Ben
@benmj.bsky.social
Psychotherapeut i. A. | Systems neuroscientist
Reposted by Ben
I have plenty of reservations about the reliability of funnel-plots and z-curves and such, as well as their interpretation.....
But holy shit look at that.
But holy shit look at that.
February 10, 2026 at 3:17 PM
I have plenty of reservations about the reliability of funnel-plots and z-curves and such, as well as their interpretation.....
But holy shit look at that.
But holy shit look at that.
Reposted by Ben
Since the #Olympics are on, let's repost a classic thread here: a brief history of the practice of "sex verification" in sport.
Content warning: This thread will mention anti-intersex discrimination, FGM practices and body shaming.
Content warning: This thread will mention anti-intersex discrimination, FGM practices and body shaming.
February 10, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Since the #Olympics are on, let's repost a classic thread here: a brief history of the practice of "sex verification" in sport.
Content warning: This thread will mention anti-intersex discrimination, FGM practices and body shaming.
Content warning: This thread will mention anti-intersex discrimination, FGM practices and body shaming.
Reposted by Ben
reminded of that post that was like "subtle difference! Catholics think suffering is good and Protestants think pleasure is bad :)" and increasingly worried about our Protestant-coded times
Cafes across the U.S. are embracing the low- and no-caffeine lifestyle, with options that are a far cry from dusty tea bags and rewarmed decaf. nyti.ms/3XKlqoj
February 9, 2026 at 7:08 PM
reminded of that post that was like "subtle difference! Catholics think suffering is good and Protestants think pleasure is bad :)" and increasingly worried about our Protestant-coded times
Reposted by Ben
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
January 31, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
Reposted by Ben
Interessante kulturell - psychodynamische Perspektive auf die Dtsch-amerik Beziehungen
Wim Wenders: „Die Amerikaner haben unser Unterbewusstsein kolonialisiert.“ Ein Satz, den man aus dem franz Kino nicht kennt. taz.de/Deutschland-...
Wim Wenders: „Die Amerikaner haben unser Unterbewusstsein kolonialisiert.“ Ein Satz, den man aus dem franz Kino nicht kennt. taz.de/Deutschland-...
Deutschland und die USA: Der lange Abschied von Amerika
Die USA waren nach 1945 das Über-Ich der Bundesrepublik. Deshalb wirkt die politische Klasse hierzulande angesichts von Trump auch so überfordert.
taz.de
January 25, 2026 at 11:57 AM
Interessante kulturell - psychodynamische Perspektive auf die Dtsch-amerik Beziehungen
Wim Wenders: „Die Amerikaner haben unser Unterbewusstsein kolonialisiert.“ Ein Satz, den man aus dem franz Kino nicht kennt. taz.de/Deutschland-...
Wim Wenders: „Die Amerikaner haben unser Unterbewusstsein kolonialisiert.“ Ein Satz, den man aus dem franz Kino nicht kennt. taz.de/Deutschland-...
Reposted by Ben
Reposted by Ben
Reposted by Ben
VLADIMIR: Well? Shall we log off?
ESTRAGON: Yes, let's log off.
They do not log off.
ESTRAGON: Yes, let's log off.
They do not log off.
January 16, 2026 at 2:06 PM
VLADIMIR: Well? Shall we log off?
ESTRAGON: Yes, let's log off.
They do not log off.
ESTRAGON: Yes, let's log off.
They do not log off.
Reposted by Ben
I am reading "Killer Instinct: The popular science of human nature in 20th century America" by Nadine Weidman, and I am learning a lot. I was aware that Konrad Lorenz (father of field of ethology, winner of 1973 Nobel prize) was a Nazi, but didn't know he was so enthusiastic about it.
January 15, 2026 at 12:25 PM
I am reading "Killer Instinct: The popular science of human nature in 20th century America" by Nadine Weidman, and I am learning a lot. I was aware that Konrad Lorenz (father of field of ethology, winner of 1973 Nobel prize) was a Nazi, but didn't know he was so enthusiastic about it.
Reposted by Ben
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
Would love to hear expert views on this paper. It appears to show that the operationalization of brain activity the field has relied on for 3 decades—the BOLD response—is not actually a sensible measure of brain activity.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex - Nature Neuroscience
Using quantitative brain imaging, the authors show opposite fMRI BOLD signal to metabolic activity due to variable oxygen extraction across the human cortex. This questions the canonical interpretatio...
www.nature.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:22 PM
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
Reposted by Ben
"Psychotherapie gibt es sonst nirgendwo in der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung"
Was er da wohl implizieren will?
