Nima Dehghani
@neurovium.bsky.social
Computational neuroscience, Physics of Complex Systems, Bio-Inspired Intelligence, Foundations of Physical Computing
https://compneuro.mit.edu/home
https://compneuro.mit.edu/home
Pinned
Nima Dehghani
@neurovium.bsky.social
· Nov 24
Systematizing cellular complexity: A Hilbertian approach to biological problems
Author summary This paper presents an approach to understanding the complex workings of cells, looking beyond single molecules and focusing on how various parts of a cell interact. We discuss the chal...
journals.plos.org
To address "Biological Computation", at @sfiscience.bsky.social I presented 10 key problems. In this 📜 I portrayed 3:
#1: Where are the control switches?
#2: How to manage the need to reconfigure?
#3: How to harness noise rather than succumb to it?
Have ☕ ☕ to read
journals.plos.org/complexsyste...
#1: Where are the control switches?
#2: How to manage the need to reconfigure?
#3: How to harness noise rather than succumb to it?
Have ☕ ☕ to read
journals.plos.org/complexsyste...
#DANDI #NWB #Sfn2025
Come and see the ecosystem of Open Data in Neurophysiology (DANDI archive & NWB)....there is a whole bunch of tutorials and demos. See 👇
@dandiarchive.org @nwb.org
Come and see the ecosystem of Open Data in Neurophysiology (DANDI archive & NWB)....there is a whole bunch of tutorials and demos. See 👇
@dandiarchive.org @nwb.org
Looking forward to seeing everyone at SfN this week! Stop by our booth (#3831) to learn about NWB and the @dandiarchive.org , check out our posters on multi-modal open data ecosystems and AI coding agents, or catch one of our showcase talks throughout the conference.
#SfN2025
Full schedule:
#SfN2025
Full schedule:
November 16, 2025 at 3:55 PM
#DANDI #NWB #Sfn2025
Come and see the ecosystem of Open Data in Neurophysiology (DANDI archive & NWB)....there is a whole bunch of tutorials and demos. See 👇
@dandiarchive.org @nwb.org
Come and see the ecosystem of Open Data in Neurophysiology (DANDI archive & NWB)....there is a whole bunch of tutorials and demos. See 👇
@dandiarchive.org @nwb.org
Come hear about state-driven neural complexity today #SfN25
PP13 - "Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
Poster Session 1-5 pm
Computational Approaches & Experimental Analyses I
PP13 - "Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
Poster Session 1-5 pm
Computational Approaches & Experimental Analyses I
a man in a star trek uniform is sitting in front of a control panel
ALT: a man in a star trek uniform is sitting in front of a control panel
media.tenor.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Come hear about state-driven neural complexity today #SfN25
PP13 - "Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
Poster Session 1-5 pm
Computational Approaches & Experimental Analyses I
PP13 - "Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
Poster Session 1-5 pm
Computational Approaches & Experimental Analyses I
Have been out of soc media for a while. Did you miss me?
Back & giving a talk today at ME Sys Neuro satellite before @sfn.org
Dichotomous dynamics of hippocampal and
lateral septum oscillations: state-dependent topology and
directional causality during Sleep and wakefulness
Back & giving a talk today at ME Sys Neuro satellite before @sfn.org
Dichotomous dynamics of hippocampal and
lateral septum oscillations: state-dependent topology and
directional causality during Sleep and wakefulness
November 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Have been out of soc media for a while. Did you miss me?
Back & giving a talk today at ME Sys Neuro satellite before @sfn.org
Dichotomous dynamics of hippocampal and
lateral septum oscillations: state-dependent topology and
directional causality during Sleep and wakefulness
Back & giving a talk today at ME Sys Neuro satellite before @sfn.org
Dichotomous dynamics of hippocampal and
lateral septum oscillations: state-dependent topology and
directional causality during Sleep and wakefulness
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Very happy to have this beautiful review published in Machine Learning: Science and Technology! @iopp-mlresearch.bsky.social
Our illustrated guide to non-Euclidian ML is finally published!
