Thomas Serre
@thomasserre.bsky.social
Computational vision. Deep learning. Center for Computational Brain Science @Brown University. Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute (France). European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS).
Reposted by Thomas Serre
This is such a bizarre illusion - the helmet leads to an expectation of a face inside and all I saw was a blurred out face until I realized what's really happening...
It took me a good 30 seconds of staring at this photo to realise that I wasn't absolutely hammered and/or hallucinating. #theashes
November 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This is such a bizarre illusion - the helmet leads to an expectation of a face inside and all I saw was a blurred out face until I realized what's really happening...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
That image is from 1961 and an idealization. Here is an actual trajectory of fixational eye movements. The dots are 2 ms apart. If a midget ganglion cell, with single-cone receptive field, fires at 100 Hz, then every spike reports about a different cone. How can we ever read anything?
November 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
That image is from 1961 and an idealization. Here is an actual trajectory of fixational eye movements. The dots are 2 ms apart. If a midget ganglion cell, with single-cone receptive field, fires at 100 Hz, then every spike reports about a different cone. How can we ever read anything?
Reposted by Thomas Serre
A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
September 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
The Python Software Foundation won a $1.5m grant from the US government National Science Foundation.
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI"
simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI"
simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...
The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program
The Python Software Foundation was recently "recommended for funding" (NSF terminology) for a $1.5m grant from the US government National Science Foundation to help improve the security of the Python ...
simonwillison.net
October 29, 2025 at 7:21 PM
The Python Software Foundation won a $1.5m grant from the US government National Science Foundation.
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI"
simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI"
simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Apply to become a CSHL-Simons Fellow in Neuroscience!
Run your own lab, pursue bold ideas, join a highly collaborative community!
All areas including experimental or computational neuro, including NeuroAI & systems
PhD required; ≤~1 yr postdoc
www.cshl.edu/about-us/car...
Run your own lab, pursue bold ideas, join a highly collaborative community!
All areas including experimental or computational neuro, including NeuroAI & systems
PhD required; ≤~1 yr postdoc
www.cshl.edu/about-us/car...
Fellows Positions | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
CSHL Simons Fellow in NEUROSCIENCE Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is seeking to fill a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Fellow position in the area of NEUROSCIENCE (experimental and/or computationa...
www.cshl.edu
October 24, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Apply to become a CSHL-Simons Fellow in Neuroscience!
Run your own lab, pursue bold ideas, join a highly collaborative community!
All areas including experimental or computational neuro, including NeuroAI & systems
PhD required; ≤~1 yr postdoc
www.cshl.edu/about-us/car...
Run your own lab, pursue bold ideas, join a highly collaborative community!
All areas including experimental or computational neuro, including NeuroAI & systems
PhD required; ≤~1 yr postdoc
www.cshl.edu/about-us/car...
Last call for applications! Join us in advancing AI and the science of mind at Brown. Apply by Nov 8, 2025 👉 apply.interfolio.com/173939
October 24, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Last call for applications! Join us in advancing AI and the science of mind at Brown. Apply by Nov 8, 2025 👉 apply.interfolio.com/173939
🧠 Thrilled to share our NeuroView with Ellie Pavlick!
"From Prediction to Understanding: Will AI Foundation Models Transform Brain Science?"
AI foundation models are coming to neuroscience—if scaling laws hold, predictive power will be unprecedented.
But is that enough?
Thread 🧵👇
"From Prediction to Understanding: Will AI Foundation Models Transform Brain Science?"
AI foundation models are coming to neuroscience—if scaling laws hold, predictive power will be unprecedented.
But is that enough?
Thread 🧵👇
October 24, 2025 at 11:22 AM
🧠 Thrilled to share our NeuroView with Ellie Pavlick!
"From Prediction to Understanding: Will AI Foundation Models Transform Brain Science?"
AI foundation models are coming to neuroscience—if scaling laws hold, predictive power will be unprecedented.
But is that enough?
Thread 🧵👇
"From Prediction to Understanding: Will AI Foundation Models Transform Brain Science?"
AI foundation models are coming to neuroscience—if scaling laws hold, predictive power will be unprecedented.
But is that enough?
