kwitschas
@kwitschas.bsky.social
Biochemist and former postdoctoral patch-clamp artist @UGent, Belgium, now at Tampere University, Finland #ionchannels, #mechanobiology, and #calciumsignaling https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Katja-Witschas
For anyone who's curious, I gave a kind of insane chalk talk about this in Bamberg a while back: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tumu...
Maxine Collard - How would we know what an astrocyte knows?
YouTube video by Models of Consciousness Conferences
youtube.com
Ben Hayden@benhayden.bsky.social · 3w agoif that's true... how much of electrophysiology is just telling us what we already knew??
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon discussion now online. Lively debate on @romainbrette.bsky.social 's position. #neuroskyence youtu.be/XV6kCsiq0g0?...
Romain Brette discusses brains and computations
YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon
youtu.be
We are still looking for a Research Technician and a Research Associate (PhD level) to join our team. Details below 👇
Sophie de Carné (she/her)@sdecarne.bsky.social · last mo.🚨 We are hiring 🚨 Very excited to share that we have 2 positions to fill in the deCarne lab @gustaveroussy.fr A Research Engineer (Research Assistant) and a Lab Technician More details + how to apply below 👇 Feel free to share with your network 🙂 #CancerResearch #ScienceJobs #Hiring 🧪
New Preprint! We gave neural networks infant-like curiosity and let them free to explore. They grew brain-like architecture, followed human synaptic development, and even started to display compositional thought. So we think curiosity doesn't just come from a complex mind... it helps us build one 👇
Curiosity shapes brain-like architectures and functions
How does complex cognition emerge from simpler underlying processes? We show that two components are sufficient: infant-like curiosity and brain-like biophysical constraints jointly drive the emergenc...
biorxiv.org
Hey, if anyone is wrapping up their PhD and wants to apply for this with us, let us know! You would be working on our organoid screen for TDP-43! www.theaftd.org/wp-content/u...
theaftd.org
My book on consciousness at Oxford University Press is now available! It is titled House of Mirrors: The Illusion of Phenomenal Consciousness. The (open access) pdf can be downloaded for free on Oxford Academic: academic.oup.com/book/62981 Printed copies should be available at the end of July.
House of Mirrors: The Illusion of Phenomenal Consciousness
Abstract. This book provides a defense and an exploration of illusionism regarding phenomenal consciousness. Phenomenal consciousness supposedly encompasse
academic.oup.com
Hearts of hibernating mammals continue to beat at near 0°C thanks to continued excitability. Several members of a minor group of voltage-gated Na channels in the heart are found to contain a mutation unique to hibernators. From John S. Willis @universityofga.bsky.social: rupress.org/jgp/article/...
Why are living things different from nonliving? In this piece for @quantamagazine.bsky.social I argue that it is because they are purposive and goal-directed: a capacity we can productively characterize as agency. www.quantamagazine.org/is-life-just...
Is Life Just Different? | Quanta Magazine
The idea of ‘biological agency’ — that life devises its own goals and behaves accordingly — complicates our understanding of what it means to be alive. But does it serve a scientific purpose?
quantamagazine.org
This seems like a bold claim, given that we still don’t understand how consciousness works and that current evidence suggests the brain operates very differently from today’s AI. A Silent Workspace In Claude Mirrors Key Features of Human Consciousness m.slashdot.org/story/456104 #neuroscience
Slashdot
m.slashdot.org
"Structure and metabolism should no longer sit in separate boxes. The brain’s wiring could also be part of its fuel strategy. Myelin may be more than insulation; it may also form part of the brain’s adaptive metabolic infrastructure." 🧠👇 #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/metabolism/b...
Beyond glucose: The brain may feed itself
Myelin may serve as an energy reserve for the brain, and neuroscientists are rethinking how the brain stores, shares and protects energy.
thetransmitter.org
Don’t forget gap junctional coupling. Everyone forgets gap junctional coupling, but it’s upwards of at least 25% of the current throughput in some retinal circuits.
