Cian O'Donnell
@cianodonnell.bsky.social
Computational neuroscientist.
Senior Lecturer at Ulster University in the Great City of Derry, Northern Ireland.
"not articulate enough"
https://odonnellgroup.github.io
Senior Lecturer at Ulster University in the Great City of Derry, Northern Ireland.
"not articulate enough"
https://odonnellgroup.github.io
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
New preprint from the lab on synapse development in the nascent neocortical hierarchy!
Using mice that label MAGUK proteins developed by Seth Grant we find key differences in the laminar maturation of association and sensory motor cortices, including delayed, cortex-wide maturation of L1 synapses.
Using mice that label MAGUK proteins developed by Seth Grant we find key differences in the laminar maturation of association and sensory motor cortices, including delayed, cortex-wide maturation of L1 synapses.
February 18, 2026 at 10:33 AM
New preprint from the lab on synapse development in the nascent neocortical hierarchy!
Using mice that label MAGUK proteins developed by Seth Grant we find key differences in the laminar maturation of association and sensory motor cortices, including delayed, cortex-wide maturation of L1 synapses.
Using mice that label MAGUK proteins developed by Seth Grant we find key differences in the laminar maturation of association and sensory motor cortices, including delayed, cortex-wide maturation of L1 synapses.
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Region- and layer-specific glutamatergic synapse development in the nascent cortical hierarchy https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.17.706315v1
February 18, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Region- and layer-specific glutamatergic synapse development in the nascent cortical hierarchy https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.17.706315v1
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
New dashboard to visualise CRU-TS country averages (i.e. CRU-CY) for temperature, precipitation, humidity and drought area (using our scPDSI indicator).
(It takes a little while to first load, but is quite responsive after that)
climate.uea.co/CRU-Timeseri...
(It takes a little while to first load, but is quite responsive after that)
climate.uea.co/CRU-Timeseri...
February 16, 2026 at 3:10 PM
New dashboard to visualise CRU-TS country averages (i.e. CRU-CY) for temperature, precipitation, humidity and drought area (using our scPDSI indicator).
(It takes a little while to first load, but is quite responsive after that)
climate.uea.co/CRU-Timeseri...
(It takes a little while to first load, but is quite responsive after that)
climate.uea.co/CRU-Timeseri...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.
before antibiotics did people just die all the time from everything?
February 17, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
I'm *guessing* (because totally unclear) that a Reform UK govt would mean, for unis in England:
*No more Student Loans access for Arts and Hums outside Oxbridge, UCL, Durham, Exeter, handful of others
*V limited Social Science undergrad loans
*No more Arts and Humanities Research Council (1/3)
*No more Student Loans access for Arts and Hums outside Oxbridge, UCL, Durham, Exeter, handful of others
*V limited Social Science undergrad loans
*No more Arts and Humanities Research Council (1/3)
February 17, 2026 at 5:38 PM
I'm *guessing* (because totally unclear) that a Reform UK govt would mean, for unis in England:
*No more Student Loans access for Arts and Hums outside Oxbridge, UCL, Durham, Exeter, handful of others
*V limited Social Science undergrad loans
*No more Arts and Humanities Research Council (1/3)
*No more Student Loans access for Arts and Hums outside Oxbridge, UCL, Durham, Exeter, handful of others
*V limited Social Science undergrad loans
*No more Arts and Humanities Research Council (1/3)
I've been at a couple of SFARI meetings and have to say they have done a great job of encouraging the human and animal autism researchers to talk to each other and focus on aspects of autism that lend themselves to cross-species study
If neuroscience is serious about building general principles of brain function, cross-species dialogue must become a core organizing principle rather than an afterthought, writes @suthanalab.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
Neuroscience has a species problem
If neuroscience is serious about building general principles of brain function, cross-species dialogue must become a core organizing principle.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 16, 2026 at 10:12 PM
I've been at a couple of SFARI meetings and have to say they have done a great job of encouraging the human and animal autism researchers to talk to each other and focus on aspects of autism that lend themselves to cross-species study
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
The biggest problem holding neuroscience back right now isn’t data or tools, thanks in large part to the BRAIN Initiative.
It’s fragmentation across species. I wrote this to hopefully spark discussion around an issue that can only be solved as a community👇
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
It’s fragmentation across species. I wrote this to hopefully spark discussion around an issue that can only be solved as a community👇
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
Neuroscience has a species problem
If neuroscience is serious about building general principles of brain function, cross-species dialogue must become a core organizing principle.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 16, 2026 at 6:22 PM
The biggest problem holding neuroscience back right now isn’t data or tools, thanks in large part to the BRAIN Initiative.
It’s fragmentation across species. I wrote this to hopefully spark discussion around an issue that can only be solved as a community👇
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
It’s fragmentation across species. I wrote this to hopefully spark discussion around an issue that can only be solved as a community👇
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Thrilled to finally share this work! 🧠🔊
Using a new reinforcement-free task we show mice (like humans) extract abstract structure from sound (unsupervised) & dCA1 is causally required by building factorised, orthogonal subspaces of abstract rules.