Thread 🧵👇
Reposted by Thomas Serre
I wrote an op-ed for the Washington Square News about the government's attempt to extort universities. nyunews.com/opinion/gues...
Guest Essay: Unity is the only way out of Trump’s ‘compact’ - Washington Square News
Grace Lindsay is an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Data Science at New York University. Nine universities received an Oct. 1 letter from the Trump administration with an offer: If you agree to a ...
nyunews.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:27 AM
I wrote an op-ed for the Washington Square News about the government's attempt to extort universities. nyunews.com/opinion/gues...
Brown’s Department of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor, working in the area of AI and the Mind (start July 1, 2026). Apply by Nov 8, 2025 👉 apply.interfolio.com/173939
#AI #CognitiveScience #AcademicJobs #BrownUniversity
#AI #CognitiveScience #AcademicJobs #BrownUniversity
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Brown’s Department of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor, working in the area of AI and the Mind (start July 1, 2026). Apply by Nov 8, 2025 👉 apply.interfolio.com/173939
#AI #CognitiveScience #AcademicJobs #BrownUniversity
#AI #CognitiveScience #AcademicJobs #BrownUniversity
With Pieter Roelfsema, our TICS response to Scholte & de Haan (2025): in deep nets, distributed codes ≠ solved binding. Flexible vision needs dynamic grouping + attention (or object-centric slots) to link features to objects/relations. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Feature binding in biological and artificial vision
www.sciencedirect.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:34 PM
With Pieter Roelfsema, our TICS response to Scholte & de Haan (2025): in deep nets, distributed codes ≠ solved binding. Flexible vision needs dynamic grouping + attention (or object-centric slots) to link features to objects/relations. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Day of Action planned for July 21 to protect science protectscienceandinnovation.org
Protect Science and Innovation
protectscienceandinnovation.org
July 15, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Day of Action planned for July 21 to protect science protectscienceandinnovation.org
Reposted by Thomas Serre
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
June 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
Reposted by Thomas Serre
From the NIH news desk: "NIH to prioritize human-based research technologies; new initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research"
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
NIH to prioritize human-based research technologies
New initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research.
www.nih.gov
April 30, 2025 at 11:16 AM
From the NIH news desk: "NIH to prioritize human-based research technologies; new initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research"
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
🚨 New preprint alert!
Our latest study, led by @DrewLinsley, examines how deep neural networks (DNNs) optimized for image categorization align with primate vision, using neural and behavioral benchmarks.
Our latest study, led by @DrewLinsley, examines how deep neural networks (DNNs) optimized for image categorization align with primate vision, using neural and behavioral benchmarks.
April 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
🚨 New preprint alert!
Our latest study, led by @DrewLinsley, examines how deep neural networks (DNNs) optimized for image categorization align with primate vision, using neural and behavioral benchmarks.
Our latest study, led by @DrewLinsley, examines how deep neural networks (DNNs) optimized for image categorization align with primate vision, using neural and behavioral benchmarks.
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond
Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.
elifesciences.org
March 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
WHERE WILL YOU BE TOMORROW?
March 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
WHERE WILL YOU BE TOMORROW?
Reposted by Thomas Serre
AI researchers should be worried about all their funding to make formers TRANS
Cancer research is going to disappear in the US because apparently no one in US leadership ever took a biology class. “DOGE found $8 million grant to make mice transgender. This is real.”
- Donald Trump, talking about transgenic mice to the world
www.irishstar.com/news/us-news...
- Donald Trump, talking about transgenic mice to the world
www.irishstar.com/news/us-news...
Trump baffles with bizarre comment about 'transgender mice' in Congress speech
Donald Trump baffled viewers of his congressional address when he discussed the $8 million he said he and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had found for "making mice transgender"
www.irishstar.com
March 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM
AI researchers should be worried about all their funding to make formers TRANS
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Francis Collins has had enough.
Good on him.
Good on him.
Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...
March 2, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Francis Collins has had enough.
Good on him.
Good on him.
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Science Homecoming
sciencehomecoming.com
February 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Laudable stance and brilliant letter from @scurry.bsky.social
Musk has no place amongst scientists, let alone one as a member of one of its most revered institutions.
