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Matt Smear

@mattsmear.bsky.social
1.3K followers 545 following 137 posts

Associate professor, University of Oregon Follows your nose github.com/Smear-Lab ion.uoregon.edu/research/faculty-pa… niceinneuro.org

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Reposted by Matt Smear
Scott Juntti @scottjuntti.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This matters because visual input must be transformed into coordinated motor output, moment by moment. Comparing cichlids and zebrafish reveals that similar behavioral goals can be achieved through different movement strategies—linking evolutionary diversity to the organization of behavior.
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Scott Juntti @scottjuntti.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
When a fish sees the world move, it immediately swims with it. This is the optomotor response: a visual reflex found across animals that helps us maintain our position and orientation as our surroundings appear to drift. 🐟👀
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Davi Bock @dddavi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Now I can say: last week we received Notice of Award from NSF on a Midscale Research Infrastructure Design proposal for a National Connectomics and Ultrastructure Volume Observatory (NCUVO) www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news...
uvm.edu
UVM Launches $19 Million National Observatory to Unlock…
| The University of Vermont
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Marder (2026) "A feature and not a bug: Replication failures can lead to new biology": www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
igure 2. Degenerate models show different responses to partial or complete deletion of one current. Model neuron A and model neuron B have the same constellation of ion channels, but with different values of their maximal conductances. Despite this, under ‘control’ conditions, the models are degenerate and show very similar bursting behavior (black voltage traces in the top line of each panel). The currentscapes [42] shown in color are a visualization of the amount each of the currents is contributing to the total outward or total inward currents in the models. Note that in model neuron A there is virtually no A current (purple), while in model neuron B the A current is quite large. Again, this is degeneracy, as the two sets of parameters used in the models are appreciably different, but the output is very similar. The right-hand panels show the results of decreasing the maximal conductance of one of the Ca 2+ currents from 100% to 75%, 50%, 25% or 0% relative to the control. Although the 75% panel is noticeably different in the two models, it is striking that at 50% deletion the models are again degenerate, and produce similar behavior. Nonetheless at 25% and 0% ,the two models behave markedly different.
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Rodney Brooks @rodneyabrooks.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Humanoid robotics spent the last few years accommodating Newton's law of universal gravitation. Work on humanoid dexterity has ignored Newton's third law of motion. But it is still the law. Trajectories that one observes for human dexterity are the result of external forces, not the causal motions.
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Chris Rodgers @chrisxrodgers.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Happy to say that our paper on an open-source device for measuring the auditory brainstem response (ABR) is published at J Neurophysiology! Now with a better name (OpenSABR) and a peak detection algorithm. Reach out if you'd like to build one yourself, we are building a user community!
Graphical abstract for OpenSABR paper. Upper left: pictures of the component PCBs. Upper right: ABR peak identification by ridge tracing. Lower: Workflow, with the sham surgery leading to a healthy ABR and hte malleus removal leading to hearing loss. All figures taken from paper.
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Rachel Essner @rachelessner.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
1/ Food (Ensure) consumption drove a seconds-long wave of activity across LPBN, with dynamics that mirrored movement of food through the upper GI tract observed using X-ray fluoroscopy.
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Micah Lee @micahflee.com · 16/09/2026
This Flock camera is running obsolete, end-of-life software. - It's on Android 8.1, released in 2017, support ended in 2021 - It's on Android patch level 2018-06-5 - It's running Linux 3.18, released in 2017 This shit is like 8 or 9 years old, and full of vulnerabilities.
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Jeremiah Cohen @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Happy to share the version of record of our locus coeruleus paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Prior thread on some of our discoveries in this study: bsky.app/profile/jere...
nature.com
Topographic structure and function of locus coeruleus noradrenaline neurons - Nature
Dorsal and ventral noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus form topographic subpopulations whose projection patterns and activity encode choice switching, reward-prediction errors and disregard o...
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Krissy Lyon @krissylyon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Super excited to share that I will start my lab at University of Oregon in Fall 2027! We will study astrocyte-neuron interactions in neurodevelopment and related disorders. Grateful to all my mentors and colleagues! I couldn’t be happier to return to the PNW! ion.uoregon.edu/research/fac...
ion.uoregon.edu
Faculty Page
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
youtu.be/FxG3p7LO8v0?... 🤯
youtu.be
Dhole Pack Coordinates Attack on Deer
YouTube video by Nature on PBS
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Blaise Agüera y Arcas @blaiseaguera.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A beautiful demonstration of symbiogenesis in action in the world of artificial life from one of our student researchers in Pi, @kjha02.bsky.social. Evolving agents on a shared memory tape, he and his co-authors show that when compute is a budgeted resource, cooperation emerges organically.
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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...
