Dave O'Connor
@daveocskys.bsky.social
Bumbling engineer/neuroscientist. Postdoc @ MSSM. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
It’s officially out! Check out the manuscript for more on the effect size web app, led by the truly indefatigable @halleeshearer.bsky.social and featuring so many contributions from this team, esp MINDS Lab via @dscheinost.bsky.social
Excited to share our manuscript about BrainEffeX, a tool for exploring fMRI effect sizes. Includes why we made it, how to use it + contribute, and how we made it.
@sneuroble.bsky.social @psychonetrics.bsky.social
@alexkfischbach.bsky.social
@nichols.bsky.social
@dscheinost.bsky.social & MINDS Lab
@sneuroble.bsky.social @psychonetrics.bsky.social
@alexkfischbach.bsky.social
@nichols.bsky.social
@dscheinost.bsky.social & MINDS Lab
Shearer et al. introduce an interactive web application for exploring fMRI effect maps:
doi.org/10.52294/001...
@halleeshearer.bsky.social @sneuroble.bsky.social @ohbmossig.bsky.social
#OpenDatasets #SpecialIssue
doi.org/10.52294/001...
@halleeshearer.bsky.social @sneuroble.bsky.social @ohbmossig.bsky.social
#OpenDatasets #SpecialIssue
November 12, 2025 at 7:59 PM
It’s officially out! Check out the manuscript for more on the effect size web app, led by the truly indefatigable @halleeshearer.bsky.social and featuring so many contributions from this team, esp MINDS Lab via @dscheinost.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Take a look at our paper! Led by @francimandi.bsky.social in the Lake lab: "Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice" !!!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Talking about spooky stuff…try to do awake mouse fMRI.
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be applied in mice and humans making it a key technology in translational neuroimaging research. Yet, most neuroimaging studies in rodents use anesthes...
www.biorxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Take a look at our paper! Led by @francimandi.bsky.social in the Lake lab: "Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice" !!!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Talking about spooky stuff…try to do awake mouse fMRI.
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be applied in mice and humans making it a key technology in translational neuroimaging research. Yet, most neuroimaging studies in rodents use anesthes...
www.biorxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Talking about spooky stuff…try to do awake mouse fMRI.
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging.
Now, do it all again, longitudinally….
So proud to finally have this out!!!
🐭 🧠 🧲
Go read…if you dare!! 👻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Awarded To Inventor Of Eatin’ Shirt https://theonion.com/macarthur-genius-grant-awarded-to-inventor-of-eatin-shirt/
October 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM
MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Awarded To Inventor Of Eatin’ Shirt https://theonion.com/macarthur-genius-grant-awarded-to-inventor-of-eatin-shirt/
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Really proud to share this w/ @francimandi.bsky.social from the Lake lab: we applied fingerprinting in a simultaneous wide-field fluorescence Ca2+ imaging and BOLD-fMRI dataset in mice!
w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Multimodal identification of the mouse brain using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI - Communications Biology
Using simultaneously acquired wide-field fluorescence calcium imaging and BOLD-fMRI, subject-specific signatures are observable in the mouse connectome, with stronger individual specific patterns evident in the calcium data.
www.nature.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Really proud to share this w/ @francimandi.bsky.social from the Lake lab: we applied fingerprinting in a simultaneous wide-field fluorescence Ca2+ imaging and BOLD-fMRI dataset in mice!
w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Launched in 2023, Imaging Neuroscience is now firmly established, with full indexing (PubMed, etc.) and 700 papers to date.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
September 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Launched in 2023, Imaging Neuroscience is now firmly established, with full indexing (PubMed, etc.) and 700 papers to date.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation
Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...
www.medrxiv.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Check out the latest from @daveocskys.bsky.social !
Cool work looking at functional connectivity dynamics and predictive-modeling of brain-behavior relationships!! 🔥 🔥
W/
@toddc.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social
Cool work looking at functional connectivity dynamics and predictive-modeling of brain-behavior relationships!! 🔥 🔥
W/
@toddc.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social
Recently had the last piece of work from my PhD published, only took 2.5 years or so. Check it out here! Thanks to @coreyhorien.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social @toddc.bsky.social
Identifying dynamic reproducible brain states using a predictive modelling approach
Abstract. Conceptually, brain states reflect some combination of the internal mental processes of a person, and the influence of their external environment. Importantly, for neuroimaging, brain states...
direct.mit.edu
April 29, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Check out the latest from @daveocskys.bsky.social !