Ach ja, einen schönen Start ins neue Jahr, liebe KollegInnen.
Quelle: Ntv
search.app/pMFQU
Was er da wohl implizieren will?
Ach ja, einen schönen Start ins neue Jahr, liebe KollegInnen.
Quelle: Ntv
search.app/pMFQU
Kassenärztechef Gassen will Gesundheitssystem mit Leistungskürzungen retten
Deutschland habe "den weltweit umfassendsten Leistungskatalog für gesetzlich Versicherte", dies gebe es nicht zum Spartarif, mahnt Kassenärztechef Gassen und fordert eine "ehrliche Diskussion" über Ei...
search.app
January 3, 2026 at 9:39 AM
"Psychotherapie gibt es sonst nirgendwo in der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung"
Was er da wohl implizieren will?
Ach ja, einen schönen Start ins neue Jahr, liebe KollegInnen.
Quelle: Ntv
search.app/pMFQU
Was er da wohl implizieren will?
Ach ja, einen schönen Start ins neue Jahr, liebe KollegInnen.
Quelle: Ntv
search.app/pMFQU
Reposted by Ben
🕯️ In Trauer, Dankbarkeit und Erinnerung ✨
Wer für Cord eine Gedenkkerze anzünden, einen Stern zum Leuchten bringen oder einen Gedanken im digitalen Kondolenzbuch hinterlassen möchte, kann dies hier tun: www.bestattung-sarg.at/sterbefall/p...
Danke, Cord. ⭐
Wer für Cord eine Gedenkkerze anzünden, einen Stern zum Leuchten bringen oder einen Gedanken im digitalen Kondolenzbuch hinterlassen möchte, kann dies hier tun: www.bestattung-sarg.at/sterbefall/p...
Danke, Cord. ⭐
January 3, 2026 at 8:48 AM
🕯️ In Trauer, Dankbarkeit und Erinnerung ✨
Wer für Cord eine Gedenkkerze anzünden, einen Stern zum Leuchten bringen oder einen Gedanken im digitalen Kondolenzbuch hinterlassen möchte, kann dies hier tun: www.bestattung-sarg.at/sterbefall/p...
Danke, Cord. ⭐
Wer für Cord eine Gedenkkerze anzünden, einen Stern zum Leuchten bringen oder einen Gedanken im digitalen Kondolenzbuch hinterlassen möchte, kann dies hier tun: www.bestattung-sarg.at/sterbefall/p...
Danke, Cord. ⭐
Reposted by Ben
Upping this because it's an important read: results suggest there are spatially distributed brain areas which appear to use oxygen *more efficiently* during tasks, especially in the DMN - which is contrary to the assumptions made by conventional BOLD.
🧠🧶
#neuroskyence
🧠🧶
#neuroskyence
BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex
Nature Neuroscience (2025)
#neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nature Neuroscience (2025)
#neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex - Nature Neuroscience
Using quantitative brain imaging, the authors show opposite fMRI BOLD signal to metabolic activity due to variable oxygen extraction across the human cortex. This questions the canonical interpretatio...
www.nature.com
December 28, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Upping this because it's an important read: results suggest there are spatially distributed brain areas which appear to use oxygen *more efficiently* during tasks, especially in the DMN - which is contrary to the assumptions made by conventional BOLD.
🧠🧶
#neuroskyence
🧠🧶
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Ben
I wanted dinner recommendations so I scraped 13,000+ London restaurants and accidentally discovered Google Maps is running a shadow economy. Anyway here's a dashboard and a political economy thesis: open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...
How Google Maps quietly allocates survival across London’s restaurants - and how I built a dashboard to see through it
I wanted a dinner recommendation and got a research agenda instead. Using 13000+ restaurants, I rebuild its ratings with machine learning and map how algorithmic visibility actually distributes power.
open.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:53 AM
I wanted dinner recommendations so I scraped 13,000+ London restaurants and accidentally discovered Google Maps is running a shadow economy. Anyway here's a dashboard and a political economy thesis: open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...
