Mark Histed
@markhisted.org
How brain neural nets do computations; we aim to understand differences in brain wiring, using lasers and neuro-AI.
Lab head, NIH. Prev: media policy for democracypolicy.network.
linktr.ee/markhisted
Pers. views
neuro posts: 🧠 /🧪
Lab head, NIH. Prev: media policy for democracypolicy.network.
linktr.ee/markhisted
Pers. views
neuro posts: 🧠 /🧪
Addgene gave our lab at #NIH the Blue Flame Award for making a plasmid requested at least 100 times by other scientists. It's a bicistronic stable opsin-GCaMP8s pair for pattern stim.
Congrats to @lafosse.bsky.social, Z Zhou, and B Akitake who led this work. 🥳🥳
Addgene
Congrats to @lafosse.bsky.social, Z Zhou, and B Akitake who led this work. 🥳🥳
Addgene
January 12, 2026 at 11:40 PM
Addgene gave our lab at #NIH the Blue Flame Award for making a plasmid requested at least 100 times by other scientists. It's a bicistronic stable opsin-GCaMP8s pair for pattern stim.
Congrats to @lafosse.bsky.social, Z Zhou, and B Akitake who led this work. 🥳🥳
Addgene
Congrats to @lafosse.bsky.social, Z Zhou, and B Akitake who led this work. 🥳🥳
Addgene
This section is excellent, worth reading as we think about the future of the civil service and gov't capacity.
I think the piece is overall great. But the law is in some sense what the Supreme Court says it is, and we have to focus on the Court as we move forward.
I think the piece is overall great. But the law is in some sense what the Supreme Court says it is, and we have to focus on the Court as we move forward.
January 12, 2026 at 3:51 PM
This section is excellent, worth reading as we think about the future of the civil service and gov't capacity.
I think the piece is overall great. But the law is in some sense what the Supreme Court says it is, and we have to focus on the Court as we move forward.
I think the piece is overall great. But the law is in some sense what the Supreme Court says it is, and we have to focus on the Court as we move forward.
Intro covers pres power:
"The missing link is statutory law... Presidents possess far more legal authority over the federal workforce than most scholars, journalists ... realize. "
Fine. But note: The cited language does not directly talk about power over removal, or reductions-in-force.
"The missing link is statutory law... Presidents possess far more legal authority over the federal workforce than most scholars, journalists ... realize. "
Fine. But note: The cited language does not directly talk about power over removal, or reductions-in-force.
January 12, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Intro covers pres power:
"The missing link is statutory law... Presidents possess far more legal authority over the federal workforce than most scholars, journalists ... realize. "
Fine. But note: The cited language does not directly talk about power over removal, or reductions-in-force.
"The missing link is statutory law... Presidents possess far more legal authority over the federal workforce than most scholars, journalists ... realize. "
Fine. But note: The cited language does not directly talk about power over removal, or reductions-in-force.
some good vibes:
This is a remarkably cool and fun trick to measure speed in camera images. Just use a checkerboard!
Robot football kicker video is so fun.
credit @crunchlabs.bsky.social
This is a remarkably cool and fun trick to measure speed in camera images. Just use a checkerboard!
Robot football kicker video is so fun.
credit @crunchlabs.bsky.social
January 11, 2026 at 2:23 AM
some good vibes:
This is a remarkably cool and fun trick to measure speed in camera images. Just use a checkerboard!
Robot football kicker video is so fun.
credit @crunchlabs.bsky.social
This is a remarkably cool and fun trick to measure speed in camera images. Just use a checkerboard!
Robot football kicker video is so fun.
credit @crunchlabs.bsky.social
My kid turns on YouTube to watch @crunchlabs.bsky.social, and the first thing we see is a Donald Trump ad.
Zero pro-democracy ads. Zero rebuttal ads. This happens over and over.
Just because quant election analysis shows 2026 votes aren’t needed doesn’t mean the right move is no ads for DC.
Zero pro-democracy ads. Zero rebuttal ads. This happens over and over.
Just because quant election analysis shows 2026 votes aren’t needed doesn’t mean the right move is no ads for DC.
January 11, 2026 at 2:09 AM
My kid turns on YouTube to watch @crunchlabs.bsky.social, and the first thing we see is a Donald Trump ad.
Zero pro-democracy ads. Zero rebuttal ads. This happens over and over.
