@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
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albertcardona

@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz

How does the brain work? Someday, we'll figure it out.
Group Leader, MRC LMB, and Professor, University of Cambridge, UK.
#neuroscience #Drosophila #TrakEM2 #FijiSc #CATMAID #connectomics #connectome #vEM #iNaturalist #entomology
Born at 335 ppm.
Brains, signal processing, software and entomology: there will be bugs.

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albertcardona, to Neuroscience Catalan
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

“A Connectome of the Male Drosophila Ventral Nerve Cord”, by Takemura et al. 2024

https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/97769

albertcardona, to uk
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

professorhank, to climate
@professorhank@sfba.social avatar

Say goodbye to 2C: https://www.columbia.edu/~mailings/2023/Acceleration.2023.11.10.pdf

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@professorhank

The optimism, 15 years ago:
"... and long-term stabilisation at 350 parts per million of CO2 equivalent"

ploum, (edited ) to random
@ploum@mamot.fr avatar

The kind of professor I’m trying to be at university:

EDIT: just to clarify, this is a screenshot found offline, not from one of my student. I’m more direct as I tell my students that "piracy is sharing knowledge and sharing knowledge is ethical and what I’m paid to do so please use libgen.rs and sci-hub"

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@muratk5n @ploum

That was a scam site drawing books from libgen.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@codebyjeff @ploum

The ToR browser is really helpful here. All they seized was a domain name, not the actual server. Accessing alternative domain names that lead to the same server remains possible. Via ToR in particular.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@umps @muratk5n @ploum

libgen doesn't charge. b-ok.cc attempts to charge you, and the book collection is the same. I don't know it for sure though.

albertcardona, to Neuroscience
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"When and why does motor preparation arise in recurrent neural network models of motor control?"

"we modelled the motor cortex as an input-driven dynamical system, and we asked what the optimal way to control this system to perform fast delayed reaches is. We find that delay-period inputs consistently arise in an optimally controlled model of M1."

Cool findings from the lab of fellow colleague Guillaume Hennequin.

Schimel et al. 2024 https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/89131

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Current biases and trends in scientific journalism. Study from a sample of Nature articles:

"we found a skew toward quoting men in Nature science journalism. However, quotation is trending toward equal representation at a faster rate than authorship rates in academic publishing. Gender disparity in Nature quotes was dependent on the article type. We found a significant over-representation of names with predicted Celtic/English origin and under-representation of names with a predicted East Asian origin in both in extracted quotes and journal citations but dampened in citations."

"Analysis of science journalism reveals gender and regional disparities in coverage" by Davidson and Greene, 2024 https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/84855

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"workers are not simply scaled-down versions of queens that have lost their wings."

"Instead workers have a distinct thorax architecture with an enlarged muscle system to strengthen the neck and increase the range of motion of the head ... appears to be a key adaptation to allow ants to lift and carry objects or prey that are many times their own weight"

Commentary by Diethard Tautz 2014 https://elifesciences.org/articles/02088 on Keller et al. 2014 https://elifesciences.org/articles/01539

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

For the first time since 1992 (when I was 12) I’m completely disinterested by the UK General Election.

Sunak and the Tories will lose, Labour in uninspiring, the Lib Dems weedy, Greens weak and SNP weakened, and Reform simply grim. And Brexit is the elephant none of them will touch.

As I’m still a UK citizen I will vote, but it’s with less determination than ever before.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@jon

If I may: Greens are weak because people don't vote for them. Perhaps it's time to give them a strong chance – seems to be the only party still saying Brexit was a terrible mistake.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@jtwcornell91 @jon

Therefore: the Greens are weak because people don't work for them ...

SusiArnott, to climate
@SusiArnott@mastodon.green avatar

#ClimateEmergency #UKElection2024

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@SusiArnott

https://streetartutopia.com/2024/04/10/politicians-discussing-climate-change/

#ClimateEmergency
#UKElection2024

guygaechter, to Signal German
@guygaechter@chaos.social avatar

If you only read one article this year, it has to be THIS by @Mer__edith, the president of :

"AI is a marketing term, not a technical term of art. [...]
This is also why it’s imperative that we recognize mass surveillance – and ultimately the surveillance business model – as the root of the large-scale tech we’re currently calling “AI”."

https://www.helmut-schmidt.de/aktuelles/detail/die-rede-der-zukunftspreistraegerin

via

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@guygaechter @Mer__edith

"Make no mistake – I am optimistic – but my optimism is an invitation to analysis and action, not a ticket to complacency."

