Anne Churchland
@anne_churchland
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How do brains make decisions? To find out, we ponder behavior, neural activity and machine intelligence
Joined November 2009
I’m starting treatment for #breastcancer today. I’m feeling strong and am sharing this news in the hope that others will get their #cancer screenings done. A routine scan likely saved my life! Pls RT @UCLAHealth @dgsomucla
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I feel like SciTwitter right now is a weird mix of people being like, “The world and I are broken” and “I ran 1000 miles & submitted 3 manuscripts & did a hard puzzle” and it’s kind of a weird contrast. Happy new year, y’all….
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I have a big update. So, as one does, I wrote a limerick:. My lab ponders decisions all day.Measuring neurons during stimulus and delay.Working together has been fun.Now we’ll do it in the sun.‘Cause we're moving to UCLA!. @dgsomucla @Kelsey_C_Martin
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@_stah @schoppik I was a postdoc w/ 2 kids. I wrote a Nat Neuro paper, a Neuron paper, & got a K99. Being a working parent taught me 5 skills that helped me crush it as a PI: .Prioritizing tasks.Outsourcing.Recruiting top people.Reference checking.Responding calmly during challenging situations.
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My lab is the best!! They got me this incrdible science cake higlighting our latest observations. However, I fear it makes us vulnerable to being scooped! If you want to refer to the figures, may I request that you cite the cake? #labmeeting #birthdaycake
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A year ago today I was recovering from major surgery & planning for my 25 radiation treatments. Now, a year later, I am feeling great. I climbed a mountain w/ @realAlexHuk to celebrate. Take that, cancer! #breastcancer #warrior #lobularcarcinoma
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Today I am done with my 25th & final session of radiation. Woohoo! My radiation oncologist & nurse even gave me a diploma! So grateful to all the supportive folks who helped me thru. And again, please folks, get your cancer screenings done!! #breastcancer #uclahealth
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Why do you print out scientific papers instead of reading them electronically? People of all ages seem to do this. #confused.
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Health update: recovering at home with the world’s best dog after yet another surgery. Family, friends & colleagues have been sooooo amazingly supportive. Feeling lucky!!! #breastcancer
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Have you been wondering what we've learned about behavior from all these large-scale recordings folks are always on about? I teamed up w/ @AnneEUrai @BrentDoiron & @AndrewLeifer to think about this in a cross-species way. Our 4 fave insights are below.
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This is bad advice. There are about a bazillion interesting problems out there. If you find a great lab with an environment that you like and a supportive mentor, delve into the problem a bit. I bet you’ll find out that it’s more interesting than you thought it was.
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Makin' my way to UCLA! Today was day 1 of my journey westward. Am travelling with a teenager, a dog, an acoustic guitar & 50TB of data. I'll update along the way!! Txs to so many who helped us w/ data & possessions @UllasPedmale @AnneEUrai @HillmanLab @Dillayres
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Thank you so much!!.
Congratulations to @CSHL ‘s @anne_churchland for promotion to professor! 🎈🎉🎊🍾.
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I’m halfway done with radiation!! Been a lot of ups and downs but I’m gettin thru it (music helps a lot). What are some “half” things I can do to celebrate? Half a cake? Trip to Half Moon Bay? #breastcancer
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I know what to do to focus (white noise, headphones, email off). When I focus, I get fully immersed, go deep in a problem & don't want to stop. It is one of my favorite states of being! So why is it so hard to convince myself to get into this state? Anyone else experience this?.
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Very honored to have received this award!.
The winner of the 2025 Pradel Research Award is Anne Churchland of @UCLA! She is being honored for expanding understanding of the neural circuits that support decision making. Learn more about her discoveries: #NASaward #neuroscience
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A number of folks have asked for updates on how I’m doing. I’m not bad! I have a ways to go still (pic is of me at the infusion clinic) but I’m making progress & feeling good. I’ll even be at #sfn23 next week. if you see me, say hi & remind me to rest, eat & hydrate!
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I haven't tweeted much lately. I am struggling with #WorkFromHome, am deeply unsettled by #COVID19 & am worried for my friends, colleagues & fellow humans everywhere. Little walks outside in my homemade mask help a little. Be safe, everyone.
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We performed the same electrophysiology/behavior experiment 92 times in 9 different labs spanning multiple countries. Here's what happened. What now?.
🚨Pre-print announcement!🚨 We are excited to share our new pre-print addressing an important issue in systems neuroscience: reproducibility. 🧵 (1/8).
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1/5 .Is your need to image neurons extensive?.But you're finding 2p too expensive?. Or perhaps the new theory you invented.Requires the whole cortex be presented?. We know how that goes. We relate!.So I’m pleased to announce, on this date:
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One session down, 24 to go. I’m gettin’ through it! Anyone have music recommendations for my daily drive to the hospital? I need some uplifting tunes!!!
