Jonathan A. Michaels
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jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Jonathan A. Michaels
@jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
2.5K followers 540 following 600 posts
How do we move? I study brains and machines at York University (Assistant Professor). Full-time human.

Neural Control & Computation Lab
www.ncclab.ca
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jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Jonathan A. Michaels @jonathanamichaels.bsky.social · 12d
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
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
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
It was my pleasure to attend @mkashefi.bsky.social’s PhD defense last week. A wonderful scientist with a bright future 🤩
November 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
thetransmitter.bsky.social
Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of brain-computer interfaces and artificial neural networks. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk, write Cory Miller, @movshon.bsky.social and Doris Tsao.

#neuroskyence

bit.ly/47MXYLH
Without monkeys, neuroscience has no future
Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of BCIs, ANNs. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk.
bit.ly
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Best time of year.
November 8, 2025 at 4:53 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
“…every design choice expresses a vision of humanity.”
patrickmccray.bsky.social Patrick McCray @patrickmccray.bsky.social · 3d
I wanna invite Pope Leo to my Intro to Science and Technology Studies class
November 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
rsmythfreelance.bsky.social
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
oliviercodol.bsky.social
A tad late (announcements coming) but very happy to share the latest developments in my previous preprint!

Previously, we show that neural representations for control of movement are largely distinct following supervised or reinforcement learning. The latter most closely matches NHP recordings.
November 6, 2025 at 2:10 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
I’m With Her ❤️
November 6, 2025 at 3:57 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
3 grants submitted 🤪. Onward!
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
I can't get over this one. Spending $1b on bringing 'top talent' to Canada... Canada has excellent researchers already, and they need more funding not more colleagues
pbarmby.bsky.social Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 6d
It’s hard not to feel insulted by the Canadian federal budget’s implication that researchers currently working in Canada aren’t good enough, so they’ll spend a bunch of taxpayer money to bring in “top talent” from elsewhere.
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Okay it is my academic dream to get into chess research at some point

arxiv.org/abs/2510.23881
Generating Creative Chess Puzzles
While Generative AI rapidly advances in various domains, generating truly creative, aesthetic, and counter-intuitive outputs remains a challenge. This paper presents an approach to tackle these diffic...
arxiv.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:34 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Brooklyn ✊
hankgreen.bsky.social Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 6d
New map of the cool parts of NYC just dropped.
New York City map of which areas voted for Cuomo and which for Mamdani.
November 5, 2025 at 3:05 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
"There’s also a dedicated $925-million artificial intelligence (AI) fund, which Carney has identified as a priority."

Here we go... How about funding basic research instead of speculative technology?
November 4, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
On this beautiful morning in Astoria, I cast my ballot for our city and our future.

I hope you will too.
Zohran and Rama smiling at each other in a gymnasium. A wide shot of the gym with voting booths. Zohran holding a ballot and smiling.
November 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
juangallego.bsky.social
🚨Job alert🚨

The lab has up to *3 postdoc openings* for comp systems neuroscientists interested in describing and manipulating neural population dynamics mediating behaviour

This is part of a collaborative ARIA grant "4D precision control of cortical dynamics"

euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/383909
3 Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Champalimaud Foundation (Fundação D. Anna de Sommer Champalimaud e Dr.
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Fall on campus 🍁🍂
November 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Here is a news story from York University about our new Nature paper
www.yorku.ca/news/2025/10...
October 29, 2025 at 4:15 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
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
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Back home ❤️
October 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
When the metric fails, create a more complicated metric?
October 25, 2025 at 7:27 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Pittsburgh ❤️
October 23, 2025 at 12:48 AM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Bach is life, and there’s no one in the world who can express that better than Chris Thile.
October 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
nicolecrust.bsky.social
A thought-provoking piece in Nature Neuroscience by many neuroscience colleagues: "Science must break its silence to rebuild public trust". Lots to think about here.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Public engagement: building common ground How can we help to bridge this divide? Simply producing more excep­ tional science will not be enough to rebuild public trust. Rather, we must adopt a new model that recognizes communication and advocacy as core pillars of science, on a par with rigor and reproducibility. Public engagement efforts should be valued for faculty promotions, much like obtaining grants and publishing our findings in scientific journals. Researchers should be recognized and rewarded for activities such as giving public talks, working with local schools, engaging with policy­ makers, developing social media campaigns and platforms or writing accessible articles for general audiences. Developing these skills must be an integral part of scientific training, reinforcing the notion that the responsibility to champion science lies with us. Courses that teach graduate students and postdocs to communicate complex ideas clearly, to use social media effectively and to advocate for evidence­based policies must be deemed critical and supported by our universities. These efforts should not be viewed as distractions from research but woven into the fabric of what we do as scientists. Rebuilding public trust requires a cultural paradigm shift: scientists must see themselves not just as producers of knowledge, but also as its ambassadors and translators. Such a fundamental change will occur only if it is embraced by our scientific leaders and institutions, emphasizing the critical role of public engagement for science to succeed.
October 14, 2025 at 8:51 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
Celebrating the long weekend by burning off 4 pumpkin spice lattes
October 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Jonathan A. Michaels
nicolecrust.bsky.social
Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.

If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIK...
Nicole Rust - The representation of mood in the primate insula (May 6, 2025)
YouTube video by Simons Foundation
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
jonathanamichaels.bsky.social
If anyone is wondering how this ends go watch Eddington
jennycohn.bsky.social Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · Oct 2
“In a rural Louisiana farming community of 20,000 people, Meta is building a 4-million-square-foot AI data center, even as locals in Georgia grapple with a dwindling and discolored water supply following the construction of a similar facility that began in 2018.” 10/1/25 … 1/
Meta Builds AI Center the Size of 70 Football Fields. Residents Near Similar Facility Say They're 'Scared to Drink Our Own Water'
As Meta builds its largest AI data center in rural Louisiana, residents living near a similar facility in Georgia are having issues with their water supply. The parent company of Instagram has promise...
people.com
October 3, 2025 at 12:54 AM