Neuroscientist. We aim to understd brain networks and brain wiring, using lasers & neuro AI. Prev: policy for @democracypolicy. Personal views. Not a lab acct.
Washington, DC
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New preprint, on 'sequence filtering'.
Led by @CianaDeveau, Z Zhou.
We see this as a key step forw on how cortex works.
All cortical areas have dense exc-exc recurrent connectivity.
What do these connections do, esp in sensory ctx?
Our data say: they do dynamics/time.
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ALT slide format: local, recurrent connections are a fundamental feature of the cerebral cortex
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The parallels between law and economics (see @LPEblog), public choice theory (see @NancyMacLean5), and metascience are VERY STRONG.
They are — respectively — the application of limited microeconomics to law, political science, and scientific research.
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And all three are (limited) microeconomics applied to a complex field, which has the effect of forcing down a status quo: no change, no creativity.
In law and econ and public choice theory, that status quo benefits the wealthy. I expect quantitative metascience will be the same.
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"There really is no reason that we can't transfer that to scientific domains like biology and make breakthroughs on questions we've struggled with for a long time."
Disagree. Math isn't biology. Biology is a complex physical system and we are data-limited, not idea-limited.
The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible - but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.
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Wish me luck as I dust off this absolutely epic homemade hot sauce recipe.
I have the pic somewhere in old notes
lostartofhomecooking.blogspo…
ALT The Historic Original Inner Beauty Hot Sauce Recipe (courtesy Chris Schlesinger, East Coast Grill) 5 lb scotch bonnet or habanero peppers 1 gallon yellow mustard 1/2 lb brown sugar 1 quart orange juice 1/2 gallon white vinegar 1 cup honey 1 cup molasses 46 oz. papaya juice 46 oz. pineapple juice 1/2 gallon peanut oil 6 oz. each of cumin, chili, curry, tumeric 2 oz. all spice salt and pepper
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Mark Histed retweeted
What happened to LANL and LLL around the turn of the century that could have changed the culture dramatically?
Have the national labs done anything since the turn of the century? Back in the '80s, I used to hear about all sorts of new science out of the labs. But I don't think they've done anything major for the last twenty-five years. It seems like they've been completely taken over by careerists.
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Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“I try to be unsparing towards systems and structures, but I try to be generous towards people.”
Good advice.
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“Miller owes his entire career to government investments in research and education. He grew up in Chicago and went to public schools. Neither of his parents went to college.” This is what public investment does, allow people to follow this path
propublica.org/article/feder…
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‘The Heritage Fdn, a rightwing think tank whose work the OMB cites, praised the proposed changes in a recent column. Empowering political appointees establishes the “kind of adult supervision”…’ 😳
So-called “Adult supervision” by the Trump admin:
independent.co.uk/news/world…
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😳 “Adult supervision” as the Trumpers see it: nbcnews.com/video/former-dog…
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Pediatricians get paid much less than many other docs which reflects the value we put now on kids’ healthcare, and doing this would transform that situation and help kids notus.org/healthcare/andy-ki…
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Mark Histed retweeted
It's great to do math olympiads if that's ur thing. But there r many other ways to learn to work hard, push limits without burning out, keep cool under pressure, lose gracefully, team work, leadership etc. Kids shud pursue whatever avenues help unleash the best in them.
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"the proposed changes would affect everything from transportation and housing to public health, workforce development and public safety. For state and local governments, this amounts to a fundamental transformation..."
!!
Jed Herrmann, in Governing
governing.com/management-and…
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Reading the Hobbit to kid now
Have you ever read it??? It’s 100% not a children’s book and whoever says that is lying to you. Not only is the vernacular dated and elaborate but the sentence structure and lengthy writing is often hard to get your head around as an adult. Love that book! but it’s not for kids
Community note
Tolkien explicitly described The Hobbit as "a fairy-story for children" in a letter written to publisher Milton Walden. This letter has been published in The Letters of JRR Tolkein and is letter #131
tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_131
booktrust.org.uk/book-recommend…
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"Pharma cos and biotechs in particular are warning about the downstream consequences... 'The proposed changes to funding decisions could introduce unpredictability that would weaken the scientific ecosystem." PhRMA spokesperson Alex Schriver said. Yes
axios.com/2026/07/09/omb-gra…
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