Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 2d

ohbm or netsci? netsci or ohbm? hmmm.

Reposted by Rick Betzel

Allen Institute @alleninstitute.org · 3d

🧠📈 Do neurons of a feather flock together? Not quite.

New evidence shows that neurons of the same specific type tend to avoid each other in space, supporting the mosaic hypothesis in the cortex.

📄 Read the @cp-cellreports.bsky.social study: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Taylor Webb @taylorwwebb.bsky.social · 4d

Very excited to share that our work (together with co-first author Shanka Subhra Mondal and @neuroai.bsky.social ) on a brain-inspired architecture for planning with LLMs is now out in Nature Communications! www.nature.com/articles/s41... (thread below)

A brain-inspired agentic architecture to improve planning with LLMs - Nature Communications

Multi-step planning is a challenge for LLMs. Here, the authors introduce a brain-inspired Modular Agentic Planner that decomposes planning into specialized LLM modules, improving performance across tasks and highlighting the value of cognitive neuroscience for LLM design.

www.nature.com

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 6d

My hometown. No hope for NE Ohio.

Reposted by Rick Betzel

Corey Horien @coreyhorien.bsky.social · 8d

Really proud to share this w/ @francimandi.bsky.social from the Lake lab: we applied fingerprinting in a simultaneous wide-field fluorescence Ca2+ imaging and BOLD-fMRI dataset in mice!

w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Multimodal identification of the mouse brain using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI - Communications Biology

Using simultaneously acquired wide-field fluorescence calcium imaging and BOLD-fMRI, subject-specific signatures are observable in the mouse connectome, with stronger individual specific patterns evident in the calcium data.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Maximilian Lueckel @mlueckel.bsky.social · 17d

Introducing FASTANS - Fast Targeted Functional Network Stimulation

🐍 Python implementation of the TANS approach (Lynch et al.).
🎯 Optimizes TMS coil placements for precise, personalized network targeting within minutes! 🚀

Code, instructions, and example data: github.com/mlueckel/FAS...

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 10d

me watching the guardians lose another playoff game

a man and a woman sitting at a table with the words well i want to die

ALT: a man and a woman sitting at a table with the words well i want to die

media.tenor.com

Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 17d

this is good content

Thomas F. Varley @thosvarley.bsky.social · 17d

I'm low-key convinced that the rapture actually happened back in 2012, but no one was good enough to get in, so we just slid right into the Tribulation without anyone noticing.

Think Left Behind meets The Good Place.

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Alex Fornito @alexfornito.bsky.social · 21d

Interested in the mechanisms shaping the extraordinary complexity of the connectome?

Then check out our new preprint, lead by
Francis Normand with a stellar team, showing how geometry constrains connectome architecture:

biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Full thread here:
tinyurl.com/sfv3yf73

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Ben Saunders @bensaunders.bsky.social · 22d

For those interested in a neuroscience PhD - the University of Minnesota Graduate Program in Neuroscience www.neuroscience.umn.edu is hosting virtual open house events coming up on Oct 6th and Oct 30th. Learn about the program and meet students and faculty! Register here: forms.gle/kANEp4Fmd3ut...

Information flyer for graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. Virtual open house events on October 6th and 30th.

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · 23d

my neighborhood. the school my kids attend. nobody should have to experience what we and our community have gone through the past three weeks. period.

ban assault rifles. ban high-capacity mags. ban bump stocks.

Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 23d

“Assault rifles turn survivable injuries into fatal ones. They turn small tragedies into mass tragedies.”

It’s that simple.

www.startribune.com/several-annu...

Annunciation parents call on state lawmakers to ban assault weapons

Republicans are pushing to increase funding for mental health treatment beds and school security measures, while Gov. Tim Walz pushes for limits on assault weapons. At a statehouse meeting, parents of...

www.startribune.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 23d

“Assault rifles turn survivable injuries into fatal ones. They turn small tragedies into mass tragedies.”

