Tim Verstynen
@tdverstynen.bsky.social
Professor
Department Gadfly
Data Alchemist
Synthetic Psychologist
Zombie Apologist
“The enemy” - JD Vance
ICE is a terrorist organization
Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.
Department Gadfly
Data Alchemist
Synthetic Psychologist
Zombie Apologist
“The enemy” - JD Vance
ICE is a terrorist organization
Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.
Pinned
Tim Verstynen
@tdverstynen.bsky.social
· Jan 28
I grew up a white kid in a bilingual, majority Hispanic state, in a pueblo region continuously occupied by indigenous peoples for over a thousand years, and in a city whose name is derived from an old Arabic phrase.
This is what America looks like.
This is what America looks like.
There are some truly amazing people to start following in here.
@thetransmitter.bsky.social’s “New Lab Directory” features a list of new neuroscience labs that opened in 2024-2025, and some set to launch in 2026. Check out the list to learn about the work of more than 50 new neuroscience labs. www.thetransmitter.org/community/th...
#StateOfNeuroscience
#StateOfNeuroscience
The Transmitter’s New Lab Directory
Learn about neuroscience labs launched in the past two years, plus a few opening their doors in 2026.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
There are some truly amazing people to start following in here.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Amazing photos from NASA of comets Lemon & SWAN show the towering ribbons of pink-red aurora: easy to see why it's those colors of lights people at lower latitudes usually see, as they are the ones higher in the atmosphere.
Simply gorgeous :)
#aurora #northernlights
www.popsci.com/science/come...
Simply gorgeous :)
#aurora #northernlights
www.popsci.com/science/come...
November 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Amazing photos from NASA of comets Lemon & SWAN show the towering ribbons of pink-red aurora: easy to see why it's those colors of lights people at lower latitudes usually see, as they are the ones higher in the atmosphere.
Simply gorgeous :)
#aurora #northernlights
www.popsci.com/science/come...
Simply gorgeous :)
#aurora #northernlights
www.popsci.com/science/come...
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
New preprint alert!
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
OSF
osf.io
November 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
New preprint alert!
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
A third infant in Kentucky has died of whooping cough this year.
Reminder: The best way to protect against whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years, so please check, you may be overdue!
Reminder: The best way to protect against whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years, so please check, you may be overdue!
November 25, 2025 at 11:34 PM
A third infant in Kentucky has died of whooping cough this year.
Reminder: The best way to protect against whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years, so please check, you may be overdue!
Reminder: The best way to protect against whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years, so please check, you may be overdue!
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Administrators gave themselves uncapped "performance" raises while the rest of us have a 4/4 load, no research or travel support, and no way to fill lines left empty by retirements.
Administrators got housing stipends while most of us can't afford to live near the institutions we work at.
Administrators got housing stipends while most of us can't afford to live near the institutions we work at.
November 25, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Administrators gave themselves uncapped "performance" raises while the rest of us have a 4/4 load, no research or travel support, and no way to fill lines left empty by retirements.
Administrators got housing stipends while most of us can't afford to live near the institutions we work at.
Administrators got housing stipends while most of us can't afford to live near the institutions we work at.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
You can think of decisions as evidence accumulation, and the accumulator as an RL policy. Then, dopamine in the basal ganglia works by dynamically changing policy to maximize reward rate 🤯 A tour de force modeling paper by @tdverstynen.bsky.social and team! journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
How cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic subnetworks can shift decision policies to increase reward rate
Author summary The task of selecting an action among multiple options can be framed as a process of accumulating streams of evidence, both internal and external, up to a decision threshold. A decision...
journals.plos.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
You can think of decisions as evidence accumulation, and the accumulator as an RL policy. Then, dopamine in the basal ganglia works by dynamically changing policy to maximize reward rate 🤯 A tour de force modeling paper by @tdverstynen.bsky.social and team! journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
So we now have likely mammal-to-mammal transmission of the bird flu at the same time that our national health agencies leadership is actively attacking public health.
This is a bit terrifying.
This is a bit terrifying.
BREAKING: Bird Flu Wipes Out Nearly Half of South Georgia’s Elephant Seal Mothers as H5N1 Tears Through Top Predator Nurseries
More than 50,000 animals gone in a single season.
More than 50,000 animals gone in a single season.
November 25, 2025 at 1:53 PM
So we now have likely mammal-to-mammal transmission of the bird flu at the same time that our national health agencies leadership is actively attacking public health.
This is a bit terrifying.
This is a bit terrifying.
🙄
Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts n.pr/3M48mr2
U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'
Documents show the U.S. Military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formally known as the Boy Scouts
n.pr
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 PM
🙄
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
About 90,000 people living near larger chemical plants face an unacceptable risk of developing cancer, the EPA says.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated
The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...
www.propublica.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:00 AM
About 90,000 people living near larger chemical plants face an unacceptable risk of developing cancer, the EPA says.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
New rules adopted last year could’ve cut that number to 3,000 residents — a drop of 97%.
But Trump has halted those efforts.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
#PenNLINC is recruiting a clinical coordinator / lab manager!!! Looking for someone who is good with both people + code, wants to learn to acquire + analyze imaging data. Alumni in this role have written 1st author papers + gone to top grad programs.
