iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Richard Gast

allen institute @alleninstitute.org · 06/10/2026

Applications are open for the #LakeConference on Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues – co-hosted with Circuit Neuroscience Basel. 📆 March 21-25, 2027 📍 Seattle, USA 🧠 All career stages welcomed. Apply to attend by December 10: lakeconferences.org/conf/8334d9bf-9…

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Lilian Weber @lilweb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Deadline for this is tomorrow!! 🏃‍♀️

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Jorge Morales @jorgemorales.me · 03/10/2026

“I’m not saying all safety regulations are bad. I’m saying that I would personally mouth-pipette a solution of pure chloroform right now, today, in front of God & the NIH Director and the entire Office of Research Safety, if it meant a young scientist in my department could get a payline above 20%.”

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 04/10/2026

TIL the American Red Cross was so serious about the “only voluntary blood donations” thing, they didn’t allow patients who had to frequently have their blood removed for medical reasons to donate it. Because those patients profited from having their blood removed.

The 2022 shortage caused the Red Cross, which only accepts voluntary blood donations, to revise one of its more stringent rules about what constitutes a “voluntary” donation and what does not. There is a genetic disease called hemochromatosis, which causes iron to accumulate in the liver. The condition is treated by frequently drawing blood from these patients, since the red blood cells are rich in iron, and so drawing blood causes their bodies to put iron into regenerating red blood cells rather than concentrating it in the liver. Prior to 2022 the Red Cross didn’t allow these patients to donate blood, because it decided they weren’t voluntary donors because they were receiving a benefit from having their blood drawn. So the blood regularly drawn from these patients was simply discarded. However, starting in August 2022 the Red Cross relaxed this policy and allowed patients with hereditary hemochromatosis to donate blood rather than discard it.23 But the

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Mike Levin @mikelevin.org · 02/10/2026

This is a big deal. In the coming days, a huge pulse of ocean energy from El Niño is set to reach San Diego and move north. It will raise sea levels here by half a foot or more, and they could stay high for months. It comes just as our tides hit their peak and storm season picks up.

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Looking for a postdoc in comp neuro and human brain imaging? Interested in foraging? Join our international collaboration with Jon Rubin, @jyotikab.bsky.social, & @davidrobbe.bsky.social be.bsky.social to study the neural basis of foraging behavior! cmu.wd115.myworkdayjobs.com/CMU/job/Pitt...

cmu.wd115.myworkdayjobs.com

Postdoctoral Research Associate – Cognitive Axon Lab – Dietrich College

The Cognitive Axon Lab, in the Department of Psychology and Carnegie Mellon Neuroscience Institute, seeks applications for a multi-year Postdoctoral Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University. T...

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Thank you Linnea! Happy to chat about it anytime!

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thanks to my co-authors @shtakasu.bsky.social , Juergen Kurths, and @antihebbiann.bsky.social for this exciting ride! To everyone else: I am looking forward to your thoughts!

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

And in other complex systems such as power grids and ecological networks, our work provides insight into the type of systems in which disorder-promoted stability may emerge or collapse in a self-organized manner: www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

science.org

Disorder-promoted stability

Previous studies of network dynamics have suggested that heterogeneity among nodes inhibits stability, which is at odds with the ubiquity of inherently heterogeneous natural and engineered systems. He...

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In neural networks, the development of network structure should be controllable by changes in either neural heterogeneity or the shape of a synaptic plasticity kernel. This connects back to our work on neural heterogeneity: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

cell.com

How heterogeneity shapes dynamics and computation in the brain

No two neurons are the same, yet models often treat neural populations as pools of identical and interchangeable elements. Here, Dahmen et al. highlight recent theoretical advances that reveal the imp...

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Our work reveals that node heterogeneity and network adaptation interact in nontrivial, but predictable ways, with broad implications:

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As one of our main results, we find that the emergence of coupling weight variance depends nonlinearly on the level of oscillator heterogeneity. Moreover, this relationship differs between symmetric and antisymmetric adaptation rules.

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As such, our work goes beyond previous mean-field studies of adaptively coupled networks that only considered the effects of adaptation on the average coupling strength.

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Assuming homogeneous initial coupling conditions, we leverage the Ott-Antonsen ansatz to derive mean-field equations that predict when homogeneous coupling weights persist despite adaptive coupling, and when the coupling weights start to vary.

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Our work addresses a fundamental question of #ComplexSystems and #NetworkScience, with applications in #Neuroscience, #Ecology, #ClimateScience, and other #DynamicalSystems with adaptive coupling. We start from a general system of adaptively coupled phase oscillators.

