@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

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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elduvelle, to Futurology
@elduvelle@neuromatch.social avatar

‘fewer and fewer young people can be convinced to embark on the research career path. “We really need to do something about it, and this is a call to action”’

https://sciencebusiness.net/news/Universities/fight-against-insecurity-research-careers-about-enter-spotlight

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@elduvelle

Is it really so hard to pay commensurate with experience and potential future revenues from the work, which for science is astronomical on average?

All the stress and uncertainty of young scientists boils down to having salaries below a rate that enables having families, a home, and enough savings to rely on when moving jobs or a rainy day.

The first university that starts paying early career salaries at levels equivalent to entry-level industry jobs will net in a lot.

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"Rather than hurting farming and fishing, protecting nature pays for itself"–Enric Sala

"Nature provides $125 trillion in goods and services to the global economy annually – for free."

"Every euro spent on nature restoration produces 8 to 38 euros in economic value"

"In the sea, restoration of marine life in HPMAs produces economic returns of 10:1 via fisheries enhancement, ecotourism and other ecosystem benefits."

https://www.context.news/nature/opinion/rejecting-nature-restoration-in-europe-is-a-shot-in-the-foot

christianschwaegerl, to random German
@christianschwaegerl@mastodon.social avatar

“Let's terraform Mars” – oh wait.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/nyregion/nyc-wildfire-smoke-scenes.html

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianschwaegerl

Marsforming Earth going well so far, tragically.

dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

Academic journals have become a racket that discredits research. This is a scandal that will have terrible long-term consequences. https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-06-04/a-researcher-who-publishes-a-study-every-two-days-reveals-the-darker-side-of-science.html

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@dangillmor

“The MDPI publishing house has created a new business model. Its periodicals invite scientists — even the most mediocre ones — to be editors of a multitude of special issues, turning researchers into their commercial agents (who aren’t paid). A guest editor will subsequently offer their colleagues to publish studies in said journal, as long as they pay the $2,500 or so in publication expenses. In return for this networking, the guest editor will be able to publish one or more free articles in the special issue.”

That’s Frontiers business model too. And just as suspect.

Appalling to see so many Spaniards falling for these paper mills, to the point that:

“Some universities focus on getting their studies published in MDPI journals, such as the Catholic University of Ávila (71%), Alfonso X el Sabio University (42%), the University of Extremadura (30%) and the Catholic University of Murcia (27%). At the most prestigious university in Spain — the Complutense University of Madrid — the percentage exceeds 12%.”

ProPublica, to climate
@ProPublica@newsie.social avatar

Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment

As conditions that best support life shift toward the poles, more than 600 million people are already living outside of a crucial “climate niche,” facing more extreme heat, rising food scarcity and higher death rates.

#Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Environment

https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-crisis-niche-migration-environment-population?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@PadreWil @ProPublica

We aren't done, particularly US citizens:

"American per capita emissions are more than twice those of Europeans, who still live a prosperous and modern existence, the authors point out, so there is ample room for comfortable change short of substantial sacrifice. “The idea that you need the level of wasteful consumption ... that happens on average in the U.S. to be part of a happy, flourishing, rich, democratic society is obviously nonsense,”"

And even Europeans can reduce their emissions substantially without sacrificing quality of life.

#GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #ClimateRefugees

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

New group leader at , Michael Winding, is hiring a staff scientist:

"Interested in a research career, but don't want to worry about funding or job stability? We are hiring a staff scientist! Help us uncover how social behaviours work and how social isolation disrupts brain wiring and function. Apply by 30 June."

https://crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/London/XMLNAME--Senior--Laboratory-Research-Scientist_R1162-2

"Salary for this Role: LRS, from £31,675 to £35,900. SLRS, from £39,950 to £45,275 with benefits, subject to skills and experience, and opportunities for advancement."

eLife, to random
@eLife@fediscience.org avatar

New results shed light on the gene that controls the larval stage of fruit flies. https://elifesciences.org/digests/84648/stay-young?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@eLife

New work on the gene that controls fly larval development, by Sílvia Chafino et al. 2023 https://elifesciences.org/articles/84648

… building on prior work by Truman & Riddiford 2022 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2201071119 on “Chinmo is the larval member of the molecular trinity that directs Drosophila metamorphosis”

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Welcome to the extra day 05 thread

Here’s today’s intro video

And I’m off on my bike to the venue of European Passengers’ Federation Conference

https://urbanists.video/w/8wEA7jKoWDP2v8ehgyFGUZ

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@jon Issues are both French and Spanish government, who out of national territorial integrity protection reflexes would rather die than delegate regional transit to a third party (Catalonia) across what they consider their borders but are nothing else than the lands of another country, .

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Despite my better efforts I overheard some conservatives on a show talking about… how “Gaia Theory and environmentalism” are “suppressing ambition” and somehow this destroys manliness and leads to the end of Civilization. And I just—

I really wish people would make an effort to understand concepts they don’t agree with with even a tiny bit of good faith.