Led by Dammy Onih!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Using a new reinforcement-free task we show mice (like humans) extract abstract structure from sound (unsupervised) & dCA1 is causally required by building factorised, orthogonal subspaces of abstract rules.
Led by Dammy Onih!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
February 16, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Thrilled to finally share this work! 🧠🔊
Using a new reinforcement-free task we show mice (like humans) extract abstract structure from sound (unsupervised) & dCA1 is causally required by building factorised, orthogonal subspaces of abstract rules.
Led by Dammy Onih!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Using a new reinforcement-free task we show mice (like humans) extract abstract structure from sound (unsupervised) & dCA1 is causally required by building factorised, orthogonal subspaces of abstract rules.
Led by Dammy Onih!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Excited to launch Principia, a nonprofit research organisation at the intersection of deep learning theory and AI safety.
Our goal is to develop theory for modern machine learning systems that can help us understand complex network behaviors, including those critical for AI safety and alignment.
1
Our goal is to develop theory for modern machine learning systems that can help us understand complex network behaviors, including those critical for AI safety and alignment.
1
February 16, 2026 at 9:27 AM
Excited to launch Principia, a nonprofit research organisation at the intersection of deep learning theory and AI safety.
Our goal is to develop theory for modern machine learning systems that can help us understand complex network behaviors, including those critical for AI safety and alignment.
1
Our goal is to develop theory for modern machine learning systems that can help us understand complex network behaviors, including those critical for AI safety and alignment.
1
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Very excited to post our paper led by @daburke.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... where we uncover a simple mathematical rule underlying how brains learn that a cue predicts a reward. 1/26
Duration between rewards controls the rate of behavioral and dopaminergic learning - Nature Neuroscience
Cue–reward learning rate scales proportionally with the time between rewards. Consequently, learning over a fixed duration is independent of the number of trials. This challenges trial-based dopamine ...
www.nature.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Very excited to post our paper led by @daburke.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... where we uncover a simple mathematical rule underlying how brains learn that a cue predicts a reward. 1/26
I lived in the US for three years and was continually impressed by these kinds of shortcutty sentence constructions which were so exotic to my little Irish ears... are you decaf? we inkin' this weekend? beer me. etc
Hey @bcdreyer.social how do we feel about Pittsburgh’s dropping the infinitive? It’s bad enough when you hear people say “X needs done” but it even bleeds into COUNTY documents.
“if your tax bill making address needs revised…” 😱
“if your tax bill making address needs revised…” 😱
February 15, 2026 at 7:00 PM
I lived in the US for three years and was continually impressed by these kinds of shortcutty sentence constructions which were so exotic to my little Irish ears... are you decaf? we inkin' this weekend? beer me. etc
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
NEW: Read this terrific piece @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social for @thenerve.news in which she unpicks Edge.org, the hugely influential 'salon' funded by Epstein & threaded through with race science & eugenics.
1/
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
1/
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-lo...
www.thenerve.news
February 15, 2026 at 11:18 AM
NEW: Read this terrific piece @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social for @thenerve.news in which she unpicks Edge.org, the hugely influential 'salon' funded by Epstein & threaded through with race science & eugenics.
1/
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
1/
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
This rules. I love how delighted they all look!
February 14, 2026 at 4:59 PM
This rules. I love how delighted they all look!
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Behavioral biases drift in individuals.
• Drift happens on many timescales
• Drift rate depends on genetics and neuromodulators
• It might be adaptive for rapidly changing environments
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
• Drift happens on many timescales
• Drift rate depends on genetics and neuromodulators
• It might be adaptive for rapidly changing environments
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
Drift in Individual Behavioral Phenotype as a Strategy for Unpredictable Worlds
elifesciences.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Behavioral biases drift in individuals.
• Drift happens on many timescales
• Drift rate depends on genetics and neuromodulators
• It might be adaptive for rapidly changing environments
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
• Drift happens on many timescales
• Drift rate depends on genetics and neuromodulators
• It might be adaptive for rapidly changing environments
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
I'm a bit late with this, but awesome to see it out in the wild! A real tour de force from @dozenoaks.bsky.social @timcraggs.bsky.social An amazing example of why we need to think more about flexibility in our biological questions! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Kinesin-1 is highly flexible and adopts an open conformation in the absence of cargo
Kinesin-1 is an essential anterograde microtubule motor protein. The core kinesin
motor is a homodimer of two heavy chains; N-terminal motor domains hydrolyse ATP and
walk along microtubules, whilst a...
www.cell.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:28 AM
I'm a bit late with this, but awesome to see it out in the wild! A real tour de force from @dozenoaks.bsky.social @timcraggs.bsky.social An amazing example of why we need to think more about flexibility in our biological questions! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
New paper alert! 🚨
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
February 11, 2026 at 5:52 PM
New paper alert! 🚨
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
We found that the brain's compass is remarkably stable at two scales
1️⃣ the system maintains its internal organization for weeks
2️⃣ It "remembers" its orientation for weeks, even after a single visit
This may be key to how the brain aligns its other maps.
