Reposted by Ben de BivortMichael Hendricks 🇨🇦 @michaelhendricks.bsky.social · 7hWe're nowhere near the bottom of how bad the US is going to get. 121
Reposted by Ben de BivortDavid Schoppik @schoppik.com · 07/10/2026If you've ever wondered how the brain *really* keeps things in mind, come let Aaron, Nick & their colleagues in the Nagel lab tell you how the fly does it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comA split attractor design for rapidly writing a navigational goal - NatureThe recurrent h∆K–PFG neural circuit generates persistent heading memories through slow excitation, fast inhibition and a disinhibitory gate, where disinhibition controls the functional... 58635
Reposted by Ben de BivortSarah Hird, PhD @sarahhird.bsky.social · 07/10/2026That time I put almost all the chipmunk species in the western USA on one map. Did you know there’s 1 species of chipmunk in Asia, 1 in eastern USA & >20 in western USA? (I’m not the crazy one here. The chipmunks are the crazy ones.) 1221465
Reposted by Ben de BivortPatrick De Oliveira @plso.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Academic freedom in the U.S. has arguably reached a new nadir—maybe worse than the 50s. This is not only due to the scale and range of the assault on higher ed, which is targeting everything (individuals' views on Gaza, DEI initiatives, the curriculum, collaborative research with other countries)... 46441
Reposted by Ben de BivortThe Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 05/10/2026“The backlash against A.I. is a backlash against unchecked inequality” 281373448
Reposted by Ben de BivortElmo @tim-elmo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026...and you can go no contact with your boomer parents without danger of being an un-dialectical, (petty) bourgeois individualist! Came up in my office hours and I thought I'd share here. 6/6 Receipts: www.marxists.org/archive/marx... www.marxists.org/deutsch/arch... www.marxists.org/deutsch/arch... 111
Reposted by Ben de BivortKirsten Weld @kirstenweld.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Today, on appeal, the Trump administration will try once more to defend its blatantly illegal & unconstitutional campaign of retribution against Harvard. @aaup.org, AAUP-Harvard, and UAW first sued to stop it — and won in federal court. Here’s hoping the First Circuit upholds that decision. 1198
Reposted by Ben de BivortPLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 30/09/2026#Glia are essential for proper nervous system #development and function, but a high-resolution view of glial development is lacking. This Resource analyses longitudinal single-cell RNA sequencing of the #Drosophila visual system as glial diversity arises. 🧪 #NeuroSky plos.io/4dcP8KJ 032
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I hope people can look at the quality of your paleo work and do the simplest of extrapolations. 030
Reposted by Ben de BivortJoe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026As scientists we don’t often consider or lean on how our humanity gives us skin in the game, and what value that provides to the public. We can face professional consequences for cheating or getting it wrong; it’s that skin in the game that breeds trust. LLM Prof Theseus doesn’t have that. 1145
Reposted by Ben de BivortQuanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 29/09/2026The late mathematician Ronald Graham was also a skilled juggler. Fifty-five years ago, he posed a question that may have stemmed from the hobby. This year, it was finally solved. www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicia… 1218
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 29/09/2026lucky to have had some minor correspondence with him! 011
Reposted by Ben de BivortTessa Montague @tessamontague.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I'm excited to share our new preprint: Generation of a transgenic cephalopod tinyurl.com/pc86jxz8 Cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus & squid) are crazy critters that dynamically camouflage to their surroundings by changing the color, pattern, & texture of their skin, which they control w their brain. 13336118
Reposted by Ben de BivortAmmon Perkes @alltheperkes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026🐟🚨 Fish paper alert! 🚨🐟 You might already know that individuals are unique, even when they’re genetically identical clones raised in identical environments. But what about groups? Groups of clones are distinct from birth, but (unlike individuals) those differences do not predict later behavior!authors.elsevier.comGroup-level phenotypes are idiosyncratic yet unpredictable over development in a clonal fishBehavioral differences among groups can have profound impacts on individual fitness,1 yet how group-level phenotypes arise and change during developme… 32720
Reposted by Ben de BivortVenki Murthy @neurovenki.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Signal boost to our tenure track faculty search in "AI in Life Sciences". Broadly construed, so PLEASE apply!!mcb.harvard.eduTenure-Track Professor in Life Science and AI - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular BiologyThe Life Sciences Departments in Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences seek to recruit a tenure-track professor whose research is at the interface of AI and life sciences, […] 1108
