@InsiderTakes To your point, I an happy to say that my committee also owned and operated “clothing irons”. This device can literally erase fabric wrinkles.
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Phil Nickerson
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I remember the committee wearing suits to my PhD defense. Things seem to have become much less formal.
Prad Sharma@Pradyot30
Happy to share that I have successfully defended my PhD dissertation @MasonEconomics. I appreciate @Tim_Groseclose, Thomas Stratmann, and @VincentGeloso for their supervision.
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@InsiderTakes Thank you to Wittgenstein for pioneering that original work. Thought and language are inextricably connected.
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People who don't write will be unable to think. Language is the stuff of thought.
Joe Weisenthal@TheStalwart
Unfortunately, I think that in the near future, not using LLMs to write for you will be like someone refusing to use Google Maps for directions in a new city. A bizarre idiosyncratic choice that's just completely incomprehensible to the vast majority of people.
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@DKJEI_UHN @_BrightFocus @UHN @UHN_Research @KBI_UHN @SivakLab @uoftmedicine @UofTDOVS Congratulations, Jeremy!!!
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Congratulations to Dr. Jeremy Sivak, Senior Scientist @DKJEI_UHN, on receiving the Dr. Douglas H. Johnson Award for Glaucoma Research from the BrightFocus Foundation (@_BrightFocus).
Read more >> bit.ly/3OPHLQo
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@wbuxtonofficial I would redirect from F1 (lousy sounding and over energized) to Indy, if that happens. We need some grit back in auto sport.
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There will never be another opportunity like this. A new engine formula in 2028 is the perfect moment for Indycar to give the fans and the drivers what they want. V8, 1000+hp, 15,000rpm+, sustainable fuel. This is the moment. It isn’t too late to change path.
SPEED on FOX@SPEEDonFOX
F1 has promised a V8 return by 2031. Both @KevinHarvick and @wbuxtonofficial want FAST cars LOUD engines.
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@RetractionWatch A great mentor of mine told me, “don’t mistake a negative result for a failure”.
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"Failure is part and parcel of research, but discussing it sometimes seems to be taboo in science. It doesn’t need to be."
nature.com/articles/d4158…
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BREAKING: Justin Trudeau just through Mark Carney under the bus on an unhinged rant about China throwing BAGS of unlimited cash at Canada.
He says China has unlimited money and demand for Canada 🇨🇦 but we can’t do that they don’t share our values.
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Seems impossible to get through to “busy” Grok this week.
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@saylordocs A $2,000 per month apartment where I live isn’t even remotely close to a flex, unless your friends are homeless.
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Things more dangerous than $8 coffees:
- $40,000 wedding ($5,000/hr party)
- $80,000 degree that gets you a $50,000/yr job
- $40,000 car loan because you "earned it"
- $2,000/mo apartments to flex for friends
...Thats why 80% of people are broke.
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@CFifeKW @UWaterloo @Laurier I think you mean “between NO education and a mountain of debt “. You will inevitably have both if you choose to educate yourself in Canada.
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By gutting OSAP grants, the Ford gov is forcing students to choose between an education and a lifetime of debt. This will create barriers to post-secondary education - while ON already has the highest youth unemployment rate across the country. @UWaterloo @Laurier #onpoli
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It’s definitely this bad for young Canadians, but I see no evidence that people agree “it’s go time” as Lucy suggests. I wish I did. What I see is a country entrenched in the status quo, dug in for a long haul of decline and decay.
Lucy Hargreaves@lucyhargreaves4
The GDP per capita debate is a distraction. @MikePMoffatt nails it. It’s actually the one metric where Canada still looks ok. On almost everything else: inequality, freedom, social support, life expectancy… we’ve been sliding for a generation. Canada used to rank #1 on the UN Human Development Index. Now we’re 16th. None of this gets fixed by spending more. These indicators are falling because the underlying economy isn’t growing fast enough to support them. You can’t sustain world-class social outcomes on a stagnating economic base. Growth and innovation are the foundation everything else depends on, not side dishes.
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Proud to share our newest paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering, co-led by collaborators @ProfJohnARogers (Northwestern) and @JohnDFinan (UIC).