Just because quant election analysis shows 2026 votes aren’t needed doesn’t mean the right move is no ads for DC.
Zero pro-democracy ads. Zero rebuttal ads. This happens over and over.
Just because quant election analysis shows 2026 votes aren’t needed doesn’t mean the right move is no ads for DC.
ICE is running rogue in many US cities and killings are being justified by top Trump officials.
Meanwhile the increased CBP budget is being used to run larger-than-life recruitment ads on DC public buses.
Meanwhile the increased CBP budget is being used to run larger-than-life recruitment ads on DC public buses.
January 10, 2026 at 1:55 AM
ICE is running rogue in many US cities and killings are being justified by top Trump officials.
Meanwhile the increased CBP budget is being used to run larger-than-life recruitment ads on DC public buses.
Meanwhile the increased CBP budget is being used to run larger-than-life recruitment ads on DC public buses.
January 8, 2026 at 11:36 PM
“It took Putin a little less than a year” to complete the takeover of Media-Most, said Gessen.”
@mashagessen.bsky.social has written quite a bit about how Putin moved to bring Russian media under control. What’s happening here - from Trump Censor Carr to CBS to Kimmel - is that playbook.
@mashagessen.bsky.social has written quite a bit about how Putin moved to bring Russian media under control. What’s happening here - from Trump Censor Carr to CBS to Kimmel - is that playbook.
![Left behind were his journalists. Those at NTV waged a very public fight to maintain their independence, including frequent on-air reports about Kremlin and Gazprom machinations. Ultimately, though, they were strongarmed out of the studios. In short order, the Gusinsky newspaper Segodnya was shuttered, and the staff of his newsweekly Itogi
"came to work to find we were locked out, and there was a new staff in the building making a magazine," recalled journalist Masha Gessen.
"It took Putin a little less than a year" to complete the takeover of Media-Most, said Gessen. [xxxvii]]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p66b7zkep57fp4rhrtktsdni/bafkreidpsnu57ipj53ysild5wv2xkgkyif3qvolzjkavliga2euqmb36ua@jpeg)
January 3, 2026 at 12:47 AM
“It took Putin a little less than a year” to complete the takeover of Media-Most, said Gessen.”
@mashagessen.bsky.social has written quite a bit about how Putin moved to bring Russian media under control. What’s happening here - from Trump Censor Carr to CBS to Kimmel - is that playbook.
@mashagessen.bsky.social has written quite a bit about how Putin moved to bring Russian media under control. What’s happening here - from Trump Censor Carr to CBS to Kimmel - is that playbook.
The way I feel about John Roberts saying he’s not shredding the Constitution is the way @unbiasedscipod.bsky.social feels about public health rn
December 31, 2025 at 11:46 PM
The way I feel about John Roberts saying he’s not shredding the Constitution is the way @unbiasedscipod.bsky.social feels about public health rn
quite good
"So I think there's a power analysis that is ... missing from their narrative, which is fine if they're just aiming to say, "Here are a few things that we should do." But if they're pitching it as a story that explains everything, then I think that there's some things that are missing."
"So I think there's a power analysis that is ... missing from their narrative, which is fine if they're just aiming to say, "Here are a few things that we should do." But if they're pitching it as a story that explains everything, then I think that there's some things that are missing."
![I feel like some of the book's themes are not at all new in Seattle for some years. We've had an urbanist left in Seattle that's basically on board with the abundance agenda when it comes to housing, that really recognizes the role that zoning and land use laws have played in slowing housing production. And that [group] is 100 percent there on changing those laws and on permit reform. That's something that has been in the air here for some time.
I do think that there are some limitations in the kind of desire to have this narrative around our problems, [that they exist] because well-meaning liberals, progressives put all these rules and regulations in place. I think there's a lot of other big factors too that are also important.
I would love to hear you draw out what you think are some of the things that go beyond that, and the ways you try to shape your politics around other forces too.
They begin the book with this description of life in 2050 once the abundance agenda has been achieved. And it sounds great. And one of the things that they mentioned is that we have a lot more leisure time now. The work week has been shortened because productivity is so much higher. And when I got to that, I just immediately began thinking of the level of social upheaval and frankly, class struggle that would have to take place in the next quarter-century in order for major productivity gains to actually result in a shorter work week.
