substack.com/@gavanmcnall...

Gavan McNally (@gavanmcnally)

Australia is sleepwalking into scientific irrelevance   Australia is living through a dangerous contradiction: we publicly praise science while systematically dismantling the conditions required for...

substack.com

Migrants to Australia have displayed an inability to assimilate with local values and refuse to speak anything but their native tongue, a study covering the last 237 years has found.

Migrants Failing to Assimilate, 200-Year Study Finds — The Shovel

"They refuse to fit in or speak anything but their native tongue"

theshovel.com.au

This looks like a postdoc project, definitely an excellent team

Gonzalo Urcelay@gurcelay.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Job Alert!!! We are looking for a motivated postdoc to join a 3-year BBSRC funded project led by my colleague Carl Stevenson (I’m coPI). This multi-disciplinary project will combine in vivo heart rate monitoring and optogenetics with behavioural testing (fear and active avoidance) in rats.

Symposia / Satellite Proposals open for IBNS 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa! ibns.memberclicks.net/meetings

Put it this way: The universe does not care if we live or die. It is a dangerous and hostile place and the best tools we have to prevent suffering, death, and misery is science. And it’s an “arms race” in some aspects. Science has saved more humans than any other investment throughout history.

Infectious Diseases@infectiousdz.bsky.social · last yr.

Measles likely came from cows (via rinderpest) around the 6th century BCE. For 2,500 years, we didn’t evolve superhuman resistance—children just died. Real protection only came in the 1960s, with vaccines. Our superpower isn’t evolving into superhumans. It’s outthinking pathogens.

Our latest on how and why people differ in good decision-making and why some people persistently make poor decisions.

Phil Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel@philjrdb.bsky.social · last yr.

Stoked to share our new paper examining why people differ so much in avoiding harm www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Days have passed since the conference ended, but we want to take a moment to congratulate once again the winners of the Young Investigators Award! Your research is inspiring 🌟

Have recent changes led to uncertainty in your future scientific career? Wonder it's like in Australia? Good news! Monash's is seeking to hire talented EMCRs from other countries. Come join a wonderful community of brain mappers & modellers! www.monash.edu/research/eme...

Pleased to see this published. We show an FGF21 analogue selectively reduces alcohol motivation and consumption in mice, potentiates efficacy of low dose GLP1, and reorganises drinking related activity in the accumbens. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

FGF21 analogue PF-05231023 on alcohol consumption and neuronal activity in the nucleus accumbens - Neuropsychopharmacology

Neuropsychopharmacology - FGF21 analogue PF-05231023 on alcohol consumption and neuronal activity in the nucleus accumbens

nature.com

If the US is willing to ignore Europe in its dealings with Russia and Ukraine, who seriously thinks they will care what Australia says about China, Taiwan or anything to do with our region? The US doesn’t want allies or partners, it wants servants. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02...

Zelenskyy calls for 'armed forces of Europe' as US pulls back support

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Europe can no longer count on the US for support and should create an "armed forces of Europe" to defend itself.

abc.net.au

And up next, the remarkable Yulong Li, his first but we hope not last, visit to Australia.

Keynote by the excellent Dr Lizzie Manning at Optogenetics Australia (@drlizziemanning.bsky.social)

Zane Andrews (@zane-andrews.bsky.social) at 4th Optogenetics Australia meeting. AgRP neuron stimulation and feeding.

A wonderful meeting, submit a proposal and join us in Almeria.

John F. Cryan@jfcryan.bsky.social · 2y ago

Symposium proposal deadline coming up for upcoming @eurbehavpharm.bsky.social Biennial meeting in beautiful Almería in Spain One of the friendliest & best meetings for behavioral neuroscience

Seasons greetings: FGF21, alcohol, and GLP-1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

FGF21 Analogue PF-05231023 on Alcohol Consumption and Neuronal Activity in the Nucleus Accumbens

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived hormone known to suppress alcohol consumption in mice and non-human primates. However, the role of FGF21 in modulating environmental and behaviou...

biorxiv.org

Enjoyed this paper. www.nature.com/articles/s41... One interesting aspect is how similar these data are to data by Kamin showing intact LTM despite poor STM when one uses a single session of behavioural training (Kamin, 1957)

Formation of long-term memory without short-term memory revealed by CaMKII inhibition - Nature Neuroscience

Inhibiting CaMKII impairs short-term memory (STM) in mice during an avoidance task but does not affect long-term memory (LTM). This suggests that STM and LTM are processed differently, with CaMKII cri...

nature.com

This Week in The Journal #JNeurosci | Alpha Wave Direction Differentially Impacts Working Memory; New Insights on Neuron Loss in a Huntington's Disease Mouse Model www.jneurosci.org/content/44/5...

This Week in The Journal

Alpha Wave Direction Differentially Impacts Working Memory Yifan Zeng, Paul Sauseng, and Andrea Alamia (see article e0532242024) Research consistently links alpha waves to working memory, revealin...

jneurosci.org

I do love graduations. Today we saw Dr Sophia Gilchrist graduate from her PhD. I had so much fun supervising Sophia alongside my wonderful colleague John Power.

ANS24 in Perth this week. A fantastic meeting, well done to the LOC. Great to see old and meet new friends. I had the privilege of giving the Elspeth McLachlan Plenary - an honour I share with an amazing team and wonderful collaborators. Looking forward to Hobart 2025.