kwitschas @kwitschas@qoto.org

The @Dev_journal Pathway to Independence programme is an excellent scheme to support postdocs who are looking to transition to an independent position.

Includes tailored personal mentorship from leaders in the field of #DevBio

Applications are now open to join the second cohort. Take a look! Spread the word!

https://journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi-programme-2024

Academia is no longer about producing knowledge. We produce content for publishers. But unlike other industries, we pay both to produce and consume said content.

It’s all a farce, that we all know is a farce, but we play it anyway because the entire system is structured to incentive the farce itself.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03974-8

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"The study confirms prior research that had pointed to the hormone, called GDF15. The researchers found that the amount of hormone circulating in a woman’s blood during pregnancy — as well as her exposure to it before pregnancy — drives the severity of her symptoms."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/health/morning-sickness-hyperemesis-gravidarum.html

Sanderling morning commute

We have a couple of peer reviewer training resources available on our website: https://plos.org/resource/peer-review-training-resources/

Happy to answer questions about this.

I also regularly ask postdocs and senior lab members to review manuscripts but can do that only if I find can find information about your research area and expertise online. If you are interested in reviewing neuroscience manuscripts for PLOS Biology, let me know. Happy to work with you if the right manuscripts for your expertise comes along.

Agribusiness lobby at COP 28
Lobbyists from industrial agriculture companies and trade groups have turned out in record numbers at Cop28.

Call on rich nations to cut meat consumption: "This follows the recommendation of the Eat-Lancet Commission, which suggests people consume no more than 15.7 kg a year. In 2020, the average American consumed 126kg of meat.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/09/big-meat-dairy-lobbyists-turn-out-record-numbers-cop28

"Meat consumption is highest across high-income countries (with the largest meat-eaters in Australia, consuming around 116 kilograms per person in 2013)."
https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production
#COP28 #BigMeat #pesticide #meat #consumption #lobby #food #LandClearing #ClimateEmergency #BiodiversityCrisis

This is really quite something... #Antarctic sea ice extent is back to a record low for the current date. This is actually below 2016, which was previously a massive outlier in November and December.

More sea ice graphs at: https://zacklabe.com/antarctic-sea-ice-extentconcentration/

‘UndERACting ion channels in neurodegeneration’
@TrendsNeuro Spotlight by Matisse Jacobs, Rebecca San Gil & Adam Walker
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016622362300262X

50day free access link:
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1iALr_3nuo00zc

discussing
Guo et al. 2023 Cell Research, ‘Disruption of ER ion homeostasis maintained by an ER anion channel CLCC1 contributes to ALS-like pathologies’
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-023-00798-z

Online Now: Dual allosteric modulation of voltage and calcium sensitivities of the Slo1-LRRC channel complex https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(23)00921-8?rss=yes&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

"Christian Doppler was an Austrian mathematician who is best known for the Doppler effect in wave theory." https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Doppler/ #BOTD #OTD #History #Maths #Math #Mathematics #Physics #Science #STEM @science

Periodic reminder of what fMRI's BOLD signal is measuring, and its temporal dynamics:

"blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) contrast. [...] increased signal in a voxel measured with an EPI [echo planar imaging] sequence indicates recent neuronal activity
because of the relative increase in local blood oxygenation that accompanies such activity. The temporal profile of this BOLD response, known as the hemodynamic response function, looks like a bell curve with a long tail, peaking around 4 to 5 seconds after local neural activity and returning to baseline after 12 to 15 seconds."

From "Principles of Neural Science", Kandel et al. 6th edition, page 115.

No matter how fast the EPI imaging is (~100 ms), the BOLD dynamics makes GCaMP look lighting fast. Temporally deconvolving BOLD is possible, to a point, but remember its spatial resolution is measured in millimetres, whereas neuronal somas measure ~0.025 millimetres.

#fMRI #BOLD #neuroscience

NY Times: The social media company formerly known as Twitter could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pause their marketing campaigns after Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/business/x-elon-musk-advertisers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BE0.UoEb.-MAez5onL-Mm&smid=url-share

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We are hiring people interested in research of individual and collective decision making with neuroscience techniques.

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3762645626

In the video I just released I didn’t cover “how to mastodon” but a big difference is there isn’t an algorithm feeding you stuff. You have to curate your experience by following people.
That intentionality takes time, but enjoy the process and the result of not being fucked with by a robot for retention.
It’s reminiscent of looking for new music.
Here’s a good place to start:
https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-find-accounts-to-follow-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-how-do-i-find-my-friends/

How many #species are there on Earth? Projections have ranged from the millions to the trillions.

This Perspective looks at how a 2011 #PLOSBiology study transformed this field and what still needs to be done to find a definitive answer.

https://plos.io/3QRppvc

December 2023 issue of Trends in Neurosciences:
https://www.cell.com/issue/S0166-2236(22)X0013-1

Free featured articles, collections & more:
https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/home

On the cover:
‘Curiosity-driven exploration: foundations in neuroscience and computational modeling’

by Alireza Modirshanechi , Kacper Kondrakiewicz, Wulfram Gerstner & Sebastian Haesler
https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/fulltext/S0166-2236(23)00240-0

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