This soft 3D interface enables functional testing of clinically relevant drugs in human neural organoids.
We saw enhanced signaling with 4-aminopyridine, used in multiple sclerosis, and disrupted network coordination with botulinum toxin, used to treat spasticity following brain and spinal cord injury. This is a big step toward advancing human-based platforms for therapeutic discovery in clinical neuroscience while helping reduce reliance on non-human models.
And just in time for my ARRC sponsored session on regenerative rehabilitation at #Physiatry26 in San Juan. #RegenRehab
@AbilityLab @NorthwesternPMR @NMNeurology @NorthwesternEng @NU_QSIB @NorthwesternU @UICnews @UICEngineering
🔗 rdcu.be/e4xCp
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@jmcarre14 I thought that estradiol masculinizes the brain during this age range (and prior to 3 years old). Is “the surge” a relative term compared to the default female pathway? Would be interesting to see the methods of quantification and resulting values they refer to here.
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The basic idea here is pretty spot on.. but as a researcher who studies #testosterone and human aggression, I must say the claim that testosterone levels surge in little boys aged 3-6 years old is false.
Camus@newstart_2024
Dr. Erica Komisar just said what many parents whisper but few say out loud: Modern schools are built for girls, not boys—and we’re paying a steep price. Little boys (ages 3–6) surge with testosterone. They need to run, jump, play, burn energy. Instead, we sit them in circle time, demand emotional regulation, and label normal boy behavior as ADHD or “behavioral problems.” Result? Marginalized, stressed, diagnosed early, and tracked that way through school. Her fix if she ran the world: Separate boys and girls in the early years. Boys get multiple recess periods, short focused bursts, and space to move. Girls get a calmer environment where they feel safe taking STEM/math risks. Both thrive when not forced into the opposite gender’s learning style. Single-gender early education: Boys try art/music without teasing. Girls try science without self-consciousness. Evidence already shows it works. Parents/teachers: Do you see boys struggling more in today’s classrooms—or is this overblown? What’s one change you’d make to education for boys right now?
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@KBI_UHN @kalialabs @UHN @uhnfoundation @UHN_Research @KevinSmithUHN @bradwouters @stressynomics @TL_Forbes @UofTSurgery @KrembilF @KITE_UHN Congratulations, Suneil!!! Well deserved 👍🏻
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🎉✨Please join us in congratulating Dr. Suneil Kalia (@kalialabs), Senior Scientist and Neurosurgeon at UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute, on his appointment as Division Head of Neurosurgery and the Harold & Esther Halpern Chair in Neurosurgery!
#NoResearchNoCure #CanadasHospital
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@SivakLab @DKJEI_UHN Well done Jeremy!!! Congratulations!!
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Thrilled to see this well-deserved recognition for Dr. Sivak! The passion and groundbreaking innovation fueling this work are truly inspiring every day.
This grant will turbocharge efforts to advance glaucoma research. exciting times ahead at @DKJEI_UHN
Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute@DKJEI_UHN
Congratulations to Dr. Jeremy Sivak, Senior Scientist @DKJEI_UHN, for receiving a 5-year grant through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (@CIHR_IRSC) for his project, "Uncovering a Novel Neuroprotective Signaling Pathway in Retina."
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@MarioNawfal This doesn’t appear to be real, Mario. If we have missed it, then please post the original link to the MIT article.
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🇺🇸 MIT JUST MADE “INJECTABLE BRAIN CHIPS” A THING
MIT scientists just dropped what sounds like sci-fi: microscopic “circulatronic” chips that can be injected into your bloodstream.
They travel to your brain, and self-implant, all without a single cut.
Once settled, these tiny wireless implants can power up remotely to stimulate neurons and could one day treat Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, brain cancer, and other neurological nightmares.
They’re fused with living cells so the immune system won’t attack them, letting them cross the blood-brain barrier like stealth agents.
In animal trials, they navigated the bloodstream and hit precise brain regions with micrometer accuracy.
Each chip is about one-billionth the length of a grain of rice, built from organic semiconducting polymers and metals at MIT.nano.
The real magic?
Combining the smarts of biology with the precision of nanoelectronics.
MIT plans to move to human trials within three years through its new startup, Cahira Technologies.
