New preprint! How can you remember an image you saw once, even after seeing thousands of them? We find a role for humble mid-level visual cortex in high-capacity, one-shot learning. doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.22.677855 🧵🧪1/

Pythagorean Triple Square Day, as one man affectionately calls 9/16/25, is a day like no other this century.

The ‪@intlbrainlab.bsky.social published 2 papers today on their work to create a map of neural activity across the entire mouse brain. Learn more about the lab: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/02/20/how-do-our-brains-make-decisions-the-international-brain-laboratory-is-closing-in-on-answers/

15 years of radio observations yielded this amazing view down the throat of a black hole. We're looking into a jet of plasma shooting out from a supermassive black hole, called PKS 1424+240. The lines depict intense magnetic fields threaded through the jet. 🧪🔭 www.mpg.de/25171297/eye...

One of the joys of being a scientist is the ability to think about a problem for a long time. Our new preprint solves a mystery that has been bugging me since I was a graduate student (which was, ahem, a while ago). 🧪🧠🧵1/ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

At #ccn2025 and interested in bridging animal and human neuroscience? Stop by B121 this afternoon to see our investigation of the neural representations in spikes and field potentials and our surprising result that sometimes field potentials are better! 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=t... 🧠📈

Whether it’s on paper, screen or audio, there are more ways than ever to enjoy a good book. But do different formats engage the brain in the same way? Co-editor @catrinahacker.bsky.social explores in this week's post: pennneuroknow.com/2025/08/05/t... #PsychSciSky #SciComm 🧠🟦 🧪 📖

As has been clear since April*, Vought intends a pocket rescission. This blanket hold is another tactic to maximize the size of that rescission. Rescission is THEFT from the public. We have until Aug 15 to spend out the budget. CAL CONGRESS AND DEMAND THE HOLD BE LIFTED. Lives are on the line 🧪 *

⚡ New preprint ⚡ Long ago, I heard a talk about our remarkable ability to remember 1000s of images, after seeing each only once. How do brains manage it? 🤔 After years, this reflects the answer I was looking for. Congrats to Simon Bohn et al. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... More: /1

My latest Aronov lab paper is now published @Nature! When a chickadee looks at a distant location, the same place cells activate as if it were actually there 👁️ The hippocampus encodes where the bird is looking, AND what it expects to see next -- enabling spatial reasoning from afar bit.ly/3HvWSum

I am excited to announce (belatedly) that my dissertation’s final chapter has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience! doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...

The octopus brain has teased researchers since the 1960s, but recording from it seemed impossible. Cris Niell and his team’s calcium imaging experiments finally “showed that this brain could be studied,” says Sam Reiter. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/vision/cepha...

New preprint! Statistical structure skews object memory toward predictable successors. Model simulations show how this bias can arise from the backward expansion of hippocampal representations. w/co-first @codydong.bsky.social , @marlietandoc.bsky.social & @annaschapiro.bsky.social osf.io/yuxb6_v1

They would've found something to weaponize regardless. One of the most admirable things about science is its commitment to self-criticism. The fact that bad actors may capitalize on our legitimate concerns should never stop us from being honest and reflective about what we do.

New preprint, w/ @predictivebrain.bsky.social ! we've found that visual cortex, even when just viewing natural scenes, predicts *higher-level* visual features The aligns with developments in ML, but challenges some assumptions about early sensory cortex www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thank you @joulesriley.bsky.social for covering such an important topic! Curiosity-driven research is essential, even when we're not certain exactly what application it might have down the line. The two examples Jules highlights show how investing in basic research now has huge payout later.

This highlights the point that comparisons between humans and machines are continually muddied by a lack of distinction between evolution and development, both of which contribute to learning in the broad sense.

Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation. rdcu.be/el18q A short thread follows for those interested. 1/n

(1/6) Thrilled to share our triple-N dataset (Non-human Primate Neural Responses to Natural Scenes)! It captures thousands of high-level visual neuron responses in macaques to natural scenes using #Neuropixels.

In a new special series called “Science, Promise and Peril in the Age of AI,” @quantamagazine.bsky.social looks far beyond AI-based research tools to explore how #AI is changing what it means to do #science and what it means to be a scientist. www.quantamagazine.org/series/scien...

New work by @liushuze.bsky.social establishes an empirical link between policy complexity and neural dimensionality: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Why does the forebrain expand dramatically while other neural regions grow less? Our new publication reveals progenitor metabolism critically shapes region-specific brain growth. Thread below. authors.elsevier.com/a/1k-udL7PXu...

Our latest manuscript (7 years in the works) tackles the question of how diurnal ground squirrels evolved a cone-dominant retina, in contrast to the ancestral rod-dominant retina retained by virtually all other mammals./1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧠✨How do we rebuild our memories? In our new study, we show that hippocampal ripples kickstart a coordinated expansion of cortical activity that helps reconstruct past experiences. We recorded iEEG from patients during memory retrieval... and found something really cool 👇(thread)

A putative neural correlate of mood! One big (scandalous?) idea, simple analyses, and the STRONGEST brain/behavior correlation I've EVER seen (which is shocking, given that it's mood). Work with: You-Ping Yang, @catrinahacker.bsky.social and Veit Stuphorn. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The trope that universities are "dependent" on the federal government fundamentally misunderstands how vital this partnership has been for the US. The private sector can't replace it. If we kill it, we're all worse off. From @donmoyn.bsky.social and me: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...

