As we're all taught, you can (usually) only directly date the age of a rock if it cooled from lava. But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking. My take @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

We lost Mark Norell today. Dinosaur hunter extraordinaire. The coolest dude alive. My PhD supervisor. Wherever you are, raise a glass of your favorite lager or single malt, as it is what Mark would want.

Just so saddened to lose my doctoral supervisor and mentor Mark Norell today. He was one of a kind and his personality almost defies description. A legendary scientist but also human. I will be missing him so much.

New: I teamed up with @elenashao.bsky.social and nytgraphics to map more than 100 public TV and radio stations that are at risk of closing as a result of tonight's vote: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... This is a time bomb that will go off in the fall, when the last federal grants run out.

Today is my first day at @nytwirecutter.bsky.social! Beginning my journey of learning about sleep products such as mattresses, sunrise alarm clocks and more. 💤

Leafcutter ants’ specialized roles can be reprogrammed by adjusting two neuropeptides, a new Cell study shows. And the molecular mechanisms that control the labor roles of ants may also be conserved in mammals. By @shaena.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/social-behav...

Bittersweet: today is my last day at The Transmitter. I had a great time working here and writing about fascinating work in the field of neuroscience. Also if you just follow me for brain stuff there won't be as much of that anymore, so I apologize. Although...new exciting things are on the horizon!

Trump Seeks to Cut Basic Scientific Research by Roughly One-Third, Report Shows. Gift link: nyti.ms/44KFFFv

A 2022 Nature paper identifying a cell type linked to the brain cancer medulloblastoma has been retracted after an independent reanalysis questioned the cell type’s existence, despite objections from the original authors. By @shaena.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/cell-types/n...

Our award-winning news team is looking for an enthusiastic trade journalist to join our fast-paced newsroom in NYC. This is an excellent opportunity for a science journalist to develop a beat in the field of neuroscience. For more info, please visit: bit.ly/4nvAy4k #neuroskyence

My favorite writer wrote about sleep! Or lack thereof...a predictably excellent story from Jennifer Senior at The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Are you a science journalist who loves neuroscience? There's an opening for you here! Happy to answer any questions.

The neurons that encode sequential information into working memory do not fire in that same order during recall, a finding that is at odds with a long-standing theory. Read more in this month’s Null and Noteworthy. By @ldattaro.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/null-and-not...

Interesting new idea about what the hippocampus does: "contextualize our experiences and provide a scaffold onto which we can form memories" 🧪 www.thetransmitter.org/memory/expan... from @thetransmitter.bsky.social

Applications are open for the first Cephalopod Neuroscience Gordon Conference, to be held February 2026! Hope to see many of you there! 🐙🧠🔬 www.grc.org/cephalopod-n...

Election worker: “Emily Mandel. Isn’t that a writer’s name?” Me: “I’m a writer.” Election worker: “Oh, I was thinking Hilary Mantel, never mind”

Super entertaining story about the miraculous migration of Bogong moths in Australia--they travel 600 miles to a cave they've never been to before. How do they do it?! www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...

Loma Linda University Health has launched an inquiry into the work of stroke researcher John H. Zhang after a data sleuth flagged issues with 98 of his papers. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/publishing/e...

BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Robert, for the 6-3 court, holds that the law is not subject to heightened scrutiny under equal protection and passes rational basis review. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

$323 million worth of neuroscience funding has been cut from NIH according to a new analysis from @thetransmitter.bsky.social/ @claudia-lopez.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/funding/nih-...

I'm back to work at The Transmitter after my leave! Let me know about any new neuroscience-related papers, preprints, controversies, gripes, etc. [email protected]

A man with a severe speech disability is able to speak expressively and sing using a brain implant that translates his neural activity into words almost instantly. https://go.nature.com/4jPup00

Is it true you use only 10 bits / s of your brain? @andpru.bsky.social and I provide a motor systems perspective on a proposed speed limit for human information processing. Out today in @natneuro.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For black-capped chickadees, looking out at a location activates the same place cells as actually being there, a study from Columbia University shows. By @martajhill.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/hippocampus/...