What could be more ambitious (or manly) than taking responsibility for the climate? I don’t even know if we have what it takes tbh.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@futurebird I too are uncertain the message can reach everyone. Perhaps the only kind of message that will get them is an economic one: home insurance premiums going up astronomically, renewable energy being cheaper, electric cars being dollar per dollar a better choice, both faster and nicer than ICE cars, and so on.

mbonsma, to random
@mbonsma@mastodon.social avatar

I hear it a lot: “How can we achieve fewer cars? Some people live in places where they will ALWAYS need a car to get around.”

But:

  1. Most people live in cities and make many short trips.
  2. There are times of transition in our lives where more sustainable choices can be made.

A thread.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@mbonsma

I distinctly remember when the 405 freeway in Los Angeles was shut down to build a bridge over it. The newspapers predicted "carmaggaedon", but in practice nothing happened–lots of rerouteing, consolidation of trips, car pooling, and more: traffic evaporation indeed.

"For the City of Angels, Carmageddon — the closure of a 10-mi. segment of major north-south freeway I-405 — was pretty much a non-event in terms of the catastrophic traffic issues and gridlock predicted last weekend."
https://www.fleetowner.com/news/article/21677744/carmageddon-was-stuck-in-the-breakdown-lane

And: "Rather than creating chaos, the first closure greatly reduced traffic congestion. Most people chose to cancel trips rather than to reschedule them, but the reductions in travel diminished over the course of the weekend closure as people learned that congestion levels were far below the dire forecasts."
https://www.accessmagazine.org/spring-2014/carmageddon-los-angeles-sizzle-fizzle/

What it do is reduce air pollution very significantly:

"UCLA also did a study on air quality and air pollution during the 2011 Carmageddon. What they found is an immediate drop in the really really bad particulate matter -- the kind of pollution that is directly attributed to cars"
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/how-to-alleviate-las-congested-freeways-2019-08-06/remembering-when-the-405-freeway-was-shut-down

albertcardona, to Neuroscience
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"Displacement experiments provide evidence for path integration in ", Titova et al. 2022 (Andrew Straw's lab) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.22.501185v1

In other words, desert ants () and bees are famous for exploring a landscape and then returning in a straight line to the nest – but this ability may be present in all insects, if it is present even in the humble Drosophila.

What a clever set of experiments!

gretathunberg, to random Swedish
@gretathunberg@mastodon.nu avatar

School strike week 249. Today the theme for our strike is biodiversity. It is crucial - both for the climate and biodiversity - that we . This means restoring our greatest ally in tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. We now have an immense opportunity to turn the tide for nature in Europe: the Nature Restoration Law. 1/2

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@gretathunberg

Europe's Restoration Law:
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/nature-restoration-law_en

... a core element of the biodiversity strategy for 2030 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en ... which is part of the European Green Deal https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Map of night trains in Europe. In combination with high-speed trains and regional trains, a lot of destinations are one evening plus overnight away. Now if only oil subsidies would end, flight tickets wouldn’t be competitive, particularly with Interrail ticket schemes.

Higher resolution version at the website: https://back-on-track.eu/night-train-map/

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

"Anthropocene 'sixth mass extinction' event predicted to be worse than previously thought"
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-anthropocene-sixth-mass-extinction-event.html

The paper: "More losers than winners: investigating Anthropocene defaunation through the diversity of population trends" by Finn, Grattarola and Pincheira-Donoso 2023 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12974

Causes: not really / but rather from and –the sistematic dismantling of Earth's ecosystems–, and primarily from our present approach to food production and consumption.

Meanwhile, most of us continue to commute by car, consume red meat, fly for holidays and work, and in other words, pretend this problem clearly somebody else must be solving, or there isn't a problem at all because this very minute we aren't inconvenienced by it.

eLife, to random
@eLife@fediscience.org avatar

High-resolution imaging reveals how neurons involved in processing odors decide which neurons to connect with in the developing brain of fruit flies. https://elifesciences.org/digests/85521/sniffing-out-a-target?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@eLife

“Origin of wiring specificity in an olfactory map revealed by neuron type–specific, time-lapse imaging of dendrite targeting”, by Wong et al. 2023 (Liqun Luo’s lab). https://elifesciences.org/articles/85521

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Tetramorium wage war over yards of sidewalk. A battle for the ages. Little bodies piled high. No bird, no scavengers of serendipity, has arrived to take advantage of this tremendous waste. Too smugly I decide that war is maladaptive. And I imagine what The Ants of the Future might evolve to be. Will they still fight their little pointless sidewalk wars in a million years? A more pertinent question occurs—

—will there still be sidewalks in a million years or the creatures that made them?