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Staying w/ my parents at #SfN18. My mum packed me a lunch and my dad is driving me in. Yes!!! @patchurchland
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1/4 A show I was watching last night reiterated the advice that women bringing treats to the office sends a bad message- I guess it conveys motherliness (which is bad?) or suitability for mundane tasks. Let's rethink that! I'm pushing for culture change, 1 donut at a time!
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Gave a talk at Neuro22 in Okinawa. Jet lag made me a bit nervous beforehand! Audience was amazing and the discussion was really fun.
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How did I make it thru 4 of 5 wks of radiation? Lots of help! Thanks to my family (kids made sticker chart!), lab, friends/colleagues (who visited & brought food) & my followers (music was so helpful). And @realAlexHuk is awesome & will get me thru 1 more week! ❤️ #breastcancer
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Been a bit of a roller coaster this week. Am grateful for some downtime before next #cancer treatment starts. Reading a fun, thought-provoking book about artificial friends. Pls recommend more books! Current read is Klara and the Sun:
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Are excitatory cells one big class? .To be measured and plotted en masse?.To unravel this mystery.We used developmental history.To tag cells in a decision-making task.
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I’m in seattle!! Took my first post pandemic flight and am going to give my first in person talk. Can’t wait to catch up with all my neuro colleagues at the UW!
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Can a Canadian who now lives in CA use "y'all" without apology? I feel that "y'all" is very needed given that English has no plural "you". It also subverts the issue of "you guys" being not always appropriate. Seems surprising that y'all is not more widely used.
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@LennartVerhagen @KordingLab Here are tips for handling 3 types of difficult interactions you might encounter while giving a seminar. Note that in all cases, the person is likely a known quantity in the department & has heckled folks before. The audience knows this.
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I made it!!!! Arrived safely in CA (and am reunited w/ parents & son). Thanks to everyone for the travel tips along the way on this 3,200 mile journey.
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I'm working on a paper about reproducibility! I want to make sure I highlight existing instances of a LACK of reproducibility in systems neuroscience. Do folks know of any? A systems neuro result that other labs coudln't reproduce? Perhaps for unknown reasons? Thanks!.
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Are there organizations or networks for folks who are working in science as project managers/program managers/staff scientists? If not, would these be helpful for folks in such positions? I'm asking in an effort to support people who wish to stay in science but not as PIs.
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Wow, my awesome lab sent me the perfect birthday cake to go with our zoom lab meeting today! Thanks all!!!
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Oops. Would be good to do better than 0% women.
Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Summer School (CNeuro 2020)
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It is important to mentor students in many aspects of life as a scientist so. I taught a summer undergraduate in my lab to kayak! Happy summer everyone!
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Lost my voice from talking too much in Zurich. Communicating with lab via flash cards. Turns out you only need 6! http://t.co/cKsjFyIlzv.
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1/3 Colleagues & I at @IntlBrainLab repeated a behav/ephys experiment 121 times in 10 labs to test reproducibility. Vulnerabilities emerged. Probe targeting was sometimes off (despite standardized instruments) & common single-neuron analyses were variable.
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Looked over my parents’ photo albums. If anyone was wondering whether I was cool in middle school, the answer is YES. My science project on Galileo’s Law of Descent made me the envy of all the popular girls. #cool
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So grateful for the outpouring of good wishes following my tweet about #breastcancer last week. Update: I'm home & recovering well! I hoped to read some relevant #poetry during this time but found few poems on how to ponder the risks & realities of cancer. So I wrote my own:
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If you've had a long & challenging week that includes sick kids & a very critical Reviewer #3, is it okay to have chocolate covered almonds for dinner on Friday night? #AskingForAFriend.
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Celebrating with Tatiana Engel b/c we just received a Notice of Award for our NIH BRAIN Iniative proposal. Excited to use her powerful model discovery tools in neural data measured during decision-making. @CSHL #neuroscience
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Wait, SFN abstracts are really due THIS THURSDAY? Who else lost track of time? Bye for now, Twitter. Lots to do!! @SfNtweets
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Super happy to be here @UCLA! We went out for tacos and just can't wait to see our new lab. @YinChaoqun @joaoaocouto @jpatrickroach & missing @anupkhanal + Lukas Oesch.
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We're excited about cell types & were pleased to read today that the BRAIN initiative wants new tools to interrogate 'em in circuits: Too busy to read it all? We teamed up w/ @s_p_comics to make a cell types & decision-making comic!
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A colleague noted with amusement that whenever I am recruiting someone to UCLA, I mention that high quality of fruit that is availabe is SoCal. Is fruit quality relevant to a major professional/life decision? I mean, good strawberries do make everythying better, no?
