Cool new work on an old important question

Thanks to you :-)

What are the real promises and looming perils of neural foundation models? 🧠
I put my thoughts on (virtual) paper for @thetransmitter.bsky.social following a very energised workshop at @cosynemeeting.bsky.social 2025.

It's also my first piece for them 😊

Thanks Dan!
For what is worth, I think neural foundation models are interesting, but I wouldn't consider myself a super enthusiast as I hope the piece conveys.
But a workshop at cosyne 2025 --that was full of enthusiasts-- picked my curiosity and got me thinking about their pros and cons.

beautiful art :-)

Why neural foundation models work, and what they might—and might not—teach us about the brain These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?

These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity, writes @juangallego.bsky.social. But will we be able to understand them? #neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/neuroai/why-...

A really cool project!

Sounds cool, congrats guys !

Thrilled to share the recent preprint /
& thesis project of @pearlsald.bsky.social:

We had rats actively pursue a moving bait & found a dedicated subset of retrosplenial cortex cells encoding target location (but not boundaries or objects) relative to the head.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

All we are is manifolds in the wind...

That's not quite what Juan @juangallego.bsky.social says, but I do wish he sang it to me.

We discuss all things neural manifolds, and a little motor control and BCI for spinal injury prosthetics

braininspired.co/podcast/234/

a cat in a top hat is playing a guitar next to a mouse ALT: a cat in a top hat is playing a guitar next to a mouse

we can attempt a duet when you visit us at @champalimaudr.bsky.social

It was fun chatting with Paul! Thank you again for having me @braininspired.bsky.social

Antimatter has been transported for the first time ever — in the back of CERN's truck Physicists have succeeded for the first time in transporting the most expensive and most volatile substance on Earth — antimatter.

Antimatter delivery anyone?

I first wrote about plans to transport this wildly volatile stuff (looking at another @cern.bsky.social expt) in 2018

They've finally done it! Amazing ⚛️🧪

This tiny sample of 92 antiprotons is a huge world first

My @nature.com story here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

In case you missed it-- check out our Paper Skygest preprint! ⤵️

Really good 🌮
We'll miss you here but s I'll ee you at @ncmsociety.bsky.social

New paper hot off the (pre-)press! We dig into the evolutionary origins of neural computations for behavioral control across mice, monkeys, and humans: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6....

As our lab's first foray into comparative analysis of neural dynamics, I’m super excited about this work! 1/18

Was an intellectual pleasure working on this with @quiltydunn.bsky.social
Someone who also feels that there is a glaring gap in current cognitive science/neuroscience/AI

cool stuff!
you forgot #againstrepresentationaldrift

New paper alert! 🚨

We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales

1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit

This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.

Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP

While preparing your #NCMKobe26 abstract, read through the highlights from #NCMPan25! The meeting highlight article is now available for review.

Thank you to some of the scholarship winners from 2025 for putting the article together.

journals.physiology....

Hello, BlueSky! This is the official account for Janelia conferences & workshops.

We’ll share calls for applications, deadlines, and meeting updates.

Browse meetings & apply: janelia.news/conferences

Looks very interesting. I'm curious, have you tried it on motor cortex data already?

Our paper on the "Oneirogen hypothesis" is now up in its revised form on eLife!

This is the hypothesis that psychedelics induce a dream-like state, which we show via modelling could explain a variety of perceptual and learning effects from such drugs.

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

🧠📈 🧪

RetINaBox: A Hands-On Learning Tool for Experimental Neuroscience An exciting aspect of neuroscience is developing and testing hypotheses via experimentation. However, due to logistical and financial hurdles, the experiment and discovery component of neuroscience is...

Are you thinking about doing neuroscience outreach but want to make it more exciting or hands on?

Check out RetINaBox! (A collab led by the Trenholm lab)

We tried to bring the experience of experimental neuroscience to a classroom setting:

www.eneuro.org/content/13/1...

#neuroscience 🧪

👀 #newpreprint:

🎮 Real-time Pong gameplay after #spinalcordinjury by learning to control just one motor unit from paralysed muscle - no implants.

Co-led by @juangallego.bsky.social and Dario Farina, with work carried out at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social.

📄👉🔗 shorturl.at/RYuYG

I'm very late to the party, but this is a nice take --I like the conceptual framing and manipulations-- on an extremely important question. Great job guys!

Ontogeny of the spinal cord dorsal horn The dorsal horn of the mammalian spinal cord is organized into laminae where each layer is populated by different neuron types, has distinctive circuit connections, and plays specialized roles in beha...

Excited to share @rbrianroome.bsky.social ‘s beautiful paper on development of the dorsal horn of the mouse spinal cord @science.org

This is how the anatomical organization and cell types that process pain, touch, body position and more are laid down.

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

wow very cool!

🚨📜+🧵🚨 Very excited about this work showing that people with no hand function following a spinal cord injury can control the activity of motor units from those muscles to perform 1D, 2D and 3D tasks, play video games, or navigate a virtual wheelchair

By a wonderful team co-mentored w Dario Farina

🚨📜+🧵🚨 Very excited about this work showing that people with no hand function following a spinal cord injury can control the activity of motor units from those muscles to perform 1D, 2D and 3D tasks, play video games, or navigate a virtual wheelchair

By a wonderful team co-mentored w Dario Farina