,000 autonomous AI agents under their direction proved that the Navier-Stokes equations can “blow up,” thus solving one of the six remaining Millennium Prize Problems. The result is not without controversy. www.quantamagazine.org/ai-has-solve...
quantamagazine.org
AI Has Solved One of Math’s $1 Million Millennium Prize Problems | Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians at OpenAI showed that the Navier-Stokes equations, which describe how fluids flow, can sometimes “blow up.” But the massive result is not without controversy.
35429
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
👏👏👏
011
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
👏👏👏
001
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
COMPLEX NETWORKS 2026 @complexnetconf.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
⏳ 1 week left to submit to COMPLEX NETWORKS 2026! 📅 Deadline: Sept 2, 2026. 📍 Granada, Spain | Dec 2–4. 📄 Full papers & extended abstracts welcome! 🔗 Submission platform: complexnetworks.org/submission/ #ComplexNetworks #NetworkScience #GraphLearning #ComplexSystems #CallForPapers
025
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
cssusne.bsky.social @cssusne.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
🚨 Deadline Extended! 🚨 Submit your abstract for the #Womplexity Meets Northeast satellite at #CCS2026. Open to women researchers at all career stages to share work in a supportive, hybrid setting on Oct 15! 🗓️ New Deadline: Sept 11 🔗 Details & Submit: css-usne.github.io/womplexity-m...
055
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Nice good luck! Interested to hear how it goes for you
010
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My best student experiences came from take-home problems I could think about for weeks. Hard to incentivize this outcome for today's students with AI to generate full solutions. I gave a talk on a model that aims to 'save' take-home assignments: 🎥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=slg0... #physics #highered
191
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Santa Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Applications for the 2027 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships are open! Katrin Schmelz just completed SFI’s Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowship, and she reflects on what the experience meant to her. Deadline: September 30, 2026 Requirements & application: santafe.edu/sfifellowship
02915
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
pyhctsa is out! A native Python port of the majority of the hctsa feature library (highly comparative time-series analysis). Thousands of interpretable time-series features available via a pip install. Built by Joshua Moore. Paper: doi.org/10.21105/jos... Code: github.com/DynamicsAndN...
feature vector snake around cartoon time series man logo for pyhctsa
0115
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Santa Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Applications are open for SFI's 2027 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships. SFI is looking for recent Ph.D. graduates with strong quantitative and computational skills who want to pursue independent, transdisciplinary research. Deadline: September 30, 2026 Apply: santafe.edu/sfifellowship
04645
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Applications now open for Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships at @sfiscience.bsky.social! apply-sfi.smapply.org/prog/complex...
apply-sfi.smapply.org
Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowship - Santa Fe Institute
23814
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
My short (7.5 min) talk on "Comprehensive quantitative phenotyping of physiological dynamics": www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPH1...
youtube.com
Comprehensive quantitative phenotyping of physiological dynamics
YouTube video by Faculty of Science, University of Sydney
030
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Function is not tied to specific brain structures or time scales. The brain is not just a set of parts that each “do their own job”. Instead, networks are multifunctional and active across different speeds simultaneously. doi.org/10.1073/pnas... #neuroscience
doi.org
Shared spatial and temporal principles govern connectome dynamics across timescales | PNAS
While the brain processes information at various speeds, little is known about how the functional connectome can concurrently support multiple spee...
27124
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Roxana Zeraati @roxana-zeraati.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Our paper "Neural timescales from a computational perspective" is finally out in @natneuro.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... We discuss how computational models and methods can distill empirical observations on neural timescales into quantitative, testable theories of brain computation.
nature.com
Neural timescales from a computational perspective - Nature Neuroscience
This review integrates computational approaches to provide a unified view on how data analysis methods, biophysical mechanistic models and machine learning approaches can help to uncover the origins a...
422986
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇
5435861430
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
William Gilpin @wgilpin.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
How do time series foundation models forecast unseen dynamical systems? In new experiments, we find that small transformers learn to approximate transfer operators in-context. (1/N) arxiv.org/abs/2602.18679
1288
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
A. Murat Eren (Meren) @merenbey.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
How every layer of science's "self-correcting machinery" failed when Iva Veseli and I simply wanted to reproduce the findings of a high-profile study on gut microbiome and autism: merenlab.org/2026/04/15/u...
merenlab.org
Unfalsifiable by Design: A Year of Trying and Failing to Reproduce a Human Microbiome and Autism Study
The myth of open data, reproducibility, responsibility, and accountability in science, and your role in it
1216380
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Our work on time reversibility has been published online today in @apsphysics.bsky.social Physical Review Research. See below for summary :) journals.aps.org/prresearch/a...
journals.aps.org
Identifying statistical indicators of temporal asymmetry using a data-driven approach
The dynamics of time-reversible systems are statistically indistinguishable when observed forward or backward in time. A rich literature of statistical methods to distinguish irreversible dynamics fro...
