Francisco Rivera Rosario's Avatar

Francisco Rivera Rosario

@franciscorr25

Associate editor, opinion and community @thetransmitter.bsky.social. Posts about neuroscience, TV shows, Bad Bunny and the Knicks. Educado en la 804 en 🇵🇷. Views expressed are my own. https://www.thetransmitter.org/contributor/francisco-j-rivera-rosario

876
Followers
2,673
Following
56
Posts
15.11.2024
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Francisco Rivera Rosario @franciscorr25

Preview
This paper changed my life: Talia Lerner reflects on dopamine neuron diversity and the value of simple experiments In a 2011 Neuron study, Stephan Lammel and his colleagues showed that dopamine neurons with different projections have different physiological properties. The work inspired Lerner to think about how…

In our latest edition of “This paper changed my life,” @talialerner.bsky.social shares how Stephen Lammel and Rob Malenka’s 2011 Neuron paper on dopamine neuron diversity taught her how to go about challenging widely held assumptions in the field.

www.thetransmitter.org/this-paper-c...

11.03.2026 12:08 👍 27 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 2
Post image Post image Post image

Thanks to the folks at @wutsaiyale.bsky.social for hosting us. It was a pleasure to meet with the Yale neuroscience community at the institute to talk about how we cover the field and the resources we offer online.

#neuroskyence

10.03.2026 17:44 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Hippocampus a ‘general-purpose statistical learning machine’ New cross-species findings may help settle a long-standing debate about whether the hippocampus is required for passively learning information.

Whether the hippocampus is involved in unrewarded learning has been a controversial question. A new preprint finds that it may be critical for passively learning information.

By @natmesanash.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/memory/hippo...

10.03.2026 15:50 👍 50 🔁 14 💬 0 📌 2
Preview
‘The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved,’ an excerpt In his new book, Rogier Mars provides a detailed account of animal and human brain evolution. In this excerpt from Chapter 1, he starts with the sea squirt—and why it needs the brain it eats after its...

Why would sea squirts eat their own brains? In his new book, “The Fox, The Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved,” Rogier Mars provides a detailed account of this and other quirks in animal and human brain evolution.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/evolution/th...

10.03.2026 13:52 👍 15 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 2

Really informative and uplifting presentation this morning about both the work going on at The Transmitter and finding your way along your career path. Thanks again @wutsaiyale.bsky.social @thetransmitter.bsky.social !

09.03.2026 17:15 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Let’s teach neuroscientists how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers Blanco-Suárez revamped the traditional journal club by developing a course in which students peer review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

“I made it my mission to develop a journal club course to teach students how to become fair reviewers.” @eblancosuarez.bsky.social shares how she developed a class in which students review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

www.thetransmitter.org/neuro-educat...

09.03.2026 19:07 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate Finding creative ways to keep early-career researchers in academia—for example, through part-time roles—can help the field weather the storm.

My latest in @thetransmitter.bsky.social: www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...

09.03.2026 07:52 👍 19 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 2
Preview
Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate Finding creative ways to keep early-career researchers in academia—for example, through part-time roles—can help the field weather the storm.

Amid shrinking tenure-track faculty positions, we must think creatively to keep early-career scientists afloat, writes @lucinauddin.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...

09.03.2026 14:50 👍 20 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 1

Earlier this week, we published an essay by @jvoigts.bsky.social on the consequences of low peer review participation: lnkd.in/edfaWQBW. We continue the conversation on peer review today with a piece by @eblancosuarez.bsky.social about how to teach students how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers!

06.03.2026 16:41 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Let’s teach neuroscientists how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers Blanco-Suárez revamped the traditional journal club by developing a course in which students peer review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

It was great to share this experience with @thetransmitter.bsky.social Can't wait to begin this course again in Fall. If you're interested in something like this for your own class, I'm happy to discuss.
www.thetransmitter.org/neuro-educat...