Cool work looking at functional connectivity dynamics and predictive-modeling of brain-behavior relationships!! 🔥 🔥
W/
@toddc.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social
Cool work looking at functional connectivity dynamics and predictive-modeling of brain-behavior relationships!! 🔥 🔥
W/
@toddc.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
What happens in the brain when we breathe? 🧠 🔄 🫁
🧠 The functional state of the brain fluctuates across the respiratory cycle
🫁 Brain activity can be volitionally influenced by varying the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing
Read more ➡️ doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
@uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social
🧠 The functional state of the brain fluctuates across the respiratory cycle
🫁 Brain activity can be volitionally influenced by varying the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing
Read more ➡️ doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
@uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social
April 18, 2025 at 10:27 AM
What happens in the brain when we breathe? 🧠 🔄 🫁
🧠 The functional state of the brain fluctuates across the respiratory cycle
🫁 Brain activity can be volitionally influenced by varying the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing
Read more ➡️ doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
@uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social
🧠 The functional state of the brain fluctuates across the respiratory cycle
🫁 Brain activity can be volitionally influenced by varying the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing
Read more ➡️ doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
@uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social
Recently had the last piece of work from my PhD published, only took 2.5 years or so. Check it out here! Thanks to @coreyhorien.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social @toddc.bsky.social
Identifying dynamic reproducible brain states using a predictive modelling approach
Abstract. Conceptually, brain states reflect some combination of the internal mental processes of a person, and the influence of their external environment. Importantly, for neuroimaging, brain states...
direct.mit.edu
April 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Recently had the last piece of work from my PhD published, only took 2.5 years or so. Check it out here! Thanks to @coreyhorien.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social @toddc.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
This New Yorker piece about the Irish Famine has several paragraphs I found literally jaw-dropping (positive). This is a book review!! Good god!!!
March 20, 2025 at 3:01 AM
This New Yorker piece about the Irish Famine has several paragraphs I found literally jaw-dropping (positive). This is a book review!! Good god!!!
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Unbelievable news.
Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.
New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.
New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Unbelievable news.
Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.
New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.
New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
The first measles death in the US in a decade -- the tragic, preventable death of a child whose parents chose not to protect them with vaccination -- should spark an immediate nation-wide campaign to ensure all children are protected against preventable diseases. Anything less is unconscionable.
February 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The first measles death in the US in a decade -- the tragic, preventable death of a child whose parents chose not to protect them with vaccination -- should spark an immediate nation-wide campaign to ensure all children are protected against preventable diseases. Anything less is unconscionable.
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
THIS IS HUGE! A cancer vaccine developed by Yale University and DFCI shows MAJOR promise. Results of an early-phase trial reveal ALL patients with ADVANCED stage kidney cancer had successful anti-cancer immune responses AND have remained CANCER-FREE approximately THREE years after treatment. 🧪🧵⬇️
February 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
THIS IS HUGE! A cancer vaccine developed by Yale University and DFCI shows MAJOR promise. Results of an early-phase trial reveal ALL patients with ADVANCED stage kidney cancer had successful anti-cancer immune responses AND have remained CANCER-FREE approximately THREE years after treatment. 🧪🧵⬇️
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
We've updated our mouse connectome-based ID paper using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI connectivity data--check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Shoutout to all! @francimandi.bsky.social, @toddc.bsky.social, @mallarchak.bsky.social, @richardfbetzel.bsky.social, and many others! 1/2
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Shoutout to all! @francimandi.bsky.social, @toddc.bsky.social, @mallarchak.bsky.social, @richardfbetzel.bsky.social, and many others! 1/2
Multimodal identification of the mouse brain using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI
Individual differences in neuroimaging are of interest to clinical and cognitive neuroscientists based on their potential for guiding the personalized treatment of various heterogeneous neurological c...
