I know it's a bit early, but this stocking filler will be coming to a good bookstore near you on August 4th, 2026 😀

This metaphorical illustration reimagines a hidden view of the brain of a patient with hemispherotomy. In the absence of subcortical activating inputs, the disconnected cortex defaults to a sleep-like state, marked by slow-wave EEG activity and here evocatively represented as night. By contrast, the intact hemisphere, still integrated with subcortical structures, sustains wakefulness and a bright inner world capable of environmental interaction, reflected in faster EEG rhythms. The image underscores the divergence of cortical states after hemispheric isolation. The image was created by Michele A. Colombo, the first author of the paper, through digital photo manipulation combining drawings with real neuroimaging and electrophysiological data.

#Hemispherotomy is a surgical treatment for #epilepsy by disconnecting a portion of the #cortex. Michele Colombo, Jacopo Favaro, @anilseth.bsky.social, Marcello Massimini &co show that the isolated cortex has #EEG patterns resembling deep #sleep or #anesthesia @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3J9ci8X

Nayef Al-Rodhan book prize trophy.

Thanks very much to The Royal Institute of Philosophy for awarding me the Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize 2025. Thanks as well to the ERC who funded it, Peter Momtchiloff who commissioned it for OUP, all my LSE team members past and present, and everyone who made the book possible!

Advancing consciousness science Defining new directions in consciousness research and exploring implications for medicine, technology, and ethics

1/🧵 Out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social : “Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?” By @axc.bsky.social @liadmudrik.bsky.social, & me (a CIFAR & @erc.europa.eu production 🧠). www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...

My department is advertising a permanent T&R position in non-Western Philosophy. I genuinely think I have the best job in the world. Do apply if you want to be in a fantastic department! Also Australia is great. Happy to answer any questions. philjobs.org/job/show/29770

At LSE Philosophy we have two assistant prof vacancies - one for sustainability-related areas, the other for AI-related areas - and for neither of these will you need a $100,000 visa.

Are babies conscious? - ABC listen Babies cry, smile, laugh and react to their environment - so it seems odd to look at a baby and wonder whether or not it's conscious. But consciousness is a tricky thing to pin down, and according to ...

Chatting with David Rutledge on ABC's "The Philosopher's Zone" about infant consciousness...

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

I'm delighted happy to feature on the homepage of Die Zeit @diezeit.bsky.social today, for the first in a new feature of theirs, called "Just One Question", launching across print, online, audio, video, & newsletter www.zeit.de/wissen/2025-...

Aphantasia and the unconscious imagery hypothesis Until recently, mental imagery has largely been regarded as an exclusively conscious phenomenon. However, recent empirical results suggest that mental…

New paper with @ManuKirberg 💭
Is “unconscious mental imagery” real? The evidence is weaker than it seems. We explain why—and how to move the debate forward.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Babies, bees, and bots: On the hunt for markers of consciousness To truly understand consciousness, we need new methods to measure it and detect it in other intelligent systems.

Great to work with @franciscorr25.bsky.social and the Transmitter folks on this piece about markers of consciousness

www.thetransmitter.org/consciousnes...

The quest to detect consciousness — in all its possible forms Insights from human brains might inform how scientists search for awareness in other animals and AI.

Great piece by @marilenharo.bsky.social on the quest to detect consciousness. Great to see this important topic getting the attention it deserves!

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

If you are interested in pursuing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, specially targeting conscious vs. unconscious processing, contact me. We are recruiting 🙏🧠 please RT

Very pleased that my commentary on Jonathan Birch's fantastic "The Edge of Sentience" has finally appeared. @birchlse.bsky.social and I agree on many things, but there was enough distance between our views to make this a productive exchange.

Thanks to @nigelwarburton.bsky.social and the folks at @aeon.co for putting out my thoughts on consciousness, killers whales, and John Coltrane....

How jazz and dolphins can help explain consciousness | Aeon Essays Is consciousness like jazz, something hard to pin down? Or is it more like the biology of dolphins, odd but natural?

aeon.co/essays/how-j...