New research by a team from Princeton University has revealed a surprising trick in which birds use black and white feathers to make their colors even more vivid. (via @us.theconversation.com)

Comparing a map of the neurons in a nematode worm - the connectome - with a map of how signals travel across those neurons has revealed a surprising number of differences, suggesting that the structure of the brain alone doesn't explain how it works

Scientists and engineers in the Princeton Precision Health initiative apply cutting-edge AI and computational models to massive datasets to develop a deep understanding of the factors that shape health and illness.

I'm excited to be part of this panel at Labyrinth Books in Princeton in two weeks

Princeton Allosaurus! Giving a departmental lecture today

What happens in your brain when you make up your mind? Postdoc (soon faculty at U. of Utah) @thomas-zhihao-luo.bsky.social and ex-grad student (now Shanahan Fellow at Allen Institute) @timkimd.bsky.social have some answers in this new paper out in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵 1/6

Relying on light instead of electricity, a new kind of computer vision camera developed by scientists at Princeton and the University of Washington can identify objects at the speed of light.

"Made in Greece" — a 10-day, noncredit, fully-funded immersion course in modern Greek history, art and contemporary culture was an opportunity for — was, for many students, their first international academic experience: https://bit.ly/46eIoaM

Princeton engineers have identified a universal weakness in AI chatbots that allows users to bypass safety guardrails and elicit directions for malicious uses, from creating nerve gas to hacking government databases.

Princeton geoscientists have discovered that a geology technique shows promise in detecting cancer-like cells. If their preliminary results bear out, they may have identified a new signature for cancer, which could mean earlier diagnosis and better outcomes: https://bit.ly/4nzSURb

“My plan is that Jamie [Rankin] and others like her will be the ones who lead the field forward. I would like my legacy to be that I helped make that possible.” — David McComas: bit.ly/3KDxUdN

As the AI revolution transforms the digital world, millions of people on the African continent cannot tap its full promise because the languages they speak aren’t built into the large language models that drive services like ChatGPT. A Princeton postdoc wants to change that: https://bit.ly/42o7GC9

Volcanoes that blast gases high into the atmosphere not only change global temperatures but also influence flooding in unusual ways, Princeton researchers have found.

🧠 Scientists at Princeton have mapped the half-billion connections that allow mice to see, deepening the study of brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia: https://bit.ly/41NBc49

The humanities provide a way to study different cultures around the world and how we should live as beings who are at once social and individual. Learn more about the humanities at Princeton: https://bit.ly/3SPoHAg

A study by researchers at Princeton, @pasteur.fr, and @ucsandiego.bsky.social reveals that Africa’s low rates of Zika virus outbreaks may be due to a surprising factor: the genetic makeup of local mosquito populations.

Computer scientists at Princeton are working to bring virtual reality into the physical world, with the potential to enhance a variety of experiences, including remote collaboration, education, entertainment and gaming: https://bit.ly/3KiFuuc

“The IMAP mission will provide very important information for deep space travel, where astronauts will be directly exposed to the dangers of the solar wind,” said David McComas, IMAP principal investigator and professor at Princeton University.

Computer scientists from Princeton and Prairie View A&M are teaming up to develop advanced algorithms in order to detect deepfake videos.

This spring, Princeton's @uofer.bsky.social unobtrusively accomplished a feat of across-the-aisle magic, bringing hard-right and hard-left factions together to approve a shared set of principles for criminal justice reform in America.

By studying ride-sharing apps and focusing on when users pay more to get places sooner, researchers from Princeton, Columbia, and MIT are attempting to put a monetary value on our time.

This summer, state AI leaders, including Governor Phil Murphy, gathered at Princeton University to discuss how AI offers ways for government to be more efficient, effective, and transparent, especially at a time when budgets are strapped and economic uncertainty has slowed down hiring.

"Forever chemicals" known as PFAS — are everywhere. A Princeton research team has found a way to breakdown the chemicals using a common bacteria.

Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard.

NASA’s IMAP mission has passed its Flight Readiness Review, which certifies its readiness to initiate final launch preparation activities. IMAP is targeting a launch date of Sept. 23 from Kennedy Space Center. IMAP will map the heliosphere and advance space weather science. https://jhuapl.link/85e

For years, when astronomers have spoken of seeking an unknown #planet, they've referred to it as Planet X. Now, a team of researchers from Princeton has suggested there might be another large body hiding in the outer reaches of our solar system, called Planet Y. 🔭 buff.ly/9pxs0fl 📸 Princeton.

