Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Graham Murray

Gavin Buckingham @drgbuckingham.bsky.social · 1d

When is work not work? What is the workiest work?

gavinbuckingham.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/w...

An interesting LinkedIn post from some colleagues musing on the “expectation of free service” has been stuck in my head for a few days now. In my university, we have a workload model wh…

gavinbuckingham.wordpress.com

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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 2d

Some good advice in here but one critical piece I always give is this:

Get a hobby. Preferably a mildly social one. One that has NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE. NOTHING.

You need friends. Not colleagues. FRIENDS. Friends who will love you no matter your research prospects...

Nature @nature.com · 2d

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone considering a PhD?

We asked 3785 doctoral candidates across 107 countries for their hard-won wisdom
go.nature.com/4nDjJ7t

27 things we wish we’d known when we started our PhDs

Nature’s survey of PhD candidates reveals hard-won wisdom on choosing supervisors, managing mental health and surviving academic culture.

go.nature.com

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PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 2d

Michael X Cohen on why he left academia/neuroscience.
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...

Why I left academia and neuroscience

Don't worry, this isn't yet another story of rage-quitting.

mikexcohen.substack.com

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 3d

Fascinating thread about the identification of one of the first genes with a clear role in human speech and language! Extra credit for those who dig in to find out why its called a "forkhead domain" 🧪

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 4d

Twenty-four years ago today, our paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” was published: www.nature.com/articles/350....
A personal thread about the ups & downs of the journey we took to get to that point....1/n
🗣️🧬🧪

Image shows the first two printed pages of the paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” by Cecilia Lai and colleagues, published in Nature in 2001 (volume 413, pages 519-523). The abstract reads as follows:
Individuals affected with developmental disorders of speech and language have substantial difficulty acquiring expressive and/or receptive language in the absence of any profound sensory or neurological impairment and despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although studies of twins consistently indicate that a significant genetic component is involved, most families segregating speech and language deficits show complex patterns of inheritance, and a gene that predisposes individuals to such disorders has not been identified. We have studied a unique three-generation pedigree, KE, in which a severe speech and language disorder is transmitted as an autosomal-dominant monogenic trait. Our previous work mapped the locus responsible, SPCH1, to a 5.6-cM interval of region 7q31 on chromosome 7. We also identified an unrelated individual, CS, in whom speech and language impairment is associated with a chromosomal translocation involving the SPCH1 interval. Here we show that the gene FOXP2, which encodes a putative transcription factor containing a polyglutamine tract and a forkhead DNA-binding domain, is directly disrupted by the translocation breakpoint in CS. In addition, we identify a point mutation in affected members of the KE family that alters an invariant amino-acid residue in the forkhead domain. Our findings suggest that FOXP2 is involved in the developmental process that culminates in speech and language.

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

When writing Elusive Cures, a goal was to spell out how research types connect w/ understanding brain disorders. I struggled for evolutionary approaches (ala ‘What did this evolve for?‘ instead of ‘What is it and how does it break?’ But I missed /1
www.unsiloedpodcast.com/episodes/epi...

Episode 45: Randy Nesse — unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc

University of Michigan

www.unsiloedpodcast.com

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Rik Henson @rhens.bsky.social · 3d

Very useful tips…

profserious @profserious.bsky.social · 4d

Here are your 10 -essential- AI prompts for academics ... make your life easy with help from @profserious.bsky.social profserious.substack.com/p/10-ai-prom...

10 AI Prompts for Academics

making those hard jobs a little easier ...

profserious.substack.com

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Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) @sirsofficial.bsky.social · 7d

⏳ One Week Left! Submit for the SIRS Research Fund Award by 9 October 2025.

This award supports early career investigators in launching innovative projects to advance understanding, prevention, and treatment of schizophrenia.

🔗 Learn More: schizophreniaresearchsociety.org/join/researc...