Reposted by Ben de BivortFélicie Dhellemmes @felicie-dhellemmes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Proud to present our latest work "Tracking human foragers and their prey reveals adaptive predator-prey dynamics", now hosted on BioRxiv! 🧵 doi.org/10.64898/202... @ralfkurvers.bsky.social @scioi.bsky.social @arc-mpib.bsky.social @alexschakowski.bsky.social @dominikdeffner.bsky.social 26527
Reposted by Ben de BivortKate Laskowski @katelaskowski.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Okay this is just wildly cool - they tracked human ice-fishers *and* the fish they're hunting. Even though humans can't see the fish *at all* the humans are still surprising good at zero-ing on their prey. Probably the most complete picture of predator AND prey movement together. 🤯🎣 0259
Reposted by Ben de BivortPookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Reminder that in Canada upon becoming an engineer you get an iron ring made of a collapsed bridge, purposely designed to be uncomfortable, to remind you that your ethics demand you give a fuck even about the boring grudgework of such as double-checking your math. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ringen.wikipedia.orgIron Ring - Wikipedia 2073722302
Reposted by Ben de BivortBrittney Elizabeth Stoneburg @brittandbone.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I've worked for a natural history museum for 11 years at this point (man, yikes) and while it is sad, it isn't surprising to see two major institutions facing closure this year. 36833
Reposted by Ben de BivortPortugues Lab @portugueslab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University is hiring! Come and do cutting edge research on the neural basis of natural behaviors at NBB (nbb.cornell.edu). No animal too small, no behavior too strange! Apply here: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32592 14835
Reposted by Ben de BivortBart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves. 10381692845
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Would be curious to hear what you found to be "best practices" from the candidate perspective. We are expecting to communicate norms around asking questions of other candidates. And likely dinners will only have one candidate each. 110
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Yes, there was a lot conversation about this, with many (older) dept leaders skeptical, but younger folks reporting good experiences when it was done right. We were also thinking about how to have the widest audience present for as many of the research talks as possible. 110
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 23/09/2026We are hoping that word of this search goes far and that we draw a wide and diverse pool of applicants. Please take a look and share if you're inclined. 5 departments involved! • Organismic & Evol Bio • Mol & Cell Bio • Stem Cells & Regen Bio • Earth & Planetary Sci • Human Evolutionary Bio 166
Reposted by Ben de BivortAnn Clemens @annmclemens.bsky.social · 23/09/2026if you're in Edinburgh and looking for research experience 👩🔬 🧑🔬 we're offering opportunities to join our work on **the sticky sense** in humans and rodents with potential for field research 🫎 🔭 get in touch 💻 📫 📞 @sidb-edinburgh.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @edinunineuro.bsky.social 0125
Reposted by Ben de BivortBen de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Hello friends, the Harvard Life Science departments have banded together to hire a new colleague working at the intersection of Life Sciences and AI. Could be primarily an experimentalist, or could be primarily a compute/theorist. academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/16773academicpositions.harvard.eduTenure-Track Professor in Life Science and AIThe Life Sciences Departments in Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences seek to recruit a tenure-track professor whose research is at the interface of AI and life sciences, from methodological developme... 34254
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 23/09/2026A 1000 applications is unusual, but known to happen, for a wide biology search. We are expecting a large number. 010
Reposted by Ben de BivortBeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026bit weird given the play is written in early modern English but I'd pay to hear Ēalā Rōmēo, Rōmēo, for hwȳ eart þū Rōmēo? Wiðsace þīnum fæder and forsac þīnne naman; oþþe, gif þū nelt, swere mē þæt þū mīn lēofa sīe, and ne bēo iċ nā lenġ Capulēting. 26611128
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 22/09/2026cc @harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social @harvardoeb.bsky.social 010
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Hello friends, the Harvard Life Science departments have banded together to hire a new colleague working at the intersection of Life Sciences and AI. Could be primarily an experimentalist, or could be primarily a compute/theorist. academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/16773academicpositions.harvard.eduTenure-Track Professor in Life Science and AIThe Life Sciences Departments in Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences seek to recruit a tenure-track professor whose research is at the interface of AI and life sciences, from methodological developme... 34254
Reposted by Ben de BivortAnn Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Preprint 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! 28125
