Kevin Mitchell
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Neurogeneticist interested in the relations between genes, brains, and minds. Author of INNATE (2018) and FREE AGENTS (2023)
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Did you know there are 350 different theories of consciousness??? @keithfrankish.com and I discussed with Robert Lawrence Kuhn his paper and interactive website exploring them all. I fail to see how anybody could have something more important to do than watching this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o7R...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o7R...
The Landscape of Consciousness at Christmas (landscape format)
YouTube video by Mind Chat
www.youtube.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Did you know there are 350 different theories of consciousness??? @keithfrankish.com and I discussed with Robert Lawrence Kuhn his paper and interactive website exploring them all. I fail to see how anybody could have something more important to do than watching this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o7R...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o7R...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
When you get fascists, you will have to punch them in the face sooner or later. And sooner is always much better
"If the democratic state does not wish to give itself up, then it must resort to intolerance toward the enemy of the constitution."
Jürgen Habermas, 2004.
Jürgen Habermas, 2004.
December 9, 2025 at 11:06 AM
When you get fascists, you will have to punch them in the face sooner or later. And sooner is always much better
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Rutger Bregman: "Donald Trump is the most openly corrupt president in American history”. A key line from the Reith lectures, which BBC excised without the author's permission. And now BBC is telling its journalists they may not quote the line anywhere. A shocking lapse in basic journalistic ethics.
BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith lecture
Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Rutger Bregman: "Donald Trump is the most openly corrupt president in American history”. A key line from the Reith lectures, which BBC excised without the author's permission. And now BBC is telling its journalists they may not quote the line anywhere. A shocking lapse in basic journalistic ethics.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
a gentle reminder that wind farms are the best
Despite what you hear from fossil fuel-funded politicians, the U.K has just generated a record amount of clean, domestic wind energy.
Enough to power 23 million homes!
U.K decarbonisation policy is a recipe for energy security.
Enough to power 23 million homes!
U.K decarbonisation policy is a recipe for energy security.
December 9, 2025 at 11:20 AM
a gentle reminder that wind farms are the best
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
I hate Pigeons🕊️ they ruin my balcony and destroy my garden, now they are on @ScienceMagazine
"Global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon #brain" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Their balance organs also detect weak electromagnetic fields to orient in space
"Global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon #brain" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Their balance organs also detect weak electromagnetic fields to orient in space
December 9, 2025 at 9:49 AM
I hate Pigeons🕊️ they ruin my balcony and destroy my garden, now they are on @ScienceMagazine
"Global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon #brain" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Their balance organs also detect weak electromagnetic fields to orient in space
"Global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon #brain" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Their balance organs also detect weak electromagnetic fields to orient in space
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
This article by Emma Meaburn, one of the panellists, is an excellent overview of polygenic scores in screening.
www.progress.org.uk/polygenic-sc...
www.progress.org.uk/polygenic-sc...
Polygenic scores and PGT-P: Lost in translation? | PET
Dr Emma Meaburn explains what polygenic scores are, and what they can and cannot tell us about a person's risk of – or resilience to – a complex trait...
www.progress.org.uk
December 9, 2025 at 9:53 AM
This article by Emma Meaburn, one of the panellists, is an excellent overview of polygenic scores in screening.
www.progress.org.uk/polygenic-sc...
www.progress.org.uk/polygenic-sc...
This looks like a tile from Carcassone! 😅
✨From the archives: St Mary’s, Breamore in Hampshire, is one of the most complete late Anglo-Saxon churches we have — a building that’s held its ground for over a millennium. Here I photographed it with the Elizabethan Breamore House behind it, two eras folded into one view.
December 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
This looks like a tile from Carcassone! 😅
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Tomorrow I am chairing some seassions at this very timely meeting on the implications of genomics for fertility treatment - looking in particular at genomic screening methods in IVF.
ime-uk.org/events-and-n...
ime-uk.org/events-and-n...
What Does Genomics Mean for Fertility Treatment? - Institute of Medical Ethics
The 2025 Annual Conference of the Progress Educational Trust (PET) – will explore the impact of genomics on assisted conception and IVF.
ime-uk.org
December 9, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Tomorrow I am chairing some seassions at this very timely meeting on the implications of genomics for fertility treatment - looking in particular at genomic screening methods in IVF.
ime-uk.org/events-and-n...
ime-uk.org/events-and-n...
It's no wonder everything's fucked...
This report should have panicked everyone on the left into concerted, coordinated effort to address the information asymmetry. But as far as I can tell it just came & went & Dems are still in "buy TV ads about affordability" mode.
The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces
As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, the influence of this media ecosystem becomes more prominent — and Media Matters has found that the most popular of this conte...
www.mediamatters.org
December 9, 2025 at 8:29 AM
It's no wonder everything's fucked...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
This report should have panicked everyone on the left into concerted, coordinated effort to address the information asymmetry. But as far as I can tell it just came & went & Dems are still in "buy TV ads about affordability" mode.
The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces
As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, the influence of this media ecosystem becomes more prominent — and Media Matters has found that the most popular of this conte...
www.mediamatters.org
December 9, 2025 at 6:02 AM
This report should have panicked everyone on the left into concerted, coordinated effort to address the information asymmetry. But as far as I can tell it just came & went & Dems are still in "buy TV ads about affordability" mode.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Free will, the genomic code, and high-tech eugenics open.spotify.com/episode/4IRt...
