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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · 23h

First paper from the lab! 🤠

Understanding the statistical physics of the brain is hard (in part) because statistical physics is hard. We find a class of max ent models that can be solved EXACTLY in very large neural systems

Led by the awesome David Carcamo www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Statistical physics of large-scale neural activity with loops | PNAS

As experiments advance to record from tens of thousands of neurons, statistical physics provides a framework for understanding how collective activ...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Wu Tsai Institute | Yale University @wutsaiyale.bsky.social · 2d

WTI's Inspiring Speaker Series continues this week with Timothy Lillicrap, “Model-based reinforcement language for reasoning in games and beyond”

10.9.25 | 10 – 11:15a
100 College St, Workshop 1116
🔗 wti.yale.edu/event/2025-10/inspiring-speaker-tim-lillicrap

All Yale community members are welcome.

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · 3d

Adding loops into a genome is a complicated and costly business for a cell. New findings suggest that it may be the reason that ancient life became complex. @philipcball.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/loops-of-dna...

Loops of DNA Equipped Ancient Life To Become Complex | Quanta Magazine

New work shows that physical folding of the genome to control genes located far away may have been an early evolutionary development.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Jess Cardin @jess-cardin.bsky.social · 2d

I thought we would never work on gamma oscillations again, but I was wrong 🤷‍♀️ So happy to see this work out in @nature.com! This was a truly epic project spearheaded by @q-perrenoud.bsky.social. Gamma isn't always an oscillation, but it's critical for sensory encoding and perceptual performance 🧠

Quentin Perrenoud @q-perrenoud.bsky.social · 2d

(1/8) My latest study is out in @nature.com ! Kudos to coauthors especially @jess-cardin.bsky.social and to @kavliatyale.bsky.social and @wutsaiyale.bsky.social for support. We find that gamma power in mouse visual cortex is caused by brief events of visual processing www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Flexible perceptual encoding by discrete gamma events - Nature

Using a new analytical method for tracking gamma band events in mouse visual cortex, flexible encoding of visual information according to behavioural context is shown.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Quentin Perrenoud @q-perrenoud.bsky.social · 2d

(1/8) My latest study is out in @nature.com ! Kudos to coauthors especially @jess-cardin.bsky.social and to @kavliatyale.bsky.social and @wutsaiyale.bsky.social for support. We find that gamma power in mouse visual cortex is caused by brief events of visual processing www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Flexible perceptual encoding by discrete gamma events - Nature

Using a new analytical method for tracking gamma band events in mouse visual cortex, flexible encoding of visual information according to behavioural context is shown.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Santa Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 18d

Final week to apply for the 2026 SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships

If you're an early-career scholar and passionate about collaborative, transdisciplinary research beyond traditional departments, this is the postdoc fellowship for you.

Deadline: Oct 1, 2025

Apply: santafe.edu/sfifellowship

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

APS Division of Biological Physics @aps-dbio.bsky.social · Sep 5

Biological physics bridges the complex phenomena of life with minimal quantitative models from physics. How should we teach biophysics?

Join us for an online panel on "Teaching and Learning Biological Physics" (Sep 17, 5:30pm ET).

Registration:

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Teaching and Learning Biological Physics. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

apsphysics.zoom.us

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

APS Division of Biological Physics @aps-dbio.bsky.social · Sep 5

Have a striking image of your biophysics research? 🐭🐒🐛🪰🦠Submit it to the DBIO Image Contest!

The winning images will be advertised on shirts and other media at the 2026 Global Physics Summit.

Submit here:

forms.gle

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

APS Division of Biological Physics @aps-dbio.bsky.social · Aug 12

Interested in organizing a session at the 2026 APS Global Physics Summit? It's pain free and a great way to get involved in organizing! We're taking nominations for invited DBIO Symposia through August 24:

Organize a DBIO Invited Symposium at the 2026 Global Physics Summit

We are seeking nominations for 'Invited Symposium' to enhance the DBIO program for the upcoming Global Physics Summit. An invited symposium consists of five 36-minute invited talks related to a topic ...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

wbialek.bsky.social @wbialek.bsky.social · Aug 9

It was an honor to write this, but also great fun. A chance to look back at the classics, and think about the path forward. #Physics is a beautiful human endeavor. journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Emergence of Brains

This review traces how ideas from statistical physics evolved into foundational models of neural computation, shaping modern AI and culminating in the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

journals.aps.org

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · Jul 2

Republicans want states to cut food aid errors. Their bill could do the opposite: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...