Check it out for
⭐️ gorgeous figures (with new additions!) on topology, algebra, and geometry in the field
⭐️ broken down tables for easy reading
⭐️ accessible text, additional refs, and more
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Check it out for
⭐️ gorgeous figures (with new additions!) on topology, algebra, and geometry in the field
⭐️ broken down tables for easy reading
⭐️ accessible text, additional refs, and more
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
August 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Very happy to have this beautiful review published in Machine Learning: Science and Technology! @iopp-mlresearch.bsky.social
"Superintelligence" has arrived 😂
So this thing won gold in the international math olympiad and yet can't pass the simplest notion of 2nd grade math? lol...this is more like "reasoning" but "without understanding the subject that you are reasoning about"
So this thing won gold in the international math olympiad and yet can't pass the simplest notion of 2nd grade math? lol...this is more like "reasoning" but "without understanding the subject that you are reasoning about"
A simple benchmark.
Most people can understand it.
No PhD-level intelligence needed.
Most people can understand it.
No PhD-level intelligence needed.
August 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
"Superintelligence" has arrived 😂
So this thing won gold in the international math olympiad and yet can't pass the simplest notion of 2nd grade math? lol...this is more like "reasoning" but "without understanding the subject that you are reasoning about"
So this thing won gold in the international math olympiad and yet can't pass the simplest notion of 2nd grade math? lol...this is more like "reasoning" but "without understanding the subject that you are reasoning about"
The review/perspective piece @wbialek.bsky.social traces the roots of the 2024 NobelPrize back to Hinton
& Hopfield, highlighting their foundational contributions to neural networks. It explores the evolution of AI, considers its future through the lens of physics.
journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...
& Hopfield, highlighting their foundational contributions to neural networks. It explores the evolution of AI, considers its future through the lens of physics.
journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...
Emergence of Brains
This review traces how ideas from statistical physics evolved into foundational models of neural computation, shaping modern AI and culminating in the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.
journals.aps.org
August 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The review/perspective piece @wbialek.bsky.social traces the roots of the 2024 NobelPrize back to Hinton
& Hopfield, highlighting their foundational contributions to neural networks. It explores the evolution of AI, considers its future through the lens of physics.
journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...
& Hopfield, highlighting their foundational contributions to neural networks. It explores the evolution of AI, considers its future through the lens of physics.
journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...
Both submitted work accepted @sfn.org
"Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
“Parametric Stimuli Reveal Functional Subcircuits in Visual Cortex”
Though I am concerned that given the news on travel restrictions we may have a low attendance.
"Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
“Parametric Stimuli Reveal Functional Subcircuits in Visual Cortex”
Though I am concerned that given the news on travel restrictions we may have a low attendance.
a man in a suit and tie stands in a muddy field
ALT: a man in a suit and tie stands in a muddy field
media.tenor.com
August 7, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Both submitted work accepted @sfn.org
"Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
“Parametric Stimuli Reveal Functional Subcircuits in Visual Cortex”
Though I am concerned that given the news on travel restrictions we may have a low attendance.
"Deep cortical layer stimulation reveals state-dependent changes in neural excitability"
“Parametric Stimuli Reveal Functional Subcircuits in Visual Cortex”
Though I am concerned that given the news on travel restrictions we may have a low attendance.
Friends, colleagues, I will be in NYC (Flatiron Institute) from Mon-Thu. Ping me if you want to meet up
a man and a woman are dancing in a room while a woman holds her hands up in the air .
ALT: a man and a woman are dancing in a room while a woman holds her hands up in the air .
media.tenor.com
August 2, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Friends, colleagues, I will be in NYC (Flatiron Institute) from Mon-Thu. Ping me if you want to meet up
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Excited to share my PhD paper! In it, we use targeted 2-photon optogenetic stimulation to determine how V1 activity is read-out in a detection task. We found that network influence, not visual coding properties, predicted the impact of ensembles on behavior - contradicting our expectations (1/5).