Science sky, please consider signing and letting @royalsociety.org know your views.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/
Musk has no place amongst scientists, let alone one as a member of one of its most revered institutions.
Science sky, please consider signing and letting @royalsociety.org know your views.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/
Reciprocal Space | Occam's Typewriter
occamstypewriter.org
February 14, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Laudable stance and brilliant letter from @scurry.bsky.social
Musk has no place amongst scientists, let alone one as a member of one of its most revered institutions.
Science sky, please consider signing and letting @royalsociety.org know your views.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/
Musk has no place amongst scientists, let alone one as a member of one of its most revered institutions.
Science sky, please consider signing and letting @royalsociety.org know your views.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/
Reposted by Thomas Serre
The US government has been turned over to a group of extraordinarily ignorant people, and they are working to destroy science in this country. Cutting over half the NSF budget would save < 0.1% of the federal budget, but do incalculable harm. Simply heartbreaking.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
White House budget proposal could shatter the National Science Foundation
“This kind of cut would kill American science and boost China.”…
arstechnica.com
February 7, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The US government has been turned over to a group of extraordinarily ignorant people, and they are working to destroy science in this country. Cutting over half the NSF budget would save < 0.1% of the federal budget, but do incalculable harm. Simply heartbreaking.
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Do you want to study cognitive science and live in Paris?
Our master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for 2025-2026. All courses are in English.
Deadline: 13 March 2025
More info: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en
Our master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for 2025-2026. All courses are in English.
Deadline: 13 March 2025
More info: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en
January 14, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Do you want to study cognitive science and live in Paris?
Our master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for 2025-2026. All courses are in English.
Deadline: 13 March 2025
More info: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en
Our master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for 2025-2026. All courses are in English.
Deadline: 13 March 2025
More info: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Excellent post discussing whether "AI progress is slowing down".
www.aisnakeoil.com/p/is-ai-prog...
And if you're not subscribed to @randomwalker.bsky.social and @sayash.bsky.social 's great newsletter, what are you waiting for?
www.aisnakeoil.com/p/is-ai-prog...
And if you're not subscribed to @randomwalker.bsky.social and @sayash.bsky.social 's great newsletter, what are you waiting for?
Is AI progress slowing down?
Making sense of recent technology trends and claims
www.aisnakeoil.com
December 19, 2024 at 11:57 PM
Excellent post discussing whether "AI progress is slowing down".
www.aisnakeoil.com/p/is-ai-prog...
And if you're not subscribed to @randomwalker.bsky.social and @sayash.bsky.social 's great newsletter, what are you waiting for?
www.aisnakeoil.com/p/is-ai-prog...
And if you're not subscribed to @randomwalker.bsky.social and @sayash.bsky.social 's great newsletter, what are you waiting for?
Reposted by Thomas Serre
Apropos of never ending discussions about whether ANNs are "good" models of the nervous system, here is a slide I present to masters students showing a network that is found in motor control circuits *across phyla* (that's pretty ubiquitous!) I ask them to guess what it does...
December 17, 2024 at 2:14 PM
Apropos of never ending discussions about whether ANNs are "good" models of the nervous system, here is a slide I present to masters students showing a network that is found in motor control circuits *across phyla* (that's pretty ubiquitous!) I ask them to guess what it does...
Reposted by Thomas Serre
At Neurips to present my article : “Latent Representation Matters: Human-like Sketches in One-shot Drawing Tasks”! We pit humans vs. regularized Latent Diffusion Models in the one-shot drawing task. Who’s the best sketch master? Come to my poster to know (poster #1600 tomorrow at 4:30pm)🖌️🤖 !
Latent Representation Matters: Human-like Sketches in One-shot Drawing Tasks
Humans can effortlessly draw new categories from a single exemplar, a feat that has long posed a challenge for generative models. However, this gap has started to close with recent advances in diffusi...
arxiv.org
December 10, 2024 at 9:41 PM
At Neurips to present my article : “Latent Representation Matters: Human-like Sketches in One-shot Drawing Tasks”! We pit humans vs. regularized Latent Diffusion Models in the one-shot drawing task. Who’s the best sketch master? Come to my poster to know (poster #1600 tomorrow at 4:30pm)🖌️🤖 !