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  Scicomm matters now more than ever! Returning from a trip to rural USA, realizing the messages so familiar to us are not getting out - both in terms of 1) disruptions to US science and 2) healthcare misinformation. Efforts like https://sciencehomecoming.com/ matter. As you engage, one piece of advice: focus on why what you do matters for them. Careers in rural America (logging, mining, industry) have been decimated over the decades, and there’s a sense that just happens in waves. We must con...

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  HUGE news for brain research. I'll be cheering Doris on the entire way! https://astera.org/neuroscientist-doris-tsao-joins-astera-to-lead-its-new-neuroscience-program/

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  Crowdsourcing: Scales for degrees of evidence I'm looking for simple scales (eg 0-5) that capture degreees of evidence for (scientific) claims. A bit along the lines of this one but perhaps a bit more generic. Know any? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-022-00583-8

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  The type of wholesome science that I think we can all use in complex times: the physics of elephant whiskers. Unlike mice, elephants don’t whisk. The physics of their whiskers suggests they amplify touch. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx8981

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  I'm grateful for the opportunity to sit down with David Eagleman to spread optimism about the next steps in understanding brain and mental disorders. For a bolus of that excitement, start at 32:50, where David nails a summary of it (in 3.5 minutes). https://eagleman.com/podcast/what-do-brains-and-weather-systems-have-in-common-with-nicole-rust/ Those 3.5 min are exciting to me for two reasons. First, I'm a researcher who became pessimistic myself. It took me a few years (and writing...

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  6 thought provoking questions posed to @awaisaftab (psychiatrist) and myself (brain researcher) and we hit on so much: The challenge of escaping reductionism. Theories of consciousness. Are mental disorders brain disorders? Why should anyone care about philosophy? Is epistemic iteration is failing? And what bits of brain research are awaiting their Copernican moment? With nods to @summerfieldlab, @knutson_brain, @tyrell_turing, @Neurograce, @eikofried and so many more. Read it all here (and...