New paper alert! Neural mechanisms of cognitive conflict: processing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... 🧵 1/6

There was an Op-ed in the New York Times this weekend about how the "attention" in the attention economy isn't what you're told that it is. As a cognitive neuroscientist, I'm interested in cognitive processes like attention, so I read it. I have thoughts, shared here: brockkirwan.com/uncategorize...

I have attended/helped organize the Winter Conference on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory for 25 years. It's one of the best for advancing scientific discussion in a relaxed setting, organized by volunteers dedicated to a low-cost quality experience. Consider supporting: gofund.me/a78e7ed78

Excited to be part of this event next month with @pennmindcore.bsky.social! If you're at Penn, come learn about some possible career paths in behavioral & brain sciences outside of academia 🧠 mindcore.sas.upenn.edu/calendar_eve...

Overheard while boarding the red eye flight last night: Toddler: what does “red eye mean”? Dad: it means this is a flight in the middle of the night. We’re all going to sleep on the flight—mommy, daddy, you. We’ll all sleep. Toddler: will the pilot sleep? 😂

Super interesting article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer about regular MRI screenings for brain tumors & other injuries. In my experience, we see an incidental finding in maybe 1/1000 cases, but I scan healthy young adults at low risk for these things. What do you think? share.inquirer.com/kHZkTn

Seeking Works in Progress Presenters MindCORE invites @upenn.edu grad students, postdocs & RAs to give short presentations on a current project followed by an informal discussion with students and fellow researchers. We’ll provide a location, promotion, & snacks. You provide the science. DM us.

This is rad. Eye tracking could be an early, low-cost tool for dementia detection

A vaccine for seasonal allergies? Yes, please! penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-me...

Update: for printing 1/4-scale brain models this is pretty good.

This is awesome. Drag and drop a brain MRI scan into the window and it does tissue segmentation in the browser (in about 8 seconds), then creates a 3D mesh suitable for 3D printing. This has been an hours-to-days long process for us in the past, all in a couple minutes. 🤯 brain2print.org

I clicked "accept invitation to review" for a paper and got this message. What a delightful surprise! You could make a fortune bottling and selling that feeling.

It's really cool living in a city that is so into it's teams. So much Eagles pride on the bus this morning. #gobirds

I don’t think I’ve shared my stained glass hobby on bluesky before. Rainbow brain sun catchers for the holiday weekend, restocked now on my Etsy.

This is tonight! It'll be great. I even got a haircut for it. Registration required, so DM if you're interested in joining us.

🧠PHILLY: Join @brockkirwan.com, Joseph Kable, Mikaela Belle Martin and special guest Councilmember Nina Ahmad for a Teach-In TOMORROW! Info below, spots are still available! Register here: actionnetwork.org/events/be-a-... #StandUpForScience #Philly #TeachIn #Neuroscience

We're hosting a community teach-in at Pennovation in Grey's Ferry on Friday, August 15 from 5:30-7 PM. Philly neighbors who are curious about brain science and what a brain looks like in an fMRI machine are invited to join us for this free event. RSVP required. @standupforscience.bsky.social

Philly folks: come see our MRI facility and hear about the research happening here actionnetwork.org/events/be-a-.... There will be snacks!

For the last 6 years I've been giving continuing medical education (CME) seminars. This has been a great opportunity to engage with the public and talk science with interested and engaged audiences. Unfortunately, the company I contracted with has stopped operations as of end of June. Some thoughts🧵

Btw if you live in Philadelphia and own a building (like your house for example) with a big wall like this and want a science mural, get at me. Especially if your street has high foot traffic. Philadelphians feel free to repost this one.

Do you ever get tired of cables getting caught as you're putting a research subject into the MRI scanner? Do you wish you had a 3D-printable model of clips that slide into the slot on the side of your Siemens MRI scanner bed? Well look no further! github.com/Kirwanlab/MR...

Hajrá magyarok! www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/w...

I just re-reviewed a paper that I thought had a few minor, fixable problems. R2 had a much lower evaluation, based on misreading some of key info. I was tempted to say something abt the other reviewer in my message to the editor (but I didn't). Have you ever commented to the editor on the other Rs?

The CRISPR technology was invented when I was in grad school and it is now saving babies' lives. This is why we fund basic science.

