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Our new paper on how pinniped (seal and sea lion) brains evolved to unlock vocal plasticity is this week's @science.org cover.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Can we make brains “smarter”? By boosting mitochondrial metabolism in neurons of memory circuits, we improved memory in flies and mice. Thrilled to see this work out - congrats to @amrapalianjali.bsky.social for spectacular work, and to all lab members for invaluable contributions!

Nitrogen triiodide is a highly unstable substance that detonates when disturbed. So, of course, we disturbed it. 💥🧪

From high-impact weather events to stratus clouds dancing over the open ocean, this year was filled with impressive satellite imagery.

We look back on the most compelling satellite views of 2025.

1) Mesovortices slosh within Hurricane Melissa’s ferocious eye (October 8).

Memory, Sleep, Dreams, and Consciousness: A Perspective Based on the Memory Theory of Consciousness Insights into the mysteries of dreaming and waking conscious experience can be gained by considering fundamental concepts in memory research. To support this assertion, we first provide an overview...

New Speculative Article — I'm happy Andrew Budson invited me to write an article with him. We wondered what happens in our minds when we're sleeping? --> Memory, Sleep, Dreams, and Consciousness: A Perspective Based on the Memory Theory of Consciousness www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Unbelievable footage from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters inside the eye of Hurricane Erin.

Simply incredible.

Cover of the Handbook of Social Psychology 6th edition 2025

Since 1954, "The Handbook of Social Psychology" has been the field’s most authoritative reference work, and today is the launch of the 6th edition with 50 new chapters by 100 leading scholars. Best news? The HSP is now an open-access public resource—free to read, download, and share. the-hsp.com

Over the moon that our work on changing emotions with electrical facial muscle stimulation (recently published in Emotion, shorturl.at/YRS9d) was featured in ScientificAmerican @sciam.bsky.social. Thank you so much @RachelNuwer for the interview, and thank you Heather Lench for endorsing us.

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

On the evolution of intelligence and new evidence that birds evolved complex brain circuits independently of mammalian intelligence: www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence... via @quantamagazine.bsky.social

What is the meaning of life? 15 possible answers – from a palliative care doctor, a Holocaust survivor, a jail inmate and more I asked some well-known names for their thoughts on the ultimate existential question. Their answers were fascinating, funny – and could help us frame our days on Earth

What can give meaning to life? I remember responding to James Bailey's invitation to write on this about a year ago, & I'm honoured to be included in his collection @guardian (& my mother is still with us 🙏🏽) www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Objectively measured environmental features and their association with cognition and dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis Dementia affects millions of people worldwide. Since effective treatments are still lacking, it is important to identify factors that may help prevent…

🌿🧠 Can Our Environment Protect Against Dementia?

A new study finds that air pollution & busy roads increase dementia risk, while green/blue spaces & walkable streets support cognitive health.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#SciComm #Dementia #PublicHealth 🧪

This is our best in vivo AP propagation movie so far. Recorded at 1k Hz from the axonal branches of a fly CNS neuron, using voltage indicator pAce.

Abstract Loneliness is a widespread issue routinely targeted by the media and public health campaigns. We propose that these efforts, though well-intentioned, may exacerbate this problem by negatively influencing a potential driver of loneliness: people’s beliefs about being alone. Supporting this thesis, we show that contemporary U.S. news articles are 10 times more likely to describe being alone as harmful than beneficial (Study 1, N = 144 articles) and that exposure to such articles causally impacts people’s beliefs about being alone (Study 2, N = 456). Further, a 2-week experience-sampling study (Study 3, N = 161) demonstrates that people with negative beliefs about being alone experience a steep increase in loneliness after spending time alone in daily life, whereas those with positive beliefs feel less lonely after spending time alone. Finally, multi-national studies demonstrate the generalizability of these results across nine countries spanning six continents (Studies 4 and 5, N = 2930). Together, these findings reveal the critical role of beliefs about being alone in shaping loneliness.

Alone but not Lonely!

New study finds "people with negative beliefs about being alone experience a steep increase in loneliness after spending time alone in daily life, whereas those with positive beliefs feel less lonely after spending time alone."