042
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Sylvain Baillet @sylvainbaillet.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
🚨new lab preprint; brain fingerprinting entirely revisited: Can we differentiate individuals from just seconds of neurophysiological recordings with machine learning, without resorting to black-box approaches? In this work, Maxence Lapatrie says 'yes'. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
0319
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Brendan Harris @brendanjohnharris.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
How does the visual cortex coordinate neural activity over spatial and temporal scales? We found broad θ waves organize local γ bursts and spiking, forming a flexible spatiotemporal code to multiplex feedforward/feedback signals. Now out in full @natcomms.nature.com: doi.org/10.1038/s414... 🧵
Schematic of theta waves and gamma packets recorded from the mouse visual cortex
23412
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
M. Kasiulis @quasiulysse.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
New preprint! So, say you're studying some critical transition. How do you catch its universality? Pair correlations? Boring! We threw line segments at the system, looked at intersections with clusters, and uncovered static and dynamical universal behavior of MIPS! arxiv.org/abs/2511.09444
media.tenor.com
a close up of a person 's hand holding a marker that says sharpie
Alt: a close up of a person's hand holding a marker that says sharpie
163
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Natalie Schaworonkow @nschawor.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
a while ago, I made this feed for neuroscience/cognitive science summer schools. after some tuning, it generally manages to find cool events. 🙂 bsky.app/profile/did:...
0137
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Steve Fleming @smfleming.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Scientific publishing: Rethinking how research is reviewed and published Review of how the loss of impact factor affected submissions at eLife - uneven drop across countries, but generally holding up remarkably well and shows a new model is possible elifesciences.org/articles/110...
elifesciences.org
Scientific Publishing: Rethinking how research is reviewed and published
Taking a radical new approach to the publication process resulted in eLife losing its impact factor, but authors, reviewers, editors and funders support the journal and its efforts to reform scientifi...
28434
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Synaptome architecture shapes regional dynamics in the mouse brain | doi.org/10.1371/jour... How do diverse synapses relate to the spatial patterning of whole-brain dynamics? Justine Hansen explores @plosbiology.org ⤵️
13616
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
😂🫡
010
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Russ Poldrack @russpoldrack.org · 16/02/2026
My new chapter of Better Code, Better Science on AI-assisted coding is now complete! It's been completely revised in an attempt to futureproof it. Comments welcome. bettercodebetterscience.github.io/book/ai-codi...
bettercodebetterscience.github.io
Coding with AI - Better Code, Better Science
04514
Ben Fulcher @bendfulcher.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
New toolbox for visualizing subcortex in python and R is very well made. Worth pivoting your research program to study subcortical structures just as an excuse to use it ;)
0162
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Annie G. Bryant @anniegbryant.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
The extended version of my thesis procrastination project/subcortex visualization package is out now in both Python and R, now that I’ve graduated 🤠 This figure shows the 9 atlases included (and counting)! Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Website: anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
Nine subcortical/cerebellar atlases included in the subcortex_visualization Python package (and subcortexVisualizationR package in R). The atlases are depicted in two-dimensional vector graphic format.
311846
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Shervin Safavi @neuroprinciplist.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Thrilled to see the first preprint of the lab out 🤩 Check it out if you need to compare dynamics in your data and RNN (or any other combinations of dynamical systems)!
0489
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Arman Behrad @armanbehrad.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Wanna compare dynamics across neural data, RNNs, or dynamical systems? We got a fast and furious method🏎️ The 1st preprint of my PhD 🥳 fast dynamical similarity analysis (fastDSA): 📜: arxiv.org/abs/2511.22828 💻: github.com/CMC-lab/fast... I’ll be @cosynemeeting.bsky.social - happy to chat 😉
111834
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Stuart Oldham @stuartoldham.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
My very normal, by the book presentation from this years OHBM is now available. So if you weren't at OHBM, were there but happened to miss it, or if you did see it and just want to relive it all over again, here is your chance :) I'm quite fond of this one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP86...
youtube.com
OHBM 2025 | Oral Session | Stuart Oldham | Only a matter of time: developmental heterochronicity c…
YouTube video by Organization for Human Brain Mapping
2176
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Alex Fornito @alexfornito.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Come and join our team! We are looking for a Research Officer to help with recruitment and assessment on a large-scale human brain imaging study: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com
Job Search
01112
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
214044
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Richard Gao @rdgao.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year: www.gao-unit.com/join-us/ If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply! I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
18151
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Exciting new work from @lindenmp.bsky.social and friends! Inferring intrinsic neural timescales using optimal control theory www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Inferring intrinsic neural timescales using optimal control theory - Nature Communications
Here, the authors develop novel dynamical methods to model brain regions’ intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) from data, and find that they couple whole-brain structural connectivity to dynamic switchi...
02811
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Adam J. Eisen @adamjeisen.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
How do brain areas control each other? 🧠🎛️ ✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️
18930