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Brian Scott

@brianinitiative.bsky.social
941 followers 416 following 195 posts

Neuroscientist turned neurocrat. Enthusiasm is tempered.

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Brian Scott @brianinitiative.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Capitol Hill porch fest is next weekend and yes, of course there is a post-punk band called Overton Widow. www.capitolhillporchfest.com
capitolhillporchfest.com
Capitol Hill Porch Fest — October 10, 2026
Neighborhood bands on neighborhood porches. Saturday October 10, 2–6 PM. Free, rain or shine.
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Request for Information on Feasibility of Annual Reporting of Live Vertebrate Animal Numbers. 🧪 grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-27-001: Request for Information on Feasibility of Annual Reporting of Live Vertebrate Animal Numbers
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information on Feasibility of Annual Reporting of Live Vertebrate Animal Numbers NOT-OD-27-001. OD
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John Timmer @jtimmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ok, this "there are two separate brains" thing appears to be making the rounds, and I want to be absolutely clear: this is a press office overhyping some perfectly reasonable science that won't come as a surprise to most developmental biologists.
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Link: www.nature.com/naturecareer...
nature.com
Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Computational or Theoretical Neuroscience - Durham, North Carolina job with Duke University Neurobiology Dept | 12864649
Seeking a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Computational/Theoretical Neuroscience to advance brain science through innovation and collaboration.
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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Do you like maps?? I’m in a briefing where the USGS shared these amazing 3D Elevation images that are just so cool. Find your state/district, and behold this example of DC! www.usgs.gov/3d-elevation...
A 3D Elevation Program image from the USGS of the District of Columbia, depicting (in their words) “the ‘bare earth’ surface, stripping away vegetation and structures, revealing ground surface.
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 10/09/2026
today we're launching Tone Twist, a new listening game by Sorour Zekrati 🧠🧪👂🏻🔬 in English a tone is "high" or "low" but this is not true of all languages. eg, in Farsi it's "thin" or "thick" Tone Twist asks whether seeing visual metaphors like those interferes with auditory perception. try it here:
themusiclab.org
Tone Twist
Keep your eyes on the motion and your ears on the pitch. Can you track both at once?
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 09/09/2026
arstechnica.com
What to know about COVID and flu shots as RFK Jr.'s chaos drags on
Here are the evidence-based recommendations and this year's vaccine rollout.
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Brian Wiltgen @wiltgenlab.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Come work with the fantastic faculty at UC Davis! Great place to live and do science 🧪 recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07812
recruit.ucdavis.edu
Assistant Professor of Psychology - Biological Bases of Behavior
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
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Vinny Costa @vincentcostaphd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Frontopolar cortex is so hot right now. But as the meta-analysis Jeremy whipped up illustrates there is a lot more work to be done contrasting the effects of medial vs lateral FPC stimulation to the pole in humans. Would love to see more human cog neuro studies using object-in-scene task.
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Ashley Kopec @ashleykopec.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Hey folks! If you haven’t seen this, take a look and consider submitting comments. RFIs help shape the resulting policies, so if you are in favor or opposed, it is valuable to speak up. Would also ask your PO what they think, as they would be most impacted by this… grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-26-088: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review NOT-OD-26-088. NIH
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I recommend to you this podcast series about Dolly Parton by Jad Abumrad (creator of Radio Lab). You may ask: how did a MacArthur Award winning pub radio guy meet Dolly? Because she personally funded his father's vaccine research, that's how. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dol...
wnycstudios.org
Dolly Parton's America : Episodes | WNYC Studios | Podcasts
The story of a legend at the crossroads of America’s culture wars.
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Library of Congress @librarycongress.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton, a music legend and titan of children's literacy. Her Imagination Library program has earned multiple Library Literacy Awards and, in 2018, she visited us to donate its 100 millionth book to our collection and host a story time. 🦋❤️
Dolly Parton reads to children in the Library’s Great Hall in 2018. Photo by Shawn Miller.
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Metro Rail Info @metrorailinfo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Commemorative Freedom 250 Grand Prix cards were made available at select stations this morning. Team Metro quickly identified a defect in the card technology which makes them unusable.
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Andrew Pruszynski @andpru.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
