Romain Brette
@romainbrette.bsky.social
Looking at protists with the eyes of a theoretical neuroscientist.
Looking at brains with the eyes of a protistologist.
(I also like axon initial segments)
Forthcoming book: The Brain, in Theory.
http://romainbrette.fr/
Looking at brains with the eyes of a protistologist.
(I also like axon initial segments)
Forthcoming book: The Brain, in Theory.
http://romainbrette.fr/
Pinned
My book "The Brain, in Theory" on the publisher's website (out in April 2026):
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
The Brain, In Theory
Why engineering and computational analogies are poorly suited to the study of biological cognition
press.princeton.edu
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
My book "The Brain, in Theory" on the publisher's website (out in April 2026):
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Wow I had no idea this existed. Bacteria that build centimeter-scale electrical wires to breathe.
how to breathe oxygen at a distance? the cable bacteria apparently know the trick: wired...
#MicroSky
#MicroSky
Metal scaffolds turn bacteria into live wires
Mud-dwelling cable bacteria construct metal organic frameworks to grow
www.science.org
November 18, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Wow I had no idea this existed. Bacteria that build centimeter-scale electrical wires to breathe.
The Nobel prize in economics. The fact that it's not a "true" Nobel is anecdotical. What matters is that a prize (Nobel or other) is given by people, and not by an omniscient God of Science. So it's a social recognition within an academic field, not a badge of Truth.
1/3
1/3
November 14, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The Nobel prize in economics. The fact that it's not a "true" Nobel is anecdotical. What matters is that a prize (Nobel or other) is given by people, and not by an omniscient God of Science. So it's a social recognition within an academic field, not a badge of Truth.
1/3
1/3
Reposted by Romain Brette
gave a short lecture this morning on principles of computational modelling, always try to stress the point made by @romainbrette.bsky.social that adding details to a model does not automatically make it more realistic.
The wooden airplane model has more 'details' but only the paper model can fly
The wooden airplane model has more 'details' but only the paper model can fly
August 25, 2025 at 10:20 AM
gave a short lecture this morning on principles of computational modelling, always try to stress the point made by @romainbrette.bsky.social that adding details to a model does not automatically make it more realistic.
The wooden airplane model has more 'details' but only the paper model can fly
The wooden airplane model has more 'details' but only the paper model can fly
Reposted by Romain Brette
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge
This week I was looking for info on what cognitive scientists mean when they speak of ‘domain-general’ cognition. I was curious, because the nuances are relevant for something I am researching at t…
irisvanrooijcogsci.com
August 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
Why large language models are not conscious.
romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...
romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...
Notes on consciousness. (XI) Why large language models are not conscious
The current discussions about AI are plagued with anthropomorphism. Of course, the name “artificial intelligence” has probably something to do with the matter. A conscious artificial intelligence m…
romainbrette.fr
August 20, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Why large language models are not conscious.
romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...
romainbrette.fr/notes-on-con...
Two b, or not two b, that is the question.
August 8, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Two b, or not two b, that is the question.
I guess a PhD is all about questioning what everyone takes for granted.
August 8, 2025 at 6:37 AM
I guess a PhD is all about questioning what everyone takes for granted.
At this point, I wonder why one would want to justify their neuro research by the hope of making a breakthrough in AI. Like, that would be a good thing?
August 5, 2025 at 2:57 PM
At this point, I wonder why one would want to justify their neuro research by the hope of making a breakthrough in AI. Like, that would be a good thing?
so true
"One of my chefs mentioned that if they could cook the steak on the grill they could get it right the first time. This is not an acceptable attitude in the microwave era."
www.colincornaby.me/2025/08/in-t...
www.colincornaby.me/2025/08/in-t...
In the Future All Food Will Be Cooked in a Microwave, and if You Can’t Deal With That Then You Need to Get Out of the Kitchen
As a restaurant owner – I’m astounded at the rate of progress since microwaves were released a few short years ago. Today’s microwave can cook a frozen burrito. Tomorrow’s m…
www.colincornaby.me
August 5, 2025 at 11:59 AM
so true
Banning for-profit journals won't solve everything, but it's a necessary first step. One thing in particular that publisher money is consistently used for is lobbying against the general interest, and this is one of the greatest obstacles to political change.
If I could change one thing about #ScientificPublishing I'd ask funding bodies to stipulate all work they fund be published in non-profit journals.
