Neurofrontiers @neurofrontiers@qoto.org

Is biophysical modelling in neuroscience dead?

Note I do this all the time. Colleague suggested that however yes, it is dead, mainly due to the findings of Eve Marder et al: that neurons properties are massively degenerate. So no point in modelling various ion channel dynamics in detail.

I have to admit this keeps me awake at night wondering if I should pack it all in and just boot up a convolutional neural network, like the rest of computational neuroscientists seem to be doing these days.

"female researchers appear to contribute more to the public good of #openscience, while their male colleagues focus on private reputation"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733323001580

People keep telling me that #ChatGPT is amazing for proofreading text and improving scientific writing.

I just gave #GPT4 a section of a grant proposal and it made 11 suggestions, none of which were worth keeping (often adding or removing a comma, or repeating a preposition in a list).

More interestedly, a number of its suggestions were identical to my originals.

#LLM #GenerativeAI

#ComplexityThoughts is back after the summer break!

In the issue #14 amazing new papers, from #NetworkScience foundations to #OriginOfLife #Neuroscience and #ComputationalSocialScience

Unraveling complexity: building knowledge, one paper at a time!
Not yet subscribed? It's never too late, and it's 100% free.

https://manlius.substack.com/p/complexity-thoughts-issue-14

For all the folks starting their #PhD (or their master thesis) today - a reminder why your PhD advisor can solve a problem so "easily" ...

#astrodon #academia #AcademiChatter #research

It’s been 4 months since I left #academia and my summer Rumspringa has brought down my fight-or-flight response that I didn’t even realize was so engaged for probably a decade. I’m going to put out some advice for whatever the fuck it’s worth.

If you’re killing yourself with work, “leaning in,” living that hustle life, etc. Pump the brakes. Nobody will give a shit once you burn out or age out and leave. Some will continue to try to get you to do favors because your value isn’t in you as a person but what that insane work ethic gave them and they’re going through withdrawal when you take it away. You could rise to the top of your field and I’m telling you, from my experience, it doesn’t matter. There will be immediate radio silence from the same people praising your accolades the week prior. Slow down. Say no without guilt. Go for a walk. Take work email off your phone. Channel that energy into that thing you want to learn or do that you love but don’t have the time for. Lean out.

#AcademicChatter

I'm on the academic job market this fall! 🥳

I recently completed my PhD, and I'm looking for a 3+ year postdoc position. I'm also applying to fellowships to potentially work on my own project ideas. 🔭

Buckle up! It's time for a thread of self-promo 😇

More people are receiving treatment than ever, yet outcomes are no better. Why?

One answer: better outcomes require improved quality of care, not just more access to care. This new piece in TIME by Jamie Ducharme is worth the read. #mentalhealth

https://time.com/6308096/therapy-mental-health-worse-us/

Hot off the press! 📰

It took a minute, but I'm glad it's finally out:

A Critical Perspective on Neural Mechanisms in Cognitive Neuroscience: Towards Unification
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17456916231191744

'The “pooled fund” is designed to reduce the high costs of developing new treatments. It would do so partly by increasing the number of experimental drugs being tested, raising the chances that some will succeed. It would also reduce the risks of unsuccessful new products by bringing in capital from non-profit backers who do not seek financial returns.'

https://www.ft.com/content/2f939fbd-06ee-46c5-a956-800266d5dd86

Provocative

As a young psychologist, this chills me to my bones. Apparently is possible to reach the stratosphere of scientific achievement, to publish over and over again in “high impact” journals, to rack up tens of thousands of citations, and for none of it to matter. Every marker of success, the things that are supposed to tell you that you're on the right track, that you're making a real contribution to science—they might mean nothing.

(I agree: time to rethink that any one of us is how this works).

I’m so sorry for psychology’s loss, whatever it is

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/im-so-sorry-for-psychologys-loss

What counts as neural (as opposed to behavioral) evidence that the brain explicitly represents the parameters of probability distributions?

Are there neural measurables that track the higher moments of phenomena?

Fellow academics, please answer the survey below and help to spread it?

You are writing a review article or a book, and you have to cite one work about topic X.

You opt for citing a paper from:

Don't forget to take holidays away from the lab, they build character and give you some perspective

I managed to write my first post for #blaugust, on the topic of fMRI neurofeedback.

Delving into the details of this topic, and particularly thinking about how this method could be used as a closed-loop form of feedback for testing predictions from network control theory was a lot of fun. And hopefully it will be useful for people who wanna learn more about.

https://neurofrontiers.blog/fmri-neurofeedback-whats-the-fuss/

#Blaugust2023 #neuroscience #ScienceBlogging #fmri

These probes capture incredible detail in the spatial structure of extracellular action potentials.

#introduction
Hey everyone !
I'm Gabriel Béna, I'm a French PhD student @ Imperial College London, under the supervision of @neuralreckoning.
I'm interested in using AI methods and ideas to uncover computational insights about the brain(s), and conversely to use biological insights to further advance AI.
My latest reserach has focused on studying modularity in networks under ressource constraints, and showing how functional and structural modularity may not be as linked as one may think.
I also study SNNs, especially in the context of multimodal integration (working in collaboration with @marcusghosh).
Having never jumped on the X-twitter train, I have high hopes that we can foster a real and fruitful community of peers here further on, and I'm excited to hear from you all :)
Cheers