Sheila Macrine, PhD
@macrinephd.bsky.social
Professor Cognitive Psychologist at UMass Dartmouth. She focuses: embodied cognition and Learning Free access: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/5306/Movement-MattersHow-Embodied-Cognition-Informs https://embodiedcognitionandlearning.com/
Thanks @philiplaughlin.bsky.social
Philip Laughlin@philiplaughlin.bsky.social · last wk.For next week's @cogcompneuro.bsky.social conference at NYU, I'll continue to post highlights from the @mitpress.bsky.social OA platform, #D2O. Today's selection is EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE by @macrinephd.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edi...
This edited collection by @macrinephd.bsky.social, Jennifer M. B. Fugate, Arsen Abdulali, and Josie Hughes moves beyond the traditional focus on brains and code to explore embodied intelligence across various disciplines: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205349...
Our thread on the newly published brain and nerve cord #BANC #connectome, and what #neuroscience stories we can tell with it.
Wei-Chung Allen Lee@darbly.bsky.social · 2mo agoNow published - the #BANC! A full central nervous system (CNS) connectome of a limbed animal at single-synapse resolution, enabling us to follow sensory-motor arcs and understand how the CNS controls the body. rdcu.be/fncjS. #neuroscience. Video by @quorumetrix.bsky.social 1/18
A massive milestone for #Neuroscience! The complete brain-and-cord connectome of the adult fruit fly is officially published in @Nature. Check out this incredible visual journey tracing how the CNS controls the body. 🪰 x.com/as_bates/sta... 🔗 rdcu.be/fncjS @quorumetrix @as_bates #BANC #Neuroscience
Alexander Bates on X: "Just published yesterday, the #BANC! A full central nervous system (CNS) connectome of a limbed animal enables us to trace sensory-motor arcs and understand how the CNS controls the body. https://t.co/19jmEfxEVH #neuroscience @Nature, Video by @quorumetrix, sound on! 1/18 https://t.co/I0BJGfHgDm" / X
Just published yesterday, the #BANC! A full central nervous system (CNS) connectome of a limbed animal enables us to trace sensory-motor arcs and understand how the CNS controls the body. https://t.co/19jmEfxEVH #neuroscience @Nature, Video by @quorumetrix, sound on! 1/18 https://t.co/I0BJGfHgDm
x.com
Open-access release of @MITPress's new volume on Dennett’s Real Patterns: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edi... It's the perfect primer for our forthcoming volume, "Embodied Intelligence" (out June 23rd!) mitpress.mit.edu/978026205349...
Dennett's Real Patterns in Science and Nature
How the concept of a pattern, as understood in information science and applied in contemporary AI, can address deep questions in science and philosophy.The
direct.mit.edu
Does the body really keep the score? Steven Kotler & Karl Friston argues trauma isn’t stored in tissues. It’s a prediction error—the brain gets stuck in rigid threat expectations. www.frontiersin.org/journals/sys... #Neuroscience #Trauma #PredictiveCoding #PTSD #FlowState #ActiveInference
Frontiers | The Body Does Not Keep the Score: Trauma, Predictive Coding, and the Restoration of Metastability
The Body Does Not Keep the Score: Trauma, Predictive Coding, and the Restoration of Metastability By Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Glenn Fox, Karl Friston ...
frontiersin.org
Why can amphibians regrow lost limbs while mammals can't? Researchers discovered lowering oxygen levels or targeting the oxygen-sensing protein HIF1A awakens latent regenerative abilities in mammalian cells.! news.epfl.ch/news/when-ox... #RegenerativeMedicine #Biology #TissueRegeneration
When oxygen determines if a limb can regrow
Researchers at EPFL have discovered how oxygen-sensing explains why amphibians regenerate limbs and mammals do not.
news.epfl.ch
Is forgetting the secret to intelligence? An epic roundtable with Michael Levin, Karl Friston, Mark Solms, Richard Watson, and Alexey Tolchinsky youtu.be/w_ciA-yyF8M?si… #MichaelLevin @tolchinsky.bsky.social
Discussion: Richard Watson, Alexey Tolchinsky, Mark Solms, Michael Levin, and Karl Friston
YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content
youtu.be
How do our cells organize their “second genome”? Scientists solved a century-old mystery: a temporary shape change called "mitochondrial pearling" evenly distributing mitochondrial DNA. Could unlock new insights into aging and neurodegenerative diseases! actu.epfl.ch/news/how-mit...
How mitochondria organize our “second genome”
EPFL scientists discover that a simple shape change in mitochondria helps cells evenly distribute their mitochondrial DNA, solving a long-standing puzzle.
actu.epfl.ch
New open access from @MITPress Bridging the gap between information science, biological evolution, and the deep questions of philosophy? Real Patterns—to the roadmap laid out by Daniel Dennett—is out now. @philiplaughlin.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edi...
Dennett's Real Patterns in Science and Nature
How the concept of a pattern, as understood in information science and applied in contemporary AI, can address deep questions in science and philosophy.The
direct.mit.edu
No brain? No problem! A simple single-celled organism without a brain or neurons appears to be capable of an advanced form of learning. Meet Stentor coeruleus. t.co/51azt7sF3t
https://repo.enc.edu/2026/03/13/a-single-celled-organism-without-a-brain-is-capable-of-pavlovian-learning/
t.co
Sneak peek at our upcoming @MITPress Open Access Embodied Intelligence, with Jennifer Fugate, Arsen Abdulali, & Josie Hughes (June, 2026). A major transdisciplinary effort rethink ing intelligence. mitpress.mit.edu/9780262053495/… #EmbodiedIntelligence #CognitiveScience #AI @mitpress.bsky.social
Embodied Intelligence
Intelligence research is undergoing a radical transformation, moving beyond the traditional focus on brains and code to increasingly recognize the role of em...
mitpress.mit.edu
New paper with @drmichaellevin & @RichardWatson90 Cell & developmental biology IS the place to naturalize cognition — no naïve thresholds, no dualism, just a continuum of adaptive plasticity from molecules to morphogenesis. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1084952126000029
Machines all the way up and cognition all the way down: Updating the machine metaphor in biology
Cell and developmental biology (CDB) offer numerous remarkable examples of collective adaptive plasticity, as cells coordinate to implement large-scal…
sciencedirect.com
Why Do Humanoid Robots Still Struggle With the Small Stuff? www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-human...