Paper: rdcu.be/e3waP
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
The lesson for all the students out there is that science is a community project. Most of us make individually small contributions to this project. Success is measured at the collective level. Many of our professional (and personal) dysfunctions could be fixed by more fully embracing this view.
February 7, 2026 at 11:20 AM
The lesson for all the students out there is that science is a community project. Most of us make individually small contributions to this project. Success is measured at the collective level. Many of our professional (and personal) dysfunctions could be fixed by more fully embracing this view.
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
If you work at the intersection of computational neuroscience and machine learning, consider applying for this postdoc position (January 2027 start date):
academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15868
An opportunity to work with a great group of people across Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15868
An opportunity to work with a great group of people across Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
February 10, 2026 at 7:36 PM
If you work at the intersection of computational neuroscience and machine learning, consider applying for this postdoc position (January 2027 start date):
academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15868
An opportunity to work with a great group of people across Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15868
An opportunity to work with a great group of people across Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
'One potential option to streamline the REF process could lie in the adoption of artificial intelligence tools.'
Mai oui! The answer is of course AI. Because we have no evidence to base its use on in this context, and when we do test it, will use datasets for a small number of STEM disciplines. 2/2
Mai oui! The answer is of course AI. Because we have no evidence to base its use on in this context, and when we do test it, will use datasets for a small number of STEM disciplines. 2/2
February 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM
'One potential option to streamline the REF process could lie in the adoption of artificial intelligence tools.'
Mai oui! The answer is of course AI. Because we have no evidence to base its use on in this context, and when we do test it, will use datasets for a small number of STEM disciplines. 2/2
Mai oui! The answer is of course AI. Because we have no evidence to base its use on in this context, and when we do test it, will use datasets for a small number of STEM disciplines. 2/2
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Same task, different strategy ↔️
Why do identical neural network models develop separate internal approaches to solve the same problem?
@annhuang42.bsky.social explores the factors driving variability in task-trained networks in our latest @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social Deeper Learning blog.
Why do identical neural network models develop separate internal approaches to solve the same problem?
@annhuang42.bsky.social explores the factors driving variability in task-trained networks in our latest @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social Deeper Learning blog.
🤖📊 NEW in the Deeper Learning blog: @annhuang42.bsky.social & @kanakarajanphd.bsky.social break down their recent work examining how #RNNs solve the same task in different ways, and why that matters. Joint work with @satpreetsingh.bsky.social & @flavioh.bsky.social bit.ly/4kj4fVd #NeuroAI
Measuring and Controlling Solution Degeneracy Across Task-Trained Recurrent Neural Networks - Kempner Institute
Despite reaching equal performance success when trained on the same task, artificial neural networks can develop dramatically different internal solutions, much like different students solving the sam...
bit.ly
February 9, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Same task, different strategy ↔️
Why do identical neural network models develop separate internal approaches to solve the same problem?
@annhuang42.bsky.social explores the factors driving variability in task-trained networks in our latest @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social Deeper Learning blog.
Why do identical neural network models develop separate internal approaches to solve the same problem?
@annhuang42.bsky.social explores the factors driving variability in task-trained networks in our latest @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social Deeper Learning blog.
100%, and it's completely the same as Musk's takeover of twitter
These billionaires want to tell us what to think, and it's working
These billionaires want to tell us what to think, and it's working
This debate or discourse or discussion about why Bezos is dismantling WaPo or whether or not more subscriptions or boycotts could change things or how he could fund it easily is pointless. It’s moot.
Bezos bought the Post to control the narrative and push his agenda. Financials don’t matter.
Bezos bought the Post to control the narrative and push his agenda. Financials don’t matter.
February 4, 2026 at 9:07 PM
100%, and it's completely the same as Musk's takeover of twitter
These billionaires want to tell us what to think, and it's working
These billionaires want to tell us what to think, and it's working
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
There is a new Postdoctoral Research Associate position available in my group, to work on computational analysis of human neuroimaging workflows to develop robust, interpretable and scalable biomarkers of cognitive brain health.
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
www.imperial.ac.uk
January 27, 2026 at 4:48 PM
There is a new Postdoctoral Research Associate position available in my group, to work on computational analysis of human neuroimaging workflows to develop robust, interpretable and scalable biomarkers of cognitive brain health.
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Reposted by Cian O'Donnell
Tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok are before the Oireachtas Media Committee today... as was long flagged, X has refused to take part.
X even went so far as to reject a written request from the Taoiseach to appear before the Committee.
X even went so far as to reject a written request from the Taoiseach to appear before the Committee.
February 4, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok are before the Oireachtas Media Committee today... as was long flagged, X has refused to take part.
X even went so far as to reject a written request from the Taoiseach to appear before the Committee.
X even went so far as to reject a written request from the Taoiseach to appear before the Committee.