A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into perception in your brain. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-gu...

Out today: a new special series from @quantamagazine.bsky.social about science in the age of AI! It explores the roots of AI in fundamental science, how researchers are trying to make sense of AI today, and the ways they’re grappling with an uncertain future. www.quantamagazine.org/series/scien...

"A maggot knows things about the outside world in a way that no computer does." Read @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social fun + fascinating feature: AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK www.quantamagazine.org/ai-is-nothin...

Tweaking modern animals to look like ancient animals is super cool, and impressive genetic technology. But de-extinction it is not. More from @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social here www.quantamagazine.org/why-de-extin...

(@yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social covered this already. Three years ago.)

“The biggest misconception about de-extinction is that it’s possible,” evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro told @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social in 2022. Read her explainer on the plausibility of efforts to bring back extinct species, such as dire wolves. www.quantamagazine.org/why-de-extin...

Thank you to @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social, who wrote a fantastic article for @quantamagazine.bsky.social about our studies on the evolution of the avian pallium. Love it! shorturl.at/vmTLq

Took 1.5 years at Quanta to assign my first bird story 😇 @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social's beautiful writing + excellent reporting about the evolution of intelligence — evidence that birds evolved complex brain circuits independently of our mammal intelligence www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...

Calling someone bird-brained is, in fact, a way of calling someone highly intelligent. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...

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Fascinating news feature about concept cells - neurons really can encode ideas. "Concept neurons fire for their concept no matter how it is presented: in real life or a photo, in text or speech, on television or in a podcast." @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/concept-cell...

Microbiomes in the gut have major impacts on our digestion, our immune system, even our social skills. If microbes are present in the brain, it could reveal layers of neurological regulation that we never knew existed. www.quantamagazine.org/fish-have-a-...