May 15, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Excited to share my PhD paper! In it, we use targeted 2-photon optogenetic stimulation to determine how V1 activity is read-out in a detection task. We found that network influence, not visual coding properties, predicted the impact of ensembles on behavior - contradicting our expectations (1/5).
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Turns out that the “loudest” neurons are not always the most relevant ones. Great article about a fascinating and important result by @hayleybounds.bsky.social , graduate of @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social neuroscience.
Thanks to @thetransmitter.bsky.social and @ldattaro.bsky.social for this coverage of our recent paper!
Some neurons respond more strongly to visual stimuli than others. But the rest of the brain doesn’t prioritize signals from those neurons, according to a new study. Read more in this month’s Null and Noteworthy.
By @ldattaro.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/null-and-not...
By @ldattaro.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/null-and-not...
August 1, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Turns out that the “loudest” neurons are not always the most relevant ones. Great article about a fascinating and important result by @hayleybounds.bsky.social , graduate of @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social neuroscience.
Cool 👇
Proud of this preprint with my friends Jonathan Bauermann and @artemyte.bsky.social, about chemical oscillators & phase separation! Main findings:
1. Phase separation controls frequency and amplitude of oscillations
2. If reactions are fast, spirals of droplets emerge!
arxiv.org/abs/2507.16030
1. Phase separation controls frequency and amplitude of oscillations
2. If reactions are fast, spirals of droplets emerge!
arxiv.org/abs/2507.16030
August 2, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Cool 👇
The extortion continues.... unbelievable.
It looks like all NSF/NIH grants to UCLA (including mine and all fundamental neuroscience grants) have been suspended.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF and NIH suspend grants to UCLA
Move follows Trump administration finding that school didn’t effectively combat antisemitism
www.science.org
August 2, 2025 at 11:31 AM
The extortion continues.... unbelievable.
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
🚨New paper🚨
Neural manifolds went from a niche-y word to an ubiquitous term in systems neuro thanks to many interesting findings across fields. But like with any emerging term, people use it very differently.
Here, we clarify our take on the term, and review key findings & challenges rdcu.be/ex8hW
Neural manifolds went from a niche-y word to an ubiquitous term in systems neuro thanks to many interesting findings across fields. But like with any emerging term, people use it very differently.
Here, we clarify our take on the term, and review key findings & challenges rdcu.be/ex8hW
August 1, 2025 at 9:57 AM
🚨New paper🚨
Neural manifolds went from a niche-y word to an ubiquitous term in systems neuro thanks to many interesting findings across fields. But like with any emerging term, people use it very differently.
Here, we clarify our take on the term, and review key findings & challenges rdcu.be/ex8hW
Neural manifolds went from a niche-y word to an ubiquitous term in systems neuro thanks to many interesting findings across fields. But like with any emerging term, people use it very differently.
Here, we clarify our take on the term, and review key findings & challenges rdcu.be/ex8hW
Thanks for sharing these @wbialek.bsky.social
See Les Houches "Ambitions for theory in physics of life" (notes from Bill Bialek)👇
See Les Houches "Ambitions for theory in physics of life" (notes from Bill Bialek)👇
The summer schools at Les Houches are a magnificent tradition. I was honored to lecture there in 2023, and my notes now are published as "Ambitions for theory in the physics of life." #physics #physicsoflife scipost.org/SciPostPhysL...
SciPost: SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 84 (2024) - Ambitions for theory in the physics of life
SciPost Journals Publication Detail SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 84 (2024) Ambitions for theory in the physics of life
scipost.org
July 26, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Thanks for sharing these @wbialek.bsky.social
See Les Houches "Ambitions for theory in physics of life" (notes from Bill Bialek)👇
See Les Houches "Ambitions for theory in physics of life" (notes from Bill Bialek)👇
Two new additions to the library:
"Renormalization" by the great Phil Nelson
& "Theoretical Neuroscience" by none other than XJ Wang!