Open Access: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

The May 2024 #SolarFlare sequence remains the most impressive series of events in Solar Cycle 25.
Over the course of four days (May 8-11):
-8 X Class flares
-13 flares of M5+

G5 conditions on Earth first since 2003.

IMF peaked at Bt +73 with the Bz down to -50. Very geoeffective! #SpaceWeather

Are the Internet and AI affecting our memory? What the science says Search engines, GPS maps and other tech can alter our ability to learn and remember. Now scientists are working out what AI might do.

Interesting New Feature in @nature.com

Are the Internet and AI affecting our memory? What the science says

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

a picture of the earth and an asteroid with the national geographic logo Alt: a picture of the earth and an asteroid heading towards it

The chance of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting out planet in 2032 is now 1.5%, or 1 in 67.

The OVERWHELMING likelihood is that the asteroid will miss Earth.

But for the first time ever, we might have to seriously consider a deflection mission soon.

Let me explain. 🧵 (1/x)

Leaf infiltration is a widely used technique in plant science for delivering Agrobacterium or chemicals directly to plant cells 🍃🧬

For those who do it regularly, there’s a satisfaction in watching the liquid flow seamlessly through the leaf's airspaces—when done well..

Reflections on intersections between cognitive and social psychology: A personal exploration I appreciate the opportunity offered by the editor to reflect on the relationship between cognitive and social psychology. This topic has interested me my entire professional life, because I was admi...

Fascinating paper from Roddy Roediger on the fuzzy boundary btwn cognitive and social psychology. As someone who now finds herself living on that boundary it was cool to realize that my undergraduate research mentor lived there too. 1/

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

🔭 Tomorrow Earth is at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in its orbit. This makes the Sun look slightly larger than it does in July, when it is at its farthest point (known as aphelion). Here's a comparison showing this with images I took of the Sun in 2024.

I keep updating the DBS starter pack – and super happy we have already 109 folks on here!

Am I missing somebody?

go.bsky.app/B9A9Cho

This paper is magical.

Injured Brains of Medical Minds: Views from Within (online conference) - supported by UCL CNR YouTube video by UCL QS IoN

We recently published a book of articles where neuroscientists, medics, and psychologists with neurological disorders discussed their own conditions.

Narinder Kapur organised an online conference where some of the authors presented. It's now online in full:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wfy...

Some Memories of Stalking the Seahorse Early influences that led to the development of the cognitive map theory of hippocampal function, and the multiple trace theory, are discussed. Some details are provided, many are left out.

I love when personal histories and anecdotes are interspersed with scientific discussions – so it was a delight to read these pieces by Lynn Nadel and Daniel Schacter.

Nadel: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Schacter: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Hey space folks! If you’re into breathtaking space images, here’s a list of Bluesky accounts run by talented space image processors. They share original content, no need for dodgy content aggregators on Bluesky. Let’s support and share the original sources, shall we? ;)

🔭

go.bsky.app/PUXRaYf

Added to the #psychsky list of starter packs developed @drspringflorjo.bsky.social #academicsky

Latinx Psychology
go.bsky.app/V9ey4RC

Black in Neuro
go.bsky.app/F8PpdPe

LGBTQ+ Psych
go.bsky.app/LsshH49

Personality Psych
go.bsky.app/TwHBMQi

Women Clinical Psych
go.bsky.app/SsNPcGP

Joining the club! A social and affective neuroscience starter pack! go.bsky.app/MXAKEYN

A very partial list. Let us know if you would like to be added.

I've started working on a (very incomplete!) starter pack for social interaction researchers! If you're working in this space, please asked to be added (or suggest others)! Meant to be inclusive of many disciplines, methods, interaction types, and types of interacting agents: go.bsky.app/44VAEhU

re-issue of science starter pack now that we have so much more action here! fMRI: Humans and Tasks
go.bsky.app/Ai1f67H

a blue background featuring seven faces of members of the starter pack

attempting to collect #scicomm focused #physics and #astronomy accounts into one #starterpack! this list is by no means complete—if I've missed you, please just shoot me a DM.

go.bsky.app/NvQERru

I often show my students this visualization of how atmospheric CO₂ travels around the globe. Our attitude toward burning fossil fuels would change significantly if we could actually see CO₂.

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11719