The future of brain surgery might literally fit inside a needle, because who needs a scalpel when you’ve got Wi-Fi for your neurons?
Source: MIT News, Interesting Engineering
Mario Nawfal@MarioNawfal
🇨🇳 CHINA IS CHASING NEURALINK WITH RAPID BRAIN IMPLANT BREAKTHROUGH America’s dominance in brain-chip tech is under fire. While Neuralink led the charge with human implants, Chinese startups backed by state policy are racing forward. Shanghai’s StairMed showed a paraplegic playing a game using only thought, powered by a coin-sized implant similar to Musk’s design. Multiple clinical trials are rolling out this year, signaling Beijing’s intent to compete head-on in the brain-computer race. The tech fight has officially gone neural, and the U.S. no longer has a clear lead. Source: Bloomberg
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@AllenInstitute What do you think is more probable: the vessel “pierced” through the soma, or the neuron grappled onto it with a circuitous neurite for positioning and support?
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Holy Soma Batman!
You never know what you may find when you cruise our MICrONS Explorer, such as a blood vessel piercing the soma of a neuron!
👀 See this incredible find up close using this shortcut: ngl.microns-explorer.org/#!%7B%22layers…
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Phil Nickerson retweetledi
@MarioNawfal A “population crash in free-fall” would be an increase in population 🤦🏼♂️
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🇯🇵 JAPAN'S POPULATION COLLAPSE IS IN FREEFALL
Japan’s population dropped by 908,574 last year - the steepest fall ever recorded.
That’s a city the size of San Francisco… just gone.
Births? Hit a historic low of 686,061 - the fewest since 1899. Deaths are up, aging off the charts: nearly 1 in 3 Japanese are over 65.
Rural Japan's turning into a ghost map - almost 4 million homes now sit abandoned.
Japan isn’t just getting older. It’s disappearing.
Source: AFP
Mario Nawfal@MarioNawfal
POPULATION COLLAPSE ISN’T JUST ECONOMIC - IT’S CULTURAL EXTINCTION Birth rates are plunging across nations like Japan, Italy, and South Korea - raising alarms about shrinking workforces. But the deeper threat? The slow erasure of ancient cultures, languages, and traditions forged over millennia. Mass immigration props up numbers but risks overwhelming native identities. As Elon put it: “We should not lose entire, distinct cultures!” Preserving a people means more than counting heads - it means creating a culture where families are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow. That means real policies: affordable housing, childcare, parental leave - and a cultural shift that celebrates having children not as a burden, but as the backbone of a lasting civilization. Source: @clashreport
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Phil Nickerson retweetledi
🇺🇸 MAGIC MUSHROOMS SHOW STUNNING PARKINSON’S BREAKTHROUGH—ONE DOSE LASTS WEEKS
A single dose of psilocybin, the psychedelic in “magic mushrooms,” dramatically improved mood, motor function, and memory in Parkinson’s patients—effects that lasted for weeks.
The UCSF study, the first to test a psychedelic on a degenerative brain disease, reported no serious side effects.
Depression—often a stronger predictor of decline than tremors—also eased.
If confirmed in larger trials, psilocybin could become the first treatment to alter Parkinson’s disease trajectory rather than just manage symptoms.
Scientists are already calling it a potential tool to help the brain “repair itself.”
Source: New York Post
Mario Nawfal@MarioNawfal
🚨STUDY: MAGIC MUSHROOM COMPOUND "RESETS" BRAIN Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, temporarily resets entire brain networks controlling time and self-perception, according to a new Nature study. Researchers observed "massive changes" in seven volunteers' brains, with some patterns resembling entirely different individuals. Most changes lasted hours, but one brain link remained disrupted for weeks. The default mode network, active during daydreaming, became desynchronized during drug effects. Interestingly, "grounding" techniques used in psychedelic therapy reduced psilocybin's brain impact. This research could explain psilocybin's potential therapeutic effects on depression and PTSD. While not proving causation, it offers crucial clues for developing mental health treatments. The study's innovative approach, repeatedly imaging fewer subjects, provided unprecedented insight into psilocybin's whole-brain impact. Researchers hope to extend this work to individuals with conditions like depression. Source: Nature , @realJoshSiegel
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