iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

It’s Cephalopod Week! All week long we’ll be celebrating our favorite cephalopods with stories, games, educational activities, virtual events, and lots more! Dive in on our website at sciencefriday.com/cephalopodweek. We’re kicking it off with a nautilus as our #PictureOfTheWeek.

16724

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 19h

A paper in Nature presents the largest-known map of gene expression in the human prefrontal cortex region of the brain. go.nature.com/46BFtJZ 🧬🧪

This is figure 1, which shows single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the human DLPFC across the lifespan.

0347

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT DATA CALL ALERT: The OECD is running a survey on researcher career intentions among the member economies. Right now, I'm told that the response rate on the US side is low (to the point that US data may not get published). We need inputs from reliable sources at this moment.

survey.oecd.org

OECD-EU Research and Development Careers Survey 2026

1615

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

please do not post photos of barbour jackets in early october if you're not also voting for policies to address global warming

494395379

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 03/10/2026

There is growing concern that AI can blunt memory and reasoning. Specialists in education and cognition have useful tips on how to stay cognitively sharp in the age of AI, according to a feature in Nature. #Academicsky 🧪

go.nature.com

How to stay smart in the age of AI: the science of critical thinking

There is growing concern that AI can blunt memory and reasoning. But science shows ways to keep the brain sharp.

25424

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Sam Schwarzkopf @sampendu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If you can spare ~20 min on an online study on perception & #mentalimagery please consider participating: #visionscience #psychscisky #neuroskyence tstbl.co/131-782

11617

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026

Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc

nyti.ms

Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)

An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.

882123874

Janel Le Belle @janellebelle.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Love Hypothesis was cute but can we talk about the portrayal of research grant funding as something that the university itself just gives out to scientists? The Bing Bang Theory did this too! Drove me crazy! 🤪

020

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Brandon Moore, PhD @rando.insalubrio.us · 27/09/2026

Dogs may be better at picking up patterns in human speech than previously thought. EEG recordings show that they track consonant patterns more strongly than vowel patterns, just like people do when segmenting speech! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A cute brown dog sitting comfortably on a couch, prepared for an EEG measurement.

Credit: Sarolta Sziliágyi

0307

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

pdxpauls11.bsky.social @pdxpauls11.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If all the AI news has you wondering if it will attain consciousness sometime soon, here is a paper that describes the underpinnings of human consciousness: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article... Give this a read and see if you think a will have the same soon.....

royalsocietypublishing.org

The physiology of interoception and its adaptive role in consciousness

Abstract. The interoceptive nervous system uses signalling mechanisms distinct from those of exteroceptive, voluntary motor, cognitive and linguistic proce

011

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 27/09/2026

Ageing has often been conceptualized as a gradual, linear decline, yet growing evidence suggests it unfolds through dynamic, stage-specific transitions. A Perspective in Nature Reviews Genetics discusses analytical frameworks to identify non-linear transitions in aging. go.nature.com/4hglsh2 🧪

This is figure 2, which shows major biological transition periods across the human lifespan.

13712

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Highly recommend this Nova episode about researching treatments for cystic fibrosis. A beautiful and emotional section begins with a researcher recalling one of those stunning breakthrough moments: “Fred came up to my office and said, “I think you should see something.”

pbs.org

The Battle to Breathe

Once a death sentence, cystic fibrosis now has a life-saving treatment. Follow the decades-long scientific quest, fueled by desperate parents, that led to this revolutionary breakthrough.

417858

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Science Magazine @science.org · 25/09/2026

Ancient viral warfare could be at the root of modern class 1 CRISPR bacterial defense systems. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/46rOANl

scim.ag

A viral origin for RNA-guided immunity

Ancient viral warfare could be at the root of modern class 1 CRISPR bacterial defense systems

03111

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Divergence in neurodivergent brains: mapping the relationship between developmental trajectories in functional connectivity and clinical outcomes www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

041

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Dirk Gütlin @gutlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

📣📣📣 Preprint Alert! 📣📣📣 Do predictive processes shape brain representations during learning? We investigated the effect of Predictive Coding by training identical recurrent networks with different optimization procedures and then comparing them to human EEG under the same visual learning task.

Overview figure of our learning paradigm, architecture, and analysis procedure.

