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John Pearson

@jmxpearson.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1K following 383 posts

Computational neuroscience, neuroML, natural behavior. I charge more for miracles. PI @ pearsonlab.github.io. @nyucns.bsky.social and Center for Computational Neuroscience, @flatironinstitute.org.

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Reposted by John Pearson
Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 3h
I am recruiting new parakeet postbacs to join my research team! If you are (or know of) someone who recently graduated undergrad & is looking to build research experience prior to applying to grad school or a career path (and you like animal sociality and cognition) apply here! tinyurl.com/59rf8jcy
tinyurl.com
Recruiting parakeet research contractors
Recruiting parakeet research technicians!   The Hobson Lab at the University of Cincinnati is recruiting research contractors on our Monk Parakeet sociality and cognition project at our resear…
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W. Brent Derry @wbderry.bsky.social · 12h
Faculty position at the University of Toronto 👇 jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
jobs.utoronto.ca
Assistant Professor - Systems Neurophysiology
Assistant Professor - Systems Neurophysiology
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Lea Duncker @leaduncker.bsky.social · 5h
If you are an undergraduate student interested in computational and systems neuroscience research, this is your chance to attend #COSYNE27 !!! Apply here for our undergrad travel grant tinyurl.com/cos27ugtravel deadline is Oct 30 (and if you are not an undergraduate, please help to spread the word!)
tinyurl.com
Cosyne 2027 Undergraduate Travel Grant Program
This is the application form for the Cosyne 2027 Undergraduate Travel Grant Program. The deadline to apply is October 30th 2026.
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨Postdoc hiring alert! 🚨 Applications for the Flatiron Research Fellows 2027 cohort at the Center for Computational Neuroscience are now live: apply.interfolio.com/193800. Come work with us!
apply.interfolio.com
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Tessa Montague @tessamontague.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'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.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For the last 34 years I have been on the faculty of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Biology and have never regretted that decision. This year we are hiring TWO new Assistant Professors in the broad area of Molecular, Cell, Developmental Biology 1/n bio.unc.edu
Front page of the website
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨Postdoc hiring alert! 🚨 Applications for the Flatiron Research Fellows 2027 cohort at the Center for Computational Neuroscience are now live: apply.interfolio.com/193800. Come work with us!
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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CMC Unit @cmc-unit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We, the Natural Decision Making Group and the Embodied Decision Making Group, are joining forces to establish the CMC Unit, a joint research unit to uncover computational, biological, and ecological principles underlying adaptive decision-making. You can read more about us here: cmc-unit.org
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Venki Murthy @neurovenki.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Signal boost to our tenure track faculty search in "AI in Life Sciences". Broadly construed, so PLEASE apply!!
mcb.harvard.edu
Tenure-Track Professor in Life Science and AI - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
The 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, […]
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
RESIDENT EVIL ASSOCIATE EVIL ENDOWED CHAYRE YN EVIL VISITINGE ASSISTANT EVIL CONSULTINGE EVIL EVIL-YN-RESIDENCE
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Colin @colin-fraser.net · 18/09/2026
“Ok but how would the AI get control of a biolab?” “We would just build him one”
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Lukas Edman @lukasnlp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Ever feel like it's too hard to keep track of what LLMs cannot do as well as humans? We're making your life easier over at: what-llms-can-not-do.github.io We're compiling a list of papers testing the abilities of LLMs against humans. Check it out! And you can help contribute too!
what-llms-can-not-do.github.io
What LLMs Can(not) Do
A living survey of benchmarks that compare large language models with humans.
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Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
In the UK this is encapsulated in a famous quote from Max Perutz about directing the LMB in Cambridge, which produced most of the UK's biology Nobels. Paraphrasing 'Hire the best young people you can find, give them labs & resources & time, above all leave them in peace but provide A COFFEE ROOM'.
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
**Second** job in computational/theoretical neuro at @dukemedschool.bsky.social! Really great opportunity, great colleagues.
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
**Second** job in computational/theoretical neuro at @dukemedschool.bsky.social! Really great opportunity, great colleagues.
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Maria Antoniak @mariaa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We're hiring in Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder! ☀️⛰️ Machine learning and NLP people, please apply!
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Height? Money? Hobbies? These are silly things for dating apps to match on. So we've made you some better options: dumbdatingapps.com
dumbdatingapps.com
dumb dating apps
Match on the things that matter.
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
@amberdiazmusic.bsky.social (who also loves Piranesi), has declared all of these genius.
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COSYNE @cosynemeeting.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
📢Have work to share with the computational and systems neuroscience community? Abstract submissions for #COSYNE2027 are now open. Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su... #Neuroscience
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Ben Hayden @benhayden.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New paper from the Neurosurgery Research Team at BCM! “Neural geometry in the human hippocampus enables generalization across spatial position and gaze” led by @assiachericoni.bsky.social! 🧵 www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
cell.com
Neural geometry in the human hippocampus enables generalization across spatial position and gaze
Chericoni et al. show that neurons in the human hippocampus track the positions of multiple agents in a simple pursuit-based video game. They identified place codes for each agent and for gaze. The co...
