Michael Pascale
@mpascale.psyc.dev
PhD Student, Boston University Brain Behavior Cognition | he/they 🏳️🌈
Human Curiosity, Exploration, & Information Seeking: Why do we seek out knowledge and when do we avoid it?
Formerly @MGHPsychiatry & @UMassLowell
https://www.psyc.dev
Human Curiosity, Exploration, & Information Seeking: Why do we seek out knowledge and when do we avoid it?
Formerly @MGHPsychiatry & @UMassLowell
https://www.psyc.dev
Reposted by Michael Pascale
As much as I'm loathe to enter into "language wars" style commentary, I think I agree with @clauswilke.com here. The lack of NSE and native missing values is really bad for Python as a data science language (as, in fairness, is the unhinged OOP situation in R)
Python is not a great language for data science. Part 2: Language features
It may be a good language for data science, but it’s not a great one.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 PM
As much as I'm loathe to enter into "language wars" style commentary, I think I agree with @clauswilke.com here. The lack of NSE and native missing values is really bad for Python as a data science language (as, in fairness, is the unhinged OOP situation in R)
Reposted by Michael Pascale
@okaysteve.bsky.social sat down with @franciscorr25.bsky.social to discuss the inspiration behind the book, why he decided to write it partly as a memoir, and what he wants readers to take away from reading it.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/memory/how-t...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/memory/how-t...
November 7, 2025 at 2:13 PM
@okaysteve.bsky.social sat down with @franciscorr25.bsky.social to discuss the inspiration behind the book, why he decided to write it partly as a memoir, and what he wants readers to take away from reading it.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/memory/how-t...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/memory/how-t...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
U.S. Public Research Benefits is a searchable repository that showcases the value of basic science in an easy and accessible format. @baselesspursuit.bsky.social shares how he and his colleagues developed the resource.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...
Our searchable repository of useful research can restore trust in federally funded basic science
Called U.S. Public Research Benefits, the database showcases the value of basic science in an easy and accessible format.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:50 PM
U.S. Public Research Benefits is a searchable repository that showcases the value of basic science in an easy and accessible format. @baselesspursuit.bsky.social shares how he and his colleagues developed the resource.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
🌎 New paper in @commspsychol.nature.com 🌍
doi.org/10.1038/s442...
There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change, but these are often more effortful. Can we increase pro-environmental motivation?
Joint w/ Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1038/s442...
There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change, but these are often more effortful. Can we increase pro-environmental motivation?
Joint w/ Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵
November 5, 2025 at 10:18 AM
🌎 New paper in @commspsychol.nature.com 🌍
doi.org/10.1038/s442...
There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change, but these are often more effortful. Can we increase pro-environmental motivation?
Joint w/ Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1038/s442...
There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change, but these are often more effortful. Can we increase pro-environmental motivation?
Joint w/ Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵
Reposted by Michael Pascale
One of my favorite facts: neurons and skin cells are 'cousins'.
Intelligence is a phenomenon that lives at boundaries. The semipermeable cell membrane is where the ball got rolling.
I wrote an essay riffing on this idea.
yohanjohn.com/axispraxis/f...
Intelligence is a phenomenon that lives at boundaries. The semipermeable cell membrane is where the ball got rolling.
I wrote an essay riffing on this idea.
yohanjohn.com/axispraxis/f...
November 4, 2025 at 11:33 AM
One of my favorite facts: neurons and skin cells are 'cousins'.
Intelligence is a phenomenon that lives at boundaries. The semipermeable cell membrane is where the ball got rolling.
I wrote an essay riffing on this idea.
yohanjohn.com/axispraxis/f...
Intelligence is a phenomenon that lives at boundaries. The semipermeable cell membrane is where the ball got rolling.