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Graham Murray @gkmurray.bsky.social · 4d

Helpful blog about ME/CFS GWAS results from DecodeME Medsky 🖥️🧬 🩺🧠

ME/CFS Science @mecfsskeptic.bsky.social · 5d

1) We’ve written an article about the DecodeME results: what the study measured, what the results show, and why its findings are important.

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Mark Laubach @marklaubach.bsky.social · 5d

I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 6d

Excellent thread.

I’ve seen the same point made in the US, where the tight post-pandemic labour market saw significantly stronger wage growth among the lowest-paid workers, including hospitality, and sure enough the complaints about the cost of takeaway and eating out came flooding in.

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 6d

Ok, been waiting for this one, price rises for going out that affect so many of us... there's a lot of factors here but one of the main ones is... this is what we collectively chose... what do you think happens with more regulations and a higher minimum wage? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What a £5 coffee (or a £100 Pizza Express) tells us about a changing Britain | Gaby Hinsliff

For many Gen Xers, it feels like we’re sliding back towards the land of our childhoods: where eating out was for special occasions, and Thermoses were king, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

www.theguardian.com

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Graham Murray @gkmurray.bsky.social · 6d

@epiellie.bsky.social has written clearly on this epiellie.substack.com/p/time-to-re...

The best evidence Tylenol causes autism isn't great

On Monday, RFK Jr announced Tylenol ‘causes’ autism referencing three studies as evidence. Let's dive in.

epiellie.substack.com

Graham Murray @gkmurray.bsky.social · 7d

🔬 🧬 🩺🧠 Developmental and genetic profile of autism differs substantially by age at diagnosis - fascinating research by @vw1234.bsky.social Xinhe Zhang and colleagues. Medsky

Varun Warrier @vw1234.bsky.social · 7d

It is now clear that more people are being diagnosed as autistic in their teens and as adults than in childhood. A prevailing theory is that those diagnosed later have "milder" form of autism, and later diagnosis entirely due to social factors.

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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 8d

Today I'm celebrating Prof James Dooley being made Research Professor at the University of Cambridge!

It is hard to say just how incredible his journey has been. James wrote about his story here, from foster kid to research professor:

issuu.com/adrian.listo...

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Cambridge Neuroscience @camneuro.bsky.social · 8d

📢 Deadline for Cambridge NeuroWorks Fellowship extended till 13th Oct 2025!

12 fellowship awards available, ~£117k each, for individuals from any sector in the UK or globally, with ideas at any stage to advance treatments for neurological conditions 🧠💡

Info: cambridgeneuroworks.org/programmes/f...

Fellowship Programme - Cambridge NeuroWorks

Fellowship programme Cambridge NeuroWorks is proud to introduce the Cambridge NeuroWorks Fellowship Programme, offering two transformative fellowship streams …

cambridgeneuroworks.org

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Prof Rick Adams @drrickadams.bsky.social · 8d

Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

rb.gy

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Lizzie Manning @drlizziemanning.bsky.social · 9d

Time to get working on your symposium proposals!

📣 Roll call
-Who's coming to Cape town?
-Who needs speaker suggestions for a panel?
-Who'd like to join a panel (especially trainees!)
@mfendt.bsky.social @dr-stan.bsky.social @nicoleferrara.bsky.social @eelkesnoeren.bsky.social

International Behavioral Neuroscience Society @ibnsconnect.bsky.social · 26d

We are excited to invite all behavioral neuroscientists to the 35th Annual IBNS Meeting at Cape Town, South Africa June 23-27, 2026!

Call for Symposia / Satellite Proposals Deadline: Tuesday, October 28, 2025

More information can be found at ibnsconnect.org/meetings

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Louise Beattie @beattiel.bsky.social · 9d

What does early intervention in psychosis mean to me? 🦋

While completing my PhD thesis, I experienced a first episode of psychosis and was hospitalised. I was referred to the local early intervention in psychosis service, where I ultimately received a diagnosis of autism. 1

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Dr Ellie Murray, ScD @epiellie.bsky.social · 10d

Today I review the second study RFK Jr cited in his autism & Tylenol press conference: acetaminophen in pregnancy from the Nurses' Health Study.

