hkl @hkl@qoto.org

The realities of evil academia

Anyone can learn #echolocation in just 10 weeks — And it remodels your brain https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/anyone-can-learn-echolocation-in-just-10-weeks-and-it-remodels-your-brain/ Now imagine what encoding a truly visual live camera view into sound may do to your brain, letting you hear zebra crossings and all things visual... #neuroscience

"Human echolocation repurposes parts of the brain's visual cortex for sound, even in sighted people."

AI in Epi 554 (part 1)

I offered students in Introduction To Epidemic Modeling For Infectious Diseases some general guidance on using AI this week, and I thought I'd share it more broadly. We are going to get into specifics for AI-assisted coding over the next few weeks, because that is one area where I think this stuff might really help them in this course. Introduction to Generative AI in Epi 554…

http://healthyalgorithms.com/2024/10/18/ai-in-epi-554-part-1/

The planet Venus passing across the face of the Sun captured by the Hinode spacecraft during a transit in 2012.

Venus's atmosphere is visible as a thin, glowing border in the upper left.

Credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin

Today I got a lovely interview request because someone remembered me from the #Astrophysikerinnen outreach I did on Twitter.

Also today, I deleted the X account which I kept to not let someone take my username. But the last change of the TOS broke even that, I truly do not care anymore. Even though that place meant so much to me and even though I still feel the positives it added to my life back when it was twitter.

youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPaxhoRgqgU

A Long-tailed tit from this afternoons walk

#nature #birds #Wildlife #photography #NaturePhotography #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #UK

#JosephLeDoux - What is the Nature of the #Self?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ0DB0Qn7WQ

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfMind #Mind #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #Consciousness #Neuron #Neurons #Synapse #Synapses #Psychology #Freud #Person #Personality #Personhood #Identity #PersonalIdentity #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

Bird of the Day — Palm Warbler, Kansas 2024
Nary a palm in sight

#Nature #NaturePhotography #Birds #Wildlife #NatureCommunity #Photography #BirdsOfMastodon #BirdPhotography #BirdWatching #FlyoverCountry #Warblers

Layer 6 corticothalamic neurons induce high gamma oscillations through cortico-cortical and cortico-thalamo-cortical pathways https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.05.616808v1 #neuroscience

Turns out the postsynaptic densities (PSD) that we use in electron microscopy to identify synapses aren’t made of large protein aggregates but rather of specialised cellular organelles:

“we combined mouse genetics and cryo-electron tomography to determine the 3D molecular architecture of fresh isolated and anatomically intact synapses in the adult forebrain. The native glutamatergic synapse did not consistently show a high density of proteins at the postsynaptic membrane thought to be characteristic of the PSD. Instead, a ‘synaptoplasm’ consisting of cytoskeletal elements, macromolecular complexes and membrane-bound organelles extended throughout the pre- and post-synaptic compartments.”

Excellent work by Julia Peukes et al. 2024 https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/100335

#neuroscience #synapses #CryoEM #CryoCLEM

A few climate change cartoons for you.
Any resemblance to the scientist behind the lectern is purely coincidental.

#Ultrasound system for precise #neuromodulation of human deep brain circuits https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.08.597305v1 "we demonstrate the system's ability to selectively modulate the activity of the lateral geniculate nucleus (#LGN) and its functionally connected regions in the visual cortex" #neuroscience

More information in the Twitter/X thread https://x.com/UCL_Ultrasound/status/1799718513655120318

"It is a puzzle why humans tend toward unrealistic optimism, as it can lead to excessively risky behavior and a failure to take precautionary action. Using data from a large nationally representative U.K. sample (N=36, 312) our claim is that optimism bias is partly a consequence of low cognition—as measured by a broad range of cognitive skills, including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning."

Dawson, C. (2023). Looking on the (B)right Side of Life: Cognitive Ability and Miscalibrated Financial Expectations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231209400 #OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Human #Psychology #Optimism #Cognitive #DecisionMaking #Academia #Academic #Academics @psychology

#All_Aboard for iOS: #AI-based app uses a smartphone's camera to guide the blind to bus stops https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/all-aboard-app-blind-bus-stops/ YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUVpqEw1_2k Sounds like a bomb will go off any second?

#Neuralink has put its first chip in a human brain. What could possibly go wrong? https://theconversation.com/neuralink-has-put-its-first-chip-in-a-human-brain-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-222497 #BCI #NeuroTech #NeuroEthics

Beyond hippocampus: Thalamic and prefrontal contributions to an evolving memory
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.12.021
#Neuroscience