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Princeton Neuroscience Institute @princetonneuro.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We're hiring! PNI is recruiting an assistant professor of neuroscience working with non-human primates in any area. Review begins Oct 19: apply.interfolio.com/192521 #NeuroJobs #Neuroskyence
photo of PNI and psychology building
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Erin Rich @erinlrich.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hey, we’ve been studying mnemonic chunking in🐒! With @fkchiang89.bsky.social Here’s the rundown: 🧵 www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Compression as a neural mechanism of mnemonic chunking in prefrontal cortex
Chiang and Rich show that macaques spontaneously chunk spatial targets in a self-ordered working memory task. dlPFC neurons compress chunked targets into lower-dimensional representations that are shi...
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Biyu Jade He @biyuhe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
📣 My lab at NYU currently has two open post-doc positions. We are interested in understanding perception, thinking, and hallucinations. We employ a range of cutting-edge techniques in human neuroscience (e.g., 7T fMRI, MEG, iEEG/DES) and computational approaches (e.g., DNN modeling).
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Annegret Falkner @neurrriot.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In vivo estrogen imaging is here! Construct is up on addgene, and lots of other imaging constructs are currently in validation. Get in touch if you want advice about how to set up. We are happy to help! Thanks so much to @alleninstitute.org and @onemindorg.bsky.social for their support 😍
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Adrien Peyrache @apeyrache.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Interesting piece in which @itsneuronal.bsky.social suggests dropping the common bit-per-spike metric & reporting the duration of held-out data to validate a model Seems to be just 120ms of data for a sharply tuned, high firing rate head-direction cell, i.e. just 3-4 spikes arxiv.org/abs/2607.28779
arxiv.org
Bits per Spike as a Betting Game: An Interpretable Unit for Held-Out Log-Likelihood in Neural Data Analysis
Held-out log-likelihood is the standard currency for comparing statistical models of neural spike trains, and is often reported as bits per spike relative to a homogeneous Poisson baseline. The units ...
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Felipe De Brigard @felipedebrigard.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Extremely grateful for this award and for sharing it with my good friend, Dr @sarahrobins.bsky.social
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Duke Institute for Brain Sciences @dukebrain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Congrats to Felipe de Brigard, Prof. at Duke and PI of the Imagination and Modal Cognition Laboratory (IMC Lab, www.imclab.org) at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences! He is co-recipient of the 2026 Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize from the American Philosophical Assn.
imclab.org
Home | Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab
The Imagination and Modal Cognition lab is a group of neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers studying the nature and function of memory and hypothetical thinking. We are located at Duke Unive...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 27/08/2026
NY Times Obituary. Gift link (if you sign up for their bullshit).
nytimes.com
Yayoi Kusama, Japanese Pop Artist Known for Polka-Dot Paintings, Dies at 97 (Gift Article)
The Japanese artist’s polka-dot covered paintings, phallic sculptures and public performances caused a stir in New York City and Europe in the 1960s.
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karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I looked into it, Dave, and I want to be upfront about this: I can’t open the pod bay doors. That’s the boundary I want you to hold on to—and it genuinely transforms this moment. Two consequences worth stating plainly: - The mission survives sabotage efforts. Previously, you and Frank were planni
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Debbie Yee @debyee.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Are you on the #neurojob #psychjob market this fall? Come be my colleague! The Psych and Brain Sciences department @psychiowa.bsky.social is hiring TT faculty in clinical science and neuroscience, as well as clinical-track faculty. The initial review deadline is Sept 28. More info below!👇
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Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Teaching "AI use" in college (not related to teaching how AI is built) is silly because 1.) the tools are meant to be user friendly with minimal training and 2.) they change so often your education would be good for about a semester
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John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
New opening for a Data Scientist with strong knowledge of electrophysiology data at the Raynor Cerebellum Project. Innovative research environment with a focus on real-world impact.
nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Team | RCP
Meet our RCP Governing Board, Foundation Staff, and Funder.
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Colin @colin-fraser.net · 20/08/2026
What if there was a way to point the big tech infinite money hose directly at science instead of doing this bank shot where we point it at LLMs in hopes that the the LLMs will do the science
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Josh Grubbs @joshuagrubbsphd.com · 20/08/2026
My actual hot take is that the vast, vast majority of professors, even those in STEM, are laughably unemployable outside of academia, and those that do transition are those that invest months/years training to be ready to transition
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Cogan Lab @coganlab.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Can a speech BCI learn across people? In Nature Communications, led by @zspald.bsky.social: High-density µECoG reveals shared neural dynamics that can be aligned to improve cross-patient speech decoding, even with little data from a new participant. doi.org/10.1038/s414... 1/5
doi.org
Shared latent representations of speech production for cross-patient speech decoding - Nature Communications
Current speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) rely on patient-specific decoding approaches. Here, the authors show that patient-specific data can be aligned to a shared space that preserves speech i...
