Michael W. Cole
@mwcole.bsky.social
Professor, director of neuroscience lab at Rutgers University – neuroimaging, cognitive control, network neuroscience
Writing book “Brain Flows: How Network Dynamics Generate The Human Mind” for Princeton University Press
https://www.colelab.org
Writing book “Brain Flows: How Network Dynamics Generate The Human Mind” for Princeton University Press
https://www.colelab.org
Pinned
Michael W. Cole
@mwcole.bsky.social
· Sep 14
Lab’s latest is out in Imaging Neuroscience, led by Kirsten Peterson: “Regularized partial correlation provides reliable functional connectivity estimates while correcting for widespread confounding”, where we demonstrate a major improvement to standard fMRI functional connectivity (correlation) 1/n
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
2/3 Imagine if NFL coaches were hired because they were friends with the White House. You’d end up with bad football teams pretty fast. Same deal with NIH IC Directors and science.
October 23, 2025 at 4:11 AM
2/3 Imagine if NFL coaches were hired because they were friends with the White House. You’d end up with bad football teams pretty fast. Same deal with NIH IC Directors and science.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Wanna better understand what society has gained from research? This website crowd-sources societal benefits that stem from US government-funded research publicusaresearchbenefits.com
Searchable database of tangible benefits that federally-funded research gave us.
A crowd-sourced site. Health and Well-being. National Security. Prosperity.
publicusaresearchbenefits.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Wanna better understand what society has gained from research? This website crowd-sources societal benefits that stem from US government-funded research publicusaresearchbenefits.com
Lab’s latest is out in Imaging Neuroscience, led by Kirsten Peterson: “Regularized partial correlation provides reliable functional connectivity estimates while correcting for widespread confounding”, where we demonstrate a major improvement to standard fMRI functional connectivity (correlation) 1/n
September 14, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Lab’s latest is out in Imaging Neuroscience, led by Kirsten Peterson: “Regularized partial correlation provides reliable functional connectivity estimates while correcting for widespread confounding”, where we demonstrate a major improvement to standard fMRI functional connectivity (correlation) 1/n
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Malte R. Güth, Travis E. Baker, et al:
Right posterior theta reflects human parahippocampal phase resetting by salient cues during goal-directed navigation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Right posterior theta reflects human parahippocampal phase resetting by salient cues during goal-directed navigation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
September 10, 2025 at 5:41 AM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Malte R. Güth, Travis E. Baker, et al:
Right posterior theta reflects human parahippocampal phase resetting by salient cues during goal-directed navigation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Right posterior theta reflects human parahippocampal phase resetting by salient cues during goal-directed navigation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Ask courageous questions.
Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility.
Cherish your species and your planet.
- Carl Sagan.
Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility.
Cherish your species and your planet.
- Carl Sagan.
September 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Ask courageous questions.
Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility.
Cherish your species and your planet.
- Carl Sagan.
Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility.
Cherish your species and your planet.
- Carl Sagan.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
August 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
“Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures”
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Small contribution in this piece by @frosas.bsky.social and colleagues on how we need both types of research culture in neuroscience.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Small contribution in this piece by @frosas.bsky.social and colleagues on how we need both types of research culture in neuroscience.
#neuroskyence
July 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
“Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures”
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Small contribution in this piece by @frosas.bsky.social and colleagues on how we need both types of research culture in neuroscience.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Small contribution in this piece by @frosas.bsky.social and colleagues on how we need both types of research culture in neuroscience.
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Exciting new preprint from the lab: “Adopting a human developmental visual diet yields robust, shape-based AI vision”. A most wonderful case where brain inspiration massively improved AI solutions.
Work with @zejinlu.bsky.social @sushrutthorat.bsky.social and Radek Cichy
arxiv.org/abs/2507.03168
Work with @zejinlu.bsky.social @sushrutthorat.bsky.social and Radek Cichy
arxiv.org/abs/2507.03168
arxiv.org
July 8, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Exciting new preprint from the lab: “Adopting a human developmental visual diet yields robust, shape-based AI vision”. A most wonderful case where brain inspiration massively improved AI solutions.
Work with @zejinlu.bsky.social @sushrutthorat.bsky.social and Radek Cichy
arxiv.org/abs/2507.03168
Work with @zejinlu.bsky.social @sushrutthorat.bsky.social and Radek Cichy
arxiv.org/abs/2507.03168
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
1/ New paper by Hame Park, (@AraziAyelet), Bharath Talluri, Marco Celotto, Stefano Panzeri, Alan Stocker & Tobias Donner published in Nature Communications – “Confirmation Bias through Selective Readout of Information Encoded in Human Parietal Cortex”: rdcu.be/etlR7. Here is a summary:
Confirmation bias through selective readout of information encoded in human parietal cortex
Nature Communications - People often discard incoming information when it contradicts their pre-existing beliefs about the world. Here, the authors show that this discarded information is precisely...
rdcu.be
June 27, 2025 at 1:35 PM
1/ New paper by Hame Park, (@AraziAyelet), Bharath Talluri, Marco Celotto, Stefano Panzeri, Alan Stocker & Tobias Donner published in Nature Communications – “Confirmation Bias through Selective Readout of Information Encoded in Human Parietal Cortex”: rdcu.be/etlR7. Here is a summary:
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Check out my newest preprint to see the TCP dataset in action! 🤘🧠
Brain network dynamics reflect psychiatric illness status and transdiagnostic symptom profiles across health and disease: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brain network dynamics reflect psychiatric illness status and transdiagnostic symptom profiles across health and disease: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 4, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Check out my newest preprint to see the TCP dataset in action! 🤘🧠
Brain network dynamics reflect psychiatric illness status and transdiagnostic symptom profiles across health and disease: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brain network dynamics reflect psychiatric illness status and transdiagnostic symptom profiles across health and disease: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
The President's Budget request as released yesterday will gut scientific research. Why should you care?
