Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pierre Mégevand

@vanmedge.bsky.social

190 followers 380 following 100 posts

Physician-scientist @ uni Geneva & hospital, Switzerland. Bridging the gap between neurons and neurology. #iEEG, #epilepsy, multisensory integration. Unique cornflake.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Pierre Mégevand @vanmedge.bsky.social · Apr 10

Dear #eeg #neuroskyence #neurosky people: we've just set up a feed that focuses on intracranial EEG research.

Please check it out: bsky.app/profile/did:plc:j3iraqfrxtckpozvwlzbtihc/feed/aaabu2nq26lhy

Use the tags #iEEG, #ECoG, #sEEG or #stereo-EEG to post.

(this time with the correct link 😅)

5 18

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 13h

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

84 1.2K 3K

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Sarang Dalal @sarangnemo.bsky.social · 22h

📈🧠 We're looking for brains! 🧠📈
Postdoc + PhD positions are available to help pioneer fetal MEG with optically pumped magnetometers, measuring prenatal responses to sound and light to understand how we start making sense of the world even before we're born. 🐣

Please get in touch to hear more!

3 23 38

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Aditya Singh @adityasingh01.bsky.social · 6d

New Paper in Nature Communications!

We present exciting work on applying transfer learning on minimally invasive recordings to build scalable speech BCI for a more heterogeneous population. #iEEG #neuroskyence

Check it out : www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transfer learning via distributed brain recordings enables reliable speech decoding - Nature Communications

Speech brain-computer interfaces face challenges scaling across individuals with different brain organization. Using minimally invasive recordings from 25 patients, the authors developed transfer learning methods that enable robust speech decoding even with incomplete brain coverage.

www.nature.com

1 6 24

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 2d

Out today!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Screenshot of the PDF of:

Boger, T., & Firestone, C. (2025). Visual anagrams reveal high-level effects with 'identical' stimuli. Current Biology, 35, PR910–R912.

1 11 37

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

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

3 34 90

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Masud Husain @masudhusain.bsky.social · 3d

The current environment is making it near impossible to run clinical trials in the UK.
One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social
is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities.

My views on how to change the system
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

12 22

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Mathieu M.J.E. Rebeaud @chercheurjuteux.com · 3d

Ahahaha

Droite de régression des gouvernements français sous Macron avec un R2 de 0.83

14 23 72

Pierre Mégevand @vanmedge.bsky.social · 3d

😂

Pierre Mégevand @vanmedge.bsky.social · 3d

Eh bien ce fut bref.

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 3d

Fascinating thread about the identification of one of the first genes with a clear role in human speech and language! Extra credit for those who dig in to find out why its called a "forkhead domain" 🧪

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 4d

Twenty-four years ago today, our paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” was published: www.nature.com/articles/350....
A personal thread about the ups & downs of the journey we took to get to that point....1/n
🗣️🧬🧪

Image shows the first two printed pages of the paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” by Cecilia Lai and colleagues, published in Nature in 2001 (volume 413, pages 519-523). The abstract reads as follows:
Individuals affected with developmental disorders of speech and language have substantial difficulty acquiring expressive and/or receptive language in the absence of any profound sensory or neurological impairment and despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although studies of twins consistently indicate that a significant genetic component is involved, most families segregating speech and language deficits show complex patterns of inheritance, and a gene that predisposes individuals to such disorders has not been identified. We have studied a unique three-generation pedigree, KE, in which a severe speech and language disorder is transmitted as an autosomal-dominant monogenic trait. Our previous work mapped the locus responsible, SPCH1, to a 5.6-cM interval of region 7q31 on chromosome 7. We also identified an unrelated individual, CS, in whom speech and language impairment is associated with a chromosomal translocation involving the SPCH1 interval. Here we show that the gene FOXP2, which encodes a putative transcription factor containing a polyglutamine tract and a forkhead DNA-binding domain, is directly disrupted by the translocation breakpoint in CS. In addition, we identify a point mutation in affected members of the KE family that alters an invariant amino-acid residue in the forkhead domain. Our findings suggest that FOXP2 is involved in the developmental process that culminates in speech and language.

