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Aaron Milstein

@neurosutras.bsky.social

2.2K followers 1.6K following 330 posts

Computational neuroscientist studying learning and memory in health and disease. Dad, yogi, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University.

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · May 27

New #NeuroAI #compneurosky preprint! To better understand how target-directed learning works in the brain, we sought to engineer an artificial neural network capable of solving complex image classification tasks that comprises only experimentally-supported biological building blocks. (1/15)

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Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 8h

This is a fine read about scientists, entrepreneurs, public and private money, and how all these pieces interact in the complex societal system for innovation.

Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 14h

No startups, no science: How the Republican Administration switched off America's most important engine of economic success.

steveblank.com/2025/10/13/n...

Steve Blank No Science, No Startups: The Innovation Engine We’re Switching Off

Tons of words have been written about the Trump Administrations war on Science in Universities. But few people have asked what, exactly, is science? How does it work? Who are the scientists? What d…

steveblank.com

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Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 21h

Really interesting work by Bakhurin and colleagues challenging the reward prediction error hypothesis of dopamine:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I love this figure which both echoes and undermines the famous figure from Schultz et al. (1997).

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

Vaccines are safe and effective.

Autism isn't caused by vaccines, and autistic people and their families deserve our support.

When you want information, ask your doctor.

It's more important than ever for all of us to speak plainly, truthfully, and directly about public health.

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 2d

No. This comes up in biology a lot. You want to ask if two genotypes are different. So you perform measurements from many animals, and each animal is an "n" contributing to your sampling of the genotype. But you record from multiple neurons in each animal, some more than others. Nested variance.

Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Alt U.S. Department of Labor @alt-dol.altgov.info · 4d

After changing the rules of the confirmation process, Senate Republicans confirmed a massive batch of 107 Trump nominees, including Solicitor of Labor Jonathan Berry.

A Project 2025 author, he is a threat to all workers -- but especially women.

10 Reasons Jonathan Berry's Nomination is a Threat to Women | National Partnership for Women & Families

Jonathan Berry, a key architect of the labor chapter of Project 2025, represents a significant threat to gender equity and civil rights in America. His nomination to serve as solicitor of labor – the ...

nationalpartnership.org

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Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 6d

I can’t believe I have to say this, but historically, masked men who kidnap families in the middle of the night are usually not the good guys.

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 7d

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Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 7d

You can joke about Pam Bondi’s ridiculous unprofessionalism all you want, but I’m deeply shocked by it: She acts as if she fears absolutely no consequences, convinced that there will be no more political power transfers. — This should shake everyone to their core.

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Taylor Webb @taylorwwebb.bsky.social · 8d

Very excited to share that our work (together with co-first author Shanka Subhra Mondal and @neuroai.bsky.social ) on a brain-inspired architecture for planning with LLMs is now out in Nature Communications! www.nature.com/articles/s41... (thread below)

A brain-inspired agentic architecture to improve planning with LLMs - Nature Communications

Multi-step planning is a challenge for LLMs. Here, the authors introduce a brain-inspired Modular Agentic Planner that decomposes planning into specialized LLM modules, improving performance across tasks and highlighting the value of cognitive neuroscience for LLM design.

www.nature.com

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 8d

youtu.be/HpNDaMc02Eg?...

THREAT LEVEL ORANGE

YouTube video by Earth to Eve - Topic

youtu.be

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Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 10d

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

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Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 10d

The #MurdochJournal celebrates the illegitimate court, its legitimization of authoritarianism, and the end of democracy.
The Triumph of the Roberts Court www.wsj.com/opinion/chie...

Opinion | The Triumph of the Roberts Court

What the Justices have wrought in his 20 years as Chief Justice.

www.wsj.com

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 11d

Shared how the greater shutdown of NIH science has been underway since January on @msnbc.com today.

We need Congress to stand firm to protect science, democracy and the American people.

www.msnbc.com/katy-tur/wat...

Furloughed NIH worker: Left office with 'pit' in my stomach about future of our country

On day three of the government shutdown, around 750,000 federal employees are furloughed as the White House threatens mass firings as early as today. Furloughed NIH Program Director Jenna Norton joins...

www.msnbc.com

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 12d

Interesting new data on BTSP mechanisms from my old Janelia colleague @hiallen72.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Ca2+ Plateau Potentials Reflect Cross-Theta Cortico-Hippocampal Input Dynamics and Acetylcholine for Rapid Formation of Efficient Place-Cell Code

A central tenet of Systems Neuroscience lies in an understanding of memory and behavior through learning rules, but synaptic plasticity has rarely been shown to create functional single-neuron code in...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 12d

Almost there!

Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 13d

I was honored to speak up with my colleagues from across the government to demand Congress fight for the American people.

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 13d

"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

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Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 13d

Federal workers are speaking out on how the Trump regime is harming Americans:

"We stand here today at a moment of the greatest assault of our lifetimes on our freedoms. The US Constitution is being shredded... We are here to call on Congress to stand up and stop it."

youtu.be/uw1KwIBgrCw?...

Mark Histed, NIH Scientist *speaking in personal capacity

YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition

youtu.be

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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 13d

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, former Director of NIAID, is Fired by Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy in Retaliation for Filing Whistleblower Complaint with the Office of Special Counsel

bit.ly/4gRA3yx

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 13d

Same

Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 13d

#RepublicansAreTooFascistToCompromiseOrProtectTheConstitution

There, FIFY

Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez @ramirez.house.gov · 14d

We need to restore funding for health care, for science, for research, for education, and for our communities.

Democrats will continue to fight for a budget bill that centers working families.

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Aaron Milstein @neurosutras.bsky.social · 14d

Here's who to vote out of office next opportunity
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

See which Democrats broke ranks to fund the government

Several Democrats split with their party to keep the federal government open.

www.usatoday.com

Reposted by Aaron Milstein

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 14d

The coordinated Hatch Act violations by the White House confirm the lawlessness of this administration.

They believe they can ignore the law and Constitution with impunity and the lawless Supreme Court will sign off on it.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14d

SCOOP — The White House instructed all federal agency leadership on Tuesday to send out a mandatory message to workers blaming the impending potential government shutdown on House Democrats, The Handbasket was first to learn. Absolutely no modifications to the email were permitted.

My story:

Trump mandates all federal agencies send email blaming Dems for potential gov’t shutdown

Workers call the partisan email "a vile slap in the face."

www.thehandbasket.co

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14d

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

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Lucina Uddin @lucinauddin.bsky.social · 14d

www.thetransmitter.org/funding/nih-...

NIH awarded 37 percent fewer neuroscience-related grants in 2025 than in past years

But the agency has spent nearly its entire budget for this fiscal year, which ends tomorrow.

www.thetransmitter.org

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