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Dean Buonomano

@deanbuono.bsky.social
1.1K followers 136 following 106 posts

Author of Your Brain is a Time Machine: the Neuroscience and Physics of time. A brain studying brains at UCLA

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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...
nytimes.com
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
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Carlos A. Sánchez León @carlosasleon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
PREPRINT 🚨 You know that feeling when you're jamming out to your favorite song (say, La Macarena 💃) and suddenly it skips, or a completely random remix drops out of nowhere? That everyday surprise tells us something profound about how our brain works! 1/24
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Defector @defector.com · 15/09/2026
You want your world-conquering sports hero to have better things to do with their time than lure people into financial disaster. defector.com/lebron-james...
defector.com
LeBron James Wants Your Paycheck To Become His Paycheck, By Way Of Polymarket | Defector
The new Polymarket ad spot opens with LeBron James stepping onto an elevator and pushing a button labeled “SPORTS.” This is not some AI-extruded, near-enough visual representation of a generic…
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I think this quote from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams sums up my reticence to fully embrace AI coding tools:
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Dan Feldman @danfeldman.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The Neuroscience Department at UC Berkeley is hiring an Asst Professor in Computational Neuro. All areas of computational/theoretical neuro are welcome. Deadline Oct 30. Join our neuroscience community! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05446 #AcademicJobs #Neuroscience #NeuroJobs
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
Assistant Professor - Computational Neuroscience - Department of Neuroscience
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
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Andre Cravo @andrecravo.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Off to Rio for my first #CogSci2026 meeting! If you're interested in timing, don't miss our symposium Thursday morning, "Perspectives on Temporal Cognition" with me, @kianobre.bsky.social , @deanbuono.bsky.social , and Vera Sinha. #cogsci
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
xkcd.com/3268/
xkcd.com
Offside
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Opinion | A Great University Undermines Its Mission Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | A Great University Undermines Its Mission
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
NSF grantmaking update Two weeks ago (6/8) New grants: 1,471/4,407 — 33.4% of avg. Obligations: 1.70/2.52 billion — 67.4% of avg. Now (6/22) New grants: 1549/4481 — 32.6% of avg. Obligations: 1.8/2.82 billion — 63.8% of avg. Data from: grant-witness.us/funding_curv...
Cumulative number of new awards shows NSF is well behind historic pace. NSF cumulative obligations show the agency was getting closer but is now behind.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 17/06/2026
Messi xkcd.com/3260/
Comic. Lionel Messi: World Cup Goals per game. [Graph with x axis as year and y axis as number of goals per game, ranging from 0 to 3. Data points: 2006 (~1/3), 2010 (0), 2014 (~1/2), 2018 (~1/4), 2022 (1), 2026 (3) with parenthetical (so far). Behind the line connecting the points is a grayed out curve showing the trajectory.] [caption] At this rate, by 2040 Messi will be scoring hundreds of goals per game.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Black boxes trying to understand black boxes.
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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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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
An interesting consequence of LLMs having no intrinsic working memory is that I'm telepathic. More accurately we can backward prime them by asking them to think of something, ask leading questions and then quess "what they thought of". The prompts below worked 10/10.
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ZeigerLab @zeigerlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Amazing work from my friend and post-doc mate Anand Suresh and the rest of the Portera-Cailliau lab: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
cell.com
Translatome profiling reveals opposing alterations in inhibitory and excitatory neurons of fragile X mice and identifies EPAC2 as a therapeutic target
Suresh et al. profile the translatomes of excitatory and parvalbumin neurons in fragile X syndrome mice and identify Rapgef4/Epac2 as the only gene that is synaptic, an FMRP target, and an NDD candida...
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
An interesting consequence of LLMs having no intrinsic working memory is that I'm telepathic. More accurately we can backward prime them by asking them to think of something, ask leading questions and then quess "what they thought of". The prompts below worked 10/10.
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Sam Wang @samwang.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The primary is coming fast - ballots have been mailed out, and the final day is June 2. That is the deciding election, and my team is working hard. Help us out with a donation to pay for signs, event space, clipboards, mailers...all the stuff! secure.actblue.com/donate/sam4n...
secure.actblue.com
Donate to Sam Wang
Show your support with a contribution.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
For those interested in memory, engrams, and how scientific ideas and career trajectories evolve over time, I recommend this personal perspective by @sjo09.bsky.social (even though I'm pretty sure I missed many of the Taylor Swift references). www.jneurosci.org/content/46/1...
jneurosci.org
Engrams and Memory: My Scientific “Eras Tour”
Memories are widely thought to be encoded by sparse populations of neurons, often referred to as engrams. My entry into this field began with a 2001 report in this journal showing that overexpression ...
