Aaron Milstein
@neurosutras.bsky.social
Computational neuroscientist studying learning and memory in health and disease. Dad, yogi, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University.
Pinned
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)
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
November 13, 2025 at 10:31 PM
A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Trump’s HHS put me on “non-disciplinary” admin leave today. This was retaliation for speaking up. Moves like this are designed to silence us. Let’s not let.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dteoop/
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dteoop/
I guess I am hitting a nerve, because they just put me on admin leave.
TikTok video by Jenna
www.tiktok.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Trump’s HHS put me on “non-disciplinary” admin leave today. This was retaliation for speaking up. Moves like this are designed to silence us. Let’s not let.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dteoop/
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dteoop/
The loss of SNAP, the doubling of premiums, the cancelled flights, the furloughed workers were all the result of GOP House being intentionally out of session. The Senate Democrats got cold feet because we all need to fly home and buy turkeys for Thanksgiving. Everyone lost.
November 10, 2025 at 3:27 AM
The loss of SNAP, the doubling of premiums, the cancelled flights, the furloughed workers were all the result of GOP House being intentionally out of session. The Senate Democrats got cold feet because we all need to fly home and buy turkeys for Thanksgiving. Everyone lost.
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
bluesky branding refresh unveiled
November 8, 2025 at 9:18 PM
bluesky branding refresh unveiled
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
My kids have measles and my SNAP benefits were cut. But at least those cashiers at Walmart aren’t writing “they/them” on their name tags anymore.
November 8, 2025 at 2:53 AM
My kids have measles and my SNAP benefits were cut. But at least those cashiers at Walmart aren’t writing “they/them” on their name tags anymore.
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.
The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist
"I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
April 8, 2025 at 8:24 PM
We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.
Submitted a paper revision today. Project started in 2021. Received positive constructive addressable reviews this August. This paper is the best of my career. Working with postdoc @argalloni.bsky.social has been the most rewarding scientific relationship of my career.
November 8, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Submitted a paper revision today. Project started in 2021. Received positive constructive addressable reviews this August. This paper is the best of my career. Working with postdoc @argalloni.bsky.social has been the most rewarding scientific relationship of my career.
Join us for a BTSP mini symposium Tuesday morning of SfN:
Behavioral Timescale Synaptic Plasticity: Phenomenology, Mechanisms and Role in Learning and Memory
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
Behavioral Timescale Synaptic Plasticity: Phenomenology, Mechanisms and Role in Learning and Memory
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
November 8, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Join us for a BTSP mini symposium Tuesday morning of SfN:
Behavioral Timescale Synaptic Plasticity: Phenomenology, Mechanisms and Role in Learning and Memory
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
Behavioral Timescale Synaptic Plasticity: Phenomenology, Mechanisms and Role in Learning and Memory
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Want to see what a Neuromatch course is like…on your own time? Our full course materials are freely available for anyone to explore, anytime.
While the live courses include team projects, TAs, and learning pods, the content itself is always open.
➡️ neuromatch.io/open-educati...
While the live courses include team projects, TAs, and learning pods, the content itself is always open.
➡️ neuromatch.io/open-educati...
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Want to see what a Neuromatch course is like…on your own time? Our full course materials are freely available for anyone to explore, anytime.
While the live courses include team projects, TAs, and learning pods, the content itself is always open.
➡️ neuromatch.io/open-educati...
While the live courses include team projects, TAs, and learning pods, the content itself is always open.
➡️ neuromatch.io/open-educati...
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
q.e.d Science
Critical Thinking AI for constructive criticism and science evaluation
qedscience.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Connectome suggests brain’s synaptic weights follow heavy-tailed distributions, yet most analyses of RNNs assume Gaussian connectivity.
🧵⬇️ Our @alleninstitute.org #NeurIPS2025 paper shows heavy-tailed weights can strongly affect dynamics, trade off robustness + attractor dimension.
🧵⬇️ Our @alleninstitute.org #NeurIPS2025 paper shows heavy-tailed weights can strongly affect dynamics, trade off robustness + attractor dimension.
October 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Connectome suggests brain’s synaptic weights follow heavy-tailed distributions, yet most analyses of RNNs assume Gaussian connectivity.
🧵⬇️ Our @alleninstitute.org #NeurIPS2025 paper shows heavy-tailed weights can strongly affect dynamics, trade off robustness + attractor dimension.