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Please recommend books about #neuroscience! I am speaking to some high school students next week (and also plan to make a post on Tiktok). I am looking for books that are aimed at a general audience and highlight interesting aspects of the field.
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Ever botched an easy decision? Our cake explains why. Turns out lapses aren't inattention, but reflect a strategic exploration/exploitation trade-off. Model also explains puzzling results many have seen following inactivation of frontal/striatal areas.
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Well, we've been at @dgsomucla for 3 weeks now. Setups are looking good! The next goal is to create our first data point. Won't be long, thanks to amazing efforts from @jpatrickroach @joaoaocouto @YinChaoqun @analog_ashley & Ashley Chen. #teamwork
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My lab made this amazing treat for me. It includes a cake-within-a-cake and a psychometric function relating tastiness to proportion(cake eaten). Wow!! #scicakes
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This year, #BreastCancerAwarenesMonth has personal significance for me & my lab members. Folks, take this opportunity to get screened and/or tell your mum, sister, aunt, friend or partner to do the same. Please RT and spread the word!
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Tatiana Engel & I are excited to announce that we have resources to support a 2nd joint postdoc at CSHL! We teamed up as part of a BRAIN grant & are seeking someone who wants to combine experiments & theory to understand how brains make decisions. Pls RT.
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My team at UCLA is hiring a lab manager. We aim to understand the neural circuits for sensory processing and decision-making & we have an amazing crew. Join us! Please RT.
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1/10 Okay folks, by popular demand: 10 tips for scientists who can’t get stuff done because their kids have yet to master independent play! 1. Don’t worry. Wanting lots of play/cuddle/talk time is a lovely quality that will serve kids well in life.
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5/5.So that’s it! See our protocol in press.To help, here’s the url address: . @NWHNeurosurgery @joaoaocouto @simonMusall @paninskki @shreyaneuroctrl @anupkhanal @dgsomucla.
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These movies from our paper further illustrate movement's dominance during decision-making. And uninstructed movements matter the most.
Different movements modulated neural activity throughout the cortex. Each movement had its own spatiotemporal signature…
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Folks, pls be ready. My team & our collaborators have a lot of work about to appear on @biorxivpreprint. Yes, we have a reputation for being a bit technical at times, so we made a cake to convey the main result of each paper. Close-ups of cakes to follow when papers go live. #yum
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10/10 Science is full of emotional ups & downs. If you are really depleted/frustrated/sad, let kids retreat to devices while you re-charge. I know your colleagues brag that their kids never use devices. Ignore them & haul out the iPad when you need it.
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Our first time using Neuropixels probes in freely moving rats (making multisensory decisions!). So many spikes!!! Well done, @YinChaoqun.
Look at these pretty spikes! We just did our FIRST Neuropixels recording on freely moving rats! 🥳🐀🥳
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It's hard to focus on science during these unsettled times, but I have an update: we've been @ucla @dgsom for 5 weeks now and data is pouring in! Congrats to @YinChaoqun on your multisensory decision experiments. Stand by to find out if LA subjects combine cues optimally. #bayes
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My best day yet at UCLA! My son graduated from the high school!! And the commencement speaker, Andrea Ghez, was excited to tell us about her Nobel prize winning work on black holes. Woohoo!
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We passed the lab inspection and even were awarded a star!!!
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Tomorrow is Xmas! PSA for scientist parents: it's okay to take the day off. Also, if having done:. 4 games of candyland.3 doll tea parties.2 Lego sets &.A Thomas-the-train jamboree. you realize it is only 8:41 am, it's totally okay to retreat & do a bit of data analysis. 🎅🎄.
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Unpopular opinion: switching to overleaf when you have been using Word forever is super hard and time-consuming. I am banging my head against the wall trying to fix references and, worse, get quotes to face the right direction!.
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Well, my talk at #FENS is done! Now I am off to meet a crew of local students who invited me for a q&a coffee session. So excited!!
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Don’t tell my mum but I stole another one of her books! @neurograce’s AMAZING book was on her shelf when I visited and… I took it! Dog disapproves.
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Today for #labmeeting we did, "What's your problem?!" Everyone highlights a current obstacle: mice making ill-informed decisions, hisology/2p images looking sub-par or trouble w/ data visualization. Everyone weighs in w/ possible solutions. Try it! The ideas will surprise you.
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1 year lab-aversary at UCLA!! Heading in after a celebration with cookies.