For the last 3 yrs, I was the director for the Science of Science program at the NSF. We funded projects on science communication - science communication to the public, communication of public priorities to scientists, citizens engagement & participation in science. 🧵

This work with Alan Stocker, @lingqiz.bsky.social, and Jiang Mao is now in print. We benefited from very thoughtful reviewers. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I had so much fun writing this summary of awesome work done by @lizsiefert.bsky.social @annaschapiro.bsky.social and co.! Learn about how your brain transforms memory during sleep (and at least one reason getting sleep is so important!): www.upennglia.com/briefs/bib-m... #neuroskyence #SciComm 🧪

How does the brain integrate information from new experiences while preserving established memories? Have a look at our latest preprint, "Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques" 🧵 🧪🧠🤖👩‍🔬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In the face of threatened budget cuts, I wrote about how biomedical research is funded in the United States for this week's @pennneuroknow.bsky.social post. Please share! I hope that this can be a resource to explain research funding to non-scientists and scientists alike. 1/n

1/7 Our paper on individual variability in decision-making is finally out in @nature.com! Inspired by the classic work by Mante and Sussillo, we trained many rats to solve context-dependent decision-making, and we found that different brains use different neural mechanisms to solve the same task!

Ever found yourself falling back into old habits when you're stressed? This week, @kara-mcgaughey.bsky.social breaks down new work in mice showing what brain circuits may be to blame: pennneuroknow.com/2025/03/18/f... #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky #SciComm 🧪

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Did you know that we can study dinosaur brains?! This is my favorite post I've ever written for @pennneuroknow.bsky.social. Diving into the world of dino brains reminded me just how amazing it is to be a scientist and I hope others can share in that excitement too. #neuroskyence #SciComm 🧪

Over the past few weeks, science funding in the U.S. has become shrouded in uncertainty. Ten trainees with diversity-based funding share how the changes are affecting their research and career plans. By @avaskham.bsky.social @claudia-lopez.bsky.social @callimcflurry.bsky.social bit.ly/42Wifxr

The earliest studies on necessary and sufficient neural populations were performed on simple invertebrate circuits. In her latest column, @neurograce.bsky.social asks if this logic still serves us as we tackle more sophisticated outputs. www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

New preprint: "The geometry of the neural state space of decisions", work by Mauro Monsalve-Mercado, buff.ly/42wVHD5. Surprising results & predictions! (Thread) We analyze neuropixel population recordings in macaque area LIP during a reaction time, random-dot motion 1/

A challenge for basic scientists is to guarantee that the future generation of health-care professionals and policymakers understands the importance of addiction and mental health research. By Omar Abubaker, @karlakaun.bsky.social, @ericjnestler.bsky.social bit.ly/42oULRu #neuroskyence

Excited to share my first first-author paper out now in PNAS! By comparing retinotopically-defined visual areas in macaques and humans, we found that evolutionary expansion is reflected in the size, not number, of visual areas. #neuroskyence #neuroscience www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My paper with @mikearcaro.bsky.social exploring the organization of pulvino-cortical connections in newborn human infants is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! www.cell.com/current-biol...

This was a really fun collaboration and I hope everyone enjoys the paper! Please let us know if you have any feedback! media.giphy.com/media/pbG8W7...

What is or isn't a "BCI"? We argue in Nature BME today that if the tech stimulates or records brain activity AND does computation, it's a BCI. www.nature.com/articles/s41... But we still need a way to discuss different types of BCI separately... 🧵 #BCI #BrainComputerInterface

Like a lot of us, I've been nervous about what the new year will bring for science, but reading about all the things that got our writers excited about neuroscience this year has me ending the year on a high and excited for neuroscience in 2025!

Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back with the funky animals they study. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social, @avaskham.bsky.social, @claudia-lopez.bsky.social, @shaena.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...

Recent studies found pronounced neuromodulation in the early visual cortex due to locomotion and spontaneous body movements in mice but not in non-human primates. We reconciled this dichotomy in this new open-access feature review @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks @thetransmitter.bsky.social for highlighting my soon-to-open lab! My lab will explore the neural and computational mechanisms that support perception and cognition from infancy to adulthood. And, yes, the first piece of 'equipment' bought for the lab was a nintendo switch :)

We have collected Penn Neuroscience faculty, students, staff, and alumni into a starter pack! Give these awesome neuroscientists a follow and let us know if you want to be added to the list. go.bsky.app/V6S8gHT #neuroskyence

She was first author on the paper. He won the Nobel prize. The beautiful and complicated story of a scientific marriage — and the difficult choices many women in science have to make in order to have a family. Story by the incredible @mmolteni.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2024/12/06/n...

Advent of Comp Neuro ALERT!! 🎄🤖🧠🧪 This advent season I will be posting some papers in Computational and Systems Neuro that I think are *underrated* and deserve some more attention! ✨ Stay tuned not to miss any! #neuroskyence #neuro #advent