Nicolas Skatchkovsky
@nskat.bsky.social
Computational Neuroscience & AI @ The Francis Crick Institute
Trade unionist
Posts in franglish on neuroAI & politics
Trade unionist
Posts in franglish on neuroAI & politics
Pinned
Nicolas Skatchkovsky
@nskat.bsky.social
· Jul 31
Preprint update: The new version of #SPARKS🎇 is out!
Everything's in here: sparks.crick.ac.uk
A thread on what changed 🧵👇
@flor-iacaruso.bsky.social @sdrsd.bsky.social @alexegeaweiss.bsky.social
#neuroskyence #NeuroAI #ML #BioInspiredAI
Everything's in here: sparks.crick.ac.uk
A thread on what changed 🧵👇
@flor-iacaruso.bsky.social @sdrsd.bsky.social @alexegeaweiss.bsky.social
#neuroskyence #NeuroAI #ML #BioInspiredAI
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
RIP Claudia Cardinale. Much like Robert Redford, she was a rare case of a beautiful performer with a filmography full of bangers who did NOT become right-wing later in life. Here she is punching fascist Brigitte Bardot in the face in Les Pétroleuses (1971).
September 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
RIP Claudia Cardinale. Much like Robert Redford, she was a rare case of a beautiful performer with a filmography full of bangers who did NOT become right-wing later in life. Here she is punching fascist Brigitte Bardot in the face in Les Pétroleuses (1971).
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Amid the rise of billion-parameter models, I argue that toy models, with just a few neurons, remain essential—and may be all neuroscience needs, writes @marcusghosh.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
Not playing around: Why neuroscience needs toy models
Amid the rise of billion-parameter models, I argue that toy models, with just a few neurons, remain essential—and may be all neuroscience needs.
www.thetransmitter.org
December 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Amid the rise of billion-parameter models, I argue that toy models, with just a few neurons, remain essential—and may be all neuroscience needs, writes @marcusghosh.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Spread the word: I'm looking to hire a postdoc to explore the concept of attention (as studied in psych/neuro, not the transformer mechanism) in large Vision-Language Models. More details here: lindsay-lab.github.io/2025/12/08/p...
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
Lindsay Lab - Postdoc Position
Artificial neural networks applied to psychology, neuroscience, and climate change
lindsay-lab.github.io
December 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Spread the word: I'm looking to hire a postdoc to explore the concept of attention (as studied in psych/neuro, not the transformer mechanism) in large Vision-Language Models. More details here: lindsay-lab.github.io/2025/12/08/p...
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
I've spent all day struggling to write a single page of a popular science article. I bang away at a word processor; give up; start diagramming on paper. Take some notes; draft a few sentences in pen; return to the computer...and very slowly I figure out what I was trying to say in the first place.
December 16, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I've spent all day struggling to write a single page of a popular science article. I bang away at a word processor; give up; start diagramming on paper. Take some notes; draft a few sentences in pen; return to the computer...and very slowly I figure out what I was trying to say in the first place.
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
This is obscene. Why can't other politicians say that?
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
December 18, 2025 at 9:00 AM
This is obscene. Why can't other politicians say that?
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
can you imagine having even a fraction of the money pumped into ai bullshit but instead you get to R&D something actually fucking useful and which doesn't exist exclusively to extract wealth from creatives and those who enjoy creative works.
Grrrr... PEOPLE AREN'T RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS, WEALTH INEQUALITY IS PREVENTING CREATIVE PEOPLE FROM REALISING THEIR IDEAS, GOODNIGHT!
December 16, 2025 at 10:03 AM
can you imagine having even a fraction of the money pumped into ai bullshit but instead you get to R&D something actually fucking useful and which doesn't exist exclusively to extract wealth from creatives and those who enjoy creative works.
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Je reprends, et ensuite n'y reviendrai pas.
Une pub mignonne où un loup devient végétarien se met à tourner, et ça y est, "les écolos devraient s'en inspirer au lieu du punitivisme, car ça marche".
Xième épisode "le problème c'est que vous êtes des casse couille peine à jouir contre productifs". 1/
Une pub mignonne où un loup devient végétarien se met à tourner, et ça y est, "les écolos devraient s'en inspirer au lieu du punitivisme, car ça marche".
Xième épisode "le problème c'est que vous êtes des casse couille peine à jouir contre productifs". 1/
Ayé c'est reparti sur l'air "au fond c'est la faute aux écolos : leur discours est contre productif".
Genre on n'avait jamais eu l'idée avant Intermarché :
De faire s'émerveiller sur la beauté de la vie sauvage
De parler de sobriété heureuse et de "moins de biens plus de liens"
Genre on n'avait jamais eu l'idée avant Intermarché :
De faire s'émerveiller sur la beauté de la vie sauvage
De parler de sobriété heureuse et de "moins de biens plus de liens"
« Avec son loup végétarien, Intermarché rappelle qu'un récit désirable porte mieux la transition écologique que n'importe quel discours de sobriété. »
Avis intéressant
Quel est le vôtre ?
www.novethic.fr/environnemen...
Avis intéressant
Quel est le vôtre ?
www.novethic.fr/environnemen...
December 13, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Je reprends, et ensuite n'y reviendrai pas.
