Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 3hConsiderably better than the “winner” even aside from the fakery 000
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieNick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 9hThe utter, utter stupidity … Cratering our higher education sector, with regional areas hit hardest, to pander to One Nation immigration politics. They pegged uni finances on intl students, and then started attacking the student visa intake.theguardian.comFalling international student numbers create ‘massive problems’ for Australian universities, expert warnsImmigration debate and visa uncertainty are putting students off and increasing pressure on budgets 23222108
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieAdam Morton @adammorton.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Been in Fiji for pre-Cop. Piece from a couple of days ago. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comOverseas, Albanese sees ‘the very definition of climate injustice’ – but at home, he still wants coalIt isn’t hard to see a contradiction between the PM’s message in Fiji and his opposition to legal action to stop a NSW coalmine 0148
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieMatthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026A lot of excitement on here about the article in Science summarising the discoveries of @alistairsponsel.bsky.social and Brian Sutton, just published in the Journal of the History of Biology. Some people have asked, so here is what I think they show, and what are the implications:link.springer.comPhotograph 49 is the Key to Understanding the History of Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Photograph 51 - Journal of the History of BiologyThis essay, co-authored by a historian of science and an X-ray crystallographer, sheds new light on Rosalind Franklin’s Photograph 51. We refute the infamous claim that, unlike James Watson, Franklin ... 4247143
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026@alleninstitute.org does anyone monitor this account? 020
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026To me that’s more an acknowledgment of priority in the path the Mosers took to the entorhinal grid system, which seems more concrete than interpreted (and the first genuinely internal brain mechanism not directly linked to a sensory or motor system, thus the most exciting find of the last 50 years) 010
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Beautiful piece by @alistairsponsel.bsky.social and @briansutton.bsky.social in @jhistbiol.bsky.social, going back to the sources and reflecting on objectivity, ego, sexism and science. I felt the excitement of discovery all over again - and emerged with a new level of respect for Franklin.link.springer.comPhotograph 49 is the Key to Understanding the History of Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Photograph 51 - Journal of the History of BiologyThis essay, co-authored by a historian of science and an X-ray crystallographer, sheds new light on Rosalind Franklin’s Photograph 51. We refute the infamous claim that, unlike James Watson, Franklin ... 052
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Of course! And other species sample that range better: lampreys with their seven channels, mantis shrimp with polarisation sensitivity etc. Maybe the original implication was that it’s surprising we’ve stuck to the “water window” despite living in air, whereas of course we carry the water with us. 010
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Just that the original post implied that evolving to hone in on those wavelengths revealed our deep past in the ocean, whereas detectors sensitive to other photons just wouldn’t work at all in cells like ours. I’m often amazed that we get by on such a tiny sample of what’s happening around us. 110
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026As I replied to the quoted post - those wavelengths are the only ones you can detect if your photoreceptors are filled with water, not to mention the eyeball. 110
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieQuanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 03/10/2026What guides a bat’s internal compass? It’s not the stars in the sky, or the Earth’s magnetic field. www.quantamagazine.org/how-animals-…quantamagazine.orgHow Animals Build a Sense of Direction | Quanta MagazineResearchers documented the activity of neurons that shape directional navigation as bats explored a remote island off the coast of Tanzania. 1258
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Many years ago my folks were told to bury a lamb's fry at the base of the vine - it exploded into fruit the following year! 100
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Not least because the eyeball and photoreceptor cells are full of water, regardless of the outside environment. 951711
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieWillem Huiskamp @willemh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026This has been an open secret in Australia for some time, with the federal government going to great lengths to *appear* as if they have effective climate policy, while rubber stamping mine after mine. It's disgraceful, and they are not held to account for it. 29350
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I would love to be collaborating with Allen open data, but my request to contact the data custodian for a 2018 Allen study was brushed off with a pro forma reply, and my follow up email has gone unanswered. Is there someone I can get in touch with there? 000
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Good on you for flying the flag in that all-too-AI-fascinated journal. The great unaddressed point is that if AI processing "improves" a video, it does so by interpolation / reconstruction based on other images, i.e. remixing old data to fill the gaps. By definition this *can't* show anything new. 121
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieCajal Club @cajalclub.bsky.social · 30/09/2026The Cajal Club remembers neuroscientist Barbara L. Finlay, whose pioneering research advanced our understanding of brain development, evolution, and the cerebral cortex. We honor her remarkable scientific legacy, mentorship, and friendship. #Neuroscience #Cajal www.cajalclub.org/in-memoriam-...cajalclub.orgIn Memoriam: Barbara FinlayThe Cajal Club remembers Barbara L. Finlay, an influential developmental and evolutionary neuroscientist whose pioneering research transformed our understanding of brain evolution and development, and... 095
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Echoing @kristiellingsen.bsky.social in sharing the petition asking the Tasmanian government not to cut staff and funding to our historic museum, for the sake of building a football stadium we can't afford, whether or not this cut is made. haepetitions.parliament.tas.gov.au/haepet/Home/...haepetitions.parliament.tas.gov.auPetition Details - Tasmania Parliament E-Petitions 010
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieDon Davis @ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The Sunset of September 27, 2026 was an epic spectacle whose intensity and beauty were memorable. The cloud ceiling had a wide opening toward the West that admitted Sunlight which underwent progressive color changes as it briefly in turn illuminated layers of otherwise invisible cloud textures. 07122