You're gonna wanna read this for yourself.
open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...

RFK Jr clearly hasn't read this paper he cited. But I have.

At last week’s press conference, RFK Jr and his buddies announced that Tylenol causes autism, citing 3 studies as proof. Let's talk about one of them.

open.substack.com

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Franziska Knolle @franziskaknolle.bsky.social · 10d

If you’re in #Munich 🥨 and curious about decision-making, perception, and cognition through a translational lens, join us for a seminar I’m hosting on Oct 30 with three fantastic speakers: @jkesby.bsky.social (visiting from 🇦🇺), @miguelbengala.bsky.social, and @jacob-lab.bsky.social 🧠💡

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 11d

Really enjoyed my weekend read on 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: local recurrence amplifies natural input patterns and suppresses stray activity. This review beautifully argues that sensory cortex itself is a site of memory and prediction. Food for thought on hallucinations!

#neuroskyence #neuroscience

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 13d

The brain is incredibly densely connected. Human cerebral cortex may have as many as *one trillion* connections.

Most of those cortical connections are recurrent, inside each area. What do they do?

New paper from me in Annual Reviews: 🧪 🧠📈 1/

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Active Filtering: A Predictive Function of Recurrent Circuits of Sensory Cortex | Annual Reviews

Our brains encode many features of the sensory world into memories: We can sing along with songs we have heard before, interpret spoken and written language composed of words we have learned, and reco...

www.annualreviews.org

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Emil Uffelmann @euffelmann.bsky.social · 12d

Our new paper is out, in which we developed an approach to transform Polygenic Scores (PGSs) into disorder probabilities (i.e., the absolute lifetime disorder risk).

Below a thread 👇

open access link: rdcu.be/eIjvC

Estimating disorder probability based on polygenic prediction using the BPC approach

Nature Communications - Here the authors present a method to transform polygenic scores into disorder probabilities using only GWAS summary statistics, genotype data and a prior - no tuning sample...

rdcu.be

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NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre @cambridgebrc.bsky.social · 12d

📢 New hope for MS patients as Cambridge trial suggests drug combination may repair nerve damage
📢 Findings reveal diabetes drug and antihistamine can help repair myelin
To find out more >> bit.ly/4nR5b3E
@cuh.nhs.uk @cam.ac.uk @camneuro.bsky.social
@cuhpartners.bsky.social @dphpc.bsky.social

Hope for MS patients as Cambridge trial suggests drug combination may repair nerve damage - NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

Early findings from a clinical trial in Cambridge suggest a combination of metformin, a diabetes drug, and clemastine, an antihistamine, can help repair myelin – the protective coating around nerves, ...

bit.ly

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INVEST Research Flagship Centre @invest-flagship.bsky.social · 13d

Do register-based research? 🔎 #FIRE Fellowships offer 1–2 month visits to Finland for postdocs & senior researchers.

Apply now 👉
fire-infra.com/en/fire-visi...

@utu.fi @stat.fi @aalto.fi #TampereUniversity @helsinki.fi @uniuef.bsky.social @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social @vatt-tutkimus.bsky.social

FIRE Visiting Fellow Programme - FIRE

FIRE fellowships are 1–2 months visits to the Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research (FIRE) to collaborate with our researchers.

fire-infra.com

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Dr Ellie Murray, ScD @epiellie.bsky.social · 13d

If you’ve been following the RFK Jr autism news, then you’ve probably heard that there’s a systematic review “proving” Tylenol causes autism.

Here’s my review of that paper👇🏼

open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...

The best evidence Tylenol causes autism isn't great

On Monday, RFK Jr announced Tylenol ‘causes’ autism referencing three studies as evidence. Let's dive in.

open.substack.com

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John Baker @drjohnabaker.bsky.social · 14d

Looking to interview a few staff from UK adult inpatient mental health services about management of self-harm for a PhD study - please contact me [email protected] if interested in taking part.

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