I unreasonably excited about this

I'm going to have to miss this (doing #scicomm in Ohio that day) but you should totally go if you're in Philly and let me know how it goes.

I'm looking for a new full-time research assistant ("junior specialist"). It's not quite "lab manager" because I have someone who takes care of the administrative tasks, and here I'm looking for someone to help us get research done! Info is below, please pass on to any talented candidates, thanks!

Post-bacc RA job posting is now live! Great fit for applicants interested in graduate degrees clinical psychology and/or precision medicine. Please repost + share with potentially interested candidates. So excited to find a new team member to work closely with wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recrui...

I grew up in rural Idaho where there obviously wasn't fluoridated water, so to make sure kids got fluoride we did "swish and spit" once a week in school where we'd all get a tiny cup of fluoride solution, swish it around for a minute and spit it back in the cup. Did anyone else do this?

If you’re in Philly this’ll be a great opportunity to come see our cool new facility.

such a cool study! Direct brain recordings during both real-world and imagined memory-guided navigation.

Do they really not understand that transgender and transgenic are different words? Or do they understand and just don’t care?

I'm not sure how I got signed up for substack digest emails, but they're really good. And informative about a lot of topics that interest me. It feels a bit like my Google Reader way back when. Anyhow, all that is to say this is some good advice for ECRs re: conferences: substack.com/inbox/post/1...

Get in dorks, we're going protesting! STAND UP FOR SCIENCE WITH US ON MARCH 7TH, 2025 WASHINGTON DC AND EVERY STATE CAPITOL Because science is for everyone! Find us at www.standupforscience2025.org #standupforscience2025 #scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

This is an interesting study with a cool design examining mnemonic discrimination training and changes in task-based functional connectivity b/w hippocampus and PFC from Iliopoulos et al. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pretty niche content, but in case you're interested, we evaluated the Siemens motion correction option for structural MP-RAGE scans (BioMatrix Motion Sensor - SAMER) with several different types of participant motion (chewing, shifting position, etc.). 🧵 web.sas.upenn.edu/mindcore/202...

MindCORE Summer Research Fellowship for Penn Undergrads June 2 - Aug 8, 2025 Our summer program offers a 10-wk paid research experience for Penn undergrads working with MindCORE faculty over the summer (similar to PURM). Apply by March 2, 2025: mindcore.sas.upenn.edu/research/sum...

The first group to collect data at our Neuroimaging Facility is The Changing Brain lab headed by Allyson Mackey, associate professor of psychology. Mackey is working on a study looking at how much the brain can change in response to early childhood experiences. penntoday.upenn.edu/news/sas-min...

I'm excited to announce this new Executive Director position at @upenn.edu. Be part of our team, advancing an environmental sustainability agenda whose origins lie* with our founder Benjamin Franklin: wd1.myworkdaysite.com/recruiting/u...

OK, to see John Darnielle engaging with a post about a news article in which I'm quoted is kind of blowing my mind.

This article outlines exactly why I chose to leave BYU. I'm quoted toward the end, but to echo what the article says, I only felt comfortable being quoted because when I spoke with @pfstack.bsky.social I had already secured an offer from another institution. www.sltrib.com/religion/202...

I’m unreasonably excited about this. Wordle 1,290 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Does anyone know if CaseForge (makers of head stabilizers for MRI) are still around? Google is coming up empty...

New mock MRI scanner arrived today! Great for collecting pretend data :)

This’ll be a great talk!

A reminder to come join us (@okaysteve.bsky.social) in Park City Utah (Jan 2-5) for the 49th annual Learning and Memory meeting! Awesome line up, check it out here: parkcitywinterconf.org 🧪🧠

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... good news for the lazy / busy: the benefits of *very* brief exercises

Interesting new paper in Imaging Neuroscience using whole-brain fMRI at 7T to examine pattern separation in non-demented older adults using a modified version of the MST: doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00404. Similar to our study at 3T w/ young adults doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23299.

Is anyone else bothered by the phrases "Type 1 error" and "Type 2 error" when we have the perfectly clear English phrases "false positive" and "false negative" right there?

Application open for Penn students to apply for paid summer research experiences. Summer Fellows are matched with select MindCORE faculty in interdisciplinary mind & brain studies based on student research interest/mentor match. Apply by March 2, 2025: mindcore.sas.upenn.edu/research/sum...