So I think there's just a power analysis maybe that is a little bit missing from their narrative, which is fine if they're just aiming to be like, "Here are a few things that we should do." But if they're pitching it as more of a story that explains everything, then I think that there's definitely some things that are missing.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p66b7zkep57fp4rhrtktsdni/bafkreibkenaf7uynthmo7rlp47b6z5wlx3kzrby36oqktfxkdzjo7hx4lm@jpeg)
December 29, 2025 at 6:23 AM
quite good
"So I think there's a power analysis that is ... missing from their narrative, which is fine if they're just aiming to say, "Here are a few things that we should do." But if they're pitching it as a story that explains everything, then I think that there's some things that are missing."
"So I think there's a power analysis that is ... missing from their narrative, which is fine if they're just aiming to say, "Here are a few things that we should do." But if they're pitching it as a story that explains everything, then I think that there's some things that are missing."
Ask Congress to act strongly to stop presidential interference inside NIH— to get Russell Vought’s and the Project 2025 hands off NIH.
Part 2/2
Part 2/2
December 28, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Ask Congress to act strongly to stop presidential interference inside NIH— to get Russell Vought’s and the Project 2025 hands off NIH.
Part 2/2
Part 2/2
On the news that Walter Koroshetz will not be renewed as NIH/NINDS director: I made a video a few days ago, abt ppl
saying to me “Congress rejected Trump budget cuts for NIH, so we’ll be ok, right?”
No. Vought and Trump have a lot of ways to interfere inside NIH. Ask Congress to …🧪
saying to me “Congress rejected Trump budget cuts for NIH, so we’ll be ok, right?”
No. Vought and Trump have a lot of ways to interfere inside NIH. Ask Congress to …🧪
December 28, 2025 at 12:45 AM
On the news that Walter Koroshetz will not be renewed as NIH/NINDS director: I made a video a few days ago, abt ppl
saying to me “Congress rejected Trump budget cuts for NIH, so we’ll be ok, right?”
No. Vought and Trump have a lot of ways to interfere inside NIH. Ask Congress to …🧪
saying to me “Congress rejected Trump budget cuts for NIH, so we’ll be ok, right?”
No. Vought and Trump have a lot of ways to interfere inside NIH. Ask Congress to …🧪
December 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM
From 2024. It’s quantbrain junk science; the conclusion recvd by the public is unsupported by the limited data, here a survey.
(1) and (2) below are false statements.
To make sense of complex systems we need more careful thinking, strategy, and yes social science, and less reflexive use of data.
(1) and (2) below are false statements.
To make sense of complex systems we need more careful thinking, strategy, and yes social science, and less reflexive use of data.
December 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
From 2024. It’s quantbrain junk science; the conclusion recvd by the public is unsupported by the limited data, here a survey.
(1) and (2) below are false statements.
To make sense of complex systems we need more careful thinking, strategy, and yes social science, and less reflexive use of data.
(1) and (2) below are false statements.
To make sense of complex systems we need more careful thinking, strategy, and yes social science, and less reflexive use of data.
Free speech is a vital right. It was one of FDR’s Four Freedoms and we should not give that up: the government should not suppress speech, and not retaliate against people for speech.
But freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom of reach.
But freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom of reach.
![This reason — weaponizing free speech to drown out speech they don’t like and preserve their ability to boost their ideas with money — is why Koch funded FIRE and a “free speech” project at the Atlantic, why FIRE was founded as a SPN (rightwing thinktank) member, and why at Koch donor summits discuss the progress of their “free speech” efforts. And why the Bradley Foundation gave Bhattacharya a “free speech” prize along with a few hundred thousand dollars.
Free speech is a vital right. It was one of FDR’s Four Freedoms and we should not give that up: the government should not suppress speech, and not retaliate against people for speech.
But freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom of reach. When the focus is on the unfettered ability for money to promote selected individual speech, any effort to improve platforms and media can be spun as censorship[1]. This is also why Stephen Miller and his billionaire-backed law chopshop (Am First Legal) is suing Renee DiResta. These efforts are all about preserving billionaire oligarchs’ ability to influence public debate with money[2].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p66b7zkep57fp4rhrtktsdni/bafkreidom6isgudksxk5sgpaggls45jn4nb3u43d3onmnp5jasepeio3oa@jpeg)
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Free speech is a vital right. It was one of FDR’s Four Freedoms and we should not give that up: the government should not suppress speech, and not retaliate against people for speech.
But freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom of reach.
But freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom of reach.
While rightwing billionaire mouthpieces scream “censorship” and demand free speech, what they want is to boost their own speech, to tilt the marketplace of ideas.
Elon Musk, Murdoch, Thiel, and Koch all know that “free speech” principles can be weaponized to elevate speech that benefits them.
Elon Musk, Murdoch, Thiel, and Koch all know that “free speech” principles can be weaponized to elevate speech that benefits them.
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
While rightwing billionaire mouthpieces scream “censorship” and demand free speech, what they want is to boost their own speech, to tilt the marketplace of ideas.
Elon Musk, Murdoch, Thiel, and Koch all know that “free speech” principles can be weaponized to elevate speech that benefits them.
Elon Musk, Murdoch, Thiel, and Koch all know that “free speech” principles can be weaponized to elevate speech that benefits them.
The root problem is that Bhattacharya's fringe views have been elevated by rightwing billionaires' money.
Here he is speaking at a TP conf, given a platform by them. That's an organization "funded by a variety of rightwing mega-donors" per SourceWatch.
see www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tu...
Here he is speaking at a TP conf, given a platform by them. That's an organization "funded by a variety of rightwing mega-donors" per SourceWatch.
see www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tu...
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The root problem is that Bhattacharya's fringe views have been elevated by rightwing billionaires' money.
Here he is speaking at a TP conf, given a platform by them. That's an organization "funded by a variety of rightwing mega-donors" per SourceWatch.
see www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tu...
Here he is speaking at a TP conf, given a platform by them. That's an organization "funded by a variety of rightwing mega-donors" per SourceWatch.
see www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tu...
Some of the books in my office.
December 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Some of the books in my office.
I not only have books on the shelves in my office, but I can do real pushups (with back rounded and chest to the ground).
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
December 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I not only have books on the shelves in my office, but I can do real pushups (with back rounded and chest to the ground).
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
It’s also why Stephen Miller and his billionaire-backed law chopshop (Am First Legal) is suing Renee DiResta.
It’s all about preserving billionaire oligarchs’ ability to influence public debate with money.
It’s all about preserving billionaire oligarchs’ ability to influence public debate with money.
December 23, 2025 at 9:23 PM
It’s also why Stephen Miller and his billionaire-backed law chopshop (Am First Legal) is suing Renee DiResta.
It’s all about preserving billionaire oligarchs’ ability to influence public debate with money.
It’s all about preserving billionaire oligarchs’ ability to influence public debate with money.
👀
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
December 23, 2025 at 6:10 AM
👀
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
"One longtime colleague and friend, [John Ioannidis] who has kept in touch with [Bhattacharya], pleads for scientists—and reporters—to give him a chance. "
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
December 23, 2025 at 3:38 AM
"One longtime colleague and friend, [John Ioannidis] who has kept in touch with [Bhattacharya], pleads for scientists—and reporters—to give him a chance. "
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Great piece tonight by Michael Grynbaum, a media correspondent at NYT.
And much credit to Ms. Alfonsi at 60 Minutes. She had to know this would be leaked, and she made her concerns extremely explicit, getting the details on the record. This is how it’s done.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
And much credit to Ms. Alfonsi at 60 Minutes. She had to know this would be leaked, and she made her concerns extremely explicit, getting the details on the record. This is how it’s done.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Great piece tonight by Michael Grynbaum, a media correspondent at NYT.
And much credit to Ms. Alfonsi at 60 Minutes. She had to know this would be leaked, and she made her concerns extremely explicit, getting the details on the record. This is how it’s done.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
And much credit to Ms. Alfonsi at 60 Minutes. She had to know this would be leaked, and she made her concerns extremely explicit, getting the details on the record. This is how it’s done.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
As an MIT alum (SB 99, PhD 05), I wish the MIT “free speech alliance” would speak out about these devastating attacks on speech and press freedom.
That would show they’re not just here to suppress speech they don’t like by protecting criticism of that speech.
That would show they’re not just here to suppress speech they don’t like by protecting criticism of that speech.
December 22, 2025 at 3:55 AM
As an MIT alum (SB 99, PhD 05), I wish the MIT “free speech alliance” would speak out about these devastating attacks on speech and press freedom.
That would show they’re not just here to suppress speech they don’t like by protecting criticism of that speech.
That would show they’re not just here to suppress speech they don’t like by protecting criticism of that speech.