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Duncan Astle

@duncanastle.bsky.social
3K followers 590 following 70 posts

Professor of Neuroinformatics at the University of Cambridge. Interested in child development, psychology, education and brains. He/him 🏳️‍🌈

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Reposted by Duncan Astle
Rik Henson @rhens.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
So thankful to the University of Cambridge for enabling a new chapter in the long history of the APU/CBU (since MRC decided to close all its units…)
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University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 25/09/2026
Cambridge University announces a new Cambridge Mind and Brain Institute focused on understanding and improving brain health across our lifespan, from early childhood through to old age. Find out more 👉 bit.ly/4hpgZsl @mrccbu.bsky.social
A large brick building with two stories and a conservatory is surrounded by greenery. Text reads, "Cambridge University announces a new Cambridge Mind and Brain institute."
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Francesco Poli @francescopoli.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
New Preprint! We gave neural networks infant-like curiosity and let them free to explore. They grew brain-like architecture, followed human synaptic development, and even started to display compositional thought. So we think curiosity doesn't just come from a complex mind... it helps us build one 👇
biorxiv.org
Curiosity shapes brain-like architectures and functions
How does complex cognition emerge from simpler underlying processes? We show that two components are sufficient: infant-like curiosity and brain-like biophysical constraints jointly drive the emergenc...
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cheslieklein.bsky.social @cheslieklein.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
New #preprint by @francescopoli.bsky.social, @duncanastle.bsky.social and colleagues. Infant-like curiosity and brain-like organisation drive the complexity of human #cognition. Exciting finding for #AI! Thanks for including Charlotte and me in the project!
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Kayson Fakhar @kayson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
We're organizing a full-day Neuro-AI workshop at OHBM with a 90-minute-long hands-on session to cover all the nitty-gritty of it. If you're around, come join us. Besides the practical aspects, we have a stellar line-up of speakers to learn from and discuss with: kuffmode.github.io/OHBM2026Neur...
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Tim Kietzmann @timkietzmann.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Our NeuroAI study made it onto the cover of Nature Machine Intelligence ❤️. In it, we demonstrate that a developmentally-inspired visual diet can drastically improve the robustness of ANN-based vision systems. www.nature.com/articles/s42... open access, open code, open weights, open science.
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Kayson Fakhar @kayson.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
🚨 The actual paper is now out on @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... In this opinion piece, @duncanastle.bsky.social and I explore the human brain through the lens of optimality and Pareto-optimality theory.
sciencedirect.com
Embracing the suboptimal organization of the human brain
Human brain architecture is guiding brain-inspired artificial intelligence (AI) and has been treated as an optimal template, whose deviations could ma…
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Sara Mehrhof @saramehrhof.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Excited to share our new paper asking a simple question: Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand? We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide - Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropsychopharmacology - Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
University of Sussex overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
University of Sussex overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued record fine for allegations over professor’s trans rights views
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Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
This defines success of the SEND reforms not in specific accommodations, “but by whether neurodivergent children fundamentally feel that they belong and are wanted in school, and that they are supported to achieve, attain and prepare for adulthood.
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Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Alongside the government's #SENDwhitepaper the The Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group have published their recommendations for mainstream education. assets.publishing.se...
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Rik Henson @rhens.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
A bit old now, but great Registered Report by Maya Raza (not on here)
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Quite apart from the policy issues here, why did UKRI choose to release this important letter on a Sunday teatime???
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Ido Shalev @idoshal.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
New preprint 🎉 Psych constructs are complex. Symptoms overlap, people rarely fit neat categories, and patterns are non-linear. Most methods compromise this richness. Self-Organising Maps don't. We provide a step-by-step tutorial with annotated R code to make them accessible. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
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Kayson Fakhar @kayson.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
🚨new work with the dream team @danakarca.bsky.social @loopyluppi.bsky.social @fatemehhadaeghi.bsky.social @stuartoldham.bsky.social @duncanastle.bsky.social We use game theory and show the brain is not optimally wired for communication and there’s more to its story: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 11/12/2025
A new study shows brain development isn’t as linear as expected. After analyzing nearly 4,000 scans from ages 0–90, researchers found major structural shifts at ages 9, 32, 66, and 83 — dividing life into five distinct phases.
wapo.st
New study shows how your brain changes at four key ages: 9, 32, 66 and 83
New research finds that brain development is not linear. There are distinct phases with unique characteristics.