Reposted by Ben de BivortBob Kopp @bobkopp.net · 22/09/2026NEW PAPER: In a new paper, jointly published in @agu.org Earth's Future & @ametsoc.org BAMS, and co-led by Melissa Kenney, @costasamaras.com and me, 175 authors outline priorities to guide the future of scientific assessments of climate change in the United States. 🧵doi.orgResearch Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United StatesA network of climate assessments plays a critical role in synthesizing the state of science to support evidence-based decision-making To support future U.S. and sub-national climate assessments, ... 114884
Reposted by Ben de BivortKirsten Sheehy @ksheehy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026📣 New paper! 📣 ❓Do clonal fish and their sexually reproducing heterospecifics differ in parasite load? 🤒 We found that clonal Amazon mollies were more likely to be infected than Sailfin mollies, but parasite loads were largely the same. 🤔 Could behavior have something to do with this pattern? 1/3doi.orgDifferences in Parasite Infection Status and Behavior Between a Clonal Fish and Her Sexually Reproducing HeterospecificsWe found that Amazons and Sailfins differed in their qualitative, but not quantitative, resistance to parasites. Amazons had worse qualitative resistance (i.e., were more likely to be infected with a... 2167
Reposted by Ben de BivortChris Schnaitmann @cschnaitmann.eurosky.social · 20/09/2026Exciting PhD and Postdoc positions at Straw Lab, UniFreiburg to study mushroom body function and how honey bees navigate: combine insect VR, reinforcement learning, and two-photon imaging! #Neuroscience #PhD #Postdoc 041
Reposted by Ben de BivortDavi Bock @dddavi.bsky.social · 17/09/2026This stuff may be fun, but sorry to say, it is thin soup, scientifically. See: www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur... for a readable description of the issue.thetransmitter.org‘Digital sphinx’ raises questions about connectome modelsThe sphinx, with a worm’s brain and a fly’s body, illustrates the potential pitfalls of using deep-learning techniques to model biological processes. 0134
Reposted by Ben de BivortSven Dorkenwald @sdorkenw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Applications are now open for the San Juan Winter School 2027 on Connectomics and Brain Simulation! Join us to learn how to analyze and simulate connectomes. sjcabs.com 01921
Reposted by Ben de BivortElisabetta Versace @elisabettaversace.bsky.social · 17/09/2026"Enhancing dance learning by optimising instructional perspective: A preregistered study on the effect of dancers’ viewing perspective, cognitive load and expertise" journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... : our new study on dance larning and cognitive load, supported by www.wemovetogether.uk 1/n 1126
Reposted by Ben de BivortAlex Schier @schierlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The first Danionella paper from the lab. Danionella cerebrum is transparent, so you can see all of the internal organs. But what sensory information are the organs sending to the brain? In our new preprint, Emily Bayer wanted to find out. 1/4 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 18135
Reposted by Ben de BivortSweta Agrawal @hokuba.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The Agrawal lab has published its first paper! "Sticking the landing: leg mechanosensory feedback coordinates the transition from flight to landing" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... This project was led by a technician in the lab, Tse-Wei (Wayne) Kuo. Brief 🧵on what we foundagrawal-lab-workspace.slack.comSlack 88228
Reposted by Ben de BivortACLU @aclu.org · 16/09/2026BREAKING: We're suing Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the National Institutes of Health Director for their ideologically-driven termination and censorship of biomedical research grants. Targeting views the government disagrees with for not aligning with a political agenda is unconstitutional. 151408367
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 16/09/2026my camera doesn't have a video preview (only the view finder)... Surely there has always been some way to do this though... I resort to having to find something big I can see in the view finder, like a tree or mountain and try to get that in focus. But it's not great. 010
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 16/09/2026SLR people — how do you set the focus of a lens to optical infinity at night for astro shots? I wish the focus rings would stop at inf. 101
Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 16/09/2026This strikes me as nonsense. Given their RL approach and the flexibility with which their model can change weights, I am confident any of the connectomes would work. 130
Reposted by Ben de BivortCorinna Gebehart @corinnagebehart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026This article is so frustrating to read. First, this is not just “google’s brain” - there has been so much effort made by scientists around the world to get these connectomes to where they are today, and none of that is recognized here, instead it’s all turned into “big tech company 👍🏻”. And second - 14017
Reposted by Ben de Bivortflymuscles @flymuscles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I am very happy to share our new preprint on #Drosophila muscles. @tiaramuld.bsky.social discovered flies have a tremendous ability to remodel their muscles after massive damage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgEvidence of complete myofibril remodeling after severe damage in adult Drosophila.Muscle function depends on the ability of myofibrils to withstand and repair mechanical damage, yet how adult muscles remodel damaged myofibrils remains poorly understood. Here, we establish a Drosoph... 3116