As a former physics undergraduate, giving a colloquium in a physics department feels like a very full-circle moment ☺️

Read Perich! (lots of others too) www.nature.com/articles/s41... Or his piece in The Transmitter.

“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”

Apparently at work right now, flushing any toilet makes all the other toilets in the building overflow. I don‘t think we could come up with a better metaphor for the end of semester overload/slump if we tried

New work by Emily Oby et al. in Nature Neuroscience demonstrates that neural population activity in motor cortex follows fixed dynamical constraints: monkeys could not volitionally reorder or reverse latent trajectories during BCI control. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Have you heard about the Night Science Podcast, where we talk about the actual creative process of doing science? We explore this with discussions with brilliant scientists & also philosophers and artists, to figure out the tricks of the creative scientific trade. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

Is science too obsessed with metrics, large-scale projects & “blockbuster” outputs? Desai & Jun argued that preserving the "auteur" spirit of individual creativity, exploration and risk-taking is essential for maintaining the creativity that drew us into science in the 1st place.

My co-authors have yet to move to Bluesky, so I'm pleased to announce our latest work has just been published in @nature.com Neuroscience. Amazing work led by Junheng Li, revealing that falling asleep follows a predictable bifurcation pattern #neuroskyence #sleep www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How can we design complex computational systems using synthetic biology? Check our paper, where we use space as a computational element, dramatically reducing communication requirements while allowing modularity, reusability, scalability & minimal cell engineering. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

At present my desk is covered with ~10 different books whose titles are various variants of "nonlinear dynamical systems"

Skimming through a signal processing reference turned out to be unexpectedly on-theme for October 👻👻👻

The local ”best of“ does not disappoint. Would like to befriend whoever sent in “ten square miles surrounded by reality”.

My research group is running an internal bracket competition to name a couple of miniature autonomous blimps. This was somehow predictable 🤔

real footage of me this morning

I did not foresee having "shopping for foil party balloons, helium tank regulator valves, and foam balls" on my research agenda this year, yet here we are

Just realized this was left in the background of my last serious zoom call

Well-written review papers make me very happy ☺️

Being a professor is so weird. You are constantly having to act like you know things.

Looking for an academic position this year? Here tinyurl.com/academic-job is a resource maintained by NextCom that may help. It’s a crowdsourced spreadsheet of current faculty and postdoc openings in control systems and related areas.

Great memories from the social event organized by the NextCom team at Embarcadero Marina Park North this past Monday (August 25th, 5:30–8:30 pm) during IEEE CCTA 2025 | San Diego, CA, USA.

Let the potato rest xox

Discovery happens less when you're trying to be the expert and more when you're trying to be the learner.

A short reminder on the coming social event!!!

☀️ As summer winds down, we’re getting closer to the Winter Workshop on Complex Systems! ❄️ Get ready cause the 2026 workshop will be held in Serra de Tramuntana in Mallorca, Spain. Prepare for an immersive edition in a stunning location! Stay tuned for more information coming soon.

🫵 Ready to tackle the world’s most complex challenges? The Complexity Science Hub is looking for #PhD candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues. 📅 Apply by 11 November 2025 ℹ️ csh.ac.at/education/gr...

That thing you need to do… xox

Brilliant piece by @mattperich.bsky.social on neural manifolds 🌟 His ‪essay in @thetransmitter.bsky.social shows how this view changes the game in computational neuroscience, reproducing behavioral flexibility within finite neural constraints 🧠 www.thetransmitter.org/neural-dynam...

Despite years of typing up latex documents I have yet to get over my curse of "lamdba"

"In reality, our wildlife here is pretty boring: squirrels, some deer, a few bears. All pretty normal stuff.”

Are you an early career researcher heading to CCTA 2025? Don't forget to join the exciting social event organized by the NextCom team at EM Park North (maps.app.goo.gl/ikpGbJbZFDbzB4hbA) on Monday, August 25th, 5:30-8:30 pm. Light refreshments will also be provided. RSVP at: tinyurl.com/ccta-event.

Fantastic perspective piece on interplay of mechanistic modeling, data integration, and identifiability issues in systems biology - applicable to complex systems more broadly! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are you an early career researcher heading to ECC 2025? Join us on June 25 for an engaging lunch session on open-source practices, networking, and insights from the NextCom team—don’t miss it! (You can RSVP at: tinyurl.com/ecc25-nextco...) #ECC2025 #OpenSource #EarlyCareerResearchers

My research group at Cornell finally has a dedicated website ☺️ Still very minimal, but we will populate it soon with the cool projects we are getting off the ground! Stay tuned! sites.google.com/cornell.edu/...

First Call for Papers - ANTS 2026 Darmstadt, Germany | June 8–10, 2026 ants2026.org The 15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence invites submissions on the theme: "Reaching beyond – swarm intelligence across systems, disciplines, and communities". 🗓️ Submission deadline: 10 Nov 2025

My research group at Cornell is running a journal club this summer! Shout out to academic bluesky - any first hand tips on structuring productive journal club discussions?

(1/4) Ever wondered what tech policy might look like if it were informed by research on collective intelligence and complex systems? 🧠🧑‍💻 Join @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @lukethorburn.com, and myself in San Diego on Aug 4th for the Collective Intelligence x Tech Policy workshop at @acmci.bsky.social!

I am in Denver for #SIAMDS25 this week - say hello if you're around!

🔹 Meet the Leaders | NextCom by CSS 🔹 Say hello to our Faculty Advisor @Philip E. Paré 🎻🤖 More information in the replies 💬 Tell us about yourself! 👍 What do you enjoy the most of your current job? 😣 What has been a difficult situation during your career? 💡 Your tip for faculty job hunting.

Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.

Report from @science.org: • NSF staff told that its 37 divisions are being abolished. Programs within to be drastically reduced. • Layoffs expected, details via memo Friday 5/9. • Another round of grant terminations expected. (Already 1400 cancelled ~$1bn) www.science.org/content/arti...

🔹 Meet the Leaders | NextCom by CSS 🔹 Say hello to our General Co-Chair @anastasiabzv.bsky.social ☕🛰️ 💬 Tell us about yourself! ⚙️ Why have you decided to study control engineering? 🌱 What is your goal within NextCom and what do you hope to achieve? The answers are in the replies

Any folks in control systems on here? Follow our new CSS nextcom account!

How am I today years old and just finding out about "Hitchhiker's guide to the fractional Sobolev spaces" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are you #Europe curious and into #complex 🦋systems? Looking for a #postdoc, professorship, #grants? Stay tuned 📡 In the coming weeks, @csh.ac.at is rolling out initiatives to bring scientists to the wonderful city of #Vienna in these trying times. Check who we are csh.ac.at/research/res... 🧪

Join us for a week-long course on "Fast and flexible multi-agent decision-making" in Liege, Belgium. Great opportunity for graduate students with an interest in nonlinear systems and bio-inspired/neuromorphic control. Early registration deadline is April 15th! To learn more, see www.eeci-igsc.eu

oh man, this one wins the arXiv today 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 arxiv.org/abs/2503.24254

PNAS: Input-driven circuit reconfiguration in critical recurrent neural networks https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2418818122?af=R

L4DC’25 (7th Annual Learning for Dynamics and Control Conference) program is shaping up nicely. Check out the program, including exciting papers, keynotes, and tutorials: sites.google.com/umich.edu/l4... Registration is now open! Come join us in Ann Arbor on June 4-6!

If you've finished your PhD in the last 4 years and your research could be considered as engineering, you might be interested in the RAEng research fellowship scheme which provides 5 years of funding to work in the UK. raeng.org.uk/research-fel...