hkl @hkl@qoto.org

Clustered synapses develop in distinct dendritic domains in visual cortex before eye opening (in mice) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.02.530772v1 "presumably to equip dendrites with computational modules for high-capacity sensory processing."

More information in the Twitter thread https://twitter.com/Lohmann_lab/status/1680958228845191168

#neuroscience

A ladybird beetle spreading its wings captured with a high-speed camera. In real-time wing deployement from the fully folded state takes less than 0.1 seconds.

Video credit: University of Tokyo / Saito et al. 'Investigation of hindwing folding in ladybird beetles.' DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620612114.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1620612114

"The THREE AGES OF WATER is a significant work on the critical topic of water. It’s historically rich and a scientifically accessible account of the water-human nexus over millennia, with a look at the future."

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/07/book-review-water-scientist-offers-positive-vision-avoid-dystopian-future/?s=09

Mapping multi-modal #brain #connectome for brain disorder diagnosis via cross-modal mutual learning https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10182318 Potentially relevant to charting perceptual processing in sensory substitution for the blind; #crossmodal #multisensory #AI #neuroscience

The perception of silence https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301463120 "Silence is truly perceived, not merely inferred"; but no "OFF cells" like with darkness detection in the human retina?

Do we actually "hear" silence? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-actually-hear-silence/ "An experiment tests whether our ears hear silent intervals in the same way they hear music or noise."

Metronomes started randomly synchronize after a short period of time as they influence each other through the side-to-side motion of their shared base.

Source: UCLA Physics & Astronomy
https://demoweb.physics.ucla.edu/content/160-spontaneous-synchronization

Ahhh, the (Eurasian) Robins are out in force today. Here is one of many posing in a nearby shrub as I walked past

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

From hearing colors to seeing ultraviolet, is enhancement the future of human senses? https://theswaddle.com/from-hearing-colors-to-seeing-ultraviolet-is-enhancement-the-future-of-human-senses/

Even though I am relatively new to #qoto and #mastodon, what I like about the #fediverse is its decentralised nature. I know that some will find this aspect quite disconcerting. Due to its nature, one is empowered to become one's own #algorithm. In order to populate a #timeline, the onus is upon the user to follow #hashtags liberally, as there is no all-seeing, all-knowing #algorithm to do the work.

#AI could change how #blind people #see the world https://www.wired.com/story/ai-gpt4-could-change-how-blind-people-see-the-world/ by kharijohnson@mastodon.social; AI image-to-text models "can make up information, or '#hallucinate'"; now try to identify that gorilla...

Auditory cortex conveys non-topographic sound localization signals to visual cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.28.542580v1

More information in the Twitter thread https://twitter.com/MazoCamille/status/1663131647674294274 #neuroscience

Where imagination lives in your brain https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-imagination-lives-in-your-brain/ "there is absolutely no way you can imagine anything without the past"; #hippocampus #aphantasia

Brain waves synchronize when people interact https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-waves-synchronize-when-people-interact/ #neuroscience

Douglas Hofstadter changes his mind on Deep Learning & #AI risk (June 2023)? https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kAmgdEjq2eYQkB5PP/douglas-hofstadter-changes-his-mind-on-deep-learning-and-ai

" It is hard to imagine that before Pat’s research, the PFC was widely considered a “silent” brain area that neurosurgeons could lesion with impunity (as long as they did not damage Broca’s area), and the PFC was not thought to be a proper topic for scientific research."

https://academic.oup.com/cercor/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cercor/bhad159/7152341

#Neuroscience

Earth at night seen from space.

Awesome sketch on the #ImagingNeuroscience editor rebellion. I seriously hope more editors will have the courage and follow suit. (Looking at you Nature journals).

Editors Quit Academic Publishing Company
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUGiS1LeKU

#elsevier

(video, 2012) Shinsuke Shimojo: Sensory Substitution, and the Third Kind of Qualia https://zkm.de/en/media/video/shinsuke-shimojo-sensory-substitution-and-the-third-kind-of-qualia

Debate: Why not scientism?

Science is not the only form of knowledge but it is the best, being the most successful epistemic enterprise in history.

Philosophy is dead,’ Stephen Hawking once declared, because it ‘has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.’
The response from some philosophers was to accuse Hawking of ‘scientism'

https://aeon.co/essays/science-is-not-the-only-form-of-knowledge-but-it-is-the-best

#science #epistemology @sociology @philosophy #Philosophy #scientism #scientists #philosopher