#1132 Kevin Mitchell: Free Will, Robert Sapolsky, the Genomic Code, and Human Embryo Editing
open.spotify.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Free will, the genomic code, and high-tech eugenics open.spotify.com/episode/4IRt...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
This is, in all seriousness, the best podcast episode of all time.
Reading around for a pod I'm recording tomorrow I came across this classic episode of @chrislhayes.bsky.social's pod where we dug into America's epistemic crisis. Tons of gems in here. And boy has everything on this front gotten *much* worse since 2018...
David Roberts explains how America's information crisis has impacted conservatism
Chris Hayes speaks with journalist David Roberts about how the erosion of trust and manipulation of information has impacted the conservative movement.
www.nbcnews.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:41 AM
This is, in all seriousness, the best podcast episode of all time.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
This female Northern Bentbill was busy building her nest at @casabentbill.bsky.social #CostaRica
#birdoftheday #nestbuilders #birds #nature
#birdoftheday #nestbuilders #birds #nature
December 9, 2025 at 3:34 AM
This female Northern Bentbill was busy building her nest at @casabentbill.bsky.social #CostaRica
#birdoftheday #nestbuilders #birds #nature
#birdoftheday #nestbuilders #birds #nature
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Gandalf the White returns in a blaze of glory to turn the tide of Helm’s Deep: he has come back largely unchanged from straying out of thought and time except for a single, never-explained nipple piercing
December 9, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Gandalf the White returns in a blaze of glory to turn the tide of Helm’s Deep: he has come back largely unchanged from straying out of thought and time except for a single, never-explained nipple piercing
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
RFK Jr., I know you can't conceive of caring for anyone else, let alone caring for another life more than your own.
Let alone the pain of wanting to care for your child more than you've ever wanted anything in your entire existence—and your body not allowing you to.
In any case, fuck you to hell.
Let alone the pain of wanting to care for your child more than you've ever wanted anything in your entire existence—and your body not allowing you to.
In any case, fuck you to hell.
RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."
December 9, 2025 at 6:07 AM
RFK Jr., I know you can't conceive of caring for anyone else, let alone caring for another life more than your own.
Let alone the pain of wanting to care for your child more than you've ever wanted anything in your entire existence—and your body not allowing you to.
In any case, fuck you to hell.
Let alone the pain of wanting to care for your child more than you've ever wanted anything in your entire existence—and your body not allowing you to.
In any case, fuck you to hell.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Carl Jung isn't exactly LESS full of shit than Freud, but he's admittedly full of shit in a much more entertaining way. "Guy who's basically a practising wizard but gets super annoyed if you point that out and loudly insists he's a Man of Science" is a type of guy you don't see much of these days.
December 9, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Carl Jung isn't exactly LESS full of shit than Freud, but he's admittedly full of shit in a much more entertaining way. "Guy who's basically a practising wizard but gets super annoyed if you point that out and loudly insists he's a Man of Science" is a type of guy you don't see much of these days.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
@rebeccasear.bsky.social gives a great quote from Alfred Russell Wallace: eugenics was “simply the meddlesome interference of an arrogant scientific priestcraft”.
Still very much spot on.
Still very much spot on.
December 8, 2025 at 3:08 PM
@rebeccasear.bsky.social gives a great quote from Alfred Russell Wallace: eugenics was “simply the meddlesome interference of an arrogant scientific priestcraft”.
Still very much spot on.
Still very much spot on.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Soapbox time: the problem with metabolic efficiency arguments in neuroscience is that they often confuse energy efficiency with energy expenditure. Biological systems are optimized for energy efficiency, but that does NOT imply they are optimized for low energy expenditure 🧵 1/
December 8, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Soapbox time: the problem with metabolic efficiency arguments in neuroscience is that they often confuse energy efficiency with energy expenditure. Biological systems are optimized for energy efficiency, but that does NOT imply they are optimized for low energy expenditure 🧵 1/
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Listening to Jeff Buckley's rendition of Lilac Wine on the train getting full body chills so intense I'm surprised no one has noticed
December 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Listening to Jeff Buckley's rendition of Lilac Wine on the train getting full body chills so intense I'm surprised no one has noticed
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Just found out I was included in @nature.com's "Ones to Watch 2026" list for @standupforscience.bsky.social. Pretty wild to have my name included on a page with this calibre of scientists...really grateful for my team and the support it took to get here.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Nature’s 10: Ten people who shaped science in 2025
A fired public-health official, a mosquito breeder and a baby with a smile seen around the world. These are just a few of the remarkable people chosen for Nature’s 10.
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Just found out I was included in @nature.com's "Ones to Watch 2026" list for @standupforscience.bsky.social. Pretty wild to have my name included on a page with this calibre of scientists...really grateful for my team and the support it took to get here.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
One of the most disturbing things about the U.S. government getting themselves into the anti-vaccine game is that it is a time-release poison pill.
It will take a few years before the worst of the harm is visible to enough people that they will truly understand what has been done to them.
It will take a few years before the worst of the harm is visible to enough people that they will truly understand what has been done to them.
December 8, 2025 at 9:43 PM
One of the most disturbing things about the U.S. government getting themselves into the anti-vaccine game is that it is a time-release poison pill.
It will take a few years before the worst of the harm is visible to enough people that they will truly understand what has been done to them.
It will take a few years before the worst of the harm is visible to enough people that they will truly understand what has been done to them.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Has there ever been a better use case for this?
December 8, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Has there ever been a better use case for this?