I wrote an essay riffing on this idea.
yohanjohn.com/axispraxis/f...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
Overall, this is pretty well-designed and -executed pre-registered (yay!) study. I don't really care about the self-report measures, but the analyses of the provided results is compelling. That said... (1/2) #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Overall, this is pretty well-designed and -executed pre-registered (yay!) study. I don't really care about the self-report measures, but the analyses of the provided results is compelling. That said... (1/2) #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky
Reposted by Michael Pascale
Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake
go.nature.com/47zrzYZ
go.nature.com/47zrzYZ
From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected
In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.
go.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake
go.nature.com/47zrzYZ
go.nature.com/47zrzYZ
Can we move towards calling "word-models" motifs and rigorously specified theories models? Maybe explicitly naming motifs vs. models can solidify ontology across fields.
Optimistic for Raja's idea that ecological perspectives seem to be coming back. See also the Simons found's decade long collab.
Optimistic for Raja's idea that ecological perspectives seem to be coming back. See also the Simons found's decade long collab.
In the latest episode of @braininspired.bsky.social, Vincente Raja suggests that neuroscientists should pay more attention to the principles of Gibsonian ecological psychology, such as affordances, ecological information and resonance.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
Vicente Raja brings ecological psychology to neuroscience
Neuroscientists should pay attention to the principles of Gibsonian ecological psychology, such as affordances, ecological information and resonance.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Can we move towards calling "word-models" motifs and rigorously specified theories models? Maybe explicitly naming motifs vs. models can solidify ontology across fields.
Optimistic for Raja's idea that ecological perspectives seem to be coming back. See also the Simons found's decade long collab.
Optimistic for Raja's idea that ecological perspectives seem to be coming back. See also the Simons found's decade long collab.
In 2025, we have thousands of people show up to celebrate books; lectures and discussions made free to all; music, discourse, and community at #bostonbookfestival.
Can we make this happen everywhere?
Can we make this happen everywhere?
October 25, 2025 at 8:33 PM
In 2025, we have thousands of people show up to celebrate books; lectures and discussions made free to all; music, discourse, and community at #bostonbookfestival.
Can we make this happen everywhere?
Can we make this happen everywhere?
Reposted by Michael Pascale
Naturalistic approaches such as Ulanovsky’s open up “potential opportunities to really reveal why the brain is structured in the way it’s structured,” says Iain Couzin.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroetholog...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroetholog...
Diving in with Nachum Ulanovsky
With an eye toward realism, the neuroscientist, who has a new study about bats out today, creates microcosms of the natural world to understand animal behavior.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Naturalistic approaches such as Ulanovsky’s open up “potential opportunities to really reveal why the brain is structured in the way it’s structured,” says Iain Couzin.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroetholog...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroetholog...
I've never seen so many cheery people holding flags 🇺🇸. Estimates on the order of 100,000 people at #nokings on the #Boston commons yesterday (WCVB).
Massive cheers for mayor Michelle Wu: "What scares them about Boston is that we are the America they say is impossible".
youtu.be/bkCRkoQGs3Q?...
Massive cheers for mayor Michelle Wu: "What scares them about Boston is that we are the America they say is impossible".
youtu.be/bkCRkoQGs3Q?...
October 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I've never seen so many cheery people holding flags 🇺🇸. Estimates on the order of 100,000 people at #nokings on the #Boston commons yesterday (WCVB).
Massive cheers for mayor Michelle Wu: "What scares them about Boston is that we are the America they say is impossible".
youtu.be/bkCRkoQGs3Q?...
Massive cheers for mayor Michelle Wu: "What scares them about Boston is that we are the America they say is impossible".
youtu.be/bkCRkoQGs3Q?...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
For the second time this year, protesters gathered for “No Kings” rallies against the Trump administration. See more from the mass protests: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
October 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
For the second time this year, protesters gathered for “No Kings” rallies against the Trump administration. See more from the mass protests: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
PBS @pbsnews.org News Hour Classroom Educator Voice: Generative AI has no place in my classroom
"This is different. This is dangerous. And I’m finally sounding the alarm."
by David Cutler, teacher https://loom.ly/0DPnpBQ
"This is different. This is dangerous. And I’m finally sounding the alarm."