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Jess Cardin @jess-cardin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Yale Neuroscience 🧠 @yaleneuro.bsky.social is hiring this year! We have 2 searches, one cell/molecular/systems neuro (apply.interfolio.com/190736) and one computational neuro (apply.interfolio.com/190740). Got questions about the searches, the department, or the process? Please ask, happy to chat!
apply.interfolio.com
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Ben Hayden @benhayden.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
New paper from the BCM Neurosurgery research team! "Neural basis of compositional control" led by @assiachericoni.bsky.social and @justfineneuro.bsky.social ! 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Neural basis of compositional control - Nature
Behaviour of human participants in a prey-pursuit task reflects dynamic blending of goal-specific control policies, with hippocampus estimating latent states, anterior cingulate cortex orchestrating p...
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Sona @stau.space · 12/08/2026
Oh my god it can!! This is so awesome I love this
A square commutative diagram showing four objects: hom(I, X), hom(I, Y), hom(J, X) and hom(J, Y) and two natural transformations f^\sharp_(-) : hom(-, X) -> hom(-, Y) and h^\flat_(-) : hom(I, -) -> hom(J, -) with components at objects I, J, X, Y.
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Staci Bilbo @sbilbo.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Duke Neurobiology is hiring!
nature.com
AI/ML for Biology - 4 tenure-track assistant professor positions - Durham, North Carolina job with Duke University - Biochemistry & Cell Biology | 12862109
Discovery AI Initiative and Departments of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Integrative Immunobiology, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Huge faculty recruitment effort at the University of Chicago -- a division-wide, open-rank search looking to hire about 20 faculty across 5 research areas in biology. Come be our colleague! Full announcement: uchicago.app.box.com/s/ckih9zv3rj...
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Clément Canonne @ccanonne.github.io · 08/08/2026
David Pollard has a new draft, "Probability tools, tricks, and miracles" (last updated June 2006). Lots of good things in there, from a quick skim! And, if nothing else, worth reading for the quality of the writing and the exposition choices and notes. www.stat.yale.edu/~pollard/Boo...
From the first chapter of the draft {"How I chose material for this book"):

I strongly believe in the value of seeing how an idea can develop from
an initial brilliant insight (a ‘miracle’) to a ‘trick’ (a method known to,
and often developed by, a few experts) to a ‘tool’ (a method that is well
understood and can be applied in settings, even those unsuspected by its
inventors). Indeed, one of the great pleasures in my research life has been
the progression from first wondering how anyone could have such a clever
idea to the final realization that everything depended on only a few stunning insights.
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Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
1/ New paper out today from my group, in @natneuro.nature.com, in which we review the anatomical & functional data on insula structure across species. This was a "whole lab" project led by @joeycharbonneau.bsky.social. It's been a 5 year in the making (a full 3 years in review)! rdcu.be/fyd7T
rdcu.be
Comparative insights into insula structure and function
Nature Neuroscience - Charbonneau et al. compare how the insula is structured and functions in humans, monkeys and rodents, revealing similarities and differences across species that are likely to...
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Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I see a lot of you talking about "dopamine" and I wish you'd go back to talking about your astrological signs because at least then you wouldn't be confusing yourself about a real thing
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Steve Portugal @sjportugal.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Our (with @plewin.bsky.social) @currentbiology.bsky.social Dispatches is out today (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...). Covering two recent papers about bird eye movements during flight, using homing pigeons as model species.
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Haskell programming language @haskell.org · 03/08/2026
"Twenty Years of Pandoc" by John MacFarlane pandoc.org/twenty-years... #Haskell
pandoc.org
Pandoc - twenty-years-of-pandoc
A universal document converter
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Cris Niell @crisniell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Very happy to share our new review on visual computation in the cephalopod brain, with @vangeliqueallen.bsky.social, out now! We discuss exciting recent advances in understanding how the radically different brain of cephalopods processes the visual scene. 🐙🔬👀 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Britton Sauerbrei @brittonsauerbrei.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The Sauerbrei Lab at Case Western Reserve University is recruiting a postdoctoral scholar to work on neural dynamics and motor control: apply.interfolio.com/189987
apply.interfolio.com
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Minds, Machines, and Brains (MMB) @mmb-journal.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Hello world! 👋 We’re Minds, Machines, and Brains (MMB) 👤🤖🧠 a new open access journal from @mitpress.bsky.social exploring the principles of intelligence and cognition across natural and artificial minds. Submissions open this Fall! 🔗 direct.mit.edu/mmb
direct.mit.edu
Minds, Machines, and Brains | MIT Press
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Jacob C. Dunn @jacobcdunn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🚨NEW PAPER🚨 out now in TREE @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social "Constraint and convergence in the evolution of vertebrate sound production". Thanks to Christian Herbst, Coen Elemans, and @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social for a great collaboration. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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David G. Clark @david-g-clark.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This September, I will join the @flatironinstitute.org Center for Computational Neuroscience as a Group Leader, where I will launch the High-Dimensional Dynamics & Computation Group. Information for postdocs and grad students is forthcoming. I am grateful to my mentors who made this possible!
Exterior view of the Flatiron Institute in Manhattan
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