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
May 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The President's Budget request as released yesterday will gut scientific research. Why should you care?
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
I'm celebrating my Friday by reading this recent review published in @nature.com by @lucinauddin.bsky.social and Bharat Biswal on the history and future of rsfMRI. It's a great read for anybody interested! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The history and future of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging - Nature
This Review provides an overview of the history of resting-state functional MRI research, which has helped to reveal the spatiotemporal organization of the brain, and discusses how it can contribute f...
www.nature.com
May 30, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I'm celebrating my Friday by reading this recent review published in @nature.com by @lucinauddin.bsky.social and Bharat Biswal on the history and future of rsfMRI. It's a great read for anybody interested! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Whelp. See you later 1.8 Million in NSF research funds -- all designed to better understand learning mechanisms in early childhood so we can develop effective early childhood educational interventions.
Proud of Harvard for standing up to fascism, though.
We will persist.
Proud of Harvard for standing up to fascism, though.
We will persist.
a man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a woman and saying " too legit to quit " .
Alt: a man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a woman and saying " too legit to quit " .
media.tenor.com
May 15, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Whelp. See you later 1.8 Million in NSF research funds -- all designed to better understand learning mechanisms in early childhood so we can develop effective early childhood educational interventions.
Proud of Harvard for standing up to fascism, though.
We will persist.
Proud of Harvard for standing up to fascism, though.
We will persist.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Thanks to scienceimpacts.org for mapping the impacts of cutting NIH indirect costs & making it easy for local news to focus on the impacts to their community
Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for helping researchers write op-eds for their hometown newspapers about the impacts on science 4/
Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for helping researchers write op-eds for their hometown newspapers about the impacts on science 4/
SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research
Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide
scienceimpacts.org
May 7, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Thanks to scienceimpacts.org for mapping the impacts of cutting NIH indirect costs & making it easy for local news to focus on the impacts to their community
Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for helping researchers write op-eds for their hometown newspapers about the impacts on science 4/
Thanks to @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social for helping researchers write op-eds for their hometown newspapers about the impacts on science 4/
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
April 7, 2025 at 4:13 AM
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
My lab will be at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference in Boston
Four lab members (including myself) will be at the conference – I hope to see you there!
We will be presenting the following 4 posters:
... [1/n]
Four lab members (including myself) will be at the conference – I hope to see you there!
We will be presenting the following 4 posters:
... [1/n]
Poster - Cognitive Neuroscience Society
March 29-April 1 | 2025 Submit a Symposium Submit a Poster Latest from Twitter
www.cogneurosociety.org
March 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
My lab will be at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference in Boston
Four lab members (including myself) will be at the conference – I hope to see you there!
We will be presenting the following 4 posters:
... [1/n]
Four lab members (including myself) will be at the conference – I hope to see you there!
We will be presenting the following 4 posters:
... [1/n]
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
The network of Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers is one of the most amazing NIH projects of all time: 33 sites collaborating to fight Alzheimer's in the lab and in the clinic at the same time. All of it in turmoil because the new funding is blocked.
Alzheimer’s disease will bankrupt the US healthcare system in 20 years if we don’t find better therapies now. The Trump administration is choking the largest national research collective on it.
If Alzheimer’s has touched your life, raise some hell.
www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-r...
If Alzheimer’s has touched your life, raise some hell.
www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-r...
Baldwin Blasts Trump Administration for Stopping $65 Million for Alzheimer’s Disease Research | U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate...
www.baldwin.senate.gov
March 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
The network of Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers is one of the most amazing NIH projects of all time: 33 sites collaborating to fight Alzheimer's in the lab and in the clinic at the same time. All of it in turmoil because the new funding is blocked.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Studies show that funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributed to 354 of 356 drugs (99.4%) approved by the FDA from 2010 to 2019. Recklessly slashing NIH funding will mean that patients will be waiting much longer for life-saving treatments.
February 24, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Studies show that funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributed to 354 of 356 drugs (99.4%) approved by the FDA from 2010 to 2019. Recklessly slashing NIH funding will mean that patients will be waiting much longer for life-saving treatments.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Science Homecoming
sciencehomecoming.com
February 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Firings happening right now at the NSF.
February 18, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Firings happening right now at the NSF.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
1/8. This week I had a few different conversations with scholars who, in the face of the attacks on science and institutions of learning in the U.S., are wondering what to do. One suggestion I have is: keep doing your work. It matters in and of itself. Why do I say that? A few reasons.
February 8, 2025 at 8:42 PM
1/8. This week I had a few different conversations with scholars who, in the face of the attacks on science and institutions of learning in the U.S., are wondering what to do. One suggestion I have is: keep doing your work. It matters in and of itself. Why do I say that? A few reasons.
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
Sabotage. Criminal sabotage.
"[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday."
www.eenews.net/articles/sci...
"[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday."
www.eenews.net/articles/sci...
Science funding agency threatened with mass layoffs
National Science Foundation staff heard the plans at a meeting Tuesday.
www.eenews.net
February 4, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Sabotage. Criminal sabotage.
"[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday."
www.eenews.net/articles/sci...
"[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday."
www.eenews.net/articles/sci...
Reposted by Michael W. Cole
I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔
January 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