We looking for a postdoc with NHP electrophysiology experience to do simultaneous Neuropixel recordings across the corticothalamic motor circuit to better understand the neural control of reaching and grasping. We start looking at applications on August 31st. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Pruszynski Postdoc 2026
Postdoctoral Researcher, Control Policies in the Primate Motor Circuit Pruszynski Lab @ Sensorimotor Superlab​ The Pruszynski Laboratory at Western University is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to j...
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Just accepted the 2nd study section invitation for this autumn/winter. If you can serve on study section, please accept when asked. The SROs and the POs are working so hard to get good science funded.
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I just completed my standing study section service in June (2022-2026) and want to emphasize Bryan's point: maintaining the integrity of the peer review process is an important act of service for our colleagues, especially right now. If you are asked and can swing it, please consider serving.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Echolocation (seeing with sound) has evolved at least four times: Bats Marine mammals (dolphins, whales) Shrews And THIS bird that lives in caves: the South American oilbird (Steatornis caripensis), called locally 'guácharo' which means "one who shrieks". Let's talk about echolocating cave birds.
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Brian Scott @brianinitiative.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
if you see this, quote the energy you bring to Bluesky
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 28/07/2026
Basic rules of society that we need to re-establish post Covid: - You actually have to stop for red lights and stop signs. - If you want to watch videos or listen to music in a shared public space, you need to use headphones. - Your pet does not need to go everywhere with you. - Don’t litter.
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Brain-computer interfaces implanted long term could help researchers unravel the mysteries of speech. #neuroskyence By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social, @rebeccasky.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/brain-comput...
thetransmitter.org
How BCIs reveal the speaking brain
Long-term implants provide an opportunity to study how speech arises in everyday life.
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Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Some professional news: In mid-May, I was appointed to be the Associate Director of Scientific Strategy & Innovation at @nbri-ucdavis.bsky.social. One of my tasks in this role is to facilitate other people's science. If you are interested in working with our 🐒s or other resources, please reach out!
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 09/07/2026
- Rumble of freight trains at dusk - Tuesday delivery at scrap metal yard - Broom sweeping floor of bar in Sheboygan at closing time
buff.ly
Tom Waits White Noise Sound Options
Rumble of freight trains at dusk Tuesday delivery at scrap metal yard Broom sweeping floor of bar in Sheboygan at closing time
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 09/07/2026
one thing junior researchers should do is review grants, both informally and by accepting reviewer requests every time they come in this is because observing how other scientists confidentially pitch new work to funders is a crash course in developing scientific maturity. it teaches you so much
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Explore @thetransmitter.bsky.social 's newest tool, Neuro Funding Finder. Discover grants, fellowships and funding opportunities for neuroscience research at all career stages, powered by @scientifyresearch.org. #neuroskyence thetransmitter.org/neuroscience...
thetransmitter.org
Neuroscience Grants Funding Finder
Discover grants, fellowships and funding opportunities for neuroscience research at all career stages.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Check out the F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award, to support promising graduate students as they complete their doctoral research training and transition into mentored postdoctoral career development opportunities (please share) 1/n files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
files.simpler.grants.gov
PA-27-037: Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award (Parent F99/K00 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
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Jessica Sidman @jessicasidman.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Forget the Reflecting Pool. US Park Police say organized crime is operating on the National Mall, and no one's talking about it. My deep-dive into the pirate food trucks wreaking havoc around America's Front Lawn. washingtonian.com/2026/06/29/d...
washingtonian.com
Inside the Food Truck Mafia Wreaking Havoc Around the National Mall
Turf wars. Food and fire hazards. $15 ice-cream cones. How an organized network of unlicensed food trucks took over America's Front Lawn.
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GRC Frontal Cortex @grc-frontal-cortex.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Meet your #GRC-FrontalCortex chairs! Only 2 weeks left to apply! For more info: www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
"I have enough money to do research," says Shu, laughing. Meanwhile HHS shut off the NIH grant that funded related work on gene therapy for deafness at Harvard Medical School, because “woke” or something like that Shu trained in the very same lab that HHS defunded
Getting results in Shanghai 

In China, it's a different story.

