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Hugo Spiers

@hugospiers.bsky.social

6.7K followers 1.3K following 910 posts

Prof of Cognitive Neuroscience & Vice Dean at UCL, Fellow of the Royal Inst. of Navigation. I study how we remember, navigate & imagine space Photo: Our upcoming field research in the Marshall Islands https://spierslab.wixsite.com/wavesandwayfinding

spierslab.wixsite.com

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · Jul 9

🚨This is the most exciting step of my scientific career🚨

25 yrs ago I started a life long interest in navigation, maps & brains

I've collected data from >4 m people in 195 nations in SeaHeroQuest

In 3 weeks we set off on an ocean voyage to study the amazing spatial skills of Marshallese sailors:

Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · Jul 9

‪World-leading scientists will set out on a unique research voyage, joining Indigenous Pacific sailors to investigate the centuries-old skill of wave piloting: www.stir.ac.uk/news/2025/ju...

Photo credit: www.instagram.com/chewy_lin/

Four people sail a traditional outrigger canoe near a tropical island under a sunny sky.

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Wonder of Science @wonderofscience.bsky.social · 5h

Galaxy rise narrated by Carl Sagan.

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 7h

nicely put! I can see a growing backlash emerging.

Reposted by Hugo Spiers

Carlos Ribeiro @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social · 9h

Interesting how companies and the financial world is racing to spend mindboggling amounts of money to build the infrastructure to train computers. But we are leaving the infrastructure to train and educate humans crumbling. The question is who will train who?

a man in a suit is holding a jacket and a cigarette .

ALT: a man in a suit is holding a jacket and a cigarette .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Hugo Spiers

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 1d

Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.

If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIK...

Nicole Rust - The representation of mood in the primate insula (May 6, 2025)

YouTube video by Simons Foundation

www.youtube.com

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 1d

I am excited to be connected via colleagues in the @thebartlettucl.bsky.social to this amazing project. Curious to see how this evolves.

UCL News @uclnews.bsky.social · 1d

UCL and Loughborough University London have teamed up to launch the Creative Experience Lab London.

This exciting project aims to establish Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a leading hub for the UK's creative industries. It will showcase AI, robotics and multiverse technology.

UCL and Loughborough University London launch creative experience hub on Olympic Park

A new chapter in London’s innovation landscape has opened with the launch of the Creative Experience Lab London. Convened by UCL and Loughborough University London, it aims to establish Queen Elizabet...

www.ucl.ac.uk

Reposted by Hugo Spiers

Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 1d

Dense longitudinal neuroimaging reveals individual brain change trajectories: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Dense longitudinal neuroimaging reveals individual brain change trajectories

Longitudinal measurements of brain structure and function are critical for understanding how humans change over time. Traditional longitudinal approaches sample sparsely across large windows of time t...

www.cell.com

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 1d

This is an interesting read:

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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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 1d

Its been an honour to have been @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social's PhD supervisor for he last 3 years.

His hard work as created 3 published articles on Sea Hero Quest, one review manuscript with revisions resubmitted & a final article on fNIRS and group hunting behaviour about to be submitted/preprinted

emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social · 1d

📘 Submitted my PhD last week! Over 3 years, I explored what makes us good at spatial navigation using behaviour, brain imaging & VR.

Grateful to my supervisors @hugospiers.bsky.social and @antoniahamilton.bsky.social, collaborators, friends & family! ♥️

Excited for what’s next! 🚀

#PhDCompleted

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Helen Barron @helencbarron.bsky.social · 2d

** We have up to TWO funded PhD positions available in our lab!! Apply below to find new ways to enhance memory👇 Pls retweet **

Deadline: 2nd December

1. Cross-species closed-loopTMR: tinyurl.com/bddu4tp6

2. TUS and TMR in humans:
tinyurl.com/jjws5ctj

Happy to chat to interested applicants.

Enhancing memory using cross-species closed-loop Targeted Memory Reactivation | mrcbndu

tinyurl.com

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Doeller Lab @doellerlab.bsky.social · 2d

⏳ Deadline approaching! Apply by 13 Oct for the Postdoc in Cognitive Neuroscience at MPI Leipzig.

Doeller Lab @doellerlab.bsky.social · 15d

Join us at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig as a Postdoc to explore cognitive maps in the human brain: learning, memory & the formation of structural representations. Excellent infrastructure with a leading scientific network. Apply by 13 October: postdocprogram.mpg.de/node/21187

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Prof Lisa Schipper 🌍🍉💪 @lisaschipper.bsky.social · 2d

Every time I show this in class, I am reminded how good it is www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfno...