Why Do Humanoid Robots Still Struggle With the Small Stuff? | Quanta Magazine
The last decade has seen vast improvements in humanoid robots, but graduating to widespread use might require going back to the fundamentals.
quantamagazine.org
Do cells "think"? @drmichaellevin explains how #bioelectricity acts as a #collectiveintelligence, directing cells to build limbs, repair organs, and even "re-program" away from cancer. youtu.be/M5Qgecp4dA0?... #Bioelectricity #RegenerativeMedicine #Biology #CancerResearch #CellularIntelligence
Can We Reprogram Life? Dr. Michael Levin on Bioelectricity & Cellular Intelligence | Ep. 14
YouTube video by In Vivo Podcast
youtu.be
Is reality purely material or a mind-body split? Neither. Essay unpacks "material-mental monism," everything possesses both dimensions. Insights panpsychism & our ecological connection to universe. www.templeton.org/news/what-if... #PhilosophyOfMind #Metaphysics #Ecology
What if Fundamental Reality Has Mental and Material Aspects?
templeton.org
MIT Researchers using LLMs to slash the cost of protein drugs. By decoding the "language" of yeast DNA, this AI optimizes genetic sequences for vaccines and cancer treatments news.mit.edu/2026/new-ai-... #AI #Biotech #Innovation #DrugDiscovery #HealthTech #SyntheticBiology #ProteinEngineering
New AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugs
MIT chemical engineers used AI to optimize the selection of codon sequences for protein drugs produced by yeast, which could reduce the costs of developing and manufacturing these drugs.
news.mit.edu
On embodied cognition @macrinephd.bsky.social You might enjoy this talk by @chrisfields38.bsky.social. I find it to be deeply meaningful. One quote to start with: "Numbers are actions," as in "2" means - repeat an operation f you just did one more time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5aw...
"From Experience to Math" by Chris Fields
YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content
youtube.com
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings. Behaviors arise from interactions, not central control. Essay on the #EntangledBrain by Luis @PessoaBrain #Neuroscience #ComplexityScience #CognitiveScience aeon.co/essays/how-t...
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
aeon.co
Does a virus have agency? This text is written based on the work by @macrinephd.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and @wiringthebrain.bsky.social Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this? open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Does a virus have agency?
Exploring the limitations of a causality-based model of agency.
open.substack.com
Think you can truly empty a box? #Quantummechanics says otherwise. Even at absolute zero, "zero-point energy" remains because the Heisenberg uncertainty principle forbids total stillness. #ZeroPointEnergy #Physics #Science #CasimirEffect www.quantamagazine.org/in-quantum-m...
In Quantum Mechanics, Nothingness Is the Potential To Be Anything | Quanta Magazine
Try as they might, scientists can’t truly rid a space or an object of its energy. But what “zero-point energy” really means is up for interpretation.
quantamagazine.org
Algorithms induce "Cognitive Drift" gradually resetting our mental baselines. A neuro-anchored protocol to audit how AI curation reweights user attention and emotion over time. t.co/1kSlt1Ujut #AI #Neuroscience #DigitalEthics #MentalHealth #AlgorithmAuditing #ResponsibleAI #ActiveInference
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2025.1697053/full
t.co
Wow! Entangled Brain free @mitpress.bsky.social Open Access! Forget isolated regions. @PessoaBrain shows behavior emerges from “collective computations” across a fully integrated, complex system. mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460... #Neuroscience #ComplexityScience #SystemsBiology #BrainResearch
The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together
A new vision of the brain as a fully integrated, networked organ.Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, c
direct.mit.edu
New preprint with super @manuelbaltieri.bsky.social ! Mathematical approaches to the study of agents osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
News about biological computationalism -agency arises from the constraints of energy & real-time physics—not abstract code. To engineer #consciousness, need to build systems that "feel" the cost of their computation. neurosciencenews.com/consciousness-… #Agency #Robotics #BioEngineering
Rethinking the mechanism of @dissociation . Combines first-principles & nonlinear dynamics: collapses in "temporal depth" is the key driver behind the loss of self-coherence. tinyurl.com/2wevuvvp @drmichaellevin.bsky.social , @tolchinsky.bsky.social @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social
Frontiers | Temporal depth in a coherent self and in depersonalization: theoretical model
Multiple theoretical models of dissociative experiences have been formulated over the last century. These theories are clinically useful; however, it remains...
frontiersin.org
How are the self, space, and time related? A new study on #depersonalization found feeling disconnected from your body-linked to time slowing down, & feeling detached from the world-linked to time speeding up. @Annaciaunica tinyurl.com/bdh4thdb #Neuroscience #TimePerception #Consciousness
Spatiotemporal disruptions of reality perception in depersonalization
Experiences of time and space are core constituents of the sense of bodily self. Depersonalization (DP) is a condition characterized by distressing feelings of
tinyurl.com
A brain-wide map of decision-making! 🧠 Study reveals how sensory inputs, choices & motor actions are encoded across 279 brain regions. Dataset publicly available #Neuroscience #BrainMapping #DecisionMaking #OpenScience #BigData #Neuropixels t.co/54Lc3CmYgV
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09235-0
t.co
