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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · 27d

Great opportunity to learn to use fancy neural data analysis tools developed at the @flatironinstitute.org. Sign up for this workshop at SFN 2025!

Pynapple @pynapple.bsky.social · 27d

🎉 Deadline is *tomorrow*!
Join the @flatironinstitute.org workshop on pynapple & NeMos @sfn.org this November to analyze and model neural data

pynapple: analyze neural time series
NeMoS: model neural population dynamics
Meals + accommodation included
👉 neurorse.flatironinstitute.org/events/2025/...

SfN 2025

neurorse.flatironinstitute.org

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Aug 27

This is excellent! 😂

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Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Zero-Noise Lab @zeronoiselab.bsky.social · Jun 10

Now out in @natcomms.nature.com‬: Mice and monkeys spontaneously shift through comparable cognitive states - and it's written all over their faces! (1/7)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Inferring internal states across mice and monkeys using facial features - Nature Communications

Here, the authors created a virtual reality task for monkeys and mice to explore if internal states like attention are similar across species. Their facial expressions during the task were similar, su...

www.nature.com

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 21

In fact, Robbins 1956 ("An empirical Bayes approach to statistics") doesn't even consider Gaussian likelihoods. Only Poisson, geometric, binomial. So I'm puzzled about why this is the go-to citation. Are there multiple versions of this paper floating around??

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 21

Diffusion modeling folks: many sources (including Wikipedia) cite Robbins 1956 as the original source for Tweedie's formula (E[z | x] = x + sig^2 \grad log p(x)). But as far as I can tell — the formula appears nowhere in that paper. Did I miss it? Can anyone explain what's going on here?

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Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · May 19

"to run a contest that you end up not funding as a private organization at this time is… both extremely wasteful of these people’s time, and just devastating in terms of morale."

I spoke with @aniloza.bsky.social at STAT today about HHMI's decision not to fund this round of Hanna Gray applicants.

Private funder HHMI pauses postdoc fellowship

As HHMI pauses Hanna Gray fellowship applications, opportunities for young scientists shrink further, making them look overseas.

www.statnews.com

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 20

Mind-boggling that HHMI would pull this right as other sources of funding for early stage investigators are drying up! 😢

Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 10

Haha, ok thanks! 😂

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

Wow, great — thanks! I didn't know about CB education articles, but that could indeed be a good fit. It is indeed seeking to give technical — albeit (I hope) accessible — details of the derivations!

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

Ok, awesome — thanks for this suggestion! I didn't know about this journal before...

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

Cool — thanks for the suggestion! Although the web-page here "New Methods", which this paper is not. (Rather it's trying to give a clear, accessible description of an old method). Do you think that could fly?

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

Congrats, Takaki — this is super-cool!!

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

But there are no new results, per se. Any thoughts or suggestions for where to publish would be most appreciated!

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

The RRR estimator dates back to Izenman 1975, but we have found the original stats literature a bit hard to digest. So our paper paper aims to build intuition and give a simple derivation of RRR, along with several extensions (e.g., L2 regularization, non-isotropic noise).

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

By way of background: RRR is the method used for estimating a "communication subspace" between brain regions, introduced in Semedo et al 2019, and now growing in popularity for the analysis of multi-region datasets.

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · May 8

We are writing a tutorial paper on reduced rank regression (RRR), aimed primarily at neuroscientists.

Q: Does anyone have suggestions for where to publish such a paper?

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Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Andrew Leifer @andrewleifer.bsky.social · Mar 25

"We are passionate about science and its benefits to society, but we fear more what will happen if we do not help defend everyone’s fundamental rights." Op-ed I co-wrote w/ @samwang.bsky.social @jpillowtime.bsky.social @ilanawitten.bsky.social & David Tank www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...

To stop intimidation, Eisgruber needs your help

When targeting one institution is a bald attempt to divide and conquer, as is the case with Columbia, it is essential for a coalition or group of institutions and individuals to stand up together.&nbs...

www.dailyprincetonian.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Pynapple @pynapple.bsky.social · Jan 17

Pynapple is a Python-based neural analysis package designed to streamline your research. It integrates seamlessly with your projects, offering tools for processing, analyzing, and visualizing neural data. Follow us for updates, tutorials, and community insights!
#Pynapple #NeuralAnalysis #OpenSource

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Jan 15

"Replacing animals with human-centered tools will provide better insight into human biology, speeding up the development of much-needed treatments for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease." 🤦‍♂️

The fact that the author refers to animal research as "animal testing" also reveals a lot.

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Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Carolyn Jones @carolyn-jones.bsky.social · Dec 11

This drone situation in NJ is bonkers! Patch has had the best coverage so far. patch.com/new-jersey/p...

Enhanced Drone Detection Equipment To Take Flight Wednesday: NJ Mayor

Thousands of tips have come in to the FBI about the drone sightings, which have been reported in at least 13 New Jersey counties.

patch.com

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Dec 11

Great thread, @jbarbosa.org ! 🙌

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Dec 11

Another relevant paper here is this beautiful analysis from Elsayed & Cunningham (NN 2017) which describes a new test for rotational dynamics (derived using maximum entropy).

See original paper: www.nature.com/articles/nn....

or Mikio Aoi's & my news & views: www.nature.com/articles/nn....

Is population activity more than the sum of its parts? - Nature Neuroscience

A study introduces innovative ways to test whether neural population activity exhibits structure above and beyond that of its basic components.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Jonathan Pillow

Joao Barbosa @jbarbosa.org · Dec 11

(recycled form X @ 2021)

Are you interested in the dimensionality of neural data, but missed our #BernsteinConference workshop?

Worry not!

Instead, join me in this long thread (1/37) attempting to summarise it and (my view of) the field more broadly.

an aerial view of a large body of water surrounded by rocky shoreline

ALT: an aerial view of a large body of water surrounded by rocky shoreline

media.tenor.com

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Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Dec 11

Princeton folks — check out this story from Carolyn Jones about safety on our local roads! Interesting stats even if you're not a safety geek... 🧐

Carolyn Jones @carolyn-jones.bsky.social · Dec 11

How much do we know about the safety of our local roads? At TAPinto Princeton, we summarized all 61 vehicle crashes that happened in Princeton, NJ (pop: 30,000) in November. This new 'traffic blotter' tells a story about what goes wrong when drivers, cyclists and pedestrians share the road.

November Crash Data: Princeton Police Report 2 Pedestrians and 2 Bicyclists Struck by Cars; 20 Parked Cars Hit by Other Cars

Princeton, NJ -- Do you ever wonder where those police sirens in the distance are headed? Chances are, they are headed toward a traffic incident. Every year the Princeton Police Department responds...

www.tapinto.net

Jonathan Pillow @jpillowtime.bsky.social · Dec 8

NATURALLY!

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