Exciting news! Our @erc.europa.eu StG project ARCHAEAOLOGY got funded 🎉 We’ll combine cryoET/EM, ExM & spatial omics to explore the subcellular organization of Asgard archaea. Job ads coming soon! 🦠 ❄️ 🔬 #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky #MicroSky

EMBL@embl.org · 3w ago

Congratulations to @florianwollweber.bsky.social, the recently appointed Group Leader at EMBL Grenoble, who received an ERC Starting Grant worth approximately €2 million to investigate the origins of eukaryotic cell complexity. bit.ly/4gNwEBk

Congratulations to @florianwollweber.bsky.social, the recently appointed Group Leader at EMBL Grenoble, who received an ERC Starting Grant worth approximately €2 million to investigate the origins of eukaryotic cell complexity. bit.ly/4gNwEBk

With profound sadness we announce the passing of our colleague and friend Antoine de Chevigny, an expert in cortical development respected for his creativity and curiosity and cherished for his kindness and joie de vivre. He leaves an immense void. Support for his partner: tinyurl.com/2yrh7huc

Interesting piece @science.org It's true that in the way scientific hierarchy is designed it generally rewards confirmation & penalises difference. What this paper misses is the epistemic injustice in recognition based on the identity of who presents the surprises. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Advancing science by designing for surprise

Consider a thought experiment. Two graduate students have written identical dissertations: the same experiments, the same data, the same robust findings. One is written as a standard, cautious text th...

science.org

Huge congrats to @snierwetberg.bsky.social , David (not on BSky), and @maxwellxchen.bsky.social for their paper! They developed a mouse task in which relational structure can be isolated from cue identity and reward statistics. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧠📈🧪 #neuroskyence @uclnpp.bsky.social

challenges matter

ines-schoenmann.bsky.social@ines-schoenmann.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New peer-reviewed paper w/ @mheilbron.bsky.social, @predictivebrain.bsky.social & Jakub Szewczyk! Pre-onset brain encoding has been taken as evidence that brains–like LLMs–predict upcoming words. We show that the same signatures arise in systems that cannot predict. (elifesciences.org) (1/8)

How does the brain build a memory? A common assumption is that the neurons activated during an experience collectively form the memory engram. In our new Nature Neuroscience paper (finally out!), we show that this is not the case. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Deconstruction of a memory engram reveals distinct ensembles recruited at learning - Nature Neuroscience

Pouget et al. identified distinct CA1 neuron ensembles active during specific moments of fear learning and uncovered the core engram essential for memory formation.

nature.com

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task “This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing … … Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioral levels”

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed thr...

arxiv.org

FDA grants breakthrough device designation to ReVision Implant visual cortex prosthesis med-techinsights.com/2026/03/09/f... #Occular #BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

FDA grants breakthrough device designation to ReVision Implant visual cortex prosthesis - Med-Tech Insights

Belgian neurotechnology startup ReVision Implant has received Breakthrough Device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its visual cortical prosthesis, Occular, clearing the...

med-techinsights.com

Nature@nature.com · 7mo ago

Ahead of International Women’s Day, check out this collection on the rewards and challenges that face women in science, including news and research covering fresh approaches to women’s health, the motherhood penalty, and more. go.nature.com/3OKCfhE

Rethinking self-awareness: insights and biases from self-recognition research www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Rethinking self-awareness: insights and biases from self-recognition research

Understanding the evolution of self-awareness, which is defined as the capacity to reflect on oneself as an individual, in nonhuman animals holds far-…

sciencedirect.com

The origin of eukaryotic cells continues to be one of the greatest mysteries in biology. EMBL Grenoble is excited to welcome Florian Wollweber, who will use cutting-edge imaging techniques to study Asgard archaea — microbes closely related to our earliest ancestors. 🦠🔬 www.embl.org/news/people-...

Our new paper (with @biotay.bsky.social) is out and on the cover story of @currentbiology.bsky.social !!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments. www.cell.com/current-biol...

'Across randomized trials, she preferred the bristled end but switched to the stick end when targeting softer lower-body areas....Our findings broaden the taxonomic scope of flexible tool use and invite a reassessment of livestock cognition.'

Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow

Osuna-Mascaró and Auersperg report flexible, multipurpose tool use in a cow, expanding the known range of mammalian tool users and underscoring overlooked cognitive capacities in livestock.

cell.com

Daniel Benneworth-Gray@danielgray.com · 8mo ago

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

Elon Musk is worse at hiding it but this is the problem with all billionaires: they are a threat to democratic governance. They have an insatiable need to own and control everything. If you want to be free you have to curb their power, and demand political leaders who understand that

Lora Kolodny@lorak.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Elon Musk is against the European Union being the European Union —he posted this after X (fka Twitter) was fined for violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Fully funded PhD position between our lab in Göttingen and @tobiasackels.bsky.social in Bonn! Dual-color imaging 🔬🐁 in freely moving mice, behavioral analysis, olfactory 👃 and spatial coding in #hippocampus... It's a cool project in two fantastic labs. Reach out if interested! 🤙 #neuroskyence

Tobias Ackels@tobiasackels.bsky.social · 10mo ago

PhD position in systems neuroscience! Excited to start a new DFG-funded project together with @obarnstedt.bsky.social to study olfactory–spatial coding in CA1. 🔬 Dual-colour miniscope Ca2+ imaging 🐭 Freely moving behaviour & optogenetics ⏳ Start: April 2026 | Deadline: 31.01.2026 More info below ⬇️

We used rabies virus 👾 to map how #psilocybin modifies long-range circuits 🧠, revealing network-specific reorganization that we didn’t expect. The full study is now online at Cell. @cp-cell.bsky.social Paper 👉 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Thread for a synopsis 👉 bsky.app/profile/alex...

