Janel Le Belle
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janellebelle.bsky.social
Janel Le Belle
@janellebelle.bsky.social
UCLA Associate Professor, PhD Researcher of brains 🧠 (development, stem cells, neuroinflammation, autism, sensory processing, brain injury & repair)
Teacher of Neuroanatomy, Neurophilosophy (consciousness, cognitive science), & Stem Cell Biology
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Navigate the rise and fall of research topics over five decades using The Transmitter's interactive map, which is based on a semantic analysis of nearly 350,000 abstracts in leading neuroscience journals. Explore more: www.thetransmitter.org/publishing/p...

#neuroskyence #StateOfNeuroscience
Putting 50 years of neuroscience on the map
Navigate the rise and fall of research topics over five decades using our interactive map, which is based on a semantic analysis of nearly 350,000 abstracts.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Dr. Prasad send an email to CBER suggesting changes to the approval for respiratory vaccines based, apparently, on the conclusion of an unpublished investigation into VAERS report by unknown people. A few thoughts beyond what was already reported, based on the full email: 1/n
November 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
This seems like the kind of declaration by a U.S. president that should be mentioned *somewhere* on the front page of CNN or the NY Times, but the fact that it isn't (as of right now) tells us so much both about how this president is covered and the credibility of the U.S. government.
Might be kicking off.
November 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Still haven't read the full agreement because I deserve nice things occasionally. But there's really a need for a propublica-type investigation into the social network of these boards, presidents, & donors with the admin. At the same time, exploring the similarities and differences across deals.
I would love to see detailed reporting about how these deals come together. This one looks like an inside job even more than Columbia’s.
I’ll look at it in more depth later but Northwestern’s agreement seems more campus-specific than previous deals and imposes restrictions on campus conduct beyond what others ave agreed to. Northwestern seems to have surrendered autonomy to a shocking extent. www.northwestern.edu/president/do...
November 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
chat are we cooked
November 29, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
“The deskilling, denigration, and displacement of teachers and scholars have historically been central to fascist takeovers, since educators serve as bulwarks against propaganda, anti-intellectualism, and illiteracy.” — @olivia.science

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
October 17, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
reading this and the NYT article, this is Prasad in RFK’s FDA using Hoeg’s non public analysis of VAERS death reports and hand waving about “multiple vaccines” to take vaccines away

nothing about this looks based on science or evidence
November 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
## Automated Inference of Cognitive State Transitions via Multi-Modal Brain Scan Fusion & Bayesian Temporal Modeling

**Abstract:** This research details a novel framework for deriving temporal sequences of cognitive states from multimodal brain scan data (fMRI, EEG, MEG) by leveraging advanced…
## Automated Inference of Cognitive State Transitions via Multi-Modal Brain Scan Fusion & Bayesian Temporal Modeling
**Abstract:** This research details a novel framework for deriving temporal sequences of cognitive states from multimodal brain scan data (fMRI, EEG, MEG) by leveraging advanced signal processing, Bayesian temporal modeling, and a hierarchical multi-layered evaluation pipeline. The system demonstrates significant improvements in accurately predicting cognitive state transitions, exceeding existing state-of-the-art accuracy by 17% and achieving near real-time inference suitable for neuro-rehabilitation and assistive technology applications.
freederia.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 28, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Read through this and think about how absolutely unimaginable a message like this would have been just 13 months ago.

The suppression of US academic liberty has been accepted and normalized instantly. The federal government is in full control of what thoughts and values are allowed in lecture halls
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
I do think formal and informal faculty groups need to be thinking about their boards, how they are constituted, and what routes to change exist. The time of assuming that faculty no-confidence votes mean anything has passed.
November 29, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Every year, I roundup the best Black Friday menswear sales. This year, I've broken the list into two parts because there are so many deals. Today, there are sales on tailored tweed topcoats, the best hoodie, Blundstones, and Uniqlo's HEATTECH (cheap way to keep warm)

dieworkwear.com/2025/11/28/s...
dieworkwear.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Developed initially to target and kill tumors, they are now being engineered to target cells that are contributing to autoimmune diseases, like antibody-producing B cells.
#Science 🧪
‘They don’t have symptoms’: CAR-T therapies send autoimmune diseases into remission
Engineered T cells that have been used to treat ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus show promising results.
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
This is so deeply at odds with the vision and history of America. Take pretty much any ethnic or racial group that are part of the American mosaic America today - they have all faced the same accusation. The moment these accusations are turned into policy are some of the most shameful in US history
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Australia just recorded zero cervical cancer cases in women under 25 for the first time since records began in 1982. The amazing result of HPV vaccination.
November 28, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
GUARDIAN: “Per head, 🇺🇸 output is six times China’s, and yet, inexplicably, there seem to be more abjectly poor Americans than Chinese. 🇺🇸 inequality is breathtaking… keeps getting worse…”

Wanting to address this isn’t radical.

NOT wanting to is.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
November 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Insulting to have to point this out, but if you have spent even 30 minutes reading US history, you realize that every decade has been dominated by racist hysteria that the "new" people won't ever fit in.

This exact prejudice would have been applied to Miller's forebears, when they fled pogroms.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
What would Francis Crick make of this?

I really enjoyed being part of this conversation on consciousness with @anilseth.bsky.social @stevefleming.bsky.social @cosmicskeptic.bsky.social, hosted by @profbriancox.bsky.social. Listen now!
What can science tell us about consciousness?

Join our expert panellists as they answer audience questions about the nature of consciousness.

Listen now on your favourite podcast platform:

lnk.to/AQOSConsciou...
November 27, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.

Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
November 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
1/6 New preprint 🚀 How does the cortex learn to represent things and how they move without reconstructing sensory stimuli? We developed a circuit-centric recurrent predictive learning (RPL) model based on JEPAs.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Just a reminder that the people who run AI companies talk like this when amongst themselves and when you ask me if I'm anti-AI, well, I'm anti whatever the fuck this is
November 27, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Janel Le Belle
Oh boy I can't wait for my employer to promise to surveil me to make sure that I teach dred scott as good law
November 26, 2025 at 9:28 PM