Tom Baden@neurofishh.bsky.social · 3mo agoHow is the ON and OFF pathway split in the visual system? 🤔 The textbook standard, that bipolar cells are separated simply by the glutamate receptors they express, might be due for an update....a short 🧵
Beautiful paper from Andrew Yang’s group. A whole suite of new tools for studying brain waste clearance. A few take home points: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Physiological brain clearance architecture revealed by neuronal protein tracing
Neuronal protein tracing, unlike CSF tracers, reveals that brain clearance follows a “nearest exit” principle through distinct border immune niches disrupted differently by disease.
cell.com
I'm away from home for a few days this week, so my partner has been texting me regular Roquefort pics. I thought Bluesky might enjoy these as well? 😻
Many of these highly trained specialized staff were women of color who chose slightly lower paying jobs because of the good benefits and reliable employment it provided for their families. Women of color have been disproportionately targeted by these reductions in force in government and academia.
Dr Kathleen Millen@neurodevkathy.bsky.social · 4mo agoNot only less efficient, but we are having to fire highly trained specialized staff because grant dollars required to pay their salaries are not being issued. Catastrophic for research programs which are being irrevocably damaged.
The number of NIH competitive awards is down 50% from 2025, and down ~70% from prior years. Even if they catch up by the end of the year, only wealthy institutions can bridge these huge funding gaps.They're killing science-and violating the constitution-by weaponizing the bureaucracy
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 4mo agoThrough March 31, the number of grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health is down by more than half compared with the same period last year, a Post analysis found. There are also fewer grants focused on women’s health, cancer and mental health, the analysis found. https://wapo.st/48dWJWX
How do cells convert mechanical information into a molecular process? The @alushinlab.bsky.social has captured the first snapshot of a mechanical signaling complex in action, findings in @nature.com that have implications for disorders related to myosin dysfunction. 🔗: https://bit.ly/41Kshjw
We feel something is lost for readers and authors in denying them the chance to freely speculate about the meaning and implication of their data. 💡 That’s why we’ve introduced an ‘Ideas and Speculation’ section in our articles. Find out more: buff.ly/1623cqp
A couple who created the first approved gene therapy for blindness awarded $3m (£2.2m) Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences. Molecular biologist Jean Bennett & ophthalmologist Albert Maguire share the prize with physician Katherine High. 🧪👁️ www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
‘Oscar of science’ awarded to team behind gene therapy that restores lost vision
Married couple Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire developed Luxturna, which helped a patient see their child’s face for the first time
theguardian.com
With the new changes, a B on an #ERC application may actively make you less employable. People looking for postdocs will prioritise hires who might get funding over those that are banned from even applying. #academicchatter
European Research Council (ERC)@erc.europa.eu · 4mo agoThe number of grant applications is rising sharply. Our capacity for their evaluation isn’t. ERC President Maria Leptin explains why stricter resubmission limits are being introduced for 2027 calls and what they mean for applicants. 🔗 link.europa.eu/xF7kjc
Fresh batch of Scholar Goggler clouds for Andrew S. MacDonald. Hot topics: cell, dendritic, infection, response, th2, induction @profandrewmac.bsky.social Create yours at https://scholargoggler.com/ #AcademicSky #CellBiology #Immunology
A very pretty sunrise this morning to start the day ☀️
New preprint describes “a spectrolaminar organization of neurovascular coupling in the human auditory cortex” to distinguish feedforward vs feedback dynamics across cortical depths.
bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 4mo agoRelating layer fMRI signals to acoustics and intracranial neuronal activity in the human auditory cortex in a naturalistic design https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.15.718614v1
How does blood flow relate to brain activity? We discovered that it reflects two neural populations affected oppositely by arousal. Together, they explain neurovascular coupling in all brain regions and brain states! Out today in Nature: rdcu.be/fdC2A @uclbrainscience.bsky.social