Outstanding.

avsm, to random
@avsm@recoil.org avatar

Whoever the genius is loudly playing "things can only get better" while the PM is speaking live on every British TV channel, I applaud you

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@avsm Has to do with protesting Brexit, I am told. The last 5 years will go down in history as infamy.

steveroyle, to random
@steveroyle@biologists.social avatar

What's the rule? Three crashes of Word and it's time to go home? I'm on two.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@steveroyle

Why would anyone inflict MSWord on themselves. Puzzled here.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@steveroyle

In such cases, I write latex or markdown and then pandoc to DOCX, then copy-paste into the funding agency's tabulated template.

Because actual writing in MSWord is infuriating, particularly when aggravated by a straightjacket template that keeps complaining and moving text around.

albertcardona, to javascript Catalan
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

“Coding my handwriting”, by Amy Goodchild. On specifying each handwritten character as a vector path, rather than a font, and then rendering text in various shapes and colours. Beautiful. In .

https://www.amygoodchild.com/blog/cursive-handwriting-in-javascript

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Celebrating with 3 observations at this afternoon:

A masked bee sits attentive on a green leaf, its body entirely black but for its white face and shoulders, and white marks on the legs.
A leaf-cutter bee forages nectar in a flower with pink, bell-like petals that form a cup over it.

LGBTQNation, to random
@LGBTQNation@flipboard.com avatar

New queer animals documentary freaks out far-right wingers - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/05/new-queer-animals-documentary-freaks-out-far-right-wingers/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into LGBTQ Nation @lgbtq

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@LGBTQNation @lgbtq

When I shared with my neighbours in the US that a large double-digit percent of giraffes are gay ... it was quite the moment.

Courtesy of wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals#Giraffes

NicoleCRust, to writing
@NicoleCRust@neuromatch.social avatar

First book revisions. Tips?

(Academic press) book pre-publication reviews are back. Really positive. YES!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎉​🎉​🎉​.

So now I'm moving onto final revisions. It feels good to slip back into that headspace again.

My big question for anyone who has sent a book off to the world: What was your strategy for those last steps? There's addressing the feedback, of course. But after that? It will never been perfect. But it has to be great. How do you know when to let it go?

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@NicoleCRust

Not having written any book, but having found many typos and wrong formulae in books, I'd say, make sure the draft is seen by many eyes to catch them all. It's not like you can publish an erratum; won't reach someone's bookshelf.

yoginho, to random
@yoginho@spore.social avatar

I like the rebellious spirit of this essay very much!

https://www.secretorum.life/p/against-computers-infinite-play

My own thoughts on the fake salvation narrative of the cult of techno-transcendentalism:

http://johannesjaeger.eu/blog/machine-metaphysics-and-the-cult-of-techno-transcendentalism

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@yoginho

"What Would a Computer Not Do?" #WWCND

The one thing ChatGPT cannot do is shut up.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@yoginho

Terry Bisson's "They're made out of meat" seems apt: http://www.terrybisson.com/theyre-made-out-of-meat-2/

Gabriel_aughey, to random
@Gabriel_aughey@drosophila.social avatar

Journal that charges £9000 for publishing an article gives advice for how to spot predatory publishers...🤔 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01437-2

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@Gabriel_aughey

"Not like that."

RolfAE, to Leipzig German

Last week there was a discussion in Leipzig city council about a seed library. A concept is now to be developed with partners!

I'm already looking forward to seeing online in the future where such seed libraries exist.

http://seedlibraries.weebly.com/

I also have a lot of questions: e.g. Does anyone know of a study on the effect of such seed libraries?

#SeedLibrary #Samenbibliothek #Leipzig

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@PaulWermer @RolfAE @straphanger

Just read a fantastic one, on the work of John Letts, from 2001:

"No one had excavated a thatched roof before."

"Before systematic crop breeding, cereals evolved into local land races. Different soils, slope, shading and drainage gave endless possibilities for adaptation. With variety in the seed stock, crops would grow differently even across a single farm. Whatever the weather or diseases, something would always flourish."

"Old thatch provides an opportunity to study this lost diversity. Letts often finds a mix of bread wheat, English rivet wheat - not grown commercially for more than a century - rye, oats and barley. He has also found 35 different weeds, from corn cockle and cornflower - now vanished from English farms - to yellow rattle and cow wheat."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2001/may/17/technology2

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@IanSudbery @PaulWermer @RolfAE @straphanger

On time: 5 minutes to mix, and 5 minutes to roll the dough into baguettes some hours later. Actual total work time is 15 to 20 minutes tops. One just has to plan around the waiting times.

On cooking cost: depends on the efficiency of your oven and how many you bake at once. In our case, our electric oven when used during the day can draw from solar panels.

On baguette cost: a lot of the weight is water. A 500g bread loaf does not have 500g of flour, nowhere near. Closer to half of that; water loss during cooking is not that great.

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