Alex Weber @weberam2@qoto.org

@weberam2 @xtaldave i like eLife and PLOS

the problem with Nat Comms is that their impact factor is massive. when i was still in academia and publishing regularly, the PIs all wanted to be in there. and it was really difficult. but when we got it, it usually made a huge splash.

@weberam2 conflict of interest from me, but for #metascience / #metaresearch I recommend https://mastodon.online/@RoRInstitute@indieweb.social

The Journal of Neuroscience is moving on to Open (but still anonymous) Peer-reviews! Nice!

Introducing Open Peer Review at JNeurosci

#Neuroscience #PeerReview

With the OpenAI clownshow, there's been renewed media attention on the xrisk/"AI safety"/doomer nonsense. Personally, I've had a fresh wave of reporters asking me naive questions (as well as some contacts from old hands who are on top of how to handle ultra-rich man-children with god complexes). 🧵1/

YES!
This is precisely what every university (and scholarly society!!) should be doing: have their own instance and drop X like a hot potato:

"an instance has been created [... ] on university servers, which is open to the university's organizational units. The active use of X will be significantly reduced."

https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/newsroom/2023/university-of-innsbruck-focuses-on-mastodon/

We detail all the arguments about precisely why that must happen here:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230207

Paywalled article here, I'll share once I have a non-paywalled link (hopefully soon): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03610-5

The summary: astronomers spent a lot of time asking SpaceX and other large satellite operators to pretty please make their satellites fainter and/or use fewer satellites. And then BlueWalker 3 was launched by some tiny company and is one of the brightest things in the sky. Asking nicely isn't working: international regulation and pollution penalties are needed.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀
Today! Join presentation with Jaan Aru followed by discussion of the paper below in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon
Nov 22, 12:30pm (US eastern)
Register here:
https://umd.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAuf-yuqT0jGtztlME6tDuMBpMX32iIEx0Z

Scientists paid large publishers over $1 billion in four years to have their studies published with open access.

Nature Comms and Sci Reports cornering the market.

Open access = good.
Extortionate APCs with little or no actual editorial service = bad.

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-11-21/scientists-paid-large-publishers-over-1-billion-in-four-years-to-have-their-studies-published-with-open-access.html?outputType=amp

How is anyone NOT using @mozilla #Firefox by now? Between this and intentionally slowing #YouTube traffic for Firefox/uBlock users, #Google is officially evil. Please support an #open #decentralized non-profit #Internet !

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/google-chrome-will-limit-ad-blockers-starting-june-2024/

#tech #Technology

Neural activity across cortex is high-dimensional and ... complicated. Still, those fine neural features can be predicted from orofacial behaviors in mice! Great work by Atika Syeda et al in the lab!

Try out the all-new keypoint-based #facemap, paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01490-6

In press! 📣 The surprising result that basolateral amygdala has a more crucial role in learning meaningful changes in the reward environment than orbitofrontal cortex. Check our paper to find out how! 🤓 #neuroscience #CompNeuro https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2023/11/13/JNEUROSCI.0622-23.2023