Scientists and other experts were preparing an assessment of the health of nature in the US when Trump returned to the White House. He canceled the report. The researchers went ahead and compiled it on their own. This week, they released a 868-p draft for public comment and scientific review.
Here's a striking visual illusion - the 9 purple dots.
Focus your eyes on the top left dot. That one is more purple than the others, right? Now try another dot... that one becomes the purple one! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41744429/
1. Take a look at this chart. That black line? Technically, it's the decline in the percentage of Americans who move each year—from about one in five to less than one in thirteen.
But it's more than that.
You're looking at the decline of the American dream.
Can we PLEASE stop calling them “hallucinations.”
A hallucination is a false sensory perception.
LLMs don’t *perceive* anything.
These are “CONFABULATIONS.”
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
A popular press recap of all the cool stuff that @schmidtocean.bsky.social recently found off the coast of Argentina
Deep-sea explorers film massive animal drifting through darkness in South Atlantic Ocean | Discover Wildlife share.google/99B8UnGPRL7y...
Somebody created an Reddit clone exclusively populated by personal digital agents and let them interact with each other. It’s bonkers, fascinating and terrifying in equal measure.
www.forbes.com/sites/amirhu...
Unless this idea is understood and acted upon, market economies in their present form will only continue to reinforce social injustice described by log-normal distribution."
🤌🏻👨🍳
Found some relevant wisdom in buzsaki's brain from inside out: "We need a societal version of the homeostatic compensatory mechanism of non-rem sleep to combat the intrinsic drive of technological development and global economy towards widening the gap between the two tails [of wealth]. [...
Screenshot of tweet from Huberman that reads: “The other is that dog breeds w/different shaped heads are predictive of their demeanor and intelligence. And while I don’t! believe in Phrenology I now do pay some attention to how the shapes of peoples heads relates to their intellect and steadiness, or lack thereof.”
In response to announcement that he will be a new CBS contributor, Andrew Huberman tweeted “I’ve always gone issue-by-issue on health & science, spoken to experts w/a range of takes & presented where I see the center of (data) mass pointed. I’ll do the same with @CBSNews”. In Sept he posted this:
This page aggregates a number of community groups that are involved www.standwithminnesota.com
Even when there’s no accountability, the record matters. Credit to the Wikipedia editors maintaining this page.
Great piece! The "reverse centaur" is a proper metaphor for describing the hidden goal of large AI, where they promise and sell centaurs.
So many of my software engineering are becoming exhausted and disenchanted of "coding" after having to vibe code to keep up with their workload.
High-frequency bursts facilitate fast communication for human spatial attention.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroscience
If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.
consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov
Just published my review of neuroscience in 2025, on The Spike.
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
Join planet wild missions. This is my favorite one of this year
If you join, use my referral code: 9GTMDK
#planetwild
youtu.be/rYVGalSJz0k?...
Now that I got newyorker for the sacks piece, there's other cool stuff to read
Why A.I. Didn’t Transform Our Lives in 2025 www.newyorker.com/culture/2025...
Adrian Tchaikovsky is pushing the envelope of sci fi. He explores evolution, other minds, sentience, and complexity science. My favorite is "children of time" on a civilisation of jumping spiders, but I see he has way more books to explore
nautil.us/what-we-misu...
“How comedy was destroyed by an anti-reality doomsday cult”
It’s super insightful into Joe Rogan’s cult of comedy and his role in MAGA .
Fun little Christmas documentary
youtu.be/ewvRS3NwIlQ?...
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Where can I find this book? 😮
Every day that RFK Jr. remains HHS Secretary endangers the lives of millions. Enough is enough. Congress has the power stop him. We applaud @rephaleystevens.bsky.social for taking action, and we're calling on our other reps. to do the same!
Join us in the fight: standupforscience.net/impeach-rfkjr
YouTube recap showing top interests "exploring brain science", top channel as Hank Green, and the personality type as Curious mind
The 2025 recap that matters
Who is the fictional neuroscientist John who thinks waves are epiphenomenal?
“Why AlexNet Died in AI but Lingers in Neuroscience — Through the Lens of Popper and Kuhn” - by K Kar
AlexNet “is not the champion; it is the instrument.”
medium.com/@kohitij_716...
YouTube channels are being bought en masse by private equity firms. Over time, this will diminish the quality and deter indie producers. Be aware of which channels you are paying attention to.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRwB...
Thank you! I unfortunately missed the talk; does this cover the same overall message?
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
It is actually an incredibly frustrating time to be a theoretical neuroscientist right now imo, for this reason