"I have enough money to do research," says Shu, laughing.

China is pouring huge resources into developing all sorts of biological research, including gene therapy, aiming to curb its reliance on the West and become an even bigger world superpower. This spring, the country pledged billions in additional science funding. Shu, who trained at Harvard Medical School and is working on solving the same problems as David Corey, has plenty of staff in his lab, all the supplies he needs and can just get more done. "My lab is growing bigger and bigger," he says. And it's far bigger than his lab when he was in Boston, training under Corey and his mentees.

For decades, the U.S. has brought the smartest people in the world — like Yilai Shu — to its shores. Many have stayed. Shu wanted to, but family and a scientific opportunity, with lots of funding, drew him back home. That decision was rewarded when his team had a successful trial on a single injection that can restore hearing.
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
“With bipartisan legislation introduced to extend the X-Labs model to NIH, the scientific community should be asking whether the grass is truly greener on the institutional side, and what safeguards would prevent it from browning over time.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
In (qualified) defense of the research project grant
In a debate that has been building for years, a growing coalition of reformers has concluded that the research project grant (RPG) approach used by many science funders in the United States and based ...
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Brian Scott @brianinitiative.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
showyourstripes.info/c/northameri...
showyourstripes.info
Show Your Stripes
Visualising how the climate has changed for every country across the globe
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Vituperative Erb @vituperativeerb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I feel it’s sort of underrated the extent to which a Dem Congress and/or states could (1) absolutely destroy car dealerships as a business, and (2) this would cripple a lot of GOP state and local parties
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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. 👇
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Paul Taylor @afni-pt.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Job ad (1/2): Postdoc fellowship in the AFNI group (SSCC, NIMH, NIH, USA). FMRI/MRI methods dev, software design, statistics, analysis, data viz, quality control, machine learning and more! Please see: discuss.afni.nimh.nih.gov/t/job-ad-pos... I am happy to chat at OHBM+Brainhack. Please share!
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 10/06/2026
Another handful of sand in the gears: Researchers cannot serve on a panel *at all* if anyone from their institution has submitted to that panel. Recusing themselves for the proposal itself is no longer sufficient. This is needless, but will certainly slow things up even further.
science.org
NSF imposes stricter conflict-of-interest rules for grant-review panels
Researchers say changes could further burden the understaffed agency
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Christos Constantinidis @cconstan.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
I just completed my service in my NIH study section. Some thoughts - with the disclaimer that these are personal, subjective impressions and do not reflect the opinion of any official body. Other than the one attached to my head. (1/10)
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Apply to be a NIH PO. Open application portal, closes June 5th. www.usajobs.gov/job/870714000
usajobs.gov
Health Scientist Administrator (Program Officer)
Join one of the 24 Institutes and Centers within the NIH that awards extramural grants! Extramural grants account for approximately 80 percent of NIH's budget and are awarded to investigators at more ...
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Rudebeck Lab @rudebecklab.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
A few years back we started a collaboration to try to work out the mechanisms engaged by DBS for depression. Published today we found that it changes functional networks (expected) but also remodels specific white matter tracts (unexpected). Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Deep brain stimulation induces white matter remodeling and functional changes to brain-wide networks - Nature Neuroscience
In a nonhuman primate model, Fujimoto et al. show that deep brain stimulation promotes white matter remodeling and reorganizes brain-wide functional networks, detailing a mechanism through which this ...
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TK (Takashi DY) Kozai @bioniclab.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.
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Quebecoiswolf 🔜 Furpoc @quebecoiswolf.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Being an American during the 250th Aniversary of the United States feels a lot like if the terrorists in Die Hard demanded that the hostages continue having their Christmas party.
