🏆UCSB ranked #1 public university in the US for scientific impact, and 3rd in universities overall!🎓 Congratulations to all of our researchers who are leading the global conversation.🌐🧵 @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social @ucsbengineering.bsky.social @uofcalifornia.bsky.social

News from central Jersey: I'm running to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come! samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...

Oh, one last thing: tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 10:00am Eastern, come over to Reddit. I'll be doing an AMA. Ask Me Anything about fixing bugs in democracy, neuroscience, or whatever you want! www.reddit.com/r/politics/

Nope. There is some strong private philanthropy. Especially for medical research. But the US gov't spends on a huge scale: over $70 Billion (NIH, NSF, DOE) on research. There are only about 18 people in the US with that kind of net worth, and the US is spending this EVERY YEAR. (1/3)

Exciting News! 🎓✨ Our new online professional master’s program—the Master of Engineering and Technology Leadership (METL)—is launching in Fall 2026: We Are Hiring its Executive Director! Join us in building the future of engineering @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social: lnkd.in/gbe5fhHU

"in all but a handful of cases, those judges have ruled that the Trump administration violated the law, sometimes flagrantly." @kyledcheney.bsky.social reporting www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

How To Help if You are Outside Minnesota by N.K. naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/h...

My sister-in-law's dad died last week, in hospice in the VA hospital in Minneapolis. I just learned Alex Pretti was part of his care team. They shot Alex less than 1/2 mile from my niece's house while doing the same observation work that my niece is doing. These are real people. Step up folks!

About formatting with the new NIH biosketch system. The systems supports html codes. If you need to force a new line or vertical space: <br><br> If you need bold: <b>bold</b> etc... That formatting makes it to the PDF it renders. (But also counts against the character count.)

All university rankings are all problematic, but some are useful. For example, @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social is (a) free from any medical stuff (like Caltech, UC Berkeley), (b) a top tier research university -- with more "top 1%" publications per publication than many other places (1/2)

Cytoarchitecture matters. Brodmann was right. I made a quick post about it: labrigger.com/blog/2026/01... and here's a quick summary thread of the quick post. (1/4)

“The challenge was filed by the American Federation of Teachers.” aft.org They stood on principle and won.

There is a ton of energy and mobilization out there in the US. Good discipline and communication too. If some political leader took all of that and focused it on specific policy goals, stayed on message, and stayed on camera, something might actually happen.

Comparing multiphoton (2p/3p) imaging systems is often done poorly. labrigger.com/blog/2026/01... E.g., PSFs can be measured differently by different labs, staining quality is by far the biggest determinate on how multiphoton images will look at depth, and so forth. (1/3)

Zucman thinks the root of the mad drive to steal Greenland arises from oligarchs. Therefore, he says, the remedy is to target those oligarchs. An argument about how our second Gilded Age has produced a threat that very few Americans want:

What to do? The simplest thing people can do is to stand on principle. Don’t compromise values thinking that will buy comfort. Those that hoped for that lost both. It’s actually more comfortable to stand on principle. More people want that. You’ve got good company.

How has AI changed CAD? Can AI now reliably generate 3D parts, assemblies and drawings? I'm interested to hear about new tools, workflows and experiences ;) -> Here's a series of enclosures I designed years ago for housing custom lab equipment. Can AI CAD just generate this automatically now?

It's not Snell's law. It's Snel's law. And actually, it's really Sahl's law. labrigger.com/blog/2026/01...

When you’re going through hell, keep going.

Some people were confused by my ICE post. This should clear it up.

Trust in scientists is somewhat high, but there are people pushing against it. We need to engage and reach out when we can. Discuss evidence, uncertainty, rigor with non-scientists when you have a chance to do so.

This is good wording. It's plain. Science is about evidence that convinces experts. Experts are people who have made contributions to a field that colleagues find valuable. Stand on principles. Stand up against political pressure and intimidation.

Ah! There we go. Some more fractals. bsky.app/profile/rica...

Go for it, Head-Foot fans!!

