Huw Swanborough
@huwroscience.bsky.social
Cognitive neuroscientist at ETH Zurich. Primary interests in the neuroscience of affect processing/perception!
Outside of science: Hiking, huts, snow, bluegrass, folk, and all things creative.
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Everything's a signal, man.... Everything's a signal
Outside of science: Hiking, huts, snow, bluegrass, folk, and all things creative.
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Everything's a signal, man.... Everything's a signal
Reposted by Huw Swanborough
The mere act of being alive is the biggest experiment of all, dear. - Story transmissions
January 15, 2026 at 4:51 PM
The mere act of being alive is the biggest experiment of all, dear. - Story transmissions
Yup. Lab reports.
Please. I beg you. I'm at my wits end. Help me find an explanation. - Lab Reports
January 15, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Yup. Lab reports.
The big problem with punditry on this is that the instictive way to think about this is through "probability of happening", which isn't workable.
A) Any assesment of probability is guess work. We can't say well, given the balance of evidence, war is 73% likely because we can't make that assesment.
A) Any assesment of probability is guess work. We can't say well, given the balance of evidence, war is 73% likely because we can't make that assesment.
Most US media is downplaying this by talking about how few soldiers were sent to Greenland yesterday by the Nordic countries, but omits the fact that they’re all planning officers, preparing first for a large exercise followed by long term stay by a larger force.
The Danish foreign minister, coming out of a meeting with the Americans: "It's clear that the president has this wish of conquering Greenland."
I don't think that people have quite measured the severity of what is happening nor the intensity of the required response.
I don't think that people have quite measured the severity of what is happening nor the intensity of the required response.
January 15, 2026 at 11:52 AM
The big problem with punditry on this is that the instictive way to think about this is through "probability of happening", which isn't workable.
A) Any assesment of probability is guess work. We can't say well, given the balance of evidence, war is 73% likely because we can't make that assesment.
A) Any assesment of probability is guess work. We can't say well, given the balance of evidence, war is 73% likely because we can't make that assesment.
Kind of hoping that 2026 is the start of my cryptid era.
January 15, 2026 at 8:42 AM
Kind of hoping that 2026 is the start of my cryptid era.
Reasonably intimidating company name.
January 14, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Reasonably intimidating company name.
This morning's phonecall...from the police
"Hey, so... 12 months ago, other people did some paperwork wrong and you bought something you're not legally allowed to have. If you don't return it tomorrow you'll be criminally responsible".
This has become a source of minor frustration.
"Hey, so... 12 months ago, other people did some paperwork wrong and you bought something you're not legally allowed to have. If you don't return it tomorrow you'll be criminally responsible".
This has become a source of minor frustration.
January 13, 2026 at 9:58 AM
This morning's phonecall...from the police
"Hey, so... 12 months ago, other people did some paperwork wrong and you bought something you're not legally allowed to have. If you don't return it tomorrow you'll be criminally responsible".
This has become a source of minor frustration.
"Hey, so... 12 months ago, other people did some paperwork wrong and you bought something you're not legally allowed to have. If you don't return it tomorrow you'll be criminally responsible".
This has become a source of minor frustration.
Nothing like pushing to get a whole bunch of reviews done by deadline for them to extend the deadline by nearly 2 weeks right after the deadline passes....
January 12, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Nothing like pushing to get a whole bunch of reviews done by deadline for them to extend the deadline by nearly 2 weeks right after the deadline passes....
I hate to say this neuroscience.... But models of infinitely increasing complexity do not yield increasingly better explanations if they're applied to data where you DIDN'T ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION!
What reason is there to assume all cognitive processes can be measured via resting state?
What reason is there to assume all cognitive processes can be measured via resting state?
January 8, 2026 at 11:14 AM
I hate to say this neuroscience.... But models of infinitely increasing complexity do not yield increasingly better explanations if they're applied to data where you DIDN'T ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION!
What reason is there to assume all cognitive processes can be measured via resting state?
What reason is there to assume all cognitive processes can be measured via resting state?
I'm learning to never put "modelling and connectivity" on topics I will review.
Turns out everyone puts their study in those categories if they at any point model something or say "connectivity". Getting a *lot* of very clinical papers where the focus is absolutely not the network connectivity lol
Turns out everyone puts their study in those categories if they at any point model something or say "connectivity". Getting a *lot* of very clinical papers where the focus is absolutely not the network connectivity lol
January 7, 2026 at 10:07 AM
I'm learning to never put "modelling and connectivity" on topics I will review.
Turns out everyone puts their study in those categories if they at any point model something or say "connectivity". Getting a *lot* of very clinical papers where the focus is absolutely not the network connectivity lol
Turns out everyone puts their study in those categories if they at any point model something or say "connectivity". Getting a *lot* of very clinical papers where the focus is absolutely not the network connectivity lol
The uh.... the number of people close to me who have suffered substantial injuries is getting high to the point where I feel I may be the problem.
Within my immediate tight circle in the last 6 years: 5 ACL tears, 2 broken shoulders, 1 'terrible triad' elbow break, and a severe ankle break.
Within my immediate tight circle in the last 6 years: 5 ACL tears, 2 broken shoulders, 1 'terrible triad' elbow break, and a severe ankle break.
January 6, 2026 at 11:05 AM
The uh.... the number of people close to me who have suffered substantial injuries is getting high to the point where I feel I may be the problem.
Within my immediate tight circle in the last 6 years: 5 ACL tears, 2 broken shoulders, 1 'terrible triad' elbow break, and a severe ankle break.