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Katie Insel @katieinsel.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Had a great time talking to Maggie Penman about new research on lifespan brain development led by @alexamousley.bsky.social in @duncanastle.bsky.social's group. This is a great summary of the study and a broader discussion of what brain research can teach us about important developmental phases.
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Prof. Alex Woolgar @alexwoolgar.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Utterly delighted to have been awarded 5 years of research funding from the ERC to study low-activity brain states that could underpin flexible rule use. Let’s see what "pinging" can tell us about how task sets are assembled and changed!
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Jon Seal @antsymbiosis.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Impact of demographic change in one image.
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 29/11/2025
Our brain wiring seems to undergo four major turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83, which could influence our capacity to learn and our risk of certain conditions
newscientist.com
Your brain undergoes four dramatic periods of change from age 0 to 90
Our brain wiring seems to undergo four major turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83, which could influence our capacity to learn and our risk of certain conditions
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Reposted by Duncan Astle
Dan Jagger @auditorynerves.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Open access link to new study in Nature Communications: Topological turning points across the human lifespan. 🧪🧠 #neuroskyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Topological turning points across the human lifespan - Nature Communications
Researchers discovered five phases of brain rewiring across the lifespan. The eras of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, early aging, and late aging each have characteristic rewiring of structural con...
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Dan Jagger @auditorynerves.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
The human brain goes through distinct phases in life, with turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 & 83, scientists have revealed. ~4,000 people up to the age of 90 had scans to reveal the connections between their brain cells. We "peak" in our early 30s ... 🧪🧠 #neuroskyence www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Four pivotal ages in your brain's development revealed in new scientific study
Brain scans on thousands of people reveal the dramatic shifts the brain goes through between birth and death.
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Springer Nature @springernature.com · 28/11/2025
One of our top-rated posts on @altmetric.com this past week was published open access in @natcomms.nature.com. You can read 'Topological turning points across the human lifespan' here: spklr.io/63329BX7zL #Neuroskyence #neuroimaging 🧠
spklr.io
Topological turning points across the human lifespan - Nature Communications
Researchers discovered five phases of brain rewiring across the lifespan. The eras of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, early aging, and late aging each have characteristic rewiring of structural connections across the whole brain.
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Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
New @mrccbu.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social study by Alexa Mousley, Richard Bethlehem, Fang-Cheng Yeh & @duncanastle.bsky.social shows four pivotal ages during brain development bbc.com/news/article... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
bbc.com
Four pivotal ages in your brain's development revealed in new scientific study
Brain scans on thousands of people reveal the dramatic shifts the brain goes through between birth and death.
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Olaf Hauk @olafhauk.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Now it's the @mrccbu.bsky.social's @duncanastle.bsky.social's turn to excite our #COGNESTIC audience. No problem when you are "Building networks to understand neurodevelopment".
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
*New Paper* How genes for IQ shape brain organisation. Amazing work led by Alicja Monaghan @mrccbu.bsky.social reveals 2 ways. First, they’re associated w/ the ‘costs’ of network formation. Second, they define ‘high value’ areas within the network. How she did it…🧵 doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
doi.org
Brain wiring economics, network organisation and population-level genomics
Abstract. What role do our genes play in shaping the structural organisation of the living human brain? Across a sample of 2,153 children (9–11 years old), we address this question, focusing on common...
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
*New Paper* How genes for IQ shape brain organisation. Amazing work led by Alicja Monaghan @mrccbu.bsky.social reveals 2 ways. First, they’re associated w/ the ‘costs’ of network formation. Second, they define ‘high value’ areas within the network. How she did it…🧵 doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
doi.org
Brain wiring economics, network organisation and population-level genomics
Abstract. What role do our genes play in shaping the structural organisation of the living human brain? Across a sample of 2,153 children (9–11 years old), we address this question, focusing on common...
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Damien Fair @drdamienfair.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Alert! ... for the child development world! @fluxsociety.bsky.social @fitngin.bsky.social ‪ The Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study has released its first data wave - it’s massive. Check here: docs.hbcdstudy.org and here: nbdc-datahub.org Here’s why it matters 🧠🍼
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Loic Menzies @loicmnzs.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Absolute honour to chair this panel of superstars @royalsociety.org yesterday, including @duncanastle.bsky.social & @tamsinford.bsky.social
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Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Alicja Monaghan, Danyal Akarca, and Duncan E. Astle: Brain wiring economics, network organisation and population-level genomics doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
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Amin Saberi @amnsbr.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
🧠⚖️📉 How does the cortical excitation-inhibition ratio mature during adolescence? We asked this in our new paper just out in #ScienceAdvances ✨ “Adolescent maturation of cortical excitation-inhibition ratio based on individualized biophysical network modeling” 📄 www.science.org/doi/full/10.... 🧵⤵️
science.org
Adolescent maturation of cortical excitation-inhibition ratio based on individualized biophysical network modeling
Individualized simulations reveal a decrease in excitation-inhibition ratio in association areas throughout adolescence.