Here’s Why Foreign Aid Is a Scam | Doha Debates

YouTube video by Doha Debates

www.youtube.com

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PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 3d

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺
Is consciousness tied to biological brains?
Neuro&Philo Salon present+discussion with @anilseth.bsky.social of his BBS target paper!
October 23, noon USA eastern
#neuroskyence
Register: umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
doi.org/10.1017/S014...

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Nature @nature.com · 2d

Obituary: Jane Goodall (1934-2025) Pioneer primatologist who inspired generations of scientists

go.nature.com/48aWjRU

Jane Goodall obituary: pioneer primatologist who inspired generations of scientists

She was a tireless advocate for conservation, the welfare of captive chimpanzees and the protection of habitats.

go.nature.com

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UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences @uclbrainscience.bsky.social · 2d

🌊 No GPS. No compass. Just waves, stars & memory.
Join a remarkable voyage across the Pacific to uncover how Marshallese navigators find their way at sea using ancient techniques — and what neuroscience reveals about this lost art.
theconversation.com/my-voyage-to... @hugospiers.bsky.social

My voyage to explore how Marshallese sailors find their way at sea without technology

Scientists have been exploring the role that neuroscience plays in ocean navigation.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Hugo Spiers

Nature @nature.com · 2d

BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize

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Dan @danxduran.bsky.social · 3d

If you'd asked me which celebrity would posthumously unveil a list of people she wanted fired into the sun, I would not have guessed Jane Goodall

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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mattotcha.bsky.social @mattotcha.bsky.social · 4d

My voyage to explore how Pacific island sailors find their way at sea without technology
theconversation.com/my-voyage-to...

My voyage to explore how Pacific island sailors find their way at sea without technology

Scientists have been exploring the role that neuroscience plays in ocean navigation.

theconversation.com

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 4d

"...vervet monkeys responded with ingrained behaviour to this evolutionarily new threat, anticipating risk based on long-term spatial memory, but failed to integrate evolutionarily new information."

bioRxiv Animal Behavior and Cognition @biorxiv-behav.bsky.social · 4d

Living with urban fear: vervet monkey response to an evolutionarily new predator https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.04.679731v1

Reposted by Hugo Spiers

The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 7d

Scientists have been exploring the role that neuroscience plays in ocean navigation.

My voyage to explore how Marshallese sailors find their way at sea without technology

Scientists have been exploring the role that neuroscience plays in ocean navigation.

tcnv.link

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SaltyDogFella ⚓️ @saltydogfella.bsky.social · 6d

My voyage to explore how Marshallese sailors find their way at sea without technology

⚓️ The ‘person of the sea’ 🌊 the ‘Ri Meto’, navigation 🧭 without instruments.

My voyage to explore how Marshallese sailors find their way at sea without technology

Scientists have been exploring the role that neuroscience plays in ocean navigation.

theconversation.com

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 4d

Photo of me in the @uk.theconversation.com setting up an accelerometer to record the motion of our trimaran in our recent fieldwork research on spatial navigation. Such an incredible experience working with the Marshallese community for this research
theconversation.com/my-voyage-to...

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Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics @mpi-nl.bsky.social · 5d

We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025.
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max

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Edvard I Moser @edvardmoser.bsky.social · 13d

1/5 How does the brain turn the low-dimensional, universal grid cell metric into the rich, diverse codes needed for memory in hippocampal place cells? 🧵
Preprint link 👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Functional independence of entorhinal grid cell modules enables remapping in hippocampal place cells

A systems-level understanding of cortical computation requires insight into how neural codes are transformed across distinct brain circuits. In the mammalian cortex, one of the few systems where such ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 6d

Great Q. For a number of reasons we needed to use a western sail boat, but our collaborators 10 years ago sailed the same route in carved traditional canoe. It would exciting (and costly and dangerous) to re-attempt it.
See our collaborator Joe Genz's book on this:

www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv...

Breaking the Shell: Voyaging from Nuclear Refugees to People of the Sea in the Marshall Islands on JSTOR

On the atoll of Rongelap in the northern seas of the Marshall Islands, apprentice navigators once learned to find their way across the ocean by remotely sensin...

www.jstor.org

Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 6d

Nicely put!