The knock-on effects would alleviate most of the strain on #AcademicSky.
This isn't hard. It's big, but actually, it's pretty easy.
1/n
The knock-on effects would alleviate most of the strain on #AcademicSky.
This isn't hard. It's big, but actually, it's pretty easy.
1/n
The strain on scientific publishing
Abstract. Scientists are increasingly overwhelmed by the volume of articles being published. The total number of articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science has grown exponentially in recent years; ...
direct.mit.edu
August 4, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Banning for-profit journals won't solve everything, but it's a necessary first step. One thing in particular that publisher money is consistently used for is lobbying against the general interest, and this is one of the greatest obstacles to political change.
Such a great paper, blowing the false dichotomy of genes vs. environment. Primate brain folds, connectome and even behavior is better predicted by brain volume than genes. Folds appear as a result of development with mechanical constraints (big brains get folded). No map of the brain in the genome!
1
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
July 28, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Such a great paper, blowing the false dichotomy of genes vs. environment. Primate brain folds, connectome and even behavior is better predicted by brain volume than genes. Folds appear as a result of development with mechanical constraints (big brains get folded). No map of the brain in the genome!
Reposted by Romain Brette
I believe at this time we can afford more nuance and precision than this. Most null results are uninformative because most experiments are uninformative because we use NHST to replace the scientific process. We can't keep avoiding the root problem forever. Also the focus on efficiency is jarring.
Scientists overwhelmingly recognize the value of sharing null results, but rarely publish them in the research literature
go.nature.com/450KElr
go.nature.com/450KElr
Researchers value null results, but struggle to publish them
Survey finds that fear of reputational harm and a lack of support and publication platforms are among respondents’ key concerns.
go.nature.com
July 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I believe at this time we can afford more nuance and precision than this. Most null results are uninformative because most experiments are uninformative because we use NHST to replace the scientific process. We can't keep avoiding the root problem forever. Also the focus on efficiency is jarring.
I changed my mind. The tech bros might actually be on their way to achieve superhuman artificial intelligence, but by making people dumber! What a brilliant strategy!
June 23, 2025 at 7:50 AM
I changed my mind. The tech bros might actually be on their way to achieve superhuman artificial intelligence, but by making people dumber! What a brilliant strategy!
Dishwashers are pretty good at washing dishes! I wonder how the human body implements water-spraying rotating arms.
June 23, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Dishwashers are pretty good at washing dishes! I wonder how the human body implements water-spraying rotating arms.
Against "reverse-engineering the brain":
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 1)
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 1)
May 27, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Against "reverse-engineering the brain":
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 1)
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 1)
Why a mental state is not some kind of physical state.
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 8)
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 8)
May 22, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Why a mental state is not some kind of physical state.
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 8)
(The Brain, in Theory, chapter 8)
Reposted by Romain Brette
Open access edition of "Principles of Biological Autonomy" can be found here: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Principles of Biological Autonomy
A new, updated edition of the 1979 classic from one of the foremost authors in cognitive science and theoretical biology, with the original text as well as
direct.mit.edu
May 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Open access edition of "Principles of Biological Autonomy" can be found here: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Theoretical cellular neuroscience please!
Theory of development very much needed too! One question I find particularly interesting: how does a complex "instinct" develop, say the spider's web making?
Theory of development very much needed too! One question I find particularly interesting: how does a complex "instinct" develop, say the spider's web making?
Theoretical work in cell/molecular neuro!
Theoretical work in prenatal neurodevelopment (cell fatemapping, neurulation, mechanical morphogenesis, axon pathfinding, development of basal ganglia, hippocampus, cerebellum, thalamus, order of development, protomap theory, more)
And theories for glia!
Theoretical work in prenatal neurodevelopment (cell fatemapping, neurulation, mechanical morphogenesis, axon pathfinding, development of basal ganglia, hippocampus, cerebellum, thalamus, order of development, protomap theory, more)
And theories for glia!
We want to hear from you! We’re conducting a survey on the state of neuroscience. This week’s question is: What should neuroscience prioritize in the next 10 years?
#neuroskyence
thetransmitter.typeform.com/priorities?u...
#neuroskyence
thetransmitter.typeform.com/priorities?u...
May 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Theoretical cellular neuroscience please!
Theory of development very much needed too! One question I find particularly interesting: how does a complex "instinct" develop, say the spider's web making?