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aejbowen.bsky.social @aejbowen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Opportunity to do a PhD in developmental science alongside some absolutely fantastic scientists!! Share widely!
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Giacomo Bignardi @bignardi.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Amazing funded phd opportunity with great supervisors👇👇👇👇👇
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Stuart Oldham @stuartoldham.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Do you like brain network hubs?🧠🌐✳️Do you like genes?🧬What about neurodevelopment?👶What if I told you the latest work by @garedaba.bsky.social and myself combined all of these?🤯🤯🤯 See Gareth's thread for a primer of our findings, then read the paper for the details! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Transcriptomic divergence of network hubs in the prenatal human brain
Connections in the human brain are not uniformly distributed; instead, a dense network of long-range projections converge on highly connected hub regions located in transmodal, paralimbic, and associa...
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Francesco Poli @francescopoli.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
This is a really cool project! Please repost to anyone interested at the intersection between developmental cognitive neuroscience and education!
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Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
PhD studentship available in developmental cognitive neuroscience, in Cambridge - please publicise. Open to women candidates, as the student will be based at Newnham College.
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Funded PhD opportunity with @sjblakemore.bsky.social and I, at Cambridge. We are looking for someone interested in developmental science, to start in the coming academic year. Please share it with anyone you think might be interested (see details attached 😁). drive.google.com/file/d/1RIvg...
drive.google.com
Funded PhD opportunity.pdf
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Rebeca Ianov @rebecaianov.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
New study out now (doi.org/10.1111/ejn....)! Modelling MEG dynamics with RNNs reveals how reduced inhibition may shape neural signatures in ZDHHC9-linked neurodivergence!🧠🧬 Thanks to all co-authors! @achterbrain.bsky.social @danakarca.bsky.social @kbgenesbrains.bsky.social @duncanastle.bsky.social
doi.org
Synaptic Function and Sensory Processing in ZDHHC9‐Associated Neurodevelopmental Disorder: A Mechanistic Account
In the current study, we employed a bottom-up approach to study the impact of synaptic-level alterations associated with ZDHHC9 variants on cortical function in healthy and ZDHHC9-deficient participa...
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
We are hiring! We're looking for a great project manager to help with a large-scale Wellcome funded study. If you know of anyone that this might appeal to, please share. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49880/
jobs.cam.ac.uk
Project Manager (Part Time, Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Project Manager (Part Time, Fixed Term) in the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge.
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
We are hiring! We're looking for a great project manager to help with a large-scale Wellcome funded study. If you know of anyone that this might appeal to, please share. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49880/
jobs.cam.ac.uk
Project Manager (Part Time, Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Project Manager (Part Time, Fixed Term) in the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge.
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Estherina Trachtenberg @estherina.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
New year, a new chapter 🎇. I am super excited to begin my postdoctoral fellowship at the @mrccbu.bsky.social with @duncanastle.bsky.social 's incredible 4D group, where I'll continue studying aspects of how the social environment affects brain networks and health 🧠 🧑‍🔬🧪 #posdoc #Cambridge_Uni
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Incredible visit to Wimpole Hall Christmas lights. Genuinely magical. @nationaltrust.bsky.social
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Fish and chip shop called... "FRYING NEMO" You're welcome.
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Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
**We are recruiting** Seeking a postdoc to work on a Wellcome-funded cohort study focusing on social-cognitive processing in typically developing children and adolescents (aged 8-18 years) and children and adolescents with 22q11.1 deletion syndrome. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49291/
jobs.cam.ac.uk
Research Assistant/Research Associate (Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Research Assistant/Research Associate (Fixed Term) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
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Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández @mathchaos.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
*standing applause* I agree with the sentiment in this blog. The Royal Society and by extension its members are tacitly endorsing Elon Musk by him being a fellow, and will be associated with him by the public too. FRS is the fourth word of his Wikipedia entry.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 25/11/2024
Dorothy Bishop explains why Elon Musk’s membership in the Royal Society devalues the entire organization.
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Duncan Astle @duncanastle.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
When principles trump prestige. Thank you @deevybee.bsky.social.
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