It’s that simple.

www.startribune.com/several-annu...

Annunciation parents call on state lawmakers to ban assault weapons

Republicans are pushing to increase funding for mental health treatment beds and school security measures, while Gov. Tim Walz pushes for limits on assault weapons. At a statehouse meeting, parents of...

www.startribune.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Alessandro Gozzi @gozziale.bsky.social · Sep 10

🚨 Excited to share the latest preprint form the lab ➡️https://tinyurl.com/32d3be9f

Here we tackle a long-standing chicken-or-egg 🐣🥚question in #autism and developmental neuroscience

➡️ Is excitation–inhibition (E:I) imbalance a "cause" or a "consequence" of #autism?

Check out what we found!
🧵1/n

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · Sep 10

In all its formatted glory: journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Ben Hayden @benhayden.bsky.social · Sep 4

Sad day for peope who still believe brain areas are the primary organizational units of function in the brain.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Matteo Carandini @carandinilab.net · Sep 3

The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Sep 3

Extraordinary resource! "Comprehensive recordings from 621,733 neurons in 297 brain areas of 139 mice (12 labs) performing a decision-making task with sensory, motor & cognitive components: a public dataset to understand how computations distributed across & within brain areas drive behaviour."👇🧪

A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Tatiana Engel @engeltatiana.bsky.social · Sep 2

New work with @shiyanliang.bsky.social‬, @roxana-zeraati.bsky.social, @intlbrainlab.bsky.social, Anna Levina. We uncover the principles that organize single-neuron timescales across the entire brain, unifying regional specialization with universal brain-wide dynamics: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Yanliang Shi @shiyanliang.bsky.social · Sep 2

Excited to share our new preprint on the brain-wide organization of intrinsic timescales at single neuron resolution. Work w/ @roxana-zeraati.bsky.social, @intlbrainlab.bsky.social, Anna Levina, @engeltatiana.bsky.social : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Yanliang Shi @shiyanliang.bsky.social · Sep 2

Excited to share our new preprint on the brain-wide organization of intrinsic timescales at single neuron resolution. Work w/ @roxana-zeraati.bsky.social, @intlbrainlab.bsky.social, Anna Levina, @engeltatiana.bsky.social : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Sebastian Markett @sebastianmarkett.bsky.social · Sep 2

🧠 PhD opening in our lab @HU_Berlin!
Work on NeuroGeneConnect: genetics 🧬 + neuroimaging 🧠 of brain networks.
Closing date: 17/09/25
Details & apply 👉 hu.berlin/mpphd
Ref: DR/180/25
PostDoc call coming soon too!

Research fellow (m/f/d) in the field of molecular psychology with expected 65% part-time employment – E 13 TV-L HU (limited for 3 years)

hu.berlin

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Rep. Ilhan Omar @repilhan.bsky.social · Aug 31

Tackling gun violence shouldn’t be a Democrat or Republican issue. We should work together as Americans to stop another act of terror from happening again.

That starts with a ban on assault weapons.

Our children deserve to grow up without the fear and trauma of gun violence.

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · Aug 29

<Taps sign>
Your network won’t work without gap junctions that comprise at least in some neuronal cell classes, 25% of the potential synaptic signaling.

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · Aug 30

👇👇👇👇

Julia Moser @drjuliamoser.bsky.social · Aug 29

Is precision functional brain imaging in babies possible? YES! We show this in not one but two new preprints out of WashU and @umn-midb.bsky.social! 1️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 2️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🐣👶🧠

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Reposted by Rick Betzel

Julia Moser @drjuliamoser.bsky.social · Aug 29

Is precision functional brain imaging in babies possible? YES! We show this in not one but two new preprints out of WashU and @umn-midb.bsky.social! 1️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 2️⃣: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🐣👶🧠

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Rick Betzel @richardfbetzel.bsky.social · Aug 29

Awesome write up!

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