Mike Levin
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social
I'm a scientist at Tufts University; my lab studies anatomical and behavioral decision-making at multiple scales of biological, artificial, and hybrid systems. www.drmichaellevin.org
Our work on adapting NCAs towards generating controlled morphological changes is now in preprint!
Mike Levin@drmichaellevin.bsky.social · 2w agonew #preprint: t.co/eE1qqGSflK Ben Hartl explains: In 1917, D'Arcy Thompson drew Cartesian grids around different anatomical shapes & showed that deforming the grid could change one species' shape into that of another. We find that "reusable regulatory handles control phenotypic variation" in NCAs
new #preprint: t.co/eE1qqGSflK Ben Hartl explains: In 1917, D'Arcy Thompson drew Cartesian grids around different anatomical shapes & showed that deforming the grid could change one species' shape into that of another. We find that "reusable regulatory handles control phenotypic variation" in NCAs
https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.29755
t.co
New #preprint! Led by Elena Sergeeva. @pigozzife.bsky.social @thosvarley.bsky.social Colin J. Comerci Zhe Zhao Robert Brucker Gürol M. Süel @doctorjosh.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... "Living multicellular systems induce decodable spatial patterns in bacterial collectives"🧪
Living multicellular systems induce decodable spatial patterns in bacterial collectives
Living systems continuously modify their environments through chemical, mechanical, metabolic and bioelectrical activity. Whether a presence of a multicellular system can be encoded into the emergent ...
biorxiv.org
How to train your cells: check out our new platform! In @drmichaellevin.bsky.social's lab, we aim to extend the growing field of single-cell learning to non-neural human cells, enabling scientists to study training techniques as a new approach to medicine and bioengineering
Starting from the idea of "language as a virus", we study the propagation dynamics of LLMs using an epidemic model with cooperation. A great collaboration with @brigan.bsky.social @marktas.bsky.social @sfelena.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social D Krakauer $ @drmichaellevin.bsky.social
New #preprint about Aging: (Léo Pio-Lopez, Navneet Jawanda) "Theories of Aging: From Damage and Programmed Theories to Goal-Directedness" www.preprints.org/manuscript/2... 🧪
preprints.org
New #preprint: led by @drpatricke.bsky.social An important step in our efforts to create tools for the community to accelerate discovery in diverse intelligence as relates to biomedicine and beyond: biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... "A platform for automated training of mammalian cell physiology"
A platform for automated training of mammalian cell physiology
Controlling cell physiology is difficult, not only because of cells' complexity, but also their capacity for real-time adaptation to interventions, leading to challenges such as drug resistance and transgene silencing. Accumulating evidence suggests that this adaptivity resembles classical forms of learning defined in behavioral science. However, a lack of appropriate platforms has led to gaps in our understanding of cells' capacity for adaptive problem-solving in physiological and transcriptional space. Here, we present a device, the Cell Trainer, capable of performing a wide variety of automated training experiments on non-neural mammalian cells, using timed drug pulses as the stimulus, and a mobile fluorescence microscope to capture images of responses, across replicate cultures. The Cell Trainer can operate in either an open-loop (feedforward) or closed-loop (feedback-controlled) mode, and our image analysis pipeline can report the behaviors of individual cells throughout each experiment and quantify population heterogeneity. We showcase the ability of the Cell Trainer to execute experimental protocols and perform single-cell analyses in both modes. We first demonstrate with a feedforward experiment in which myoblasts are repeatedly pulsed with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and their discrete calcium responses are analyzed, revealing sensitization-like dynamics. Next, we demonstrate a feedback control scheme wherein the fluorescence of a pH/voltage reporter in kidney cells is maintained below a threshold level with controlled pulses of acid. To accelerate research in the field of cell training, learning, and memory, we are openly sharing the Cell Trainer schematics and software with the research community. This platform provides a flexible tool for studying how cellular physiological states can be shaped by patterned stimulation and feedback control through approaches that work with the native adaptive competencies of cells. ### Competing Interest Statement This research was partially funded at Tufts under a Sponsored Research Agreement with Astonishing Labs. M.L. is a co-founder and shareholder of Astonishing Labs. Astonishing Labs has certain rights to any inventions associated with this research. Templeton World Charity Foundation, https://ror.org/00x0z1472 John Templeton Foundation, https://ror.org/035tnyy05, 62212 Astonishing Labs
biorxiv.org
New computational modeling paper w/ Josu Egea-Carro, Salvador Mafe, Javier Cervera pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti... "Bioelectrical regionalization of multicellular aggregates by microRNAs"
Bioelectrical regionalization of multicellular aggregates by microRNAs
We theoretically explore how microRNAs (miRNAs) can modulate the expression of ion channel proteins and the resulting cell membrane potentials in multicellular
pubs.aip.org
Final version is out! #bioelectricity Patrick McMillen (scholar.google.com/citations?us...) "Lifetime imaging reveals long-distance non-neural bioelectric patterns on timescales from seconds to hours" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
#preprint, two very bright and motivated high-school students: Nikhil Dev and Angelina Nguyen www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... "Trained Planaria Retain Memories Through Head Regeneration: A Model System for Insights into Non-Neural Memory and Neurodegenerative Diseases"
Trained Planaria Retain Memories Through Head Regeneration: A Model System for Insights into Non-Neural Memory and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Planaria exhibit remarkable regenerative ability, including the capacity to regrow complete heads and brains after decapitation. Here, we re-investigated whether regenerated planaria can preserve lear...