Theory of development very much needed too! One question I find particularly interesting: how does a complex "instinct" develop, say the spider's web making?
Reposted by Romain Brette
We are super happy to announce the third Workshop of Ideas in Neuroscience! We will once again look critically at assumptions of modern neuroscience: what does it mean that the brain encodes information? Is this a useful approach, or a metaphor that blurs our vision?
April 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
We are super happy to announce the third Workshop of Ideas in Neuroscience! We will once again look critically at assumptions of modern neuroscience: what does it mean that the brain encodes information? Is this a useful approach, or a metaphor that blurs our vision?
Information is the epistemic phlogiston of neuroscience.
(Chapter 6 of my book, "The Brain, in Theory")
(Chapter 6 of my book, "The Brain, in Theory")
May 16, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Information is the epistemic phlogiston of neuroscience.
(Chapter 6 of my book, "The Brain, in Theory")
(Chapter 6 of my book, "The Brain, in Theory")
What is computation? ("The Brain, in Theory", chapter 4)
![A computation is essentially an effective method in a formal domain (as opposed to a domain of interactions with the world), generally in the domain of numbers, which can be applied by a human with just pen and paper – we will see in chapter 8 the significance of this detail. Clearly, a recipe is not a computation. […] A computation operates on data (not pasta). It has an input and output, and it implements a particular mapping from input to output by a sequence of steps that belong to a finite set of elementary operations on symbols. The latter restriction is crucial for the notion of computation. Otherwise, the concept of computability would be totally meaningless. For example, Alan Turing demonstrated that there is no program that can take another program as input and calculate whether that program eventually stops: the halting problem is not computable. Obviously, this theorem would be false if we were allowed to choose any kind of instruction (choose as an instruction the mapping that assigns a stopping / non-stopping label to programs). Therefore, a process can only be meaningfully called “computation” when it is composed of a finite set of elementary instructions. Otherwise, the process is just a mapping between different kinds of data, not a computation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2y4dbcsyspbhpthm7n4o6kcx/bafkreihued5ljn7szh3dqtib6ormvnbfmu27worazroefdm2c6pqvkaduu@jpeg)
May 15, 2025 at 9:14 AM
What is computation? ("The Brain, in Theory", chapter 4)
Reposted by Romain Brette
Today is publication day! A new edition of Francisco J. Varela's (long hard-to-obtain) 1979 classic Principles of Biological Autonomy in a new annotated edition by Ezequiel Di Paolo and Evan Thompson, with a Foreword by Amy Cohen Varela. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255140...
Principles of Biological Autonomy
Francisco Varela’s Principles of Biological Autonomy was a groundbreaking text when it was first published in 1979, putting forth a novel theory of how...
mitpress.mit.edu
May 13, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Today is publication day! A new edition of Francisco J. Varela's (long hard-to-obtain) 1979 classic Principles of Biological Autonomy in a new annotated edition by Ezequiel Di Paolo and Evan Thompson, with a Foreword by Amy Cohen Varela. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255140...
New paper: Single camera estimation of microswimmer depth with a convolutional network
We use a simple convolutional network to estimate the 3D position of a protist (Paramecium) from a single conventional microscopy image.
We use a simple convolutional network to estimate the 3D position of a protist (Paramecium) from a single conventional microscopy image.
Single camera estimation of microswimmer depth with a convolutional network
A number of techniques have been developed to measure the three-dimensional trajectories of protists, which require special experimental setups, such as a pair of orthogonal cameras. On the other hand...
biorxiv.org
May 12, 2025 at 7:19 AM
New paper: Single camera estimation of microswimmer depth with a convolutional network
We use a simple convolutional network to estimate the 3D position of a protist (Paramecium) from a single conventional microscopy image.
We use a simple convolutional network to estimate the 3D position of a protist (Paramecium) from a single conventional microscopy image.
Reposted by Romain Brette
Because we must build good things while we scream about the bad, I have started a "Data for Good" team @data-for-good-team.bsky.social that partners with organizations needing short-term data science help. We have three projects ongoing & will add more as our capacity grows.
data-for-good-team.org
data-for-good-team.org
May 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Because we must build good things while we scream about the bad, I have started a "Data for Good" team @data-for-good-team.bsky.social that partners with organizations needing short-term data science help. We have three projects ongoing & will add more as our capacity grows.
data-for-good-team.org
data-for-good-team.org