Within my immediate tight circle in the last 6 years: 5 ACL tears, 2 broken shoulders, 1 'terrible triad' elbow break, and a severe ankle break.
I'm begging biomarker researchers to stop saying "we predict pre-existing metric with complex procedure" is translational. It's not.
If I can get the data via asking the patient or MRI, I'm going to pick asking.
Replicating simple procedures in a complex way is not translatable to the clinic.
If I can get the data via asking the patient or MRI, I'm going to pick asking.
Replicating simple procedures in a complex way is not translatable to the clinic.
January 2, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I'm begging biomarker researchers to stop saying "we predict pre-existing metric with complex procedure" is translational. It's not.
If I can get the data via asking the patient or MRI, I'm going to pick asking.
Replicating simple procedures in a complex way is not translatable to the clinic.
If I can get the data via asking the patient or MRI, I'm going to pick asking.
Replicating simple procedures in a complex way is not translatable to the clinic.
42 abstracts to review in 12 days. December 27th to January 8th notice period.
And these are abstracts of several thousand words.
This is a piss-take for something I'm doing completely for free. I don't even get discounted admission to the conference...
Never again. I want to enjoy my break some
And these are abstracts of several thousand words.
This is a piss-take for something I'm doing completely for free. I don't even get discounted admission to the conference...
Never again. I want to enjoy my break some
January 2, 2026 at 3:50 PM
42 abstracts to review in 12 days. December 27th to January 8th notice period.
And these are abstracts of several thousand words.
This is a piss-take for something I'm doing completely for free. I don't even get discounted admission to the conference...
Never again. I want to enjoy my break some
And these are abstracts of several thousand words.
This is a piss-take for something I'm doing completely for free. I don't even get discounted admission to the conference...
Never again. I want to enjoy my break some
Dangerous combination.
Holiday time off. Concerta.. and a new VR headset...
I'm forgetting to eat and then dancing around my flat for 6 hours.
It's brilliant.
Holiday time off. Concerta.. and a new VR headset...
I'm forgetting to eat and then dancing around my flat for 6 hours.
It's brilliant.
January 2, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Dangerous combination.
Holiday time off. Concerta.. and a new VR headset...
I'm forgetting to eat and then dancing around my flat for 6 hours.
It's brilliant.
Holiday time off. Concerta.. and a new VR headset...
I'm forgetting to eat and then dancing around my flat for 6 hours.
It's brilliant.
Reposted by Huw Swanborough
I always tell students if you ask a good question the article will write itself
December 30, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I always tell students if you ask a good question the article will write itself
One of the things I inherited from my dad is an enjoyment of supermarket restaurants.
I just looked up and saw this place is just single men all around how old my dad would be.
This is a horrible view of my future.
I just looked up and saw this place is just single men all around how old my dad would be.
This is a horrible view of my future.
December 30, 2025 at 10:19 AM
One of the things I inherited from my dad is an enjoyment of supermarket restaurants.
I just looked up and saw this place is just single men all around how old my dad would be.
This is a horrible view of my future.
I just looked up and saw this place is just single men all around how old my dad would be.
This is a horrible view of my future.
If you insist....
Van Kinks
Van Kinks
ruin two bands by combining them:
Fugazi Osbourne
Fugazi Osbourne
December 29, 2025 at 10:59 PM
If you insist....
Van Kinks
Van Kinks
Reposted by Huw Swanborough
Been seeing a few people outright claim that studies that outline specific reasons why Large Language Models won't lead to "Artificial General Intelligence" are "whitewashing creationism", because apparently showing that a task isn't feasible somehow affirms the existence of a divine soul
December 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Been seeing a few people outright claim that studies that outline specific reasons why Large Language Models won't lead to "Artificial General Intelligence" are "whitewashing creationism", because apparently showing that a task isn't feasible somehow affirms the existence of a divine soul
Jewelry stand is coming along nicely.
December 28, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Jewelry stand is coming along nicely.
Merry Christmas lovelies all!!
December 25, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Merry Christmas lovelies all!!
11/10
December 24, 2025 at 9:08 AM
11/10
This guy is out of office.
Festively, peace out y'all!
Festively, peace out y'all!
December 19, 2025 at 3:12 PM
This guy is out of office.
Festively, peace out y'all!
Festively, peace out y'all!
The PhD student's tried to hide their smoking from me cos I'm "one of the adults"....
a close up of a man in a military uniform looking at the camera with a serious look on his face .
ALT: a close up of a man in a military uniform looking at the camera with a serious look on his face .
media.tenor.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The PhD student's tried to hide their smoking from me cos I'm "one of the adults"....
reactions to when the reviewer is having...urgh.... opinions.
December 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
reactions to when the reviewer is having...urgh.... opinions.
Behold! My first creation!!
I can't remember the last time I built something, let alone designed it and built it all from scratch.
I can't remember the last time I built something, let alone designed it and built it all from scratch.
December 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Behold! My first creation!!
I can't remember the last time I built something, let alone designed it and built it all from scratch.
I can't remember the last time I built something, let alone designed it and built it all from scratch.
Vox Pitch: "We aren't having good ideas, so we used those bad ideas to trained an LLM to create a train of words based on their statistical probability of occuring within those bad ideas.
Perhaps this grand average of all bad ideas will create good ideas"
Perhaps this grand average of all bad ideas will create good ideas"
December 16, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Vox Pitch: "We aren't having good ideas, so we used those bad ideas to trained an LLM to create a train of words based on their statistical probability of occuring within those bad ideas.
Perhaps this grand average of all bad ideas will create good ideas"
Perhaps this grand average of all bad ideas will create good ideas"