🧵⬇️ Our @alleninstitute.org #NeurIPS2025 paper shows heavy-tailed weights can strongly affect dynamics, trade off robustness + attractor dimension.
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
Sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits
Nature - Experiments with human volunteers and macaques show that expectations produced by probabilistic cueing of future sensory inputs shape motor circuit dynamics in order to increase the...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
I wrote an explainer about the mass firings—the RIFs.
The RIFs all year have been clearly illegal. Russell Vought is using them to lawlessly clean out federal agencies. Lower court judges have said so. But the Calvinball Supreme Court has allowed them. 1/
The RIFs all year have been clearly illegal. Russell Vought is using them to lawlessly clean out federal agencies. Lower court judges have said so. But the Calvinball Supreme Court has allowed them. 1/
The mass firings have been lawless: now and all year
The first step in stopping a lawless Supreme Court is being clear about what it’s doing
scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:02 PM
I wrote an explainer about the mass firings—the RIFs.
The RIFs all year have been clearly illegal. Russell Vought is using them to lawlessly clean out federal agencies. Lower court judges have said so. But the Calvinball Supreme Court has allowed them. 1/
The RIFs all year have been clearly illegal. Russell Vought is using them to lawlessly clean out federal agencies. Lower court judges have said so. But the Calvinball Supreme Court has allowed them. 1/
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
There is no future for this country as a democracy without Supreme Court reform, as @joshtpm.bsky.social said yesterday.
But there is something we can all do now: say the RIFs are obviously illegal, and publicly disagree with SCOTUS. Ask your Congressmembers to say that too.
But there is something we can all do now: say the RIFs are obviously illegal, and publicly disagree with SCOTUS. Ask your Congressmembers to say that too.
There Is No Democratic Future Without Supreme Court Reform
I’ve made versions of this argument here in the Editors’ Blog and...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:02 PM
There is no future for this country as a democracy without Supreme Court reform, as @joshtpm.bsky.social said yesterday.
But there is something we can all do now: say the RIFs are obviously illegal, and publicly disagree with SCOTUS. Ask your Congressmembers to say that too.
But there is something we can all do now: say the RIFs are obviously illegal, and publicly disagree with SCOTUS. Ask your Congressmembers to say that too.
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
My reax to the big planned NIH shutdown firing news from @politico.com:
The Project 2025 ppl didn’t do big (illegal) NIH firings because they know there would be public outcry.
Keep speaking up!
The Project 2025 ppl didn’t do big (illegal) NIH firings because they know there would be public outcry.
Keep speaking up!
October 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
My reax to the big planned NIH shutdown firing news from @politico.com:
The Project 2025 ppl didn’t do big (illegal) NIH firings because they know there would be public outcry.
Keep speaking up!
The Project 2025 ppl didn’t do big (illegal) NIH firings because they know there would be public outcry.
Keep speaking up!
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
The NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad.
I made a video explainer about why.
Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social
1/4
🧪
I made a video explainer about why.
Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social
1/4
🧪
October 23, 2025 at 4:02 AM
The NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad.
I made a video explainer about why.
Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social
1/4
🧪
I made a video explainer about why.
Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social
1/4
🧪
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Right before the #shutdown, @kffhealthnews.org updated Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants. In most circumstances, undocumented families remain ineligible for #ACA provisions; families typically forgo necessary preventive care and seek ED visits as a last resort. #hspr #immigration
Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants | KFF
This fact sheet provides an overview of health coverage for immigrants based on data from the 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants, the largest nationally representative survey focused on immigrants...
www.kff.org
October 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Right before the #shutdown, @kffhealthnews.org updated Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants. In most circumstances, undocumented families remain ineligible for #ACA provisions; families typically forgo necessary preventive care and seek ED visits as a last resort. #hspr #immigration
I think I've decided that jupyter notebooks and ChatGPT are the best things that ever happened to early stage development, and the worst things that ever happened to intermediate stage development.
October 20, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I think I've decided that jupyter notebooks and ChatGPT are the best things that ever happened to early stage development, and the worst things that ever happened to intermediate stage development.
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
So no terrorism then?
October 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
So no terrorism then?
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
Reposted by Aaron Milstein
No Kings-Chicago, IL
October 18, 2025 at 5:35 PM
No Kings-Chicago, IL