biorxiv.org
New paper, Evgeniya Shmeleva "Manipulation of biological systems by self-defecting and foreign agents" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
new #preprint @pigozzife.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2607.28250 Once you get replicators, Darwinian evolution can happen. What's happening *before* replicators arise? "Causal Architecture Dynamics Prior to Arrival of Self-replicators in a Model of Catalytic Networks Relevant to Origin-of-Life"
Causal Architecture Dynamics Prior to Arrival of Self-replicators in a Model of Catalytic Networks Relevant to Origin-of-Life
Agents that exert causal power in the world are thought to be the product of selection among diverse replicators; what is the causal structure of a medium before replicators appear, and evolution take...
arxiv.org
New #preprint: @steffikapsetaki.bsky.social , Tomer Landsberger www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Do individual planaria exposed to the same stressor find the same, or different, transcriptional solutions to that problem? 🧪
Transcriptional Profiling of Planarian Regeneration Habituating to Physiological Stressor Reveals Individual and Collective Dynamics
Exposure to the potassium channel blocker barium chloride (BaCl₂) causes head degeneration in Dugesia japonica flatworms, followed by regeneration of BaCl₂-insensitive heads, offering a unique model f...
biorxiv.org
Final version: @bhartl.bsky.social, Leo Pio-Lopez, Chris Fields www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Remapping and navigation of an embedding space via error minimization: A fundamental organizational principle of cognition in natural and artificial systems
sciencedirect.com
New #paper: rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/organ... Mostly unaltered conversation among some great people on the definitions of life.
✨✨✨ New paper out in Embodied Intelligence 2025 ✨✨✨ Guénin—Carlut, Avel. 2026. “Development Is (Embodied) Intelligence - Biological Information, Agency, and Contextuality.” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1343 (1): 012008. doi.org/10.1088/1757.... 1/7
Development is (embodied) intelligence - Biological information, agency, and contextuality
Development is (embodied) intelligence - Biological information, agency, and contextuality, Guénin—Carlut, Avel
doi.org
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of discussing -- more informally and deeply -- on computation, consciousness, multiscalarity, and autonomy, with the ever-hospitable @drmichaellevin.bsky.social , Nicholas Rouleau, and @jaanaru.bsky.social:
Computationalism and consciousness with Nic Rouleau, Jaan Aru, and Borjan Milinkovic.
YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content
youtube.com
New #preprint with Chris Fields: www.preprints.org/manuscript/2... "Cognitive Offloading Is a Cognitive Universal" 🧪
preprints.org
What is life? Final version is out @blaiseaguera.bsky.social Reed Bender, Karina Kofman link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🧪
What Lives? A Meta-Analysis of Diverse Opinions on the Definition of Life - Biological Theory
The question of "what is life?" has challenged scientists and philosophers for centuries, producing an array of definitions that reflect both the mystery of its emergence and the diversity of discipli...
link.springer.com
New paper with @doctorjosh.bsky.social, @drmichaellevin.bsky.social, and co-first author Vaibhav Pai. This one is a doozy - in it we show that we can modulate the degree of emergent, multicellular organization in a Xenobot with an exogenous compound (ATP). 1/N www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Purinergic signaling disrupts emergent patterns of multicellular coordination in basal Xenobots.
The ability of self-organizing systems to display emergent, adaptive capabilities is a fundamental feature of biological life. Understanding the mechanisms by which cells co-ordinate at the micro-scal...
biorxiv.org
What are the preferences of novel in silico and in vivo agents that aren't directly engineered toward a specific set of behaviors? An example, from the world of Lenia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenia) - here's our #preprint on agnosiophobia (avoidance of the unknown): arxiv.org/abs/2605.30708
My good friend and neuroscientist Oné Pagán: youtu.be/pXMZHPvHRlU?...
TEDx West Chester University
YouTube video by WCUofPA Digital Media Center
youtu.be
AI agents can already scan the literature, analyze data, and generate hypotheses. Some predict they’ll revolutionize medicine. Others warn they’ll flood science. Tomorrow, @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and @odedrechavi.bsky.social discuss this topic. Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Might metabolic networks be trainable as gene-regulatory networks are (thoughtforms.life/but-where-is...)? New #preprint Axel de Baat "Homeostatic feedback model of energy metabolism with adaptive enzyme levels exhibits problem solving behavior" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Ever wanted to talk to a gene regulatory network? Ever wonder what they could do in a different context, embodiment, space? New preprint - part of our approach for developing ways to talk to cells, organs, and much much weirder agents: @yanbozhang123.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2605.16321 🧪
Language Game: Talking to Non-Human Systems
Language carries thought and coordination among humans but rarely reaches further along the spectrum of diverse intelligence. Yet non-neural systems -- from gene regulatory networks and microbial cons...
arxiv.org
Final forms of 3 new papers! #consciousness #selforganization #cognition #economics and more 🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/article... royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/article... royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/article...
Brains and where else? Mapping theories of consciousness to unconventional embodiments
Abstract. It is assumed that a useful theory of consciousness (ToC) will explain why consciousness is associated with brains. However, the findings of evol
royalsocietypublishing.org
🧪 Awesome new theme issue of Philosophical Transactions: ‘World models in natural and artificial intelligence’ Thank you Adam Safron! royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/issue/3...
Volume 384 Issue 2320 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A | The Royal Society
Influential themed journal issues across the physical mathematical and engineering sciences.
royalsocietypublishing.org