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@futurebird

“Das Rad” (Rocks) is a dystopian short animation film that posits there won’t be anyone around eventually, and to the slow processes that have always existed will continue as they ever have. Makes the point rather markedly that accelerating growth spells its own demise.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HOPwXNFU7oU&pp=ygURZGFzIHJhZCB0aGUgd2hlZWw%3D

albertcardona, to random
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

While it seems logical that the continental crust is thicker under large mountains such as the Himalayas, why is it also so thick under Greenland and Antarctica? Mountains there aren’t as tall.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_crust

albertcardona, to ChatGPT
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Donal Knuth poses questions to . One of his comments: “It's amazing how the confident tone lends credibility to all of that
made-up nonsense.” https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/chatGPT20.txt

exhibits great eloquence yet fails fact checking spectacularly.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Donald Knuth concludes, on :

“I myself shall certainly continue to leave such research to others, and to devote my time to developing concepts that are authentic and trustworthy. And I hope you do the same.”—addressing Stephen Wolfram.

dmoser, to random
@dmoser@mastodon.social avatar

Disney understood what driving & bad urban design creating car dependancy 🚗 can do to us 70 years ago 👇👇

video/mp4

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@dmoser

There's a Catalan pop rock song that says, "disfressat d'home normal, trobareu un animal" (dressed up like a normal human being, you'll find a monster), referring to car drivers. This video is exactly on point.

By "Els Pets", the song titled "Dins de cada cotxe hi ha un animal" (a monster inside every car) https://www.viasona.cat/grup/els-pets/calla-i-balla/dins-de-cada-cotxe-hi-ha-un-animal

pvonhellermannn, to random
@pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green avatar

“99% of manufactured goods are tossed within 6 months, and I know for certain that 100% of them are tossed eventually. Amazon seems like it’s delivering your order, but in fact it’s a massive entropy machine.”

https://link.medium.com/dX2mUmfXWzb

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@pvonhellermannn Such contrast with the lives of our grandparents where the only way anything was thrown away was to feed the pigs, add to the compost pile, or to start the wood-burning furnace. Tools wore out, then the wood handle burned or reused and the remaining metal went back to the foundry or used as part of fertilizer when made of iron. The advent of milk plastic bottles was buffered for a while; these were reused for years, cut in half, to protect tender lettuce shoots. At the time of their death there was a whole storage space filled with thousands—that was the start of waste. Up to then my grandparents didn’t know what waste was—it was not a concept.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@NatureMC @pvonhellermannn

What a wonderful read—so eloquent in depicting the tragedy that only ever accelerated, for we have destroyed our own world more over the last 20 years than in the previous 200.

My grandparents survived in rural Catalonia during the Franco dictatorship years. For a long time all they bought was sugar and shoes, and produced everything else. What money they had was from selling some of their agricultural produce, and kept it tight. Dolly Parton’s “The coat of many colors” scene replayed all over and through the years many times.

simon, (edited ) to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

How many LLM chat tools have you tried at least once?

I mean things like ChatGPT and Bing and Bard

(Trying to gauge how many people haven't yet experimented in this weird new space)

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@simon @dr2chase

The framework laptop gives you an AMD or Intel CPU plus lots of RAM (64GB or even more) for very reduced prices. It’s a great deal. Runs linux and windows well.

TatianaIlyina, to random
@TatianaIlyina@mas.to avatar

Climate change may affect the production of maize (corn) and wheat as early as 2030 under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, according to a new NASA study published in the journal, Nature Food. Maize crop yields are projected to decline 24%, while wheat could potentially see growth of about 17%.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3124/global-climate-change-impact-on-crops-expected-within-10-years-nasa-study-finds/

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@NatureMC @TatianaIlyina

Of course propaganda works faster than knowledge: propaganda is deliberately tailored to a subset of core memories and values of the target audience, whereas knowledge either challenges these or requires effort to absorb.

Success in pushing back climate wrecking policies and enacting climate conservation ones will likewise require an approach that requires little to no effort and matches expectations of the audience—just a different set than those chosen by the oil industry: e.g., instead of power feelings from car driving, the wholesomeness of an afternoon by the woods picking berries with grandpa, snow on Christmas day, and so on.

helenczerski, to climate
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

I keep thinking back to this Microlino at Fully Charged Live. Reusable water bottles became acceptable, being vegan is now cool, and so is wearing vintage clothes. So who is going to step up to the critical task of making small cars fashionable? The trend towards giant SUVs is ludicrous, incredibly wasteful and dangerous, and bad for our cities. If you must use a car, it should be as small as possible. Where are the micro-car visionaries/influencers? WE NEED YOU.

albertcardona,
@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@AskPippa @helenczerski The key problem being “suburban”. Cities afford many conveniences and efficiencies. Suburbia is the unfortunate consequence of often well-intended zoning laws. Change the laws and the suburbs may go with them.

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