Nancy Kanwisher
LightNews LightNews
Nancy Kanwisher
@nancykanwisher.bsky.social
3K followers 450 following 460 posts

Scientist, mentor, activist, explorer.

Videos

Nancy Gail Kanwisher FBA is the Walter A Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a researcher at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She studies the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying human visual perception and cognition. .. more

Neuroscience 75%
Computer science 12%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher, Hisham Zerriffi

jvp.bsky.social
Jewish Voice for Peace @jvp.bsky.social · 1d
We grieve the loss of life in Sydney, Australia, where gunmen attacked a celebration of the first night of Hanukkah, killing at least 11 people. This was a terrifying incident of hate-fueled violence that no community should face.
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 1d
A magical first snow of the year in Sippewissett.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

mondoweiss.net
Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 1d
READ: Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers by discussing the Gaza genocide. She was fired after a pressure campaign from Israel lobby groups that she believes aimed to silence her. Despite this, she remains unbowed.
mondoweiss.net/2025/12/pro-...
Pro-Palestinian influencer Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj fired following Zionist smear campaign
Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers by discussing the Gaza genocide. She was fired after a pressure campaign from Israel lobby groups that she believes aimed to…
mondoweiss.net

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 2d
Always worth listening to the great moral giant of our time Ta-Nahisi Coates:
carlquintanilla.bsky.social Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher, Kevin Carey, David G. Stewart , and 3 more

carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 2d
Yup I realized that when one of his New Yorker articles discussed his great idea that the brain might have a special region for face recognition, all presented as his idea long after this had been widely published.
melaniemitchell.bsky.social Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 3d
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?
The scientist was famous for linking healing with storytelling. Sometimes that meant reshaping patients’ reality.
www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher, Jesse R. Lasky

melaniemitchell.bsky.social
Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 3d
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?
The scientist was famous for linking healing with storytelling. Sometimes that meant reshaping patients’ reality.
www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

mickbonner.bsky.social
Mick Bonner @mickbonner.bsky.social · 3d
Hopkins Cog Sci is hiring! We have two open faculty positions: one in vision, and one language. Please repost!
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 3d
Weird to be quoting Goerge Will, but he got this bit right:
"Watching today's politics toy with an institution of MIT's complexity and importance is like watching a toddler play with Sèvres porcelain."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Let’s take a closer look at MIT, one target of Trump’s blunderbuss
It’s alarming to see such a complex, important institution subject to the whims of today’s politics.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

stelhami.bsky.social
Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 3d
Natural disaster amplifies Israeli-made catastrophe: At least 12 people dead or missing with at least 13 buildings collapsed and 27,000 tents flooded in Gaza as devastation from floods spreads.
www.cbc.ca/news/world/g...
At least 12 Palestinians dead or missing in Gaza as devastation from floods spreads | CBC News
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans face flooding from heavy rains, and materials for shelters and sandbags are not being allowed to enter the enclave, the UN International Organization for Migr...
www.cbc.ca

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 4d
socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-...
An inspiring story about Mexico City's UTOPIAs (Units for Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony) that provided needed services and transform lives. We could do these here in the US!
Mexico City’s UTOPIAs – Socialist Forum
socialistforum.dsausa.org

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 4d
‪@neuranna.bsky.social‬ and
@evfedorenko.bsky.social tackle with neuroimaging a phenomenon identified in the 1970s by the pioneering work of the great Molly Potter: conceptual information processing common to pictorial and verbal input. Thrilled to have played a small part in this exciting work.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

neuranna.bsky.social
Anna (Anya) Ivanova @neuranna.bsky.social · 4d
The last chapter of my PhD (expanded) is finally out as a preprint!