@xjwang.bsky.social thanks for the much needed missing textbook.
"Renormalization" by the great Phil Nelson
& "Theoretical Neuroscience" by none other than XJ Wang!
@xjwang.bsky.social thanks for the much needed missing textbook.
July 24, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Two new additions to the library:
"Renormalization" by the great Phil Nelson
& "Theoretical Neuroscience" by none other than XJ Wang!
@xjwang.bsky.social thanks for the much needed missing textbook.
"Renormalization" by the great Phil Nelson
& "Theoretical Neuroscience" by none other than XJ Wang!
@xjwang.bsky.social thanks for the much needed missing textbook.
Oh hey I was reading about him yesterday!
What an absolutely cool person!
Tommy Poggio on Werner Richardt (founder of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics @mpicybernetics.bsky.social )
dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/ha...
What an absolutely cool person!
Tommy Poggio on Werner Richardt (founder of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics @mpicybernetics.bsky.social )
dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/ha...
July 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Oh hey I was reading about him yesterday!
What an absolutely cool person!
Tommy Poggio on Werner Richardt (founder of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics @mpicybernetics.bsky.social )
dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/ha...
What an absolutely cool person!
Tommy Poggio on Werner Richardt (founder of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics @mpicybernetics.bsky.social )
dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/ha...
👇
Finally published:
“Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Looking for ways to better understand different neuroscientific perspectives and enable productive collaborations
“Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Looking for ways to better understand different neuroscientific perspectives and enable productive collaborations
Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
As scientists, we want solid answers, but we also want to answer questions that matter. Yet, the brain’s complexity forces trade-offs between these desiderata, bringing about two distinct research app...
www.nature.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:43 PM
👇
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Good Scientific American story about the letters of dissent from 4 federal science agencies (to date)...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
Federal Science Workers Say Agencies Are ‘Going in the Wrong Direction’
Hundreds of staffers at the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Science Foundation have signed public letters to leadership opposing the direction in ...
www.scientificamerican.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Good Scientific American story about the letters of dissent from 4 federal science agencies (to date)...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
No better time to call or email your members of Congress. Next year’s NIH budget is being debated in the Senate. A new nonpartisan campaign is making it easy to defend science and protect America’s innovation. Just follow this link to contact your representatives: www.protectscienceandinnovation.org
July 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM
No better time to call or email your members of Congress. Next year’s NIH budget is being debated in the Senate. A new nonpartisan campaign is making it easy to defend science and protect America’s innovation. Just follow this link to contact your representatives: www.protectscienceandinnovation.org
Oh hey Tim and Gaute, fav duo :) looking forward to this
I will try. If I immediately die, it is your fault Tim @tpvogels.bsky.social and you will owe me a drink !
I will try. If I immediately die, it is your fault Tim @tpvogels.bsky.social and you will owe me a drink !
I now had a chance to listen to it and it’s not entirely terrible. Gaute’s voice is actually quite soothing and his questions are good. You might not immediately die while listening to this. Thanks @gauteeinevoll.bsky.social for cutting out all the bits that would’ve gotten me fired.
Episode #30 in #TheoreticalNeurosciencePodcast: On co-dependent excitatory and inhibitory plasticity – with Tim Vogels @tpvogels.bsky.social
theoreticalneuroscience.no/thn30
How can excitatory and inhibitory synaptic plasticity, co-exist in spiking neural network models? With co-dependence!
theoreticalneuroscience.no/thn30
How can excitatory and inhibitory synaptic plasticity, co-exist in spiking neural network models? With co-dependence!
July 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Oh hey Tim and Gaute, fav duo :) looking forward to this
I will try. If I immediately die, it is your fault Tim @tpvogels.bsky.social and you will owe me a drink !