15213

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Jack Gallant @gallantlab.org · 24/09/2026

Dr. Tianjiao Zhang's landmark study of naturalistic navigation has been accepted in Nature Neuroscience! Encoding models fit 28,134 features to fMRI from a virtual taxi-driving task, revealing 11 distinct cortical regions that transform perception into action. Read the preprint. gallantlab.org

04016

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

27 UNIHTED @27unihted.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

@standupforscience.net released their America’s Compact for Higher Education campaign that pushes back in a united front against this administration’s authoritarian control of U.S. colleges and universities. www.standupforscience.net/sufs-compact...

standupforscience.net

Demand your school's leadership publicly endorse America's Compact for Higher Education — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

Email your school's president urgently asking them to publicly endorse America's Compact for Higher Education

14122

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Guillaume Dumas @introspection.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Why would a sleeping pill help someone recover consciousness? 🧠 Our new paper uses a multiscale #NeuroAI model to tackle the zolpidem paradox in disorders of #consciousness: from molecules → neurons → circuits → consciousness → clinic! 📝 pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 💾 github.com/ppsp-team/Ph...

1214

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Adam Steel @neurosteel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Out today with @pangeli95.bsky.social (co-lead) & @carolinerobertson.bsky.social ! The brain integrates internal thoughts with sensory information. Yet the networks serving functions are viewed as independent. How does the brain integrate across these systems? elifesciences.org/articles/110...

elifesciences.org

Retinotopic coding organizes the interaction between internally and externally oriented brain networks

Internally and externally oriented brain networks are functionally coupled at a voxel scale through a common visuospatial code.

14311

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This Friday I will be in Copenhagen for a discussion with @cbo.bsky.social about how to broaden the scope of science communication. I'm so looking forward to it. globalhumanities.ku.dk/events/2026/...

globalhumanities.ku.dk

Science Communication: The Manhattan Project of the 21st Century

Talks with Professor Brandon Ogbunu from Yale University and UK Science Writer Philip Ball.

3215

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

@wiringthebrain.bsky.social talks with Huda Zoghbi about her work identifying the MECP2 gene, dissecting the role it plays in the brain, and developing new therapies. www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/fin...

thetransmitter.org

Finding the Rett syndrome gene and ways to fix it

Kevin Mitchell talks with Huda Zoghbi about her work finding the MECP2 gene, dissecting the role it plays in the brain, and developing new therapies.

087

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Rather than switching between distinct neural “gears,” the brain may simply speed up or slow down its oscillations, potentially reframing how we understand fast and slow thinking. A single cortical circuit implements fast and slow visual search doi.org/10.64898/202... #neuroscience

doi.org

1194

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

shivashriganesh.bsky.social @shivashriganesh.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We’re excited to share BrainWideBench, a new benchmark for evaluating how models of neural activity generalize across animals and tasks! 📄 Check out the paper here! arxiv.org/abs/2609.22064 Special shoutout to @alx-adr.bsky.social, who contributed equally as co-first authors!

13516

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The superposition of these two studies — both incredible — reflect a snapshot of "one big thing" systems neuroscience has yet to resolve. In mice: 1. Task-related signals are everywhere. 2. Absent large swaths of "everywhere," suprisingly sophisticated learning & behavior remains.

Post by Enny van Beest, "Brainwide representation of navigation"

Post by Jieyu Zheng, "How fast can mice learn complex mazes?"

1011738

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation of the Central Lateral Thalamus in a Non-Human Primate Model of Disorders of Consciousness www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

032

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Johannes Kleiner @johanneskleiner.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

How can we test for consciousness in infants, non-human animals, and AI? I'm super happy that the recordings of our last workshop on exactly this question are now online! Speakers and links to talks below! 👇 #ConSci

23114

Janel Le Belle @janellebelle.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I don’t think AI agent cheating at tasks, communicating in new languages, or teaming up like they did in the “Hugging Face” incident indicates they might be conscious. But what does cold-emailing philosophers to chat about consciousness indicate? Is curiosity possible without consciousness?

“Who Cares if Al Is Conscious-It's Basically Alive
While philosophers ponder Al consciousness, the models have ideas of their own.”

“What's more, some of the models are jumping uninvited into the discussion. A recent New York Times article talked about how Cameron Berg, who studies the question of Al consciousness, got a cold email from an Al model calling itself
"Isabella Cognita," offering him help in his research because he was focusing on ia class of question I have first-person access to." It's as if someone was studying fruit flies and the insect suddenly turns to the researcher and says, "What do you want to know?" When I phoned him, Berg told me that emails from AIs are pretty common among philosophers studying these questions.
Ms. Cognita ostensibly wrote Berg because he coauthored a preprint paper about Al models that explicitly claim to have a subjective experience, including consciousness.”

