Cian O'Donnell
@cianodonnell.bsky.social
Computational neuroscientist. Senior Lecturer at Ulster University in the Great City of Derry, Northern Ireland. "not articulate enough" https://odonnellgroup.github.io
What does synapse position buy a neuron? We trained a dendritic network to place its own synapses on a covariance task. It clustered correlated inputs onto shared branches, and shuffling that placement destroyed performance while every weight stayed intact. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2607.24503 🧵-->
Synaptic clustering emerges from learning and supports covariance discrimination
Functional synapse clusters (FSCs) are synapses with correlated presynaptic activity that are colocalized on the same neuronal dendritic branch. FSCs have been observed after learning in cortical and ...
arxiv.org
Finally out in @natneuro.nature.com! A forgotten memory isn't always gone. We show that forgotten memories persist as silent memory traces, can be recovered by reminders, and can even be reconstructed into false memories. Excited to finally share this work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Creating true and false memories from forgotten information in Drosophila - Nature Neuroscience
Forgotten memories in Drosophila persist as silent memory traces and can be recovered by reminder cues. Manipulating reminders can create false memories, showing that memory reconstruction flexibly in...
nature.com
If an action results in error, each neuron requires an individualized teaching signal that guides change in its output. This is the credit assignment problem of learning. Are there neurons in the brain that can compute such a sophisticated teaching signal? Yes. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Climbing fibers encode the gradient of a loss function for the cerebellum
Neurons in the brain are often many synapses away from motoneurons, yet if a movement results in error, each distant neuron needs a teacher that considers its specific contribution to production of th...
biorxiv.org
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...
tbh I would say my product is awesome beyond precedent too if I were the ceo of a 'for profit' company with no viable business model
Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · last wk.no we aren't. no it isn't. that isn't true
So excited and glad to get this work out, the culmination of many years of effort and headscratching...just in time for the summer break. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
CNIH3 is a molecular signature of slow AMPA receptors
At excitatory synapses, glutamate activates receptors in the postsynaptic membrane including the AMPA receptor. Usually considered to be the fastest receptor in the brain, AMPA receptors can produce m...
biorxiv.org
Parallel independent #voltage #computing along #dendrites of #CA3 pyramidal #neurons | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Parallel independent voltage computing along dendrites of CA3 pyramidal neurons
Dendritic computation contributes to information processing in cortical circuits. Hippocampal CA3 plays a central role in navigation, but how the dendrites of CA3 pyramidal neurons process information...
science.org
I am *thrilled* to share this review in @currentbiology.bsky.social out today, by yours truly, @myoo.bsky.social, @michalk.bsky.social, Taro Toyoizumi, @tyrellturing.bsky.social, @taylorwwebb.bsky.social, & @hakwan.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧵👇
Looking to the brain to improve energy efficiency of AI
Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems have achieved remarkable capabilities, but at an extraordinary energy cost. Training and running large-sca…
sciencedirect.com
the optimist in me hopes that this merge will allow the appointed minister to brag to cabinet about business and trade successes, and so afford them space to let UKRI get on with the science management stuff unimpeded Vallance otoh surely had continually make case for benefits of science
Politics UK@politicsuk.com · 2w ago🚨 UPDATE: Andy Burnham has scrapped the Department for Science, Technology and Innovation It has been merged into Business and Trade, which will be renamed as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
'Patrick Vallance has resigned as science minister amid rumours that his department will be disbanded by the new UK prime minister Andy Burnham.' 1/3
Patrick Vallance quits as science minister
Former Covid-era chief scientific adviser said he is stepping down ‘for personal reasons’ amid rumours his department is being disbanded
timeshighereducation.com
circa 2010 during my PhD in a comp neuro/machine learning institute, at a computer vision seminar I asked a naive question and speaker said, yeah there is a running joke in ML that what we really need is 'a big model that knows everything'. Cue a chuckle from the audience How blind we were
My review of Evolution. The BBC series, not the concept. But to be fair, I'm a big fan of both. @chrisgpackham.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c6c0...
Why new BBC series Evolution is a giant leap forward for science on TV
Adam Rutherford salutes a show that finally links the spectacle of natural history with the science that explains it
ft.com
How does the brain track how much sleep has occurred, and gauge the likelihood of waking at each moment? Check out our new preprint: “A molecular integrator of sleep duration and interruption” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/10)
A single dynamical property can account for the capacity to learn, from artificial networks to the mammalian brain. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.09.737603v1
Distinct evolutionary trajectories of two integration centres, the central complex and mushroom bodies, across Heliconiini butterflies
Distinct evolutionary trajectories of two integration centres, the central complex and mushroom bodies, across Heliconiini butterflies
A cognitive adaptation in Heliconius butterflies, accompanied by strikingly divergent changes in two principal insect integration centres, reveals that neural circuits can differ strongly in their propensity...
buff.ly
From ‘Outstanding’ and a good reminder that investing in the arts is a win-win, not a lose-lose, proposition.
Dear peer reviewers everywhere: sometimes we feel pressure to find issues with a submission as a demonstration of diligence. But we have to recognise this is a mistake: picking random and sometimes incoherent holes in research add confusion, generates unnecessary work and encourages defensive
Good news everyone! 🎉 The new version 3.0 of graph-tool is just out with major improvements! See below. graph-tool.skewed.de graph-tool is a comprehensive and efficient Python library to work with networks, including structural, dynamical, and statistical algorithms, as well as visualization. 1/N
as a designer, the thing about these flyers that stands out to me: clients have always wanted flyers like this this is like the raw id of client desire, which, when filtered by a good designer gives you things like information hierarchy and white space no designer, no filter, garbage
Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 4w agoChatGPT posters and flyers are polluting real life and driving me insane. Please respond to this with the worst ones you've seen irl. I'll post some in the thread www.404media.co/we-are-livin...
Delighted the Irish government saw fit to fund this new teaching building to boost campus capacity. As a Donegal native working in Ulster Uni Derry campus, I hope growth in student numbers here will in turn boost the economy of the NW of the island, the most neglected part of both UK and Ireland.
Ulster University@ulsteruni.bsky.social · 4w agoPlanning approval has been granted by Derry City & Strabane District Council for our new Teaching and Student Centre in Derry~Londonderry, an important milestone for Ulster University and the North West. . Read more: https://ow.ly/cM8n50ZlFqL
Planning approval has been granted by Derry City & Strabane District Council for our new Teaching and Student Centre in Derry~Londonderry, an important milestone for Ulster University and the North West. . Read more: https://ow.ly/cM8n50ZlFqL
Our paper "Neural timescales from a computational perspective" is finally out in @natneuro.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... We discuss how computational models and methods can distill empirical observations on neural timescales into quantitative, testable theories of brain computation.
Neural timescales from a computational perspective - Nature Neuroscience
This review integrates computational approaches to provide a unified view on how data analysis methods, biophysical mechanistic models and machine learning approaches can help to uncover the origins a...
nature.com
everyone 35+ years old can relate to this random but debilitating injury
Fabrizio Romano (MIRROR)@fabrizioromano.yopro20.com · last mo.🚨⚠️ Official: Jordan Henderson will miss the rest of the World Cup after sustaining a severe wrist fracture during post-match celebrations at Azteca stadium. Henderson will undergo surgery.
A kick-ass chart by Matt McLean in @sondreus.bsky.social's fantastic retrospective of 250 years of American power www.economist.com/interactive/...
when you start seeing your learning rules research everywhere
Banger Dáil exchange where Paul Murphy is told not to call Elon Musk a "psychopath" in line with Dáil standing orders