Psilocybin triggers an activity-dependent rewiring of large-scale cortical networks

Psilocybin reshapes brain networks through activity-dependent plasticity, including a weakening of recurrent cortical loops that could underlie its therapeutic effects.

cell.com

Alex Kwan@alexkwan.bsky.social · last yr.

New preprint + thread 🧵 #Psychedelics induce the formation of new synapses, but where do they connect? Our rabies tracing study reveals that #psilocybin shifts connectivity across specific cortical networks. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/12

**When are brain waves causal???** #neuroskyence arxiv.org/html/2511.06...

Online Now: How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs

How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs

The ubiquity of extraordinary beliefs across human societies, such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and supernatural beliefs, is a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science. Prevailing accounts emphasize cognitive biases and social dynamics but often neglect a key factor: experience. We synthesize recent evidence and identify three pathways by which experience can shape these convictions: by filtering which beliefs feel perceptually plausible, by sparking new beliefs through anomalous and emotionally charged events, and by being engineered through immersive cultural technologies that simulate sensory evidence. These pathways function alongside cognitive biases and social processes, helping explain why certain extraordinary beliefs recur, why they often accompany vivid rituals, and why they can feel convincing despite evidence that challenges their veracity.

dlvr.it

my little take on whole-brain neurophysiology and what it tells us about global coordination of neural activity on behavioural timescales (I steered clear of tasteless analogies for this one...) authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7H5_LsQS...

Are you interested in visuo-motor mismatch and serotonin? Come see @norambr.bsky.social featuring mice spinning in VR at R16! #SfN2025 #vestibulo-VR #serotonin #predictive_processing

Our lab digs into how serotonin tunes prediction errors and eye movements — with custom tools and curious mice.We got 2 posters at #SfN2025, Tue AM (C5) and Wed PM (R16). Recruiting PhD students & postdocs in sunny Marseille. Come chat about neuromodulators, tinkering, or free will and intuition.

Psychedelics alter neurovascular coupling, which means we need to critically re-evaluate fMRI findings of acute psychedelic effects #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonism alters neurovascular coupling and differentially affects neuronal and hemodynamic measures of brain function - Nature Neuroscience

Padawer-Curry et al. show that the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist DOI alters neurovascular coupling in mice, with implications for the interpretation of human fMRI studies of psychedelics.

nature.com

Oxytocin modulates respiratory heart rate variability through a hypothalamus–brainstem–heart neuronal pathway @julie.buron.bsky.social @inmed.bsky.social @insermpacacorse.bsky.social D54@incia-neurocampus.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oxytocin modulates respiratory heart rate variability through a hypothalamus–brainstem–heart neuronal pathway - Nature Neuroscience

Buron et al. show that oxytocin enhances heart rate variability linked to breathing during recovery from stress. This calming and cardio-protective effect is produced through a hypothalamus–brainstem ...

nature.com

Really interesting work by Bakhurin and colleagues challenging the reward prediction error hypothesis of dopamine: www.nature.com/articles/s41... I love this figure which both echoes and undermines the famous figure from Schultz et al. (1997).

In the latest episode of @braininspired.bsky.social, Xaq Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...

Xaq Pitkow shares his principles for studying cognition in our imperfect brains and bodies

Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances.

thetransmitter.org

Premenstrual disorders, including PMS and PMDD, are associated with significantly reduced quality of life, particularly affecting anxiety, mood, and daily functioning in women of reproductive age. doi.org/g95bzk

Greater impact than expected: Premenstrual disorders linked to reduced quality of life

A new study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) at Karolinska Institutet shows that women with premenstrual disorders have a significantly lower quality of life compared to women without such conditions.

medicalxpress.com

Does predictive coding work in SPACE or in TIME? Most neuroscientists assume TIME, i.e. neurons predict their future sensory inputs. We show that in visual cortex predictive coding actually works across SPACE, just like the original Rao+Ballard theory #neuroscience www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Aeon enables: – Continuous Neuropixels recordings – Behavioural tracking – Modular, scalable design – Multi-modal data pipelines – Open-source hardware/software A new tool for neuroscience → aeon.swc.ucl.ac.uk

Fantastic to see Elusive Cures by @nicolecrust.bsky.social & How to Change a Memory by @okaysteve.bsky.social (on-sale: November 4) on @thetransmitter.bsky.social reading list:

The Transmitter’s reading list: Six upcoming neuroscience books, plus notable titles in 2025

Dig into an exploration of the fundamental aspects of intelligence, a new textbook about theoretical neuroscience and a memoir about memory research, among other new releases.

thetransmitter.org