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

What does adaptation do to globally coupled networks? In our newest preprint, we developed a mean-field theory that predicts when adaptation turns homogeneous connectivity into heterogeneous network structure, and when it doesn't: arxiv.org/abs/2609.22597

arxiv.org

Deviations from global coupling in adaptive oscillator networks: a mean-field theory for the variance of coupling weights

A wide range of physical and biological systems are adaptive networks, in which the dynamics of the nodes and of the edges connecting them co-evolve. Mean-field reductions of such systems typically tr...

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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Preprint time! This is a cool one. Complex systems, be they neural nets, interacting genes, or power grids, can produce diverse dynamics-- things like point attractors, limit cycles, and chaos. The dynamic landscape you get depends on how elements interact. But those interactions can also change!

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Omid V. Ebrahimi @omidvebrahimi.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

📜 Out now: ‘Towards a genetics of mental disorders as complex dynamical systems’ After 2 years of work with @michelnivard.bsky.social & @ludvigdb.bsky.social We outline a roadmap to align behavioural genetics with novel dynamic theories of mental disorders A thread 🧵 doi.org/10.31234/osf...

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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.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.

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Jieyu Zheng @jieyusz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

An acortical mouse — born without hippocampus and most of its neocortex — learns the Manhattan Maze: a 30× improvement in 5 hours, 18 rewards! Now a question for everyone: How can an acortical brain do this? Leave a comment! Preprint w/ @mameister4.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

New preprint on our favorite theme: same connectome + different neurons = different dynamics. @shtakasu.bsky.social looked at detail balance (E+I inputs sum to 0) in RNNs w/different activation functions, finding that it stabilized some networks and destabilized others. arxiv.org/html/2608.30...

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Lilian Weber @lilweb.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

‼️Come join our team at the IKW as a full professor! ‼️ I moved here last year and couldn't be happier - supportive colleagues, incredibly curious students, and lots of exciting developments at the intersection of natural and artificial intelligence. ✨ Any questions: contact Tim or me

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Nahel Belgherze @wxnb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.

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Reposted by Richard Gast

Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

New preprint led by @rgast.bsky.social- part 1 of Richard's ongoing effort to make a better firing rate model: developing mean-field models that can be fit to biological data to capture both the dynamics of neural populations and the underlying physiological heterogeneity that sculpt those dynamics.

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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Happy Monday! Come learn how jellyfish swim. In a review led by fluid dynamics maestro Alex Hoover, we outline how neuromechanical modeling will help us understand how modulation of neural activity allows jellyfish to jet and pirouette through fluids www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Figure 1. The fluid dynamics of jellyfish swimming. a) Minimum intensity projection of a video clip of swimming Clytia hemisphaerica recorded at 30 fps; dark spots capture trajectories of tentacle bulbs, mouth, and gonads over time. Blue outlines approximate the margin of jellyfish on the frame of maximum extent on two successive swim pulses; green arrow shows direction of swimming. b) Minimum intensity projection of the same animal during a period of turning, showing asymmetry in the movement of bulbs on the inside vs outside of the turn. c) 3D diagram of the bell of a swimming jellyfish, showing starting and stopping vortex rings and fluid flow into (blue) vs away from (purple) the bell during the passive energy recapture phase of swimming. d) Cross section of a swimming jellyfish showing fluid vorticity toward the end of a swim pulse relaxation phase, showing locations of the starting and stopping vortex rings and the boundary layer. e) Swim pulse dynamics of an oblate jellyfish under symmetric bell contraction, producing straight swimming. The starting vortex ring is generated by active muscle contraction of the bell (ii, purple arrows), while the stopping vortex ring is generated by passive elastic relaxation (iii-iv, green arrows) from the mesoglea. Forward motion during the relaxation phase arises from the interaction of the starting and stopping vortex rings, with the starting vortex ring pulling fluid away from the bell and the stopping vortex ring directing fluid into the subumbrellar cavity. f) Swim pulse dynamics under asymmetric bell contraction, producing turning. Initially at rest (i), the neuronal signal initiates a muscular contraction in the bell margin on the inside of the turn before a stronger contraction of the bell margin is observed on the outside of the turn (ii-iii, purple arrows). The corresponding passive restoration yields a stronger expansion of the bell margin on the outside of the turn (iv, green arrows).

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The Ott-Antonsen ansatz revolutionized our understanding of coupled oscillator systems with heterogeneous oscillators. We developed a multi-ensemble method that increases the applicability of the OA ansatz to empirical data substantially arxiv.org/abs/2607.09516, as we demonstrate on neural data.

arxiv.org

A multi-ensemble mean-field reduction method for networks of globally coupled phase oscillators with arbitrary parameter distributions

Understanding the dynamical properties of coupled phase oscillator systems with heterogeneous oscillator frequencies has been a long-standing challenge of complex systems theory. While the seminal wor...

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Stelios Katsanevakis @skatsanevakis.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🌡️Could the current #ElNiño become the strongest in at least 150 years? #2027 could become the hottest year on record with major consequences for #Biodiversity. A timely reminder that ecosystem management must prepare for climate extremes—not just long-term trends. 🧪🌍🌐 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

This El Niño is set to be the largest on record by a ‘mind-blowing margin’

Forecasters predict that the monster climate pattern will combine with global warming to push global temperatures in 2027 to new heights.

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Krembil Brain Institute 🧠 @kbi-uhn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

🎉 Please join us in welcoming Dr. Richard Roth to UHN’s @krembilresearch! Dr. Roth joins us as a Scientist, focusing on the interplay between synaptic plasticity and neural circuit adaptation, and how these processes shape motor learning. 🔗 Learn more about his research: www.motor-plasticity.org

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Unbelievable thuggery. No other good team in FIFA does this stuff, as often or at this scale. It's not even close. You think you've seen it all with Mexico and CONCACAF, but it's not even in the same ballpark.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Look at them. Absolute nonsense. Give them all cards. Send them all off.

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Heading to Halifax for the @cnsorg.bsky.social meeting? Make sure to plan to attend the workshop organized by @rgast.bsky.social and myself on "Neuronal heterogeneity’s role in network dynamics and computation." The (hopefully) final schedule is linked below! richlab.pnb.uconn.edu/cns2026/

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Scott Rich, Ph.D. @richcompneuro.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Going to be in Nova Scotia for #CNS2026? Make sure you swing by the workshop I've organized with @rgast.bsky.social entitled "Neuronal heterogeneity's role in network dynamics and computation." The preliminary schedule and talk abstracts are now available! richlab.pnb.uconn.edu/cns2026/

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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

This Danville, VA city council candidate made a very dramatic video about sidewalks and public safety, and I love it and him. Worrying about a possible milkshake duck situation, I looked at his FB page, but he seems ok. Juneteenth celebrations, community outreach, Methodists. A solid old gent.

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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Braitenberg Vehicle day with Hugo Marques at QABVR: wire light, touch, and distance sensors to a pair of motors, then tune the sensor gains and motor outputs to play follow the leader

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Linnéa Gyllingberg @gyllingberg.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

What is the minimal machinery needed for complex, cognition-like behavior? With @lostintheswarm.bsky.social, we show how self-sustained calcium oscillations, diffusion, and mechanics may be enough to coordinate behavior across a single cell with no nervous system. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/

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Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Neuroscientists interested in rigor, methodology, and open practices, check out this job opportunity to work on a COS-MIT collaboration to improve the research culture in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program at MIT. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

careers.peopleclick.com

Neuroscience Research Methodologist

MIT - Neuroscience Research Methodologist - Cambridge MA 02139

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Jeremiah Cohen @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Delighted to share our discoveries about one of the brain's neurotransmitter systems: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Together with colleagues at the @alleninstitute.org, we have learned a lot about a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) that releases norepinephrine (NE). 1

biorxiv.org

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Konrad Kording @kordinglab.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

"We are watching two disciplines trade their worst habits. Neuroscience is mistaking benchmarked prediction for understanding, and machine learning is mistaking mechanistic language for mechanism. ..."

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Beth in CA @bjerz.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Too adorable not to post. She's making sure you see the sign. #birdoftheday #birds #owls #adorable

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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 20/03/2026

I know for a fact that Anthropic used an illegally uploaded version of one of my books for their training data. The way I feel about it does not factor into this at all.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 07/03/2026

omg, nailed

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

The way one can actually explore ideas, being allowed to embarrass oneself in the process (just blame it on the drink)

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Happy #LebowskiDay to all who celebrate

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Richard Gast @rgast.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

You probably saw this already, but just in case - there is a search for an Independent young PI to lead the EEG Lab at University of Coimbra, Portugal

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Ivy L. Xiong @ivyxiong.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

#DynamicsClub in March: 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝘀𝘁 @rgast.bsky.social will share his work on neural heterogeneity and network function (PMID: 38198531, 41475350) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41475350/ March 6 (Friday) at 11am PT / 2pm ET Join us in person at UCLA or on Zoom: lingyunxiong.github.io/DynamicsClub/

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Thomas Nichols @nichols.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Delighted to see that @ohbmossig.bsky.social has confirmed dates for the 2026 @ohbmofficial.bsky.social brain hack! ohbm.github.io/hackathon2026/ 11-13 June Thur-Sat, in the usual 3 days before the meeting, at the Campus Victoire, University of Bordeaux Looking forward to it!

ohbm.github.io

Hackathon Bordeaux 2026 | June 11-13

Join us in Bordeaux, France for an unforgettable 3-day hackathon experience. Build, innovate, and connect with developers from around the world.

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