Reposted by Ben
some significant part of this is just catch-all fear for “this is not the child I ordered” I think
Oh, here's a big surprise. The transphobes don't believe in ADHD either.
then, the transphobes , feeling victorious at how many people they have made unhappy and despairing in the previous week, move on to anything else that has a spectrum and the possibility of more colours than they can conceive - such hateful people - they cannot understand anything that is not THEM
December 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
some significant part of this is just catch-all fear for “this is not the child I ordered” I think
Reposted by Ben
70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 20, 2025 at 3:44 AM
70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by Ben
Takeaways:
🔑 We need to talk about social media use more accurately and focus on addiction when it actually applies, rather than when it doesn’t.
🔑 For media and policymakers, don’t casually talk about ‘social media addiction’ as it risks pathologizing everyday behavior unnecessarily.
🔑 We need to talk about social media use more accurately and focus on addiction when it actually applies, rather than when it doesn’t.
🔑 For media and policymakers, don’t casually talk about ‘social media addiction’ as it risks pathologizing everyday behavior unnecessarily.
November 29, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Takeaways:
🔑 We need to talk about social media use more accurately and focus on addiction when it actually applies, rather than when it doesn’t.
🔑 For media and policymakers, don’t casually talk about ‘social media addiction’ as it risks pathologizing everyday behavior unnecessarily.
🔑 We need to talk about social media use more accurately and focus on addiction when it actually applies, rather than when it doesn’t.
🔑 For media and policymakers, don’t casually talk about ‘social media addiction’ as it risks pathologizing everyday behavior unnecessarily.
Reposted by Ben
I'm always a bit mystified by people who head to Clearsky to see who has blocked them and get like, huffy about it. I know people who've gotten EMAILS asking why they are blocked!
My question is: Why?
Oh! Someone has decided they don't want to see what I post? Ok! That's fine!
My question is: Why?
Oh! Someone has decided they don't want to see what I post? Ok! That's fine!
November 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I'm always a bit mystified by people who head to Clearsky to see who has blocked them and get like, huffy about it. I know people who've gotten EMAILS asking why they are blocked!
My question is: Why?
Oh! Someone has decided they don't want to see what I post? Ok! That's fine!
My question is: Why?
Oh! Someone has decided they don't want to see what I post? Ok! That's fine!
Reposted by Ben
Am I the only one who cannot hear about this book without immediately chanting LET THE BODIES KEEP THE SCORE, LET THE BODIES KEEP THE SCORE in my head
www.motherjones.com/media/2024/1...
www.motherjones.com/media/2024/1...
What the most famous book about trauma gets wrong
People kept telling me to read "The Body Keeps the Score." I was shocked at what it actually says.
www.motherjones.com
December 21, 2024 at 2:30 PM
Am I the only one who cannot hear about this book without immediately chanting LET THE BODIES KEEP THE SCORE, LET THE BODIES KEEP THE SCORE in my head
www.motherjones.com/media/2024/1...
www.motherjones.com/media/2024/1...
Reposted by Ben
icymi, Musk's Ai, Grok, appears to have been instructed to always say Musk is the best at everything. And, when you do that, it turns out there's a loophole!
November 21, 2025 at 10:11 AM
icymi, Musk's Ai, Grok, appears to have been instructed to always say Musk is the best at everything. And, when you do that, it turns out there's a loophole!
Where Do the Children Play? -
On the need for a world without us
On the need for a world without us
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Where Do the Children Play? -
On the need for a world without us
On the need for a world without us
Reposted by Ben
This conversation between ChatGPT and the young man it encouraged to commit suicide is just...my god
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
This conversation between ChatGPT and the young man it encouraged to commit suicide is just...my god
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
Reposted by Ben
Bundespräsident Steinmeier ist heute in #Angola. Ich war schon vor ihm da und habe mich umgehört: Wo steht das Land 50 Jahre nach der Unabhängigkeit? Zu hören im Deutschlandfunk: www.deutschlandfunk.de/angola-reich...
Angola - Reiches Land, düstere Zukunftsszenarien
Angola feiert seine Unabhängigkeit. Doch die Menschen werfen ihrer Machtelite vor, den Ölreichtum unter sich zu verteilen. Viele befürchten einen Bürgerkrieg.
www.deutschlandfunk.de
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Bundespräsident Steinmeier ist heute in #Angola. Ich war schon vor ihm da und habe mich umgehört: Wo steht das Land 50 Jahre nach der Unabhängigkeit? Zu hören im Deutschlandfunk: www.deutschlandfunk.de/angola-reich...
Reposted by Ben
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching