Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Vincent Bonin @boninlab.bsky.social · 15h

Well, if that does not get citizens protesting on the streets, I wonder what will.

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 16h

The WH budget for FY26 includes a proposed $18B cut to NIH, a $5B cut to NASA, a $5B cut to NSF, a $5B cut to CDC, and a $5B cut to EPA. You don't need a math/econ PhD to see that a $40B bailout to Argentina covers this and more right here in the USA.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Bessent says US considers doubling aid to Argentina to $40B

The assistance is aimed at bolstering the country's collapsing currency and calming economic unrest before Oct. 26 midterm elections.

www.politico.com

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Jonas Wietek @jwietek.bsky.social · 1d

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Emiliani Lab

High-throughput synaptic connectivity mapping using in vivo two-photon holographic optogenetics and compressive sensing - Nature Neuroscience

Using two-photon optogenetics, electrical recordings and sparse signal reconstruction, the authors demonstrate in vivo synaptic connectivity mapping in the mouse visual cortex.

www.nature.com

1 7 21

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 1d

basic research on wacky things like Gila monster venom are what gave us GLP-1 drugs that are treating diabetes, obesity, & addiction in new ways

this piece from @whyy.org is great

an analogy: navigation apps are great but don't tell you how to climb Mt. Everest & survive

whyy.org/segments/oze...

11 180 540

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 1d

A thought-provoking piece in Nature Neuroscience by many neuroscience colleagues: "Science must break its silence to rebuild public trust". Lots to think about here.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Public engagement: building common ground
How can we help to bridge this divide? Simply producing more excep tional science will not be enough to rebuild public trust. Rather, we must adopt a new model that recognizes communication and advocacy as core pillars of science, on a par with rigor and reproducibility. Public engagement efforts should be valued for faculty promotions, much like obtaining grants and publishing our findings in scientific journals. Researchers should be recognized and rewarded for activities such as giving public talks, working with local schools, engaging with policy makers, developing social media campaigns and platforms or writing accessible articles for general audiences. Developing these skills must be an integral part of scientific training, reinforcing the notion that the responsibility to champion science lies with us. Courses that teach graduate students and postdocs to communicate complex ideas clearly, to use social media effectively and to advocate for evidencebased policies must be deemed critical and supported by our universities. These efforts should not be viewed as distractions from research but woven into the fabric of what we do as scientists. Rebuilding public trust requires a cultural paradigm shift: scientists must see themselves not just as producers of knowledge, but also as its ambassadors and translators. Such a fundamental change will occur only if it is embraced by our scientific leaders and institutions, emphasizing the critical role of public engagement for science to succeed.

1 20 53

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 6d

The @crick.ac.uk is recruiting Early Career Group Leaders

- Lab set-up, research costs, salaries for up to 5 researchers
- Support for up to 12 years
- Access to our core facilities
- Competitive salary
- Fantastic colleagues
- All areas of biology

Deadline 27 Nov

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Early career group leaders

We appoint researchers from across biology and biomedicine to set up their first groups at the Crick.

www.crick.ac.uk

2 150 150

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 7d

FIGHT FOR SCIENCE RALLY ✊🌏
⏰ WHEN: October 17th, 2025
📍WHERE: 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC!
RSVP to JOIN THE FIGHT IRL: zurl.co/LayiM ‼️

📲 Join us Virtually!: zurl.co/Um47l

2 130 260

Vincent Bonin @boninlab.bsky.social · 7d

Our yearly PhD call is open: cbd.sites.vib.be/en/phdcall2026
We are recruiting. Please pass the word.

International PhD Call 2026

The VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research is recruiting enthusiastic, creative, ambitious, and highly motivated PhD candidates to join us starting autumn 2026!

cbd.sites.vib.be

1 1

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Jacob (Yaqub) Hanna - يعقوب حنا @jacob-hanna.bsky.social · 8d

A Palestinian, son of Palestinians displaced from Gaza (Al-Masmiyya) to Jordan, wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry... Professor Omar Munis Yaghi from the University of Berkeley!!

..Some members of the Yaghi family are still under the rubble in Gaza!

18 48

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Andrew Tan @andrewtanyongyi.bsky.social · 8d

"A Palestinian, son of Palestinians displaced from Gaza (Al-Masmiyya) to Jordan, wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry... Professor Omar Munis Yaghi from the University of Berkeley!!

..Some members of the Yaghi family are still under the rubble in Gaza!"

- Jacob Hanna

5 7

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Hannes Mehrer @hannesmehrer.bsky.social · 8d

🧠 New preprint: we show that model-guided microstimulation can steer monkey visual behavior.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.03684

🧵

1 16 35

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar @mpinb.mpg.de · 8d

💡 Join the 8th Bonn Brain Conference
March 23–25, 2026 | DZNE Bonn, Germany

Explore the latest in brain states, neural circuits, and behavior — with keynote talks by leading neuroscientists including Cori Bargmann and Edvard Moser @edvardmoser.bsky.social

1 5 7

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

SfN Journals @sfnjournals.bsky.social · 16d

#JNeuosci | Olianezhad et al. found that human amblyopia, or lazy eye, is associated with contrast sensitivity and impaired shape perception. They also propose a mechanism in the cortex that compensates for these impairments.
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1111-25.2025

2 4

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Joe Raimondo @joeraimondo.bsky.social · Aug 4

I’m incredibly stoked to announce our latest preprint led by Thijs Verhoog, where we show that human cortical neurons mature hundreds of times slower than mouse neurons, only reaching functional maturity well into the third decade of life.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1 4 13

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 9d

For all the knucklehead reviewers out there.
Principles for proper peer review - Earl K. Miller
jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/qag76ip8...
#neuroscience

Principles for proper peer review

jocnf.pubpub.org

1 22 69

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 10d

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

250 4.3K 11K

Vincent Bonin @boninlab.bsky.social · 10d

Doctors and researchers, please hear this plea. The collective silence on Gaza and resulting inaction have enabled / ignored unfathomable atrocities, including targeting children with gunshots — and we may not have seen the worst. It is time to break the silence.
www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v...

1 3

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

KaminskiMed @kaminskimed.bsky.social · 11d

1/
Finally! Our call on the U.S. medical community & establishment to break their silence on Gaza is out today at the New England Journal of Medicine. This is the first publication describing Gaza's human made humanitarian catastrophe in the Journal!!
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...

1 14 16

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social · 10d

"The world has never listened to Palestinian voices or taken seriously the existential threat Israel poses to Palestinian life, and this has not materially changed despite the increase in performative angst." A must read essay www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

A ‘magic pill’ made Israeli violence invisible. We need to stop swallowing it | Diana Buttu

For years, I pressed Palestinian interests in peace talks. The response to Trump’s plan proves the international community hasn’t learned from catastrophe

www.theguardian.com

4 70 150

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 11d

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

www.theguardian.com

220 3.9K 6.4K

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Marci Shore @marcishore.bsky.social · 12d

My friend Naftali Kaminski is an Israeli physician, a professor at Yale, and the child of Holocaust survivors. For me he is a model of absorbing his parents' stories intensely, looking the horror of the 20th century in the eyes, and drawing the lesson of radical empathy for the suffering of others.

Standing by Our Colleagues in Gaza — A Plea to the U.S. Medical Community | NEJM

In the face of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza’s health system and the catastrophic famine caused by the devastation, U.S. physicians have an ethical obligation to respond and support immediate ch...

www.nejm.org

4 17 58

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Hanno Hauenstein @hahauenstein.bsky.social · 11d

In my latest interview, Ahmad Al-Najjar reflects on what it means to report from Gaza – and why he continues to do so, even as journalists are being killed for it.
open.substack.com/pub/hannohau...

“Why Be Killed in Silence?” – A Gaza Journalist on Reporting Through Genocide

In this interview, Ahmad Al-Najjar reflects on what it means to report from Gaza – and why he continues to do so, even as journalists are being killed for it.

open.substack.com

27 49

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 11d

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported, according to a June @pewresearch.org survey.

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported

About four-in-ten immigrants (43%) say they worry a lot or some, up from 33% in March.

www.pewresearch.org

58 710 1.9K

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 14d

"As a federal worker, I am here to tell you that every awful thing that would happen in a shutdown—shuttering programs that Americans rely on, damaging our economy, firing federal workers—all of this is already happening."

youtu.be/jw93RKKreqY?...

Jenna Norton, PhD - (NIH, Bethesda Declaration organizer, mom) *speaking in her personal capacity

YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition

youtu.be

4 120 320

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 14d

"If Congress doesn't stand up now and defend our democracy we will lose it. It is slipping away. We are warning you, we are all Federal workers and know what’s happening inside the buildings: things are worse than you can see."

youtu.be/csA73xTXPf4?...

Kimberly Konkel (formerly HHS, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)

YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition

youtu.be

1 16 40

Reposted by Vincent Bonin

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 14d

"I came to the FTC to fight for American consumers and workers, not to do favors for the President’s billionaire friends... At my agency, corporate lawbreakers are learning that they can get away with illegal conduct we would never have let slide in the past."

youtu.be/ba_Yijuxzx0?...

Charlotte Slaiman (Federal Trade Commission; union member) *speaking in personal capacity

YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition

youtu.be

1 12 39