The National Institutes of Health promised to protect children’s sensitive data in a federally funded project to track brain development. After it failed to do so, fringe researchers co-opted the children’s data, giving fodder for racist claims on social media and white nationalist message boards.

A must-read review. It argues that brain areas are only one of several organizing principles and are not especially central, given their weak correspondence to function. Cytoarchitecture and connectivity are a starting point, not the endpoint. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience

What's the role of #FrontopolarCortex (FPC) in evaluating alternative goals? @markboxf.bsky.social &co show that FPC activity tracks the value of #counterfactual rules via gamma & beta bursts; targeted FPC stimulation alters both neural signals & #DecisionMaking @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ppd5lL

"An emotional research team became tearful as they described how data shows the disease was slowed by 75% in patients...Prof Tabrizi says this gene therapy 'is the beginning' and will open the gates for therapies that can reach more people."🧪⚕️

Since start of 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024, Johns Hopkins has received 40% fewer federal awards, a decline of ~50% in research funding, a reduction of $500 million. University wide, international graduate student enrollment is down by 8% since last year.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

Neuroscientist Sarah Heilbronner is a proud product of Martin County schools in Florida 🌴. However, federal budget cuts threaten important work she's doing in brain research. 🧪🏠 @srheilbronner.bsky.social www.tcpalm.com/story/opinio...

“The devastation of losing something like [the Paleontological Research Institution] is monumental … It can never be replaced.” scim.ag/4ibbAUB

I wrote a column in my hometown newspaper about the importance of keeping SCIENCE FUNDING in our community 🧪 More soon about the power of writing back HOME 🏠 www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/15/g...

Kudos to Matt Ainsworth and Juan Galeazzi who are joint first authors on our preprint (and fond remembrance to our dear departed colleague Mark Stokes, also co-author).

Column by Thomas Boswell | Don’t despair over Juan Soto’s megadeal: The Mets and their big-spending owner will get what they deserve.

I feel so honored by the publication of this special issue of Neuropsychologia. Thanks so much to my friends and colleagues who put this together. And thanks to all the contributors. There are so many wonderful articles. I can't tell you how delighted I am. 🧪🧠 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Neuroscientists are flocking to Bluesky, but X still has ten times more users. My story on the migration, featuring @nicolecrust.bsky.social @russpoldrack.bsky.social @charan-neuro.bsky.social @therealdrdukes.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social + more! www.thetransmitter.org/community/hu...

hello neuroscientists! I am working on a story for @thetransmitter.bsky.social about the X to Bluesky migration and I would love to hear why you switched platforms (and what you make of bluesky so far). DM me or email me [email protected] if you'd like to comment for the piece. Thank you!

Thrilled that our paper on the role of the rat prelimbic cortex (PLC) in decision making is finally out! Three main findings are described in this thread Co-authors: Jensen Palmer, Samantha White, and Kevin Chavez Lopez doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...

26 years after Larry Swanson emphasized “the amygdala is neither a structural or functional unit” we used sn-RNAseq to answer the question: “What is the [primate] amygdala?” Check out the preprint 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#neuroskyence This book is available in ebook format at a discounted price in November. www.amazon.co.uk/Understandin...

Oxford University Press has made Chapter 1 of my book, Cortical Evolution in Primates, available free of charge: fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...

Elon Musk’s first human experiment with the computerized brain device Neuralink developed significant flaws. But Noland Arbaugh, who is paralyzed and the first patient to take part in the human clinical trial, said he has few regrets.

Widespread adoption of open-source tools calls for more support and training. By @alexxai.bsky.social and @marklaubach.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/open-neurosc...

i plan to move to Korea later this year, & will soon hire at all levels (students, postdocs, staff scientists, junior PIs) - docs.google.com/document/d/1... my lab in Japan will run till at least 2025. my job has been nothing but the dream job. but hopefully the above explains it. #neuroscience

Sounds like fun, good luck with the move!

It's #NationalPigDay! Here's a porcine pal from Tanzania. #pigs #warthogs #mammals #animals #wildlife

My new book, Cortical Evolution in Primates, is now shipping from both Amazon and Oxford Univ. Press USA.

Gift link: how to get free Paxlovid in the US as many times as you need: wapo.st/49z3ocf

AYFKM CDC plans to drop five-day covid isolation guidelines www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/...

For anyone interested in science journals www.statnews.com/2024/02/01/s...

The man who stole a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers used in “The Wizard of Oz” from the Judy Garland Museum nearly 20 years ago said he believed the slippers were adorned with real rubies. He was sentenced to time served and a year of probation.

#neuroskyence I have just finished the new book by Steve Wise on Cortical Evolution in Primates. Whereas many neuroscientists (I plead guilty) compare modern day primates, Steve Wise corrects us by describing fossil primates and the world in which they actually lived. Strongly recommended.

I just got mail from the Smithsonian Inst., part of the US govt. If I join "Insiders", I get a free gift: "Brain Matters." In this booklet, it says, I will "discover . . . Why all big decisions are not made in the brain." "Not" is underlined & bold. Can anyone explain why anyone would believe this?

My new book is now available as an ebook at www.amazon.com/Cortical-Evo...

Comparative basolateral amygdala connectomics reveals dissociable single-neuron projection patterns to frontal cortex in macaques and mice https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.571711v1

College Football Playoffs

Available for preorder at Oxford University Press