Ben Brinkmann
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benbrinkmann.bsky.social
Ben Brinkmann
@benbrinkmann.bsky.social
Epilepsy scientist.
Views expressed are my own
From trump’s truth social feed… (no I’m not joking)
May 3, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Pull on your hip waders. The DOGE manure levels are rising.
Apparently Musk figured out (legal) immigrants can apply for social security numbers. Ergo, the illegal immigrants must be voting and collecting benefits. (they actually pay into the system)

youtu.be/IPtCeQB64KE?...
April 25, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Deeply concerning to see the head of vaccines at FDA departing. If Kennedy plans to use our government’s health infrastructure as an outlet for his personal anti vaccine bias it will be a tragedy for public health.

www.cnn.com/2025/03/28/h...
Top vaccine official forced out of FDA | CNN
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration department responsible for assuring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines has resigned, according to a resignation letter obtained by CNN.
www.cnn.com
March 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Ben Brinkmann
Super excited to share the lab's new preprint showing that human pulvinar electrical stimulation engages select cortical pathways www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Human pulvinar stimulation engages select cortical pathways in epilepsy
The pulvinar has been proposed as an effective neuromodulation target for patients with posterior quadrant and temporal epilepsies. However, the pulvinar has a large tissue volume, multiple subnuclei, and widespread cortical connections. It remains unknown whether electrical stimulation of distinct pulvinar subregions affects the temporal, occipital, and parietal areas differently. To address this gap, we delivered single-pulse electrical stimulation to the pulvinar and measured the resulting brain stimulation evoked potentials in twelve patients undergoing stereotactic EEG for drug-resistant epilepsy. Brain stimulation evoked potentials were parameterized across the occipital, temporal and parietal cortex. Stimulation of the lateral pulvinar elicited significant brain stimulation evoked potentials in striate and extrastriate areas that diminish as stimulation shifts towards the medial pulvinar. Conversely, stimulation of the ventral aspect of the medial pulvinar produced significant lateral temporal evoked potentials, which diminish with lateral pulvinar stimulation. We also found that stimulation of the dorsomedial pulvinar evoked significant parietal responses with limited striate/extrastriate and lateral temporal responses. These results demonstrate that electrical stimulation of specific pulvinar subregions influences distinct occipital, parietal and lateral temporal areas. Selective targeting of pulvinar subregions to maximize seizure network engagement may be essential for individualized treatment of posterior quadrant and temporal epilepsies. ### Competing Interest Statement N.M.G is an industry consultant for NeuroOne. J.J.V.G has been an investigator for the SLATE trial, Medtronic EPAS trial, and Mayo Clinic Medtronic NIH Public Private Partnership (UH3-NS95495); is a site Primary Investigator in the NXDC Gleolan Men301 trial, site Primary Investigator in the Insightec MRgUS EP001 trial, and site Primary Investigator in the Polyganics ENCASE II trial. J.J.V.G is inventor of intellectual property licensed to Cadence Neuroscience, has owned stock in and has had consulting contracts with NeuroOne. G.A.W has intellectual property licensed to Cadence Neuroscience and NeuroOne. G.A.W serves on advisory boards for NeuroOne, UNEEG, LivaNova, and NeuroPace. J.T.W. provides consulting and holds lectures for Medtronic and Clearpoint Neuro, consults for Fortec Medical and AiM Medical Robotics, and has research contracts with Abbott Neuromodulation, Inner Cosmos, and Neuropace. All other authors declare no competing interests.
www.biorxiv.org
March 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Ben Brinkmann
The FAA approved another launch before the last crash investigation was completed — and it ended in another disaster.

Why is SpaceX getting a free pass from DOGE cuts? 🤔
March 7, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Historical perspective matters
Ukraine was once a nuclear superpower. They gave it up voluntarily in exchange for security guarantees.
www.brookings.edu/articles/the...
The Trilateral Process: The United States, Ukraine, Russia and Nuclear Weapons
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine had the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. When Ukrainian-Russian negotiations on removing these weapons from Ukraine appeared to ...
www.brookings.edu
March 1, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Ben Brinkmann
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
SILVER SPRING, MD—As mass firings of career experts and scientists continued to roil the federal government, officials confirmed Friday that cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
theonion.com
February 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
It would be far better for the administration to first make a plan for cost savings, and only then begin head count reductions (if truly necessary) taking advantage of normal attrition, early retirements, etc before moving to direct firings.

www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
February 23, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Let’s not allow this image to become reality…
February 20, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Thinking of friends and colleagues today. I have interacted with several stellar and kind people at FDA over the years. It is a hard job. Hoping any cuts are surgically done and very limited. And necessary…

apnews.com/article/fda-...
Trump administration cuts reach FDA employees in food safety, medical devices and tobacco products
The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend.
apnews.com
February 16, 2025 at 11:43 PM
So, despite all the chaos created recently, treasury data shows that federal daily spending is up from $26bn last year to $30bn now.

www.economist.com/finance-and-...
from The Economist
Elon Musk is failing to cut American spending
DOGE has so far disrupted everything in government bar the deficit
www.economist.com
February 12, 2025 at 10:43 PM
February 9, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Indirects are how universities hospitals and research labs pay for things like accounting, desk and lab space, basic computers and data storage, and other things that support the research enterprise.

thehill.com/policy/healt...
NIH cuts billions from research overhead funding
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday made a significant reduction in grants reserved for research institutions, a decision that may significantly impact American higher education. The …
thehill.com
February 9, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Ben Brinkmann
FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States
FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States
WASHINGTON—Putting the nation on alert against what it has described as a “highly credible terrorist threat,” the FBI announced today that it has uncovered a plot by members of al-Qaeda to sit back an...
theonion.com
February 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
February 3, 2025 at 12:34 AM