by David Cutler, teacher https://loom.ly/0DPnpBQ
Educator Voice: Generative AI has no place in my classroom
"I’m done assigning large take-home papers. The tech is too advanced, too easy to use and too aggressively marketed."
www.pbs.org
October 18, 2025 at 10:05 PM
PBS @pbsnews.org News Hour Classroom Educator Voice: Generative AI has no place in my classroom
"This is different. This is dangerous. And I’m finally sounding the alarm."
by David Cutler, teacher https://loom.ly/0DPnpBQ
"This is different. This is dangerous. And I’m finally sounding the alarm."
by David Cutler, teacher https://loom.ly/0DPnpBQ
𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚 (𝘯.) "the illusion of knowledge that emerges when surface plausibility replaces verification"
Evidence that even when LLMs produce similar results to humans, they “rely on lexical associations and statistical priors rather than contextual reasoning or normative criteria. We term this divergence epistemia: the illusion of knowledge emerging when surface plausibility replaces verification”
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
October 17, 2025 at 12:08 PM
𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚 (𝘯.) "the illusion of knowledge that emerges when surface plausibility replaces verification"
There seem to be similar pressures at play as in the "learn to code" and one-device-per-child programs of the previous decade.
I've updated my document that tackles four of the common arguments used to encourage teachers to use AI.
I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.
I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.
Resisting School AI Mania Help Sheet
Help Sheet: Resisting AI Mania in Schools K-12 educators are under increasing pressure to use—and have students use—a wide range of AI tools. (The term “AI” is used loosely here, just as it is by man...
docs.google.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:19 AM
There seem to be similar pressures at play as in the "learn to code" and one-device-per-child programs of the previous decade.
Teen Brain Bootcamp is a free newsletter on adolescent brain development from scientific publisher Annual Reviews, geared toward parents, teachers, caregivers.
mailchi.mp/annualreview...
mailchi.mp/annualreview...
Take a scientific journey through the adolescent mind with our free, expert-backed email course.
Expect:
✅ Key insights from leading researchers
✅ Evidence-based strategies for supporting executive function
✅ Short, accessible breakdowns of key studies
Start today 👉 knowmag.org/TBB_bsky
Expect:
✅ Key insights from leading researchers
✅ Evidence-based strategies for supporting executive function
✅ Short, accessible breakdowns of key studies
Start today 👉 knowmag.org/TBB_bsky
October 13, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Teen Brain Bootcamp is a free newsletter on adolescent brain development from scientific publisher Annual Reviews, geared toward parents, teachers, caregivers.
mailchi.mp/annualreview...
mailchi.mp/annualreview...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
For a trainee like myself, Lindsay refreshingly weaves together various topics, methods, factoids, and historical anecdotes. Many of these things one encounters in classes or papers, but the 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 of it all and the coherence of the narrative as she tells it is humanizing and compelling.
October 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
For a trainee like myself, Lindsay refreshingly weaves together various topics, methods, factoids, and historical anecdotes. Many of these things one encounters in classes or papers, but the 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 of it all and the coherence of the narrative as she tells it is humanizing and compelling.
Reposted by Michael Pascale
I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Letter Regarding Compact
MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...
docs.google.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:01 AM
I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Michael Pascale
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall
October 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall
Reposted by Michael Pascale
It feels like an insult to the notion of objective reality to invoke “experts” to weigh in on a numerical fact you can verify with a pocket calculator
September 26, 2025 at 3:42 AM
It feels like an insult to the notion of objective reality to invoke “experts” to weigh in on a numerical fact you can verify with a pocket calculator
Reposted by Michael Pascale
It heartens and inspires to see an individual scientist and citizen as the named plaintiff against these actions. Thank you for providing an example of resistance against censorship of science, discriminatory erasure of data, and illegal withholding of public records.
September 23, 2025 at 9:54 PM
It heartens and inspires to see an individual scientist and citizen as the named plaintiff against these actions. Thank you for providing an example of resistance against censorship of science, discriminatory erasure of data, and illegal withholding of public records.