kwitschas @kwitschas@qoto.org

How the brain 'constructs' the outside world https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-constructs-the-outside-world/ "neurons in sensory cortical areas and even in the hypothetical central processor cannot 'see' events that happen in the world."

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R&D Biochemistry Scientist

Biomemory

👩‍🔬👨‍🔬 Opportunity Alert: R&D Biochemistry Scientist at Biomemory (Paris, France) 🌿

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/biomemory-27778-rd-biochemistry-scientist/?feed_id=74843

#biochemistry #bioengineering #biotechnology #enzymology #structural_biology #ScienceJobs #hiring #research
https://jobrxiv.org/job/biomemory-27778-rd-biochemistry-scientist/?feed_id=74843

https://direct.mit.edu/qss/article/doi/10.1162/qss_c_00305/120308/Are-open-access-fees-a-good-use-of-tax-payers

#OpenAccess fees have given >$5b USD 💸 of revenue since 2015 to the biggest for-profit publishers. Also a massive underestimation given the non-serious "conservative" 500k for #MDPI, who easily received >$300m revenue in 2023 alone (285k papers in 2023!). Over 8 years, easily tack on an extr $1b+ USD for #MDPI.

Non-profit funders should just host their own journals at this point. 🫠
#SciPub #ScientificPublishing #AcademicChatter

Research Assistant - phd position - NAU - AI for Cybersecurity

Northern Arizona University

Join Dr. Lan Zhang's network security research team at Northern Arizona University! PhD students and visiting scholars wanted for spring/fall 2024.

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/northern-arizona-university-27778-research-assistant-phd-po...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/northern-arizona-university-27778-research-assistant-phd-position-nau-ai-for-cybersecurity/?feed_id=74108

I’m looking for more post-docs to join our team at UCLA ☀️ Please share with your 🧠 #neuroscience networks https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF09330

All they need is a trenchcoat to complete the heron costume

'Because a certain domain is present in a protein, you shouldn’t assume that it has a certain function, and IDRs (famously or notoriously) have suffered from this in the past several years. We see many papers where the authors assume that the presence of an IDR means that a protein might undergo phase separation or that they are readily interchangeable. Current work is challenging these assumptions, showing many examples where IDRs are not interchangeable, and revealing many cases where phase separation is not biologically relevant.'

https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(24)00178-3

I've been thinking about that Sabine Hossenfelder video* that is doing the rounds and I have to say that I mostly don't like it. It raises real issues with how the incentives are laid out in science, yes, but the whole framing is (sometimes explicitly) that that is all academia is and there's nothing of value there. Saying that what is published is mostly bullshit or that academia is not "honest work" (unlike making youtube videos).

1/n

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKiBlGDfRU8

Common raven

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Rain cleared out

Postdoctoral and Ph.D. Position (m/f/d) in Biological Physics

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

For the MPRG “Theory of Biological Fluids” headed by Dr. David Zwicker we seek to fill a #Postdoc and Ph.D.Position (m/f/d) in Biological Physics

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/ma...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/max-planck-institute-for-dynamics-and-self-organization-27778-postdoctoral-and-ph-d-position-m-f-d-in-biological-physics/?feed_id=73625

Big move by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to stop paying Article Processing Charges (APCs) to make journal articles open access (OA) at the start of next year. Instead, they will mandate preprints & encourage preprint reviews. APCs made the transition to OA possible, but the tide is turning against this business model.
https://gatesfoundationoa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/24810787662100-Policy-Refresh-2025-Overview

HT @johannes_lehmann
#OpenAccess #GatesFoundation #ResearchFunding #APCs #PrePrints #JournalPublication #AcademicPublishing #ScholComm #OpenScience

Interesting longish blog post by Eiko Fried on combatting cynicism creep in science (in this case psychology). Lots of reasons to get depressed about the state of things in science but what action can you take to not let this affect you or your coworkers?

https://eiko-fried.com/antidotes-to-cynicism-creep/

The Soiza-Reilly Lab is based at the Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias from CONICET and University of Buenos Aires.

The lab is interested in how early postnatal maladaptive development and miswiring of cortico-limbic circuits could enhance our predisposition to develop psychiatric disorders.

Meet the lab⬇️
https://thenode.biologists.com/lab-meeting-with-the-soiza-reilly-lab/

Tests for consciousness in humans and beyond https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00010-X Now what is the suggested "framework"? Having a set of C-tests? A bunch of weak classifiers to end up with stronger classification (of consciousness)?

So about five days ago, or so, people on Bsky and Twttr started highlighting Elsevier science papers with GPT/LLM hallmark phrases riddled all throughout them. Literally thousands of peer-reviewed papers.

As I said, then, and as I discussed in my dissertation, knowledge-making and expertise are always a tricky process, but it needs deep, intentional confrontation and reform:
https://media.proquest.com/media/hms/PRVW/1/twSaS?_s=yIAhHtzhif4xd76I%2BihtcJJXTPw%3D

Anyway, now it looks like @404mediaco has dug down on this, and found *Even More of It* and I am genuinely and completely struggling against despair at what the future of being an educator, researcher, and writer will even mean over and at the end of the next 5 years.
https://www.404media.co/scientific-journals-are-publishing-papers-with-ai-generated-text/

Quite frankly, this should genuinely a) be the death of peer review as we know it (Again: AS WE KNOW IT), and b) lead a complete reformulation of the knowledge-making and expertise processes, but it won't and that terrifies and saddens me.

!! come join us as a group leader !! we have 2 lectureships just opened for applications in our department at UCL! Join one of the best, the most exciting and most friendly neuroscience departments! https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/search-ucl-jobs/details?nPostingId=8470&nPostingTargetId=20780&id=Q1KFK026203F3VBQBLO8M8M07&LG=UK&languageSelect=UK&mask=ext #neuroscience #jobs #london

You wanted to add your ORCiD to your GitHub profile? Now you can do that :-) https://github.blog/changelog/2024-03-13-authenticate-orcid-id/

#opensource #openscience #orcid