www.biorxiv.org
February 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
We've updated our mouse connectome-based ID paper using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI connectivity data--check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Shoutout to all! @francimandi.bsky.social, @toddc.bsky.social, @mallarchak.bsky.social, @richardfbetzel.bsky.social, and many others! 1/2
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Shoutout to all! @francimandi.bsky.social, @toddc.bsky.social, @mallarchak.bsky.social, @richardfbetzel.bsky.social, and many others! 1/2
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Unclear if Jordan Peterson was entirely read up on Nigel Farage when the two appeared 'in conversation' at the Arc conference this morning...
February 18, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Unclear if Jordan Peterson was entirely read up on Nigel Farage when the two appeared 'in conversation' at the Arc conference this morning...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Maybe I wasn’t clear about this. I wanted more egg and no plane crash, not many plane crash and no egg.
February 17, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Maybe I wasn’t clear about this. I wanted more egg and no plane crash, not many plane crash and no egg.
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
A BBC study just found that generative AI can't even generate news story synopses with any consistent accuracy, and here we are happily pretending it's a symmetrical replacement for education and experience
February 17, 2025 at 10:34 PM
A BBC study just found that generative AI can't even generate news story synopses with any consistent accuracy, and here we are happily pretending it's a symmetrical replacement for education and experience
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
Newsletter: Generative AI is a marketing con perpetuated by Sam Altman and Dario Amodei through a mixture of lies and half-truths carried by a tech media that fails to ask the right questions. Outside of ChatGPT, generative AI companies barely get any traffic at all.
www.wheresyoured.at/longcon/
www.wheresyoured.at/longcon/
The Generative AI Con
It's been just over two years and two months since ChatGPT launched, and in that time we've seen Large Language Models (LLMs) blossom from a novel concept into one of the most craven cons of the 21st ...
www.wheresyoured.at
February 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Newsletter: Generative AI is a marketing con perpetuated by Sam Altman and Dario Amodei through a mixture of lies and half-truths carried by a tech media that fails to ask the right questions. Outside of ChatGPT, generative AI companies barely get any traffic at all.
www.wheresyoured.at/longcon/
www.wheresyoured.at/longcon/
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
BBC asked leading AI tools 100 basic questions, using its articles as sources.
Significant issues with just over half of the answers.
Clear factual errors in a fifth
Where answers included quotes from BBC articles, more than 1 in 10 were altered, or didn’t exist
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Significant issues with just over half of the answers.
Clear factual errors in a fifth
Where answers included quotes from BBC articles, more than 1 in 10 were altered, or didn’t exist
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Deborah Turness - AI Distortion is new threat to trusted information
www.bbc.co.uk
February 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
BBC asked leading AI tools 100 basic questions, using its articles as sources.
Significant issues with just over half of the answers.
Clear factual errors in a fifth
Where answers included quotes from BBC articles, more than 1 in 10 were altered, or didn’t exist
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Significant issues with just over half of the answers.
Clear factual errors in a fifth
Where answers included quotes from BBC articles, more than 1 in 10 were altered, or didn’t exist
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
This, by @martinsandbu.ft.com is very good. If the EU can figure out a way through the next few years, there is a real chance it will have a long term advantage as only major power with a semi-functional governance system.
The EU needs the courage to imagine a different digital economy
Trump’s tech oligarchs are afraid of Europe’s regulatory power — as they should be
www.ft.com
February 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
This, by @martinsandbu.ft.com is very good. If the EU can figure out a way through the next few years, there is a real chance it will have a long term advantage as only major power with a semi-functional governance system.
Reposted by Dave O'Connor
The whole "$1 NIH dollar generates $2.50 in output" sells science wildly short. Scientific discovery and technological development is the foundation on which our entire society is built -- and that includes all the businesses that operate within it. The throughlines are shorter than you think: 1/n
February 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The whole "$1 NIH dollar generates $2.50 in output" sells science wildly short. Scientific discovery and technological development is the foundation on which our entire society is built -- and that includes all the businesses that operate within it. The throughlines are shorter than you think: 1/n