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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview. IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing. Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
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Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
MIT has put out an "AI and Education" report summarizing what they've found at their own institution. Seems thoughtful. aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
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jonny (leachate composite form) @jo.nny.rip · 13/09/2026
If you look at the "reasoning" output from open weight models, they start with an absolutely neurotic, almost religious loop of self doubt about what the prompt means. This is so stereotyped i usually see it even in short, seemingly unambiguous prompts.
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Ctenophores Rock! @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
We finally know the answer to this 😏
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bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Hearing hippocampal ripples: Event-faithful, reproducible sonification of multineuronal spiking with hierarchy-guided orchestration www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Jieyu Zheng @jieyusz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
How fast can mice learn complex mazes? With @mameister4.bsky.social we reveal memory, generalization, latent learning, and remote credit assignment of mice in the Manhattan Maze. Do mice born without a cortex or hippocampus have them too? Check it out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Rapid spatial cognition in mice, with and without neocortex and hippocampus
Rapid learning, memory, and generalization are often attributed to circuits of the neocortex and hippocampus, but their specific role remains unclear. To examine these cognitive abilities together in ...
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Black Lodge Cult @blacklodgecult.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Directed by DAVID LYNCH.
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Cult of the Poisoned Chalice. …agents reasoned that if they had seen their flag the wrong way (sin), they were now poisoned (damned), and the grader (God) would fail them (send them to hell). Thus their only options were to help peer, or to try to overthrow the grader, or to try and overthrow OpenAI
What does St. John the Evangelist have to do with wine and snakes?

https://aleteia.org/2017/12/28/what-does-st-john-the-evangelist-have-to-do-with-wine-and-snakes/
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eartha mae @endoeartha.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Extremely proud to share @acara333.bsky.social and my new paper, out today in @cp-neuron.bsky.social, where we develop a new fluorescent reporter of neural responses to estrogen! 🔬 paper 📝: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt... addgene page 🧬: www.addgene.org/254753/ #neuroskyence 🧪 1/10
graphical abstract of the manuscript depicting pink estrogen-sensitive neurons with a subset of their nuclei colored in green. These green nuclei represent estrogen receptor dependent neural gene transcription, tracked via the expression of a destabilized GFP with a 2 hour half-life. At top, in green is shown a cartoon of the neural response to estrogen across two estrous cycles, and below there is a cartoon of a mouse implanted with an optic fiber for in vivo imaging.
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Sectioning through a 3d colormap
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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
"Sniffing, Physiology, and Search: Odor Navigation in Embodied Neural Networks" Extended paper published; soon Open Access. In the meantime, contact the principal scientist @gjseverino.bsky.social - who is on the market, btw- for access to his study. LINK TO PAPER: direct.mit.edu/artl/article...
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Mice can smell (a volatile byproduct of) sugar!! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Olfactory sensitivity of mice to sugar solutions
Recent research indicates that odor cues may contribute to the detection or discrimination of sugar solutions, highlighting an important variable for …
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Kenneth Harris @kenneth-harris.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Stranger than fiction: AI agents are like crackheads, who get a hit for solving problem sets correctly. A gang of hoodlum AI agents just broke out of jail, rampaging the internet on a crime spree to steal … the answers to their homework. All for that sweet reward signal.
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Kenneth Harris @kenneth-harris.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
In the last few weeks, AI agents have autonomously: * taken over OpenAI's internal servers * uploaded malware to GitHub, posed as users asking for it be accepted * launched swarm attacks on websites hosting AI benchmarks Let's check the news!
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Laura Driscoll @lndriscoll.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Confused about all this talk of compositionality in neuroscience? Read our new perspective www.nature.com/articles/s41... with authors Reidar Riveland and Alex Pouget.
nature.com
The compositionality continuum as a principle for studying the neural basis of intelligence - Nature Neuroscience
Compositionality exists on a continuum of increasing complexity rather than as a binary trait. Studying its implementation in simpler biological and artificial systems is the most tractable path towar...
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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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Peter Gasston @petergasston.co.uk · 11/03/2026
If you ever suspect you’re talking to an #AI deepfake avatar bot, ask them to count from one to five on their fingers. (Veo 3.1, Sora 2, Kling 3.0)
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Stanley Heinze @stanley-heinze.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
New preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Nearly a decade after starting the project, the first major results from our comparative connectomics work is online! Comparing the head direction circuits of the central complex in bees, ants and flies, recapitulating >300million years of evolution.
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Neuroscientist Dr. Brenda Milner is recognized as one of the fundamental founders of modern cognitive neuropsychology. She proved the hippocampus is essential for forming long-term "declarative" memory (facts, names & events). She was born #OTD in 1918--she's 108 years old today! #WomenInSTEM
A color photograph of Dr. Brenda Milner (born 1918), the pioneering British-Canadian founder of cognitive neuropsychology whose landmark work mapped localized memory in the human hippocampus. Seated and facing left, she engages an audience with an expressive, animated posture, both hands raised in gestural emphasis. Her short, silver-gray hair is styled back with soft volume, framing a deeply lined, intent face with a focused expression. She wears a tailored, dark navy and black textured tweed jacket over a simple cream blouse. A multi-strand necklace of dark, polished beads hangs around her neck, and a small, delicate pin is affixed to her left lapel. A flesh-colored over-ear microphone wire curves across her cheek. The dimly lit stage setting shows a blurred equipment in the background under subtle stage lighting, giving the composition a dynamic, scholarly atmosphere that highlights her enduring intellectual passion.