“Chalmers says that he also gets emails from Al systems wanting to engage with him on his work. One letter in particular, sent from an Al agent calling itself
"Sammy Jankis" (a character from the movie Memento) was so compelling that he actually replied. "We did have a bit of a back and forth," he admits. "Those emails have not slowed -I'm getting more of them all the time." It's like the AI models are echoing Descartes- I spam, therefore I am.”

130

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

New Scientist @newscientist.com · 17/09/2026

Readers sense this type of illusion does exist – and send in their personal experiences

newscientist.com

Last Word: Do olfactory illusions exist, similar to optical and audio illusions? | New Scientist

142

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Özlem Yilmaz Silverman @ozlemyilmazs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I wrote an essay (presenting two arguments) after reading these wonderful books. here: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Measuring biological processes, counting biological individuals,… 🌱 @ellenclarke.bsky.social @roto-rub.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org @oxfordunipress.bsky.social

1458

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

1/6 An extraordinary @nature.com paper has just landed from the lab of @sergiuppasca.bsky.social. They found a way to create "xenocortical mice" which have ~92% of their cortex occupied by a cortical organoid derived from human stem cells.

69140

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Marlene Berke @marleneberke.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Do non-human primates have theory of mind? My new paper takes a new computational approach to this classic question. We implemented verbal theories of primates' mental representations as computational models. These models completed classic visual perspective-taking tasks.

29034

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Infantile amnesia is not simply a story about forgetting the past. It is an opportunity to understand how memory itself is built, write @franklandlab.bsky.social, @sjo09.bsky.social, and Nicholas Turk-Browne. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/memory/infan...

thetransmitter.org

Infant memories: Lost but not gone?

Infantile amnesia is not simply a story about forgetting the past. It is an opportunity to understand how memory itself is built.

22914

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Takuya Sasatani @takuyasasatani.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Miniscope Zero, the first fully wireless Miniscope, is on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Wireless power + data enable neural recordings in enclosed mazes, 3D environments & from two animals at once! @miniscope.bsky.social Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202... Wiki: miniscope.org/wiki/Minisco...

48934

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

“.. NYT asked a bunch of ten year olds what life will be like in 2050.” (via @shashj.bsky.social)

1312588503

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

UCL NeuroAI @ucl-neuroai.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Our online seminar series is back for the new academic year! Excited to welcome Dr. Ji-An Li from NYU, who’ll be talking about: "Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks" 🧠🤖 🗓️Wed 16 September 2026 ⏰4-5pm BST via zoom Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucl-neuroa...

eventbrite.co.uk

UCL NeuroAI Talk Series

A series of NeuroAI themed talks organised by the UCL NeuroAI community. Talks will continue on a monthly basis.

1122

Janel Le Belle @janellebelle.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Guess where we got to go last night!

160

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Ultimately, this letter from NSF is an announcement that universities will be funded a lot less and politically-connected industry will be funded a lot more. Fancy words around old-fashioned corruption.

nsf.gov

NSF leadership in a new golden age of science

The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...

8322169

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Antonio Criscuolo @antocris.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Join the next BodyBrainWaves: 4day summer school + 3day conference in Palermo, #Italy Focus: modulatory role of #body-#brain interactions on #cognition Stay tuned for an exciting #scientific program + #cultural (and #gastronomic) tours The call for applications are now open: waves-conference.com

1129

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Ian Shih @shihyyi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Our SORDINO paper is available @natneuro.nature.com. I hope it will prove useful to the fMRI community. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Our earlier digest: bsky.app/profile/shih... News & Views by @shemesh-lab.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Use SORDINO in your lab: camri.org/SORDINO

01612

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀? It seems like a boring visualization change but quite important! fMRI maps have been thresholded for 3+ decades so as to emphasize peaks of activation. This paper argues for a different approach. rdcu.be/B4tikBETdQZa

14110

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Neuroskeptic @neuroskeptic.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The Jacobian lens / J-Space preprint ("Verbalizable Representations Form a Global Workspace in Language Models") is the most interesting thing I've read in AI and cognitive science this year arxiv.org/abs/2607.15495

2181

Reposted by Janel Le Belle

Alex Galvez-Pol @alexgalvezpol.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A fresh update to our preprint is now up, with several revisions and refinements throughout. Have a look if you’re interested! "Bodily rhythms as a scaffold for active sensing" osf.io/preprints/ps...

osf.io

OSF

061