1 13 29

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 3d

710 7.5K 18K

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 4d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

51 490 1.7K

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Brian Soucek @brsoucek.bsky.social · 5d

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

18 370 1.1K

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 6d

Sanders: I am not a great fan of the affordable care act. I believe in medicare for all. I think that health care is a human right, but I will be damned if I'm going to see people in Vermont and around this country see a doubling in their premiums.

510 6.2K 24K

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 6d

More NIH chaos.

NICHD, NIMHD and NIAID Directors are all dismissed.

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 6d

Jeanne Marrazzo, director of NIAID, claimed that the Trump Administration’s actions
endangered research subjects, defied court orders & undermined vaccine research.

Earlier, Kennedy fired Susan Monarez of the CDC.

Resisting unethical policies costs you.

🧪🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint

www.nytimes.com

17 20

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 8d

Pharmacists who recommend homeopathy should be willing to accept as payment envelopes that once contained money.

- @davidjuurlink.bsky.social

73 490 2.1K

Pierre Mégevand @vanmedge.bsky.social · 7d

To be published in "Brian research: a journal on dyslexia studies"

Sophie Slaats @sophieslaats.bsky.social · 7d

"Langauge in the Brian" - free title for grant proposal for studying the neural basis of the Transposed Letter effect

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

François Stockart @francoisstock.bsky.social · 8d

The call for commentaries on our BBS paper is out now (deadline October 15): shorturl.at/Hu3Yu. In the paper (shorturl.at/4Rbk6), we provide recommendations and outstanding issues about designing experimental paradigms, analyzing data, and reporting the results of studies on unconscious processing 👇

13 12

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Lucina Uddin @lucinauddin.bsky.social · 8d

www.thetransmitter.org/funding/nih-...

NIH awarded 37 percent fewer neuroscience-related grants in 2025 than in past years

But the agency has spent nearly its entire budget for this fiscal year, which ends tomorrow.

www.thetransmitter.org

29 37

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 7d

In a city of world-class artists and production crew hunting for the next gig, Andrew Cuomo made a TV ad the same way he wrote his housing policy: with AI.

Then again, maybe a fake Cuomo is better than the real one?

An AI generated image of Andrew Cuomo driving a train.

An AI generated image of Andrew Cuomo working on the outside of a building.

An AI generated image of Andrew Cuomo on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

160 1.3K 7.2K

Pierre Mégevand @vanmedge.bsky.social · 7d

On this grant deadline day (at least in my corner of the galaxy), and given that lotteries are becoming commonplace as a tiebreaker: "May the odds be with you!"

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

andrea e. martin @andreaeyleen.bsky.social · 10d

Ode to the original language model, or:
Give me literally Anything* instead of Large Language Models (LLMs)
*(no predictive coding either!)

By Lady Byronadrea LLMartin 1/n

2 13 49

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

François Stockart @francoisstock.bsky.social · 9d

Our #sEEG study is now published in Nature Communications: rdcu.be/eIkoG! 🧠
Key finding: We discovered neural evidence accumulation for visual perception that's independent of report preparation—recorded from >3000 channels across 3 experiments!
#Neuroscience #Consciousness #OpenAccess

13 33

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

StephSinalco @stephsinalco.bsky.social · 10d

Les résultats du jour sont tombés et autant dire qu'ils vont sans doute faire parler, chacun à sa manière! #ChVote

StephSinalco @stephsinalco.bsky.social · Aug 6

Après une session de mai 2025 très light, on repart en douceur en septembre avec une votation portant sur deux objets fédéraux.

(Au passage, une parfaite illustration de la variété des sujets sur lesquels le peuple doit se prononcer) #CHVote

1 1 1

Reposted by Pierre Mégevand

Neil Cohn @neilcohn.bsky.social · 11d

Thanks to @bodowinter.bsky.social for the wonderful endorsement of my upcoming graphic novel about language, cognition, and visual communication! visuallanguagelab.com/sip

Endorsement of the book Speaking in Pictures: “A visually stunning tour de force that redefines what we mean by language itself — essential reading for linguists, cognitive scientists, and anyone fascinated by language and comics.” – Bodo Winter, University of Birmingham, UK, author of Sensory Linguistics

1 9 38