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Dr Kathleen Millen @neurodevkathy.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Please read this. Our gov't is killing science. Please share widely.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Just saying hi to: @braininspired.bsky.social and @worldwideneuro.bsky.social my two nearest neighbors in the 2D universe below. Say hi to your neighbors (search your self and scroll to zoom in).
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Support Sam Wang for Congress. We need a doctor in the House. Well, better ones. www.samfornj.org
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
The date of when cherry blossoms in Kyoto bloom has been tracked for 1200 years. Certainly one of the most beautiful data points confirming global warming. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/c...
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Nate DiMeo @natedimeo.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Los Angeles! I'm doing a cool event at UCLA this Thursday. Telling a few stories, signing my new paperback, and having an on-stage conversation about memory with neuroscientist @deanbuono.bsky.social and the philosopher, Pamela Hieronymi. www.eventbrite.com/e/the-poetic...
eventbrite.com
The Poetics, Philosophy, and Neuroscience of Memory
Nate DiMeo of "The Memory Palace" performs stories and converses about memory with UCLA Faculty Pamela Hieronymi and Dean Buonomano
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UCLA Neuroscience Theme @uclaneurotheme.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
A new paper from @ladenardo.bsky.social helps explain how males and females in the way that reward circuits are re-wired after early life stress. www.jneurosci.org/content/46/2...
jneurosci.org
Sex and Stress Govern the Function and Innervation of a Basolateral Amygdala to Nucleus Accumbens Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone/GABA-Expressing Projection
Motivated behaviors are executed by refined brain circuits. Early-life adversity (ELA) is a risk for human affective disorders involving dysregulated reward behaviors. In mice, ELA causes anhedonia-li...
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
While we're on the subject:
Single-panel cartoon by Paul Noth. Two armies carrying swords and spears are lined up facing each other. Both armies are waving big flags depicting the rabbit-duck illusion, an ambiguous figure that is famous in philosophy for highlighting distinctions between perception and interpretation. The leader of the first army is rallying his troops with the words "There can be no peace until they renounce their Rabbit God and accept our Duck God".
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Here is a graph with dollar amounts of funding committed. The curves look very similar to those based on the number of awards.
A line graph of total NSF funding to date in fiscal year 2026 compared to curves for fiscal year 2021-2015. The fiscal year 2026 curve is much lower with $0.22B funding to date compared with ~$1.5B in fiscal years 2021-2024 and close to $1B in fiscal year 2025.
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Science Magazine @science.org · 03/03/2026
Many of the scientists Jeffrey Epstein courted were already well-established and well-funded. So why didn’t they all just say no? Science talked with three who did just that. Here’s how Epstein approached them, and why they refused to have anything to do with him. ⬇️ scim.ag/40qbXnv
scim.ag
Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein
The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”
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GRC Frontal Cortex @grc-frontal-cortex.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Calling all PFC and PFC-adjacent neuroscientists--registration for the GRC Frontal Cortex - "Frontal Cortex in Function, Dysfunction, & Therapies" is open! Check out the amazing lineup of speakers for this year's program, feat. keynotes by Geoff Schoenbaum & Helen Mayberg www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Goddness, there's lots to say about this. Good to see the case pro laid out in detail. I wonder if Nature will be publishing the counter-argument too? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Does AI already have human-level intelligence? The evidence is clear
The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
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Sam Wang @samwang.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Why I’m running for Congress: www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026...
dailyprincetonian.com
Why I'm running for Congress
Congress today is deeply polarized, ignores the priorities of voters, and fails to check the other two branches of government. But neither party, Democrats nor Republicans, is meeting our moment of ne...
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
It was stimulating to chat about time, clocks, pendulums, death, physics, AI, the brain, movies, Kung fu and squirrels with @neildegrassetyson.com, @chucknicecomic.bsky.social, and @garyoreilly.bsky.social startalkmedia.com/show/your-br...
startalkmedia.com
Your Brain is a Time Machine with Dean Buonomano - StarTalk Special Edition
Is time fundamental or a human construct? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly explore our brain as a time machine w/ Dean Buonomano.