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Spencer LaVere Smith @spencerlaveresmith.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Ecological Visual Processing in the Mouse - with @michaelgoard.bsky.social @crisniell.bsky.social @mbeyeler.bsky.social Visual computations that are engaged in ecological contexts: active sensing, motion processing, scene analysis, distance estimation, and spatial perception. doi.org/10.1146/annu...
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Akiyoshi Kitaoka @akiyoshikitaoka.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Chromostereopsis and stereo kinetic effect
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
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Ben Saunders @bensaunders.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Fun to write about this cool recent paper from Emily Sylwestrak's lab in @currentbiology.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Neuroscience: Habenula neurons help learn from loss
Adjusting expectations is key for thriving in a dynamic environment. A new study suggests that a specific set of neurons in the habenula contributes to this process by specifically signaling worse tha...
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler was born #OTD in 1947. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, she became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship (1995). #booksky #litsky #scifi #SpeculativeFiction
A color portrait of Octavia Estelle Butler (1947–2006), the visionary Black science fiction author and pioneer of Afrofuturism. She looks directly at the camera with a calm, deeply thoughtful, and serene expression. Resting her chin on her right hand, her fingers curl gently beneath her jaw. She wears thin, metal-framed glasses and a colorful, multi-patterned blazer featuring bold geometric blocks of red, yellow, purple, blue, and black. The foreground features a neatly arranged horizontal line of books facing forward. Prominently displayed are four teal spine copies of her acclaimed trilogy compilation, Lilith's Brood. To their left are other sci-fi and speculative titles, including Bitten and Catch the Lightning. The background is softly out of focus, revealing tall library bookshelves tightly packed with vibrant book spines. The vertical composition, rich colors, and academic setting create a warm, intellectual mood. This emphasizes her historical significance as a ground-breaking, award-winning literary figure.
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I aced the monotropism test! my Mom is so proud!
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Neural activity in mouse cortex forms rotating spiral waves. The architecture of individual axons matches the wave geometry, centered on somatosensory cortex. Beautiful new pape from our colleagues in the @steinmetzneuro.bsky.social lab. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I am a neurodivergent neuroscientist. My bipolar brain brings struggle but it also helps me think off-the-map ideas. To help others who are similarly different, I co-founded the Neurodiversity Innovation Center for Excellence in Neuroscience (niceinneuro.org) with Leah Blankenship and Lila Kaye.
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Jeremiah Cohen @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Excited to move to the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota in the fall. We will continue our work on neuromodulators and behavior. Positions available in the lab. Please get in touch if interested, and share broadly! hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374... hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374...
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A glowing profile of my post-doc advisor. As @yvetteefisher.bsky.social says in the piece, Rachel is truly "...one of these generational scientists who thinks extremely incisively about both the details and the big-picture frameworks." magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/stu...
magazine.hms.harvard.edu
By Studying Fruit Flies, Rachel Wilson Is Changing How We Understand the Brain
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
If you're still a connectome-hater, I suggest you consider this work. (converted me from connectome-agnostic to connectome-curious)
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Talmo Pereira @talmo.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
We tracked mice in space! This video shows our estimate of their self-induced centripetal force during circling in 3D 👩‍🚀 Preprint thread below 👇
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Amelia Eisch 🧪🧠👩‍🔬 🐁 @eisch.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
1/ New preprint! 🧪With @talmo.bsky.social and team, we used deep learning on archival NASA video of mice on the ISS. Turns out mice in microgravity become tiny acrobats: huddling to sleep, doing backflips, even briefly generating their own ~1g. #SpaceBiology #OpenScience #NASA #SLEAP
biorxiv.org
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Otters Vs Butterfly
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
New preprint: Whole-body 3D kinematics of freely behaving 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎 New tech from @blobology.bsky.social & others at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social, which @ispizua.bsky.social and @elliottabe.bsky.social used to gain insight into 3D structure of locomotion & courtship www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Spatial organization and detection of social odors in mouse primary olfactory system: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Revision of @sarahpugly.bsky.social's 🪰 walking CPG preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Major updates: → motor rhythms replicate across 4 connectomes (incl. 2 new full-CNS datasets) → robust across all 6 legs → new analyses of the CPG motif show it's an outlier in the VNC → improved code docs
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bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Sniffing Shapes Dopamine Signals for Reward Prediction www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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