Republicans Want States to Cut Food Aid Errors. Their Bill Could Do the Opposite.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Marcelo Mattar @marcelomattar.bsky.social · Jul 2

Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks - Nature

Modelling biological decision-making with tiny recurrent neural networks enables more accurate predictions of animal choices than classical cognitive models and offers insights into the underlying cog...

doi.org

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

mleighton.bsky.social @mleighton.bsky.social · Jun 5

Interested in coarse-graining, irreversibility, or neural activity in the hippocampus?

If so, check out our new preprint exploring how maximizing the irreversibility preserved from microscopic dynamics leads to interpretable coarse-grained descriptions of biological systems!

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Biology consumes energy at the microscale to power functions across all scales: From proteins and cells to entire populations of animals.

Led by @qiweiyu.bsky.social‬ and @mleighton.bsky.social‬, we study how coarse-graining can help to bridge this gap 👇🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2506.01909

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Reposted by Christopher W. Lynn

Qiwei Yu @qiweiyu.bsky.social · Jun 5

Living systems operate nonequilibrium processes across many scales in space and time. Is there a model-free way to bridge the descriptions at different levels of coarse-graining? Here we find that preserving the evidence of time-reversal symmetry breaking works remarkably well!

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Biology consumes energy at the microscale to power functions across all scales: From proteins and cells to entire populations of animals.

Led by @qiweiyu.bsky.social‬ and @mleighton.bsky.social‬, we study how coarse-graining can help to bridge this gap 👇🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2506.01909

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Check out the preprint for much more: "Coarse-graining dynamics to maximize irreversibility"

And a massive shout out to the leaders of the project: Qiwei Yu (@qiweiyu.bsky.social‬) and Matt Leighton (@mleighton.bsky.social‬)

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

In neural dynamics in the hippocampus, the maximum irreversibility coarse-graining uncovers a large-scale loop of flux in neural space that is directly driven by the animal's movement in physical space.

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

In chemical oscillators, the maximum irreversibility coarse-graining picks out macroscopic loops of flux that dominate the dynamics.

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Across a range of living systems, this maximum irreversibility coarse-graining uncovers key biological functions.

For example, in models of kinesin (a motor protein that ships cargo inside your cells), we can derive simplified dynamics without losing any irreversibility.

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

When living systems burn energy, they drive irreversible dynamics and produce entropy.

Under coarse-graining, the apparent irreversibility can only decrease.

This means that -- at every level of description -- there's a unique coarse-graining with maximum irreversibility.

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Biology consumes energy at the microscale to power functions across all scales: From proteins and cells to entire populations of animals.

Led by @qiweiyu.bsky.social‬ and @mleighton.bsky.social‬, we study how coarse-graining can help to bridge this gap 👇🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2506.01909

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Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Check out the preprint for much more: "Coarse-graining dynamics to maximize irreversibility"

And a massive shout out to the leaders of the project: Qiwei Yu (@qiweiyu.bsky.social) and Matt Leighton

arxiv.org/abs/2506.01909

Coarse-graining dynamics to maximize irreversibility

In many far-from-equilibrium biological systems, energy injected by irreversible processes at microscopic scales propagates to larger scales to fulfill important biological functions. But given dissip...

arxiv.org

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

In neural dynamics in the hippocampus, the maximum irreversibility coarse-graining uncovers a large-scale loop of flux in neural space that is directly driven by the animal's movement in physical space.

1

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

In chemical oscillators, the maximum irreversibility coarse-graining picks out macroscopic loops of flux that dominate the dynamics.

1

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

Across a range of living systems, this maximum irreversibility coarse-graining uncovers key biological functions.

For example, in models of kinesin (a motor protein that ships cargo inside your cells), we can derive simplified dynamics without losing any irreversibility.

1

Christopher W. Lynn @chriswlynn.bsky.social · Jun 5

When living systems burn energy, they drive irreversible dynamics and produce entropy.

Under coarse-graining, the apparent irreversibility can only decrease.

This means that -- at every level of description -- there's a unique coarse-graining with maximum irreversibility.

1