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Can't stop rocking that chair? In mice, fidgets turn out to massively engage the brain. Might they be helping you think? or downloadeable version here:
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Wow. So honored to have received the Louise Hanson Special Recognition Award at #SfN17 Many friends came to join @Heather_L_Read @jpillowtime @steve_lisberger @shadlen @simonMusall @farznaj @AnneEUrai @analog_ashley
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New human data suggests that that although on average, subjects combine likelihood & prior for perceptual estimation, but on individual trials, they switch between the two. #notquitebayes
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Okay y’all recommended so many books that I’m gonna be busy all summer! Thanks everyone!
Please recommend books about #neuroscience! I am speaking to some high school students next week (and also plan to make a post on Tiktok). I am looking for books that are aimed at a general audience and highlight interesting aspects of the field.
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Pls help: if you have used for any purpose, can you comment below and let me know how? A colleague was hoping to start another site for underrepresented groups and needed testimonials to convince her peers that this was worthwhile. Txs! Please RT.
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The 2 adults in my household are both writing R01s to be finished this week. The dishwasher broke. Teenagers are hungry. Pls suggest one-pot recipes? +1 for vegetarian.
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Struggling to use Neuropixels in freely-moving setups? Probes in short supply? Us too. @analog_ashley & @GeorgeBekheet's new device, the AMIE, is the friend you need. Use it in freely moving recordings & recycle probes after. Designs, code etc all shared.
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UCLA has an open search this year. Pls apply folks!
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2 of 30 contributed talks have female last authors. I am one of them so no sour grapes! But I feel strongly that this does not indicate a level playing field. Science needs to be welcoming to all people. #cosyne19.
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We had a socially distanced lab gathering today. Soooo great to spend time with these people.
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I am pleased to announce that you may now cite the cake: Thanks @mattcovey!!! @meganinlisbon @BSDneuro @LongDingPA @schoppik.
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A year ago, my lab & I started our re-build at our new home, UCLA. I know many others are moving now! Here’s what I learned: 1) Moving is really invigorating! Conversations w/ new colleagues gave me a ton of ideas & the newness of everything pushed my mind in cool directions 1/4
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Things break down a lot in an RV. Good thing I brought my toolbox!
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My parents got vaccinated today. I am sooooo happy. This picture is from December 2019 when none of us knew what was coming! Very greatful to the public/private partnerships that led to this vaccine @NIH @pfizer @moderna_tx @NIHDirector #CovidVaccine
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So happy to hear about the election news!!! Please stay safe, everyone, and celebrate at home. If you are out, wear a mask and social distance. We need everyone strong and healthy to work for a brighter tomorrow! #bidenharis2020.
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Excited to be part of a multilab effort demonstrating that movements & internal state dominate cortical activity. Dominance is clear in data from different labs, structures, recording methods & behavior #decisionmaking #neuroscience
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We love natural behavior! Our new review highlights recent work from @cris_niell, @bbo_lab & others. Is natural behavioral all we need to understand brains? We say no & hypothesize why training critters can be hard. Pls post your training thoughts below.
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In honor of various looming grant submission deadlines, I am re-posting a classic survival recipe I wrote-up a few years ago. Good luck with the writing & revising, everyone!
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I made it to @MBLScience!!! So happy to be here. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words on my Vancouver to Woods Hole odyssey!
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Shoot! A bummer for us with last names starting with 'C', but the data is the data.
Based on our exhaustive research, scientists will be more successful by choosing mentors and/or mentees whose last name starts with 'B'. Wondering where I could submit this.
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Remote, online seminars are currently replacing in-person ones in most places. Almost a year in, what do folks think of them??? Pls comment on what's working, what's still tough, and what a future w/ both in-person & remote seminars could look like.
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1/3 I'm feeling optimistic this Monday: #SfNConnectome21 has incredible content, I'm migrating data from CSHL -> UCLA at 19MB/s (thanks rclone!) and my lab's paper on lapses in decision-making is accepted in @eLife
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Pls don't ask me to do stuff cuz I'm gonna be busy for a while reading all the awesome content in this Computational Special issue. Happy to have contributed an article w/ @SussilloDavid @AnneEUrai & @simonMusall
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Last night in the RV! Arriving in California tomorrow.
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Inspired by talk from @stevens1lab, I wrote a #Limerick about some very important brain cells:. Beth Stevens likes microglia best.They prune synapses in the CNS.But when synapses are lost.Memory stability is the cost.And too much lets Alzheimers progress. #FENS2018 #Alzheimer.
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Finishing the pre-thanksgiving push with week 2 of code review at lab mtg. @AnneEUrai showed us code for making daily behavioral assessments @farznaj_PhD did a "code sharing" edition in which we gave feedback on the dataset she has been curating for public use. #codereview
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We have re-routed to New Mexico! Fires in CO closed key sections of I-70 so we went south instead. Anyone have travel tips for outdoor stuff near Albuquerque?
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