Join us Jan 23 for the inaugural CRML Agentic AI Summit at @ucsb.bsky.social. Researchers, industry, and students exploring how agentic AI drives discovery and real-world impact. Free to attend, limited space: ml.ucsb.edu/events/summi... #AgenticAI #ResponsibleAI #AIResearch

True. It is also true that some are standing on principle, and it could be helpful to recognize that. @aguscipolicy.bsky.social McKnight Foundation too. www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/m... What are some other foundations, institutions, and societies that are standing on principles?

Protip: The *earlier* you fill out your availability, the more plausible it is for you to say later, "Sorry, I'm no longer free then. Go ahead and meet without me."

Happy New Year. May the next year bring more positive change than the last. And that will be because good people work to make it happen.

I’m massively impressed with what the PacOp crew achieved in 2025: - FIVE new products, including turnkey systems. Specs I thought to be impossible not long ago. Fast, high res. imaging, over huge fields of view. - Securing sales to the most sophisticated and demanding customers around the world.

I don’t know which quote came first, but related: “You give me the awful impression, I hate to have say it, of someone who hasn't read any of the arguments against your position ever.” -Christopher Hitchens (to S. H.)

“I never allow myself to hold an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do” ― Charlie Munger

I don’t know how we’re going to do it but I’m ready to go.

Wow! This is excellent work! The technical side of what they're reporting is great, and I also admire their superbly well crafted figures. Definitely important to check out for all 2p calcium imaging users.

A great video of complex, neuron-free behavior; and a great quote on anthropocentrism. Reminds me of "No one is more impressed by a degree from Harvard, than someone with a degree from Harvard" (not to pick on them-- it's a good school)

This is a map of national and state parks in the US. The American West is amazing. Iowa is pretty barren, but at least it is dotted with a lot of state parks (and golf courses for some reason neuromatch.social/@sls/1147394... ) Kansas, are you okay? i.imgur.com/hlntdGh.png

Fractals were a significant part of my childhood but they don’t really come up anymore. I still appreciate a good Mandelbrot or Julia.

UCSB’s Munger Residence is science’s Chateau Marmont. @kitp-ucsb.bsky.social

Two-photon vision: That’s a pulsed laser at the top and a human volunteer’s eyeball at the bottom. Don’t try this at home. Good luck with your IRB. opg.optica.org/boe/fulltext...

I agree that Computer Modern Math is a nice one. And TeX Gyre Bonum and GFS Neohellenic aren't my favorites. And you've got to have something very interesting to say if I have to parse Pennstander. But I'm open minded. For example, I enjoy seeing AMS Euler sometimes.

A late entry just shot to the top of the leaderboard for “Best New Method Name of 2025”: DySTrack (“diss track”) Cool active imaging tool!

They’re bringing conspiracy theories and personal grievances to an evidence fight. I’ll bet on the scientists every time.

Had a really nice visit to UCSB, learning about the awesome neuroscience research there and presenting our work on voltage imaging in the molecular cellular and developmental biology seminar series. Thanks to my host Ikuko Smith, who might have the best office view in all of UC!

I am very excited about our new paper on Computational Lightfield Microscopy for Calcium Imaging which has just appeared in PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Can your AI beat a mouse? This is happening Sunday! robustforaging.github.io NeurIPS workshop 11 to 2 California time on Zoom! @mbeyeler.bsky.social @sinzlab.bsky.social @ninamiolane.bsky.social @crisniell.bsky.social @mariusschneider.bsky.social J. Canzano, Y. Hou, J. Peng, et al. #NeurIPS2025

Read yet another review today that ascribes GECIs' larger SNR vs GEVIs to their being evolved earlier (suggesting the GECIs are better optimized). This assumption is understandable but incorrect. GEVIs' photonic response per molecule per AP have been as good as GECIs since ASAP3.

Breaking: Marr's Three Levels have been upgraded to Eight! @jpillowtime.bsky.social Seriously though, good points in this piece with @davidpoeppel.bsky.social highlighting the importance of rigor and conceptual resolution bsky.app/profile/spen...

I was too young to remember, but apparently for about 2 years, Microsoft was a metal band.

I am so enormously thankful for essentially every person I know and have ever met, and for everything they have taught and given to me. The good, the bad, and the unspeakable. It all counts. The trick is to remember to pay that debt forward to everyone you meet from now on. ❤️

Begging PhD programs to agree on a common app with only letters of rec that writers upload once. These inane likert scales when students are applying to 15-20 programs is destroying my soul