06.03.2026 12:30 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 2
Preview
Let’s teach neuroscientists how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers Blanco-Suárez revamped the traditional journal club by developing a course in which students peer review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

In the first essay of our new neuro-education series, @eblancosuarez.bsky.social shares how she reimagined the traditional journal club course by developing a class in which students review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

#neuroskyence

bit.ly/4reKhg8

06.03.2026 15:17 👍 13 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
Preview
New autism committee positions itself as science-backed alternative to government group The Independent Autism Coordinating Committee plans to meet at the same time as the U.S. federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee later this month—and offer its own research agenda.

“You can look at the minutes from both meetings side by side and decide which has the potential to advance the cause of autistic people more,” says autism researcher @dsmandell.bsky.social.

By @avaskham.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/new...

05.03.2026 21:20 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Two neurobiologists win 2026 Brain Prize for discovering mechanics of touch Research by Patrik Ernfors and David Ginty has delineated the diverse cell types of the somatosensory system and revealed how they detect and discriminate among different types of tactile information.

Two neurobiologists who helped decipher how the somatosensory system detects touch and pain have won this year’s Brain Prize, the largest award in neuroscience.

By @helenak.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/somatosensat...

05.03.2026 15:37 👍 61 🔁 22 💬 2 📌 0
Preview
Shifting neural code powers speech comprehension Dynamic coding helps explain how the brain processes multiple features of speech—from the smallest units of sounds to full sentences—simultaneously.

Dynamic coding of speech, as suggested by two new studies, challenges the idea that language features are encoded in a one-to-one manner in the brain.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/language/shi...

05.03.2026 14:50 👍 17 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

News: There are now *two* advisory bodies in the U.S. that claim authority over autism research: IACC and....I-ACC.

Autism researchers and advocates have formed an independent group to act as a bulwark against potential misinformation from the newly-reformed federal body.

story coming

03.03.2026 16:35 👍 22 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
Preview
Neuro’s ark: Cracking the secret sensory world of ticks Carola Städele, a self-proclaimed “tick magnet,” studies the sensory neurobiology of ticks—how the parasitic animals zero in on their next meal.

Carola Städele @tickphysiology.bsky.social a self-proclaimed “tick magnet,” studies the sensory neurobiology of ticks—in other words, how the parasitic animals zero in on their next meal.

By @callimcflurry.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/neuros-ark/n...

03.03.2026 17:38 👍 13 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
Preview
Night in the Library | Brooklyn Public Library On Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 7 pm, Night in the Library returns with The Philosophy of Mathematics. Night in the Library, BPL's overnight festival of ideas, invites you to talks, panels, workshops, ...

Small joys in dark times.
Brooklyn Public Library and @simonsfoundation.org present

Night in the Library:
The Philosophy of Mathematics

Free Event at Brooklyn Central Library
Pi Day, Saturday 3/14
7 p.m. to 3:14 a.m
Keynote Address by Werner Herzog

www.bklynlibrary.org/night-library

03.03.2026 16:53 👍 14 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Meet the neuroscientist running for Congress Sam Wang, a neuroscientist running for the U.S. House of Representatives, has been interested in “fixing bugs in democracy” for decades.

Neuroscientist @samwang.bsky.social, whose research implicated the cerebellum in autism, now hopes to “fix bugs in democracy”—by running for Congress.

By Lauren Schenkman

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/policy/is-th...

02.03.2026 20:16 👍 47 🔁 14 💬 3 📌 0
Preview
Lack of reviewers threatens robustness of neuroscience literature Simple math suggests that small groups of scientists can significantly bias peer review.

Broad peer review is crucial for a healthy scientific literature, but neuroscientists turn down review requests too often. Simple math suggests that small groups of scientists can significantly bias the literature, writes @jvoigts.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/publishing/l...