I will try. If I immediately die, it is your fault Tim @tpvogels.bsky.social and you will owe me a drink !
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Here is my colleague Adam Riess, Nobel laureate, sharing his thoughts on advocating for science at a recent event at the US Capitol.
aas.org/posts/news/2...
aas.org/posts/news/2...
My Recent Experience Advocating for Science | American Astronomical Society
AAS member and Nobel Prize Laureate Adam Riess describes his experience giving a speech to Congress at a recent event at the Capitol, "A Science Fair of Canceled Grants."
aas.org
July 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Here is my colleague Adam Riess, Nobel laureate, sharing his thoughts on advocating for science at a recent event at the US Capitol.
aas.org/posts/news/2...
aas.org/posts/news/2...
Hosting @lmprida.bsky.social , Liset who gave an update insightful talk
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps."
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps."
July 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hosting @lmprida.bsky.social , Liset who gave an update insightful talk
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps."
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps."
listen to XJ Wang
Fantastic discussion—his perspective feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t confined to framing everything in terms of “cognitive tasks,” but instead views them as conduits for exploring the dynamical systems underpinning cortical function.
Fantastic discussion—his perspective feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t confined to framing everything in terms of “cognitive tasks,” but instead views them as conduits for exploring the dynamical systems underpinning cortical function.
In this “Brain Inspired” episode, Paul Middlebrooks and Xiao-Jing Wang discuss how neuroscience has changed over the past 50 years, and how Wang believes modern theoretical tools will lead to a new era of “cross-levels mechanistic understanding.” Listen now: www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
Xiao-Jing Wang outlines the future of theoretical neuroscience
Wang discusses why he decided the time was right for a new theoretical neuroscience textbook and how bifurcation is a key missing concept in neuroscience explanations.
www.thetransmitter.org
July 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
listen to XJ Wang
Fantastic discussion—his perspective feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t confined to framing everything in terms of “cognitive tasks,” but instead views them as conduits for exploring the dynamical systems underpinning cortical function.
Fantastic discussion—his perspective feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t confined to framing everything in terms of “cognitive tasks,” but instead views them as conduits for exploring the dynamical systems underpinning cortical function.
@lmprida.bsky.social
Looking forward to @lmprida.bsky.social Liset's talk tomorrow
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps"
bcs.mit.edu/events/speci...
Looking forward to @lmprida.bsky.social Liset's talk tomorrow
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps"
bcs.mit.edu/events/speci...
Special Seminar with Liset M. de la Prida | Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Location: Seminar Room 3310 Title: Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps. Abstract: How do hippocampal circuits give rise to...
bcs.mit.edu
July 14, 2025 at 1:37 PM
@lmprida.bsky.social
Looking forward to @lmprida.bsky.social Liset's talk tomorrow
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps"
bcs.mit.edu/events/speci...
Looking forward to @lmprida.bsky.social Liset's talk tomorrow
"Illuminating the cellular basis of hippocampal cognitive maps"
bcs.mit.edu/events/speci...
Reposted by Nima Dehghani
Do you study neural systems with feedback at different temporal-, spatial-, hierarchical-, data-, or computational- scales? Have you submitted your abstract to the "Neurocybernetics at Scale" symposium?
Due to multiple requests, new abstract submission deadline is 18 July! #AI4Science #cybernetics
Due to multiple requests, new abstract submission deadline is 18 July! #AI4Science #cybernetics
July 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Do you study neural systems with feedback at different temporal-, spatial-, hierarchical-, data-, or computational- scales? Have you submitted your abstract to the "Neurocybernetics at Scale" symposium?
Due to multiple requests, new abstract submission deadline is 18 July! #AI4Science #cybernetics
Due to multiple requests, new abstract submission deadline is 18 July! #AI4Science #cybernetics