Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · 3d

#PhilosophyJobs

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · 21d

Inferential theories are on the rise in cognitive science. But what does it mean to infer? Check out our take on inference across a variety of (neuro)cognitive systems.

Inference in (neuro)cognitive systems | 9 | Neurocognitive Foundations

Cognitive scientists ascribe inferential processes to (neuro)cognitive systems to explain many of their capacities. Since these ascriptions have different

www.taylorfrancis.com

7 20

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Aug 23

You might enjoy the Many Minds podcast! Lots of variety disi.org/manyminds/

Podcast - DISI

The Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) is building a new community: a vibrant network of early-career scholars who are devoted to bold, transdisciplinary inquiry into the origins, nature, a...

disi.org

1 1 1

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Jun 30

I so wish the medal would have been given a different name, in light of Otto Hahn's actions during the Nazi era and especially his treatment of Lise Meitner, e.g. timharford.com/2025/06/caut...

Cautionary Tales – The Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot

Lise Meitner has fought for her entire life to be seen as a scientist, slowly building a career as a nuclear physicist in Berlin. When Adolf Hitler rises to power, the small gains she’s made …

timharford.com

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Jun 5

Consider reading my new piece on the history and science of the nasogenital cure! Incidentally, that's not exactly what the theory was and not quite what the episode reveals. Bizarre tales sound rather less bizarre in context - possibly, our own tales in our own context, too.

Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · Jun 5

One woman’s nose and two men’s hubris and a bizarre tale of 19th century science gone wrong. This nasogenital theory tried to link nasal shape to sexual health and reveals how medicine can be shaped more by bias than fact buff.ly/TwZjyJ6

3 12

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Polaris Koi @polariskoi.bsky.social · Jun 4

On train home after Method & Convergence 2025. I got so much food for my work! Slide is from @laukas.bsky.social nice ”PR talk” on synthetic phil… 🔥

1 5

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · May 22

Consider reading this funky piece of mine from 2018! Featuring cameos from Ben Franklin, Marie Antoinette, and Stephen Jay Gould.

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · Mar 5

Died #onthisday in 1815, Franz Mesmer, controversial proponent of "animal magnetism". More in our essay "Mesmerising Science" on how a craze for animal magnetism sessions in 18th-century Paris led to the modern clinical trial we know + love today: buff.ly/3330fkd #otd

6

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI @divintelligence.bsky.social · Jan 24

📣📣📣

Applications for the 2025 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!!

Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply!

More info: disi.org

1 39 49

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Jan 16

A new project got a shout-out at the Monochrome Photography Awards 2024 - see the shot here.

Conceptual: Honorable Mention - Ursa Majeure [photography duo] (Austria)

monoawards.com

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Many Minds podcast @manymindspod.bsky.social · Dec 30

Thanks for a great 2024, friends!

We put out 21 new episodes this year (19 interviews, 2 essays). The top 5 were...

(in chronological order)

🧵

1 7 21

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Dec 22

Prints of the Brain and the Heart

Around 1735 Jan l’Admiral printed several remarkable anatomical prints in colour, among others on commission for the celebrated physician Frederik Ruysch. For his illustrations of the cerebral membran...

www.rijksmuseum.nl

1 1

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Dec 15

Cool! I haven't come across too many people that share my interests - Bluesky seems like it might change that.

1 2

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Matthew Sims @philosobio.bsky.social · Dec 12

My new book, Slime Mould and Philosophy, is now available — and for the next month, you can download it for FREE here: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Thanks to everyone who made this book come to life and shared the rather intense journey with me. Enjoy!

Slime Mould and Philosophy

Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Slime Mould and Philosophy

doi.org

11 31 74

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Kate Nave @kathrynnave.bsky.social · Nov 27

A Drive to Survive now has a cover! Thanks to my friend Toby Logan saving the day with his design skills.

Unfortunately the release has been delayed another two months, but the pre-print can be downloaded here osf.io/preprints/ps... or I’m happy to email a PDF to anyone interested!

11 19 98

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 24

Chuffed to be 'honourably mentioned' at the ND Photography Awards this year - in case anyone else might enjoy seeing the shot, here it is.

People: Portrait - honorable mention - Ursa Majeure [photography duo] (Austria)

ndawards.net

1 2

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 23

I think this might be the wrong Matteo Colombo?

1

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 19

A (provocative) new chapter. If "cognition all the way down" holds up when things go right with capacities like perception, learning, memory, etc., it should also apply when things go awry. What could taking the idea of scale-free psychiatry seriously teach us about our own cognitive (dys)function?

Delusion and inference | 38 | The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of

Delusions are commonly defined as beliefs based on incorrect inference. But the term ‘inference’ is used in different fields with a lot of variation, which has

www.taylorfrancis.com

1 1 11

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 16

Thanks! Really glad to hear.

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 16

The Many Minds podcast has an episode with him discussing the book through the lens of IQ - for anyone interested, it could be worth checking out disi.org/how-should-w...

How should we think about IQ? - Many Minds podcast

Exploring our world's diverse forms of mind—human, animal, machine—from diverse perspectives.

disi.org

1 5 19

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Nov 2

Evolutionary psychology!

2

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Oct 31

A magazine liked a piece I turned in enough to want to include it in their print issue, not just on the web, as originally planned. It needed to be shortened for that and they had me cut it down myself. I only got paid for the number of words in the shorter version.

1 2

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Sep 11

From Borch-Jacobsen, M. (2021). Freud's Patients: A Book of Lives. Reaktion Books.

4

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Aug 14

From Shorter, E. (1992). From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era. The Free Press.

3

Reposted by Urte Laukaityte

Many Minds podcast @manymindspod.bsky.social · May 7

New episode!! 📣📣

An essay by our Assistant Producer, @laukas.bsky.social.

We often hear about placebo treatments as controls—points of comparison for "real" treatments. But placebos are much more than that. Is it time we harnessed their power?

Listen: disi.org/rehabilitati...

Rehabilitating placebo - Many Minds podcast

Exploring our world's diverse forms of mind—human, animal, machine—from diverse perspectives.

disi.org

3 11

Urte Laukaityte @laukas.bsky.social · Feb 26

From Few, M. (2005). Chocolate, Sex, and Disorderly Women in Late-Seventeenth and Early-Eighteenth-Century Guatemala. Ethnohistory 52(4), pp. 673–687.

1