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Josh McDermott @joshhmcdermott.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Job opening at MIT for a research methodologist to facilitate open science practices and data management across all areas of neuroscience and cognitive science. PhD and some postdoctoral experience required. Please circulate to your networks. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...
careers.peopleclick.com
Neuroscience Research Methodologist
MIT - Neuroscience Research Methodologist - Cambridge MA 02139
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Andrew Beaujon @abeaujon.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Today's music pick is by Big Daddy Kane, who performs with the Duke Ellington School Orchestra tonight at the Bethesda Theater: www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fu...
youtube.com
Ain't No Half-Steppin'
YouTube video by Big Daddy Kane - Topic
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Dr Kathleen Millen @neurodevkathy.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
🚨🧪🧵URGENT INPUT NEEDED: NIH asks input for next strategic plan-including emphasis on non-animal models (NAMs) to replace animals. Per NIH insider, anti-animal responses now outnumber scientists 200-700x. Please please provide input. Deadline: May 26, 11:59 PM ET. grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
grants.nih.gov
NIH Seeks Input on Framework for Next NIH-Wide Strategic Plan | Grants & Funding
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Jeff Weiss @passionweiss.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Herbie Hancock showing Quincy Jones how to use the Fairlight CMI synthesizer - one of the first commercially available digital samplers Herbie was an early adopter, using the $80,000 machine to compose and arrange, "Rockit," his classic work of early hip-hop/electro/jazz fusion.
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Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández @mathchaos.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Elsevier: we will join the lawsuit against Meta for copyright infringement for AI training. Elsevier: Yes, this AI representation of an ear is an accurate representation for this mathematical model. Fig. 1. Schematic figure representing (...) the cochlea. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
AI generated image of the inner ear. It shows an ear and then a spiral channel that just continues in fractal way inside with nonesensical patterns and labels like Scala vestibuli in the ear lobe, sensorineural hearing loss located in one of the trippy spirals and "Sluid fluid flow"
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Please share widely. The new (simpler) MIRA R35 for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) NOFO is published. First due date is 10/2/2026. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
files.simpler.grants.gov
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Hearing Health Foundation @hearinghealthfn.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Our friends at @arpa-h.bsky.social are looking for multidisciplinary teams for HEARING (Hearing Enhancement through Artificially Intelligent Neurotechnology), a new program focused on developing the first brain-driven, minimally invasive hearing system. arpa-h.gov/news-and-eve... #keeplistening
arpa-h.gov
ARPA-H launches program to restore natural hearing through first brain-driven hearing system
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) supports transformative research ranging in scale from molecular to societal to deliver health breakthroughs in years, not decades.
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
SEPA R25, to support educational activities that increase understanding of biomedical research among pre-college (pre-kindergarten to grade12) individuals, and to encourage awareness of and continued interest in careers in (STEM) is published. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
files.simpler.grants.gov
PAR-27-077: NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) (R25 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 04/05/2026
"No, no, great job, you disintegrated the first-ever pedestrian-only planet. You drove a million miles just to ruin a perfectly lovely living space."
buff.ly
Way to Go, You Just Blew Up Our Death Star, the Largest Walkable Community in the Galaxy
“No, no, great job, you disintegrated the first-ever pedestrian-only planet. You drove a million miles just to ruin a perfectly lovely living space.” 5/4/26
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Jean-Rémi King @jeanremiking.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
✨🧠 Tribe v2, our latest model of human brain responses to sound, sight and language can now be (partly) explored on your phone📱: ▶️demo: aidemos.atmeta.com/tribev2/ 📄paper: ai.meta.com/research/pub... 💻code: github.com/facebookrese...
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