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Brad Postle @bradpostle.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
It won't actually exist for another month or so, but because it now 'exists' on amazon, I'll humbly observe that, after working through this book, your student/trainee would be able to read and understand all but two or three papers in this week's J. Neurosci. Check it out:
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Rankings are always problematic, but it is telling that in this productivity ranking, of the top 20 Universities 2 are American, and 16 Chinese. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...
nytimes.com
Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
It was stimulating to chat about time, clocks, pendulums, death, physics, AI, the brain, movies, Kung fu and squirrels with @neildegrassetyson.com, @chucknicecomic.bsky.social, and @garyoreilly.bsky.social startalkmedia.com/show/your-br...
startalkmedia.com
Your Brain is a Time Machine with Dean Buonomano - StarTalk Special Edition
Is time fundamental or a human construct? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly explore our brain as a time machine w/ Dean Buonomano.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 27/12/2025
South Park called it, and it’s hilarious. One of the creators purchased the Trump Kennedy Center URL address before the name was even changed because they know Trump’s narcissism is in the driver’s seat.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
ChatGPT is hilariously bad at this letter swap task. Claude got it wrong, and Gemini 3.0 does it perfectly: Reproduce this very sentence, exchanging all uses of the letter "h" for the letter "t", and all uses of "t" for the letter "h".
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Daeyeol Lee @ungteoriz.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins is inviting applications for 3 open-rank tenured/tenure-track positions in (1) Behavioral Neuroscience, (2) Cognitive Neuroscience, and (3) Cognitive Psychology. pbs.jhu.edu/about/jobs/
pbs.jhu.edu
Jobs | Psychological & Brain Sciences
Tenured/Tenure-track position in Cognitive Psychology Open Date Dec 01, 2025 Salary Range or Pay Grade The expected academic base salary range for this position is $110,000- $144,500 (Assistant Profes...
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
ChatGPT is hilariously bad at this letter swap task. Claude got it wrong, and Gemini 3.0 does it perfectly: Reproduce this very sentence, exchanging all uses of the letter "h" for the letter "t", and all uses of "t" for the letter "h".
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Katherine Stiles @katherinestiles.org · 15/11/2025
#AcademicSky Judge bars Trump administration from cutting funding to University of California
theguardian.com
Judge bars Trump administration from cutting funding to University of California
White House had demanded $1.2bn from UC to restore funding after saying it allows antisemitism on campus
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Can synapses learn to tell time? If your at #SfN25 on Sun morning checkout Jamie McDowell’s poster (PSTR059.01).
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Spencer LaVere Smith @spencerlaveresmith.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Don't skip this. It's masterfully done, and many of the key points are GENERAL and apply to many other fields. "there can sometimes just be lots of smoke" I discuss the general case here: labrigger.com/blog/2025/11...
labrigger.com
Entire fields on poor foundations – Labrigger
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PallasLab @pallaslab.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
linkedin.com
Tufts University School of Medicine hiring Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in Boston, MA | LinkedIn
Posted 12:34:35 AM. The Department of Neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine invites applications for a…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
WOW. He looks like he was listening in on the bats echolocating emissions and knew exactly when the bat would arrive.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Are working memory and timing two sides of the same coin? Does the duration of WM adapt to the temporal structure of the task? This collaborative project led by Conor Dorian shows that mice learn the WM delay, which in turn shapes the neural signatures of WM. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Hippocampal sequences represent working memory and implicit timing
Working memory (WM) and timing are considered distinct cognitive functions, yet the neural signatures underlying both can be similar. To address the h…
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 22/10/2025
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold. [In some cases, to zero.] Story by @alexwitze.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold
Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Are working memory and timing two sides of the same coin? Does the duration of WM adapt to the temporal structure of the task? This collaborative project led by Conor Dorian shows that mice learn the WM delay, which in turn shapes the neural signatures of WM. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Hippocampal sequences represent working memory and implicit timing
Working memory (WM) and timing are considered distinct cognitive functions, yet the neural signatures underlying both can be similar. To address the h…
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Alicia Izquierdo @aliciaizquierdo.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
USC rejects compact www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
USC rejects Trump education compact aimed at shifting the university to the right
USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement that he had sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education turning down the Trump offer.
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Dean Buonomano @deanbuono.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/b...
nytimes.com
John Searle, Philosopher Who Wrestled With A.I., Dies at 93
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Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
For all the knucklehead reviewers out there. Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8... #neuroscience
jocnf.pubpub.org
Principles for proper peer review
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Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Letter Regarding Compact
MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
thanks for speaking out @markhisted.org
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