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Deeply angered by our high-school-prefect government gutting the things which make Tasmania special and unique, so they can bankrupt the state building a stadium for the AFL to profit. A clown show of secrecy and incompetence. #auspol #politas www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmani...themercury.com.au 1135
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieField Guide to the Insects of Tasmania @insectsoftasmania.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Tasmanian Science needs your help! The Tas Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is about to suffer staff cuts. 2 positions will be replaced with 1 person to cover both invertebrates and vertebrates at TMAG, ie no longer a specialist position. Tasmanians deserve better. Please make your voices heard. 255
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Resolving that kind of detail on Jupiter requires stabilising and stacking thousands of CCD frames. The station would be in front of it for milliseconds. So - a composite? 220
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Solid! but I regret to inform that Rez Dogs > Leftovers. 000
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Great social and science journalism about AI in schools: Fiona Blackwood from @news.abc.net.au interviewing my colleague and mentor @jamescvickers.bsky.social along with concerned students and artists. I hope to see a LOT more of this kind of analysis. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...abc.net.auWarning for brain health over offloading deep-thinking skills to AIA study has found AI use lifted homework scores and completion rates but also led to a drop in exam performance. Neuroscientist James Vickers says there are clear problems with offloading mental labou... 161
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 17/09/2026The more you read, the more interesting it gets! 151
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026It looks like the cigarette is taking a drag out of him. 020
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Those figures are so beautiful, a triumph alongside the scientific wonders! 000
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 16/09/2026Bitcoin mining continues to draw more and more TWh each year. Did it take over the world's financial system? Does it get mentioned in media? Is it a "success" by any measure? It's just in an infinte bloat-cycle, like GenAI is in the early stages of digiconomist.net/bitcoin-ener... 3416
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 16/09/2026I'm just going to keep yelling this louder and louder until it clicks: weird overpaid AI nerds hand-wringing about human extinction are trying to distract you from the extremely deadly and serious harms they are causing yesterday, today and tomorrow www.bloomberg.com/news/article... 181286593
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieDr Paris Buttfield-Addison @hey.paris · 16/09/2026spineless shits "deputy prime minister Richard Marles, said the federal government was “working at a pace” to respond to the issue of copyright, and maintained that the opportunity to work with US tech giants was a “significant moment for the country”." #auspol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...theguardian.comLabor accused of throwing creatives ‘under the bus’ with proposal to ease copyright protections for AI giantsCompromise revealed as senior personnel from OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, meets Albanese ministers 1255
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieKevin Bonham @kevinbonham.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Anti-stadium group Our Place has accused The Mercury of preparing and then spiking a story about its uComms poll regarding stadium costs. #politas tasmanianinquirer.com.au/news/the-mer...tasmanianinquirer.com.auThe Mercury accused of spiking stadium polling story | Tasmanian InquirerTasmania’s major newspaper has been accused of axing an exclusive story on polling showing public support for disclosing the cost of the Macquarie Pt stadium. 32615
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I had to for my side job, it was pretty ascetic and brutal at times, but you knew exactly what it was going to put out. Pagemaker 6 and beyond was a lottery! 110
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026At our local agricultural show I was looking at some Nubian goats which look like their wild desert-dwelling forebears, and joked to my daughters, "I guess these are proto-goats?" As we moved on I heard a parent explain to their kid, "and these are Proto goats." 051
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Love this! Uncomfortably true too. I like to remind students that cortex is not directly connected to any inputs or outputs, but gets secondhand reports and tries to tell everyone what to do. 010
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieEarl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 10/09/2026The brain does not turn up the volume on important sounds. It sharpens their timing. By synchronizing neurons to a shared rhythm, attention to a location makes the signal cleaner, not louder. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #neuroscience 0214
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieLuke Sjulson @lukesjulson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Congrats to Renata Batista-Brito, Geoffrey, and Jacob on this monster paper! It’s an amazing piece of work, and I’m thrilled I got the chance to contribute to it 1405
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Not to make light of the huge inequities this represents - but using a part-filled cup suggests it should have been done the other way around: "how much of a cappucino can a barista earn in 10 minutes?" Aussie cup would be full, Indian cup 1/18 full. 120
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Dead Can Dance - when the suspension of disbelief breaks, they are unimaginably lame 131
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026A stunning piece, it felt like it cleansed a few layers of cynicism from me. 010
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I only hope I live long enough to digest and fully appreciate this work ... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgBrainwide representation of navigationTracking your position in the environment during navigation requires integrating multiple signals into a spatial representation. This process is thought to occur primarily in the hippocampal formation... 120
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Interesting study! It's worth citing the 1950s work of Karl Lashley, who famously tackled a similar question in rats. I'd guess mice are even less dependent on cortex. A good intro to Lashley's stuff is his 1963 book Brain Mechanisms and Intelligence - available at archive.org/details/brai...archive.orgBrain mechanisms and intelligence; a quantitative study of injuries to the brainT1038. 170
Matt Kirkcaldie @matttkk.bsky.social · 03/09/2026A magnificent piece by Laurent Gautron - I guess I am a middle-aged neuroanatomy freak, but revisiting this kind of early work, where description is less tied to functional paradigms and beliefs, can be a fantastic reset for your assumptions and biases. 060
Reposted by Matt KirkcaldieJohn Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 02/09/2026longtime reader, first time writer to @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... 2163