“Semantic reasoning takes place largely outside the language network” 🧠🧐

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What is semantic reasoning? Read on! 🧵👇
Semantic reasoning takes place largely outside the language network
The brain's language network is often implicated in the representation and manipulation of abstract semantic knowledge. However, this view is inconsistent with a large body of evidence suggesting that...
www.biorxiv.org

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 4d
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Tenured US professor fired over pro-Palestinian protests contests dismissal
Sang Hea Kil is first tenured faculty member fired from a public university in connection to the protests
www.theguardian.com

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 4d
Just heard from a brilliant young university student I know who is living in a tent in Gaza. She says the rain and thunder is extreme and she is worried her whole tent will be whipped away in the storm. How dare we allow this to happen?
dropsitenews.com Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 4d
Israel has blocked 4000 pallets of shelter materials since the ceasefire, allowing only a trickle of tents and tarpaulins, which helped only 88,000 of the 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who desperately need cover from a brutal winter storm.

Video: Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده via X (@RamAbdu)

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

dropsitenews.com
Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 4d
Israel has blocked 4000 pallets of shelter materials since the ceasefire, allowing only a trickle of tents and tarpaulins, which helped only 88,000 of the 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who desperately need cover from a brutal winter storm.

Video: Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده via X (@RamAbdu)
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
Go, Doris!
astera.org/neuroscienti...
Neuroscientist Doris Tsao joins Astera to lead its new neuroscience program - Astera
The Astera Institute is excited to launch a major new neuroscience research effort led by Dr. Doris Tsao, who will be joining as Chief Scientist for Astera Neuro. We seek to understand one of the deep...
astera.org

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
All of this is unacceptable. But it is also an opportunity. For god's sake Democrats, don't blow it again!
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
24 percent of non-MAGA Republican respondents put their faith in Democrats on bringing down the cost of health care for everyday Americans....
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
Nearly half of American adults find it difficult to afford health care, according to The POLITICO Poll. Health care ranked as the No. 3 cost concern for respondents.
....
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
Half of those surveyed said they find it difficult to pay for food. And a majority, 55 percent, blame the Trump administration for the high prices.
22 percent of Trump’s own voters blame the president for the high grocery costs.
....
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
more than half of people surveyed who graduated from college supported the idea that higher education is either too expensive or not sufficiently useful.
....
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
the median income of households headed by someone with a bachelor’s degree or higher last year was more than double the median income of those with householders with a high school degree but no college.
...
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
62 percent of Americans said college isn’t worth it because it either costs too much or doesn’t provide enough benefits — a belief supported most by 18- to 24-year-olds and those aged 65 and up.
...
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
27 percent said they have skipped a medical check-up because of costs within the last two years.
23 percent said they have skipped a prescription dose for the same reason.
46 percent could not pay for a vacation that involves air travel.
.....
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 5d
Nearly half of Americans said they find groceries, utility bills, health care, housing and transportation difficult to afford, according to The POLITICO Poll conducted last month by Public First.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
more exerpts follow...
Poll: Here’s what Americans’ affordability problems look like
Results from The POLITICO Poll paint a grim portrait of Americans’ spending constraints across nearly every part of their lives.
www.politico.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

warren.senate.gov
Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 6d
Private equity’s latest victim? Your grandma’s nursing home.
Private equity’s latest victim? Your grandma’s nursing home.
YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren
youtube.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher, Hugo Mercier, Jason Reifler , and 1 more

neurograce.bsky.social
Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 6d
Spread the word: I'm looking to hire a postdoc to explore the concept of attention (as studied in psych/neuro, not the transformer mechanism) in large Vision-Language Models. More details here: lindsay-lab.github.io/2025/12/08/p...
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
Lindsay Lab - Postdoc Position
Artificial neural networks applied to psychology, neuroscience, and climate change
lindsay-lab.github.io

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

tomlevenson.bsky.social
Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 6d
I know that the formal secession thing was discussed in a full and frank exchange from 1861-1865. But as the judicial coup seizing control of the federal gov't continues to expand, I wonder what levers exist for "soft-secession"--the minimizing of federal reach into individual states...1/

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

jpbrammer.bsky.social
JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 9d
sorry I'm late! I have at last broken my silence on Pantone's Color of the Year johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/cloud-danc...
'Cloud Dancer': A Measured Response
Regarding Pantone's decision, and so on, and so forth
johnpaulbrammer.substack.com