Data-integrity expert Elisabeth Bik noticed repeat structures in a 2019 Nature Communications paper by Peixin Yang. A deeper look revealed “multiple” issues across more than 20 of his papers. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/academia/mor...

HIV vaccine researchers felt they were on the cusp of finally making significant progress in developing an effective vaccine, after nearly 40 years of trying and failing. Then came the Trump administration. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

ICYMI: The female brain deserves a closer look in Alzheimer’s disease research, writes Rachel Buckley @bucklr01.bsky.social‬. Read more in this essay for our series on sex differences in the brain. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/sex-differen...

Two multisite projects aimed at scaling up mouse connectomics lost federal funding in recent cuts to Harvard University grants. By @avaskham.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/funding/mult...

Neuroscientists long ignored variability in animals’ behavior in favor of studying differences across groups. But now researchers are studying the brain differences that underlie that variability—and their efforts are beginning to pay off. www.thetransmitter.org/animal-behav...

By @alejandrabee.bsky.social The House and Senate both voted to loosen regulations on air pollutants like dioxin and mercury, which are associated with higher cancer risk.

After more than a month of uncertainty, 30 previously purged employees at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke received an email yesterday stating they no longer face termination. By @sydneywyatt.bsky.social, @avaskham.bsky.social #neuroskyence bit.ly/4dwfrdG

How useful is it to compare artificial intelligence to a human brain? Listen to the first episode of the all-new Quanta Podcast. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2FJL...

Wow: after 15 years, YouTube has taken down the original 'Rick Roll' video due to a "licensing issue," likely due to the acquisition of Astley's record lable. The metadata remains, but if you click through it goes to 'video not found': www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4...

Thank you, Jesse H. Neal Awards @siia.net, for naming @thetransmitter.bsky.social winner in four categories: Best launch of a media brand, best profile, best single article, and the Grand Neal. Congratulations to the team. siia.net/neals/2025-n...

An upcoming human brain atlas may not be able to meet its goal of pairing molecular and cellular data with the functional organization of the cortex because of slow recruitment. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/brain-mappin...

JUST IN: ProPublica’s “Life of the Mother” series, which exposes the fatal consequences of abortion bans, has won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. This is the second consecutive year we’ve been awarded this distinction and our eighth Pulitzer: www.propublica.org/series/life-...

Like his scientific heroes before him, Rafael Yuste thinks science progresses through new methods. By @shaena.bsky.social, Brady Huggett #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/neural-netwo...

An analysis of 20 autism mouse models point to two subtypes: One displaying out-of-sync brain activity and impaired synaptic pathways, the other with too much synchrony and dysregulated immune pathways. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/too...

In the biggest move to weaken the power of the Endangered Species Act yet, the Trump administration is proposing a change to how the word "harm" is interpreted. Under the proposed rule, harming habitats wouldn't count as harming species. www.npr.org/2025/04/17/n...

Olfactory neuroscientists have known for a while that their stimuli stink. A new analysis illuminates the extent of the problem. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/olfaction/sm...

In his new book, published today, Nachum Ulanovsky calls on the field to embrace naturalistic conditions and move away from overcontrolled experiments. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

The CDC's cruise ship inspectors have been laid off, as well as agency's head epidemiologist for investigating cruise ship outbreaks That baffled health officials since this program is paid for by cruise ship fees, not taxpayer dollars www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cru...

Researchers who maintain federally funded repositories of human data received an NIH email in March noting that they must comply with a 20 January executive order from President Trump that recognizes only two sexes: male and female. By @avaskham.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/policy/u-s-h...

Can someone explain why seemingly unrelated e-commerce companies are running basically the same ads?

Posted about paleo on social media today and it felt like 2015 in my head

Exactly

Not gonna do a big thread since I’m a day late but I know so many science journalists who would have approached the dire wolf story with more appropriate skepticism but…alas!

Babies are terrible functional MRI participants: They wiggle, cry and nap. But a small group of scientists have figured out how to scan them. “I’ve held hands with probably 100 babies during these scans,” says Nick Turk-Browne. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/cognitive-ne...

A funding setback led Rafael Yuste to the Hydra, and a new way to study neural networks. By @shaena.bsky.social, Brady Huggett #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/neural-netwo...

Wow! apnews.com/article/deme...