Website: www.pennlinc.io
Job: bit.ly/4ojvCir
Website: www.pennlinc.io
Job: bit.ly/4ojvCir
neuroimaging | Satterthwaite Lab | UPenn
www.satterthwaitelab.com
Homepage for Satterthwaite lab
neuroimaging | neurodevelopment | adolescence | psychiatry | machine learning | network science
www.pennlinc.io
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
#PenNLINC is recruiting a clinical coordinator / lab manager!!! Looking for someone who is good with both people + code, wants to learn to acquire + analyze imaging data. Alumni in this role have written 1st author papers + gone to top grad programs.
Website: www.pennlinc.io
Job: bit.ly/4ojvCir
Website: www.pennlinc.io
Job: bit.ly/4ojvCir
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Our new paper is out in Nature Communications! nature.com/articles/s41...
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
November 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Our new paper is out in Nature Communications! nature.com/articles/s41...
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
In other words, we found that psilocybin altered a fundamental computational building block of contextual processing in the human brain: divisive normalization, particularly in the form of visual surround suppression.
November 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
In other words, we found that psilocybin altered a fundamental computational building block of contextual processing in the human brain: divisive normalization, particularly in the form of visual surround suppression.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Enter the divisive normalization population receptive field model. The parameter governing surround suppression systematically dropped with psilocybin! This could not be explained by noise or HRF changes alone, which are also included in the model. 🤖
November 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Enter the divisive normalization population receptive field model. The parameter governing surround suppression systematically dropped with psilocybin! This could not be explained by noise or HRF changes alone, which are also included in the model. 🤖
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
There is no reason why systematic reviews can't be open. The data used for synthesis is *already* open and there are many excellent open source tools that can facilitate the easy sharing of analysis scripts.
Here's a nice guide for performing open systematic reviews doi.org/10.1525/coll...
Here's a nice guide for performing open systematic reviews doi.org/10.1525/coll...
November 24, 2025 at 12:10 PM
There is no reason why systematic reviews can't be open. The data used for synthesis is *already* open and there are many excellent open source tools that can facilitate the easy sharing of analysis scripts.
Here's a nice guide for performing open systematic reviews doi.org/10.1525/coll...
Here's a nice guide for performing open systematic reviews doi.org/10.1525/coll...
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
A friend who teaches theology shared with me a post about CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, which discusses foundational Christian logic across denominations. It reminded me of Dale's tweet below, and I wanted to share some thoughts here regarding modesty and respectability, which are often hot topics.
November 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
A friend who teaches theology shared with me a post about CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, which discusses foundational Christian logic across denominations. It reminded me of Dale's tweet below, and I wanted to share some thoughts here regarding modesty and respectability, which are often hot topics.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
A new study finds that fluoride is safe for kids’ brain—and linked to slightly better test scores.
Raccoons In Cities Are Changing—And Getting More Petlike
A new study finds that fluoride is safe for kids’ brain—and linked to slightly better test scores.
www.scientificamerican.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:43 AM
A new study finds that fluoride is safe for kids’ brain—and linked to slightly better test scores.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
First revealed in spy photos, a #BronzeAge #city emerges from the steppe
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
#archaeology #Kazakhstan
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
#archaeology #Kazakhstan
First revealed in spy photos, a Bronze Age city emerges from the steppe
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:39 PM
First revealed in spy photos, a #BronzeAge #city emerges from the steppe
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
#archaeology #Kazakhstan
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
#archaeology #Kazakhstan
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
In Monrovia, California, protesters are purchasing 17¢ ICE scrapers from Home Depot and immediately returning them to create long lines and slow down the entire store. Their aim is to disrupt sales and convey a message opposing ICE raids occurring in their neighborhood.
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 AM
In Monrovia, California, protesters are purchasing 17¢ ICE scrapers from Home Depot and immediately returning them to create long lines and slow down the entire store. Their aim is to disrupt sales and convey a message opposing ICE raids occurring in their neighborhood.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
“I asked ChatGPT” “I asked Claude” I asked this horseshoe crab and he said your ass wouldn’t have lasted two seconds in the Triassic
November 23, 2025 at 9:50 PM
“I asked ChatGPT” “I asked Claude” I asked this horseshoe crab and he said your ass wouldn’t have lasted two seconds in the Triassic
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
The only difference between this and the Better Way antivaxxer conference I covered in 2022 is that now it’s absolutely ascendant in the most horrifying way possible.
November 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The only difference between this and the Better Way antivaxxer conference I covered in 2022 is that now it’s absolutely ascendant in the most horrifying way possible.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Heard an established successful neuroscientist dismissing junior scientists as "people at the bottom" 🤦♀️
You folks with lots of research funds & power: young scientists more than ever need our respect and support even if you don't agree with their ideas and approaches
#sfn2025
You folks with lots of research funds & power: young scientists more than ever need our respect and support even if you don't agree with their ideas and approaches
#sfn2025
November 17, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Heard an established successful neuroscientist dismissing junior scientists as "people at the bottom" 🤦♀️
You folks with lots of research funds & power: young scientists more than ever need our respect and support even if you don't agree with their ideas and approaches
#sfn2025
You folks with lots of research funds & power: young scientists more than ever need our respect and support even if you don't agree with their ideas and approaches
#sfn2025
Reposted by Tim Verstynen
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...