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Nicole Rust

@nicolecrust.bsky.social

14K followers 1.4K following 4.7K posts

Mood & Memory researcher with a computational bent. https://www.nicolecrust.com. Science advocate. Prof (UPenn Psych) - on leave as a Simons Pivot Fellow. Author: Elusive Cures. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures

www.nicolecrust.com.

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · May 10

Just look what was waiting for me when I came back from my run. Elusive Cures is now a REAL BOOK!!

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 1d

As always, I hope we can celebrate trainee wins! Yours are especially well deserved.

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 1d

The vibe feels a bit dour (alas). What small (or big!) wins can you muster a celebration for this week?

I got knocked down by complex data, but I've managed to half stand again. I also learned a lot in @yaelniv.bsky.social 's lab meeting. (Computational Psychiatrists are heros! Wow it's hard).

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 2d

MIT Rejects the Compact!
I am so proud.
"The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief ...

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 2d

That is the type of formidable challenge we’re up against, indeed. And we want not just to understand, but control in meaningful ways (eg to treat brain dysfunction). Fortunately, the brain is ~ RNNs that efficiently compute, control and balance themselves (not seizing spaghetti). That’s leverage.

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 3d

Finally out: our recent work with Nick Betley is a view into how the brain reshapes its behavior in the face of competing survival needs- and also a potential angle on treatment targets for enduring pain.

A brief rundown...

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

A parabrachial hub for need-state control of enduring pain - Nature

Activity in a set of parabranchial neurons in the mouse brain is increased during chronic pain, predicts coping behaviour, and can be modulated by circuits activated by survival threats.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · 2d

My HPLC was definitely overlooked

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery

The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Stories of WiN @storiesofwin.bsky.social · 2d

🚨REGISTRATION IS OPEN!🚨

We're so excited to host our first-ever, in-person event! Join us for panel discussions, a keynote address, and the opportunity to meet many amazing women in Neuroscience💜

Please register to attend by November 1st:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

We can't wait!

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Martin Wiener @martinwiener.bsky.social · 3d

POSTDOC Opening: I'm hiring a postdoc to work with me, @ayeletlandau.bsky.social, and Yuval Benjamini on a 4-year NSF funded project to understand timing and memorability in the visual system. fMRI, EEG, eye-tracking all included.

If interested, please DM or email me for more information!

Martin Wiener @martinwiener.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thanks to NSF and BSF, we've received a CRCNS grant!! 🎉

I'll be working with the amazing @ayeletlandau.bsky.social and Yuval Benjamini to explore and understand how our sense of time and image memorability are linked. ⌛🧠

We have 2(!) post-doc opportunities available - details coming soon!

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

NYU Center for Data Science @nyudatascience.bsky.social · 3d

CDS Asst. Prof. @neurograce.bsky.social has launched a YouTube channel, “5 Minute Papers on AI for the Planet,” translating climate-AI research into short video explainers, inspired by her course at CDS, “Machine Learning for Climate Change.”

nyudatascience.medium.com/cds-grace-li...

CDS’ Grace Lindsay Launches YouTube Channel on “AI for the Planet”

Grace Lindsay’s new YouTube series turns climate-AI research into five-minute videos for a wide audience.

nyudatascience.medium.com

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

Wonderful! Thank you for it.

Reposted by Nicole Rust

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 3d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

bsky.app/profile/hadi...

Hadi Vafaii @hadivafaii.bsky.social · 24d

What drives behavior in living organisms? And how can we design artificial agents that learn interactively?

📢 To address these, the Sensorimotor AI Journal Club is launching the "RL Debate Series"👇

w/ @elisennesh.bsky.social, @noreward4u.bsky.social, @tommasosalvatori.bsky.social

🧵[1/5]

🧠🤖🧠📈

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

Wonderful to see this high-level conversation about reinforcement learning happen not just “at the top” but across many professional levels (including trainees). 👏👏👏 to everyone involved. Such a thoughtful way to expedite progress. I look forward to following along.

Eli Sennesh @elisennesh.bsky.social · 9d

We started our RL debate series!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0A0...

RL Debate Series: Eli "abolish the value function" Sennesh

YouTube video by Sensorimotor AI

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Larry Hunter @proflhunter.bsky.social · 4d

This is a very cool paper, both in the results and the methodology. And Nicole put it up again (I missed it the first time) because she is recruiting students to do more of this....

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 4d

And here's a preprint:

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

The representation of mood in primate anterior insular cortex

Understanding how the brain reflects and shapes mood requires resolving the disconnect between behavioral measures of mood that can only be made in humans (typically based on subjective reports of hap...

www.biorxiv.org

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

Anyone curious to learn more about why what @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social is up to is so exciting - you might click on the Columbia profile, or start here. These ideas; this pursuit - it's quite genius, I think.

www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...

Naked mole rats lead a bustling, if unilluminated, life. The members of a colony—a queen, one to three breeding males, and dozens of nonreproductive workers—constantly bump into each other in the dark in their underground tunnels as they work together to dig, move food and care for their young.

“They’re arguably the most social animals in the entire mammalian kingdom,” says Ishmail Abdus-Saboor. Yet the mole rats don’t recognize one another like other mammals do: They are blind and don’t hear or smell very well. They do, however, have an extraordinary sense of touch—and for that reason, “we think that the mole rats can teach us how you can use touch as a way to communicate with others,” Abdus-Saboor says.

The mole rats’ somatosensory cortex proportionally takes up three times as much cortical space as the same region in other mammals, Abdus-Saboor notes. Plus, their entire bodies are covered in whiskers so sensitive that the animal can respond to a single deflection, he adds. Face touches may help the animals recognize and remember one another, Abdus-Saboor and his team reported in a preprint in February. And because they are hairless, apart from their whiskers, the touch neurons innervating their skin may more accurately model tactile sensations in people than the neurons innervating the furry skin of a mouse.

Abdus-Saboor started the colony in his lab about three years ago and says he hopes the mole rat work will intersect with his team’s ongoing mouse studies. Findings from the “extreme case” of the naked mole rat that are corroborated by mouse experiments could yield insights into more general somatosensation principles, he says.

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

I needed this. Gratitude.

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

YES!!! So incredibly well deserved. Cheers to you and your team 🎉

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Reposted by Nicole Rust

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social · 3d

I’m extremely honored to be a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award!

Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social on receiving the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, celebrating “scientists with outstanding records of creativity.” His lab will explore how the sense of touch can help build relationships. 🫶🧠💡

See zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/zuckerman-in...

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 3d

Good pick!

Reposted by Nicole Rust

Dean, School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania @pennsasdean.bsky.social · 3d

We all have theories about why we are the way we are. But for psychologists, this becomes a scientific exploration. In my third episode of the Ampersand Podcast, I discuss this connection between self and subject with Associate Professor of Psychology Rebecca Waller. buff.ly/CR4LFH7 @sas.upenn.edu

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you!

Reposted by Nicole Rust

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 4d

Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.

If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIK...

Nicole Rust - The representation of mood in the primate insula (May 6, 2025)

YouTube video by Simons Foundation

www.youtube.com

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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 4d

Gratitude to all those who have reached out with interest in pursuing a PhD on the neuroscience of memory. While fascinating, my group won't be starting new projects in that realm. In this next phase, we're going all in on a new big mystery. (And I'm excited!).

www.nicolecrust.com/mood

Back of a woman with a straw hat in a field of sunflowers and bubbles

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 4d

More info on the terrific @upenn.edu Psychology PhD program here:

psychology.sas.upenn.edu/graduate/inf...

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