Richard Gast

@rgast.bsky.social

Neuroscientist at Scripps Research. Postdoc in Ann Kennedy's lab (@antihebbiann). Dynamical systems, mathematical modeling, neural computation. Open-source promoter and scientific software developer (github.com/pyrates-neuroscience)

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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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.

Richard Gast@rgast.bsky.social · last wk.

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.

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.

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...

arxiv.org

🌡️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...

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.

nature.com

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.

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

"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. ..."

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Neuroscience has become increasingly concerned with prediction, and machine learning with causal explanation, with each field adopting methods from the other, writes @gershbrain.bsky.social. Will this bring us closer to understanding neural systems? www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...

University of Groningen: ⭐ no more big-tech by 2030 ⭐ Google Workplace 🚫 Windows 🚫 MS Office 🚫 ChatGPT 🚫 A huge challenge! Meeting culture won't get us there. Dedication and focus will. 💪🚀 Let's get to work. ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science

We can do without them: how the UG is cutting ties with Big Tech

By 2030, the university aims to be digitally independent. And that’s not a pipe dream, say proponents of the plan.

ukrant.nl

Just out in @nature.com BME: Our Review unpacks intracortical microstimulation: axons, not somas, drive activation; direct + indirect pathways shape perception; parameters interact with neuron type, layer, and network; long-term use limited by neural depression & tissue response. 🧠⚡ rdcu.be/eZbTz

Neural mechanisms underlying intracortical microstimulation for sensory restoration

Nature Biomedical Engineering - Intracortical microstimulation can elicit artificial sensations in persons who have lost sensation due to neurological injury or disease. This Review discusses...

rdcu.be

Useful browser extension to help assess issues in papers: - retraction check - PubPeer comments check - tortured phrases check - fake references check We need more tools in this spirit to help make sense of science.

Colby Vorland@colbyvorland.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I launched version 3.0 of my browser extension "Lazy Scholar", a free in-browser research assistant. It opens automatically when you load an academic article. See: lazyscholar.org/2026/01/10/l...

At the Bernstein Conference 2024, Jeremie Lefebvre and I organized a workshop on the computational consequences of neural heterogeneity. Now, slightly more than a year later, we funneled the emerging discussions into a perspective piece: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

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...

cell.com