02.03.2026 15:04 👍 56 🔁 23 💬 2 📌 7

The deadline to apply for the Brain Prize Cajal summer course in Computational Neuroscience has been extended to March 9! We’re excited for you to join us in sunny Lisbon! Please do not hesitate to send in an application and learn about computational neuroscience! @gjorjulijana.bsky.social

27.02.2026 19:05 👍 15 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Building the future of neuroscience at HBCUs Black In Neuro is launching a new program to help historically Black colleges and universities advance neuroscience research and education, focusing on cross-institutional collaboration…

In 2025, @blackinneuro.bsky.social celebrated its 5th anniversary and announced the HBCU-MINDS Network, an initiative focused on building neuroscience research infrastructure, expanding graduate training and increasing opportunities at HBCUs.

By @jheannellejohnson.bsky.social

bit.ly/4sjPW5C

27.02.2026 21:16 👍 26 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 1
Video thumbnail

“In her obituary, her mentee, Catherine Veil, says that [Marcelle Lapicque] fought against the prejudices of her time … it may be that the prejudices included race and not just sexism,” says @oligoclonalband.medsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/history-of-n...

27.02.2026 17:12 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1

Watch this beautiful video and tribute to Marcelle Lapicque for #BlackHistoryMonth! ❤️

24.02.2026 15:16 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

A timely and insightful perspective written by our former postdoc @justinkohare.bsky.social in @thetransmitter.bsky.social on dendritic integration and the urgent need to develop better ways to bridge molecular/cellular neuroscience with circuit/systems neuroscience 👇

27.02.2026 16:00 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Dendrites help neuroscientists see the forest for the trees Dendritic arbors provide just the right scale to study how individual neurons reciprocally interact with their broader circuitry—and are our best bet to bridge cellular and systems neuroscience.

Dendritic arbors provide neuroscience with an ideal opportunity to study how individual neurons interact with their broader circuitry and are the field’s best bet to bridge cellular and systems neuroscience, writes @justinkohare.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/dendrites/de...

27.02.2026 14:39 👍 36 🔁 17 💬 0 📌 2
Preview
Two primate centers drop ‘primate’ from their name The Washington and Tulane National Biomedical Research Centers—formerly called National Primate Research Centers—say they made the change to better reflect the breadth of research performed at the…

Two of the U.S. national primate research centers have changed their name to “Biomedical Research Center” to better reflect their range of research activities.

By @callimcflurry.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/community/tw...

26.02.2026 20:36 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 3 📌 2
Preview
Truth, Beauty, and Brains Moritz Stefaner's visualization about the state of Neuroscience

In the Open Visualization Academy newsletter: Friends of the OVA, Episode 3, a conversation with @moritzstefaner.bsky.social about his recent State of Neuroscience project openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com/p/truth-beau...

#dataViz #infographics #dataJournalism #dataVisualization

26.02.2026 14:24 👍 15 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 1
Preview
Stimulating the brain with Damien Fair The MacArthur Foundation “genius” discusses his return to his home state of Minnesota and why it’s important to protect the developing brain.

MacArthur Foundation “genius” @drdamienfair.bsky.social discusses his return to his home state of Minnesota and why it’s important to protect the developing brain, in this episode of “Synaptic.”

By Brady Huggett

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/synaptic/sti...

25.02.2026 21:10 👍 21 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Meet the neuroscientist running for Congress Sam Wang, a neuroscientist running for the U.S. House of Representatives, has been interested in “fixing bugs in democracy” for decades.

I spoke with Laura Schenkman at The Transmitter about my candidacy for the House!

Going from the lab to public life is a huge transition. From a lifetime of research to biotech to democracy to running for office, here’s the story of one scientist: www.thetransmitter.org/policy/is-th...

25.02.2026 11:23 👍 166 🔁 60 💬 5 📌 1

It was so fun to work with @rebeccasky.bsky.social on this video about the life and work of pioneering neuroscientist Marcelle Lapicque! Check it out here:

25.02.2026 14:12 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0