Congratulations to the Princetonians receiving awards from New Jersey Research & Development Council: -Craig Arnold, vice dean for innovation -Bonnie Bassler, professor in molecular biology -Justin Silpe, postdoctoral fellow and -Alumni Nathaniel Banks *21 and Yidian Lu *21. https://bit.ly/3VhdMAr

On board the upcoming Princeton-led NASA IMAP mission will be a sophisticated space physics instrument called SWAPI, developed in a Princeton lab. The undergrad students in this spring’s Space Physics Lab course assisted during the instruments cross-calibrations: https://bit.ly/4nwHU72

We were grateful to host 2 interns this summer through HMEI’s Environmental Internship program! 🎉 They joined 100+ Princeton students last Friday to present their summer work at the Summer of Learning Symposium. Congrats to all! @reedh2o.bsky.social

Every summer, teachers from across New Jersey become students at Princeton University through the QUEST program which exposes educators to cutting-edge research and offers ways they can use data to engage their students: https://bit.ly/3H6fXmN

A team of Princeton engineers is now using information about Puerto Rico’s energy grid during Hurricane Fiona to help LUMA Energy and other system operators better understand their power grids in the face of increasingly frequent and severe climate extremes, from hurricanes to heat waves.

Anyone in the Princeton area owes it to themselves to stop in and see Martin Heijdra’s marvelous new exhibit on the history of global bookmaking in Firestone library!

The Pew Charitable Trusts announced that Fenna Krienen is one of 22 researchers joining the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. Krienen will receive funding to support her research on how microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, facilitate neural development in primates.

A study from the University of Central Florida and Princeton University finds evidence that storm surge events are becoming more extreme in some regions of the United States.

Could a baby’s still-growing brain help set the stage for learning language? Princeton neuroscientists find surprising clues from chatty monkeys who share the power of babble.

The humanities transport us back in time. It’s hard not to marvel at ancient buildings and artifacts and wonder how and why they came to be. Learn more about the humanities at Princeton: https://bit.ly/3SPoHAg

Mercer County Community College and the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University are now accepting applications from visual artists living and working in the City of Trenton for the inaugural Trenton Arts Fellowship. https://bit.ly/46kN1QB

This summer, the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Princeton Production Workforce Training (PPWT) program, a four-week summer intensive that provides training in theatrical tech work for New Jersey high school graduates, welcomed its first cohort to campus.

Co-led by Princeton neuroscientists, an international collaboration of 22 labs tracked the activity of over 620,000 neurons and discovered the involvement of new brain areas in decision-making: https://bit.ly/4gpYtPE 🎥 Video credit: International Brain Laboratory

"Maps showing the spread of biodiversity were overlaid with maps of potential energy yield, based on calculations by energy engineers from Princeton University, @unimelb.bsky.social and University of Queensland."

The pioneering, reaction-driving, light-based technique of photoredox catalysis was introduced by Princeton professor David MacMillan in 2007 thanks to funding by NIH. The technique has spurred a host of new drug therapies, fine chemicals, and agrobusiness products: https://bit.ly/47GjjrD

Princeton engineers are twisting, stretching and creasing structures to create a new type of origami, one that changes its shape and properties in response to changing circumstances. The new method could be useful for prosthetics, antennas and other devices.

A planet more massive than Mercury could be lurking beyond the orbit of Pluto, but don't call it Planet X. New research from Amir Siraj at Princeton University; comments from Kat Volk @psi.edu. eos.org/articles/a-s...

Bacteria are surrounded by water! New work @natphys.nature.com by @ricardalert.bsky.social @mpipks.bsky.social & collaborators @ Princeton University shows that water capillary forces organise bacterial colonies into gas, nematic streams, and droplet states. nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02965-y

Happy to share our new paper! We present high-resolution Micro-C maps across Drosophila embryogenesis, integrated with 149 ChIP-seq datasets. This systematic analysis enabled clustering of loops & boundaries into 4 distinct classes with distinct regulatory roles. www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

🦾 Artificial intelligence, @princeton.edu historian D. Graham Burnett contends, has quietly colonised the territory once occupied by the humanities. Writing in @newyorker.com, he argues that humanistic education must reset its priorities, remain alert to commodification and defend civic life.

Princeton University is collaborating with @rockefelleruniv.bsky.social, @weillcornell.bsky.social, and @ludwigcancer.bsky.social in a new East Coast hub dedicated to making immunotherapy more effective for cancer patients.

🗺️ In IMF’s Finance & Development Magazine, Princeton's Swati Bhatt writes about the shift in entrepreneurial activity from larger hubs like NYC and Silicon Valley to more western and southeastern states like Wyoming and Georgia: https://bit.ly/4nmuEBI

Princeton postdoc Isla Duporge is lead author on this paper, which uses satellite data and deep learning to much more accurately calculate wildlife population numbers.

On National Voter Registration Day, students from Princeton's nonpartisan Vote100 initiative are helping their classmates get registered, check their registration status, and get the details they need to make an informed decision on Election Day. Learn more about Vote100: https://bit.ly/4694mgJ