Une pub mignonne où un loup devient végétarien se met à tourner, et ça y est, "les écolos devraient s'en inspirer au lieu du punitivisme, car ça marche".
Xième épisode "le problème c'est que vous êtes des casse couille peine à jouir contre productifs". 1/
Une pub mignonne où un loup devient végétarien se met à tourner, et ça y est, "les écolos devraient s'en inspirer au lieu du punitivisme, car ça marche".
Xième épisode "le problème c'est que vous êtes des casse couille peine à jouir contre productifs". 1/
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
@petrznam.bsky.social is working to understand how the three-dimensional world is encoded in the brain, in a new project supported by a Consolidator Grant from the @erc.europa.eu
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-12...
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-12...
Exploring how the 3D world is encoded in the brain
In a new five-year project supported by the European Research Council, researchers are working to understand the brain’s built-in capacity to perceive the world in 3D.
www.crick.ac.uk
December 10, 2025 at 11:28 AM
@petrznam.bsky.social is working to understand how the three-dimensional world is encoded in the brain, in a new project supported by a Consolidator Grant from the @erc.europa.eu
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-12...
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-12...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Que j'aime (non) ces braves gens se déclarant de gauche de vraie qui ce matin ont tous sorti le canot et les rames pour venir faire la morale sur l'air "désolé l'oeuf de Bardella c'est une violence in-to-lé-rable vous ne pouvez pas cautionner débat d'idées."
Déjà, les mecs, un oeuf.
Ensuite 1/
Déjà, les mecs, un oeuf.
Ensuite 1/
December 1, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Que j'aime (non) ces braves gens se déclarant de gauche de vraie qui ce matin ont tous sorti le canot et les rames pour venir faire la morale sur l'air "désolé l'oeuf de Bardella c'est une violence in-to-lé-rable vous ne pouvez pas cautionner débat d'idées."
Déjà, les mecs, un oeuf.
Ensuite 1/
Déjà, les mecs, un oeuf.
Ensuite 1/
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
By mimicking Reform to win back support, the Labour government is making a serious mistake. This race to the bottom emboldens Farage, punishes vulnerable people, amplifies racism, and undermines those working to hold communities together.
November 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
By mimicking Reform to win back support, the Labour government is making a serious mistake. This race to the bottom emboldens Farage, punishes vulnerable people, amplifies racism, and undermines those working to hold communities together.
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
So if AI succeeds loads of people lose their jobs as they're replaced by AI, and if AI fails, loads of people lose their jobs as the economy crashes?
It’s amazing how this story has gone from 0 to 60 in UK press. There’s been no mainstream coverage to date but this morning the story is leading BBC News site & bulletins.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Google boss Sundar Pichai warns 'no company immune' if AI bubble bursts
Speaking exclusively to BBC News, CEO Sundar Pichai said the artificial intelligence boom had been an
www.bbc.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 10:14 AM
So if AI succeeds loads of people lose their jobs as they're replaced by AI, and if AI fails, loads of people lose their jobs as the economy crashes?
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Join us at Crick - amazing team and great colleagues to collaborate on exciting design and development projects
Job alert!
Join the Making Lab at the @crick.ac.uk.
As a senior engineer in system design, programming, and hardware–software integration, you'll develop systems that make unique experiments possible.
More about the role and apply here:
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
Join the Making Lab at the @crick.ac.uk.
As a senior engineer in system design, programming, and hardware–software integration, you'll develop systems that make unique experiments possible.
More about the role and apply here:
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
Principal Laboratory Research Scientist
Salary for this Role: From £55,555 per annum with benefits, subject to skills and experience Job Title: Principal Laboratory Research Scientist Reports to: Albane Imbert Closing Date: 27/Nov/2025 23.5...
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Join us at Crick - amazing team and great colleagues to collaborate on exciting design and development projects
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026.
The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.
Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...
The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.
Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026.
The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.
Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...
The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.
Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
New awareness campaign
November 3, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New awareness campaign
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Interested in #neuroscience + #AI and looking for a PhD position?
I can support your application @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
✅ Check your eligibility (below)
✅ Contact me (DM or email)
UK nationals: www.imperial.ac.uk/life-science...
Otherwise: www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
I can support your application @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
✅ Check your eligibility (below)
✅ Contact me (DM or email)
UK nationals: www.imperial.ac.uk/life-science...
Otherwise: www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
November 4, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Interested in #neuroscience + #AI and looking for a PhD position?
I can support your application @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
✅ Check your eligibility (below)
✅ Contact me (DM or email)
UK nationals: www.imperial.ac.uk/life-science...
Otherwise: www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
I can support your application @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
✅ Check your eligibility (below)
✅ Contact me (DM or email)
UK nationals: www.imperial.ac.uk/life-science...
Otherwise: www.imperial.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Really enjoyed reading this short opinion piece by Tim O'Leary. I think it echoes the classic Feynman quote "what I cannot create I do not understand". I think engineering approaches such as neuromorphic computing will prove fundamental to scientific understanding of how biological brains work
Personal bias but I liked this transmitter article: www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...
“You won’t catch an engineer trying to formulate a grand unified theory of the brain”
“Engineers know how to make things work […] This is what makes engineering closer to biology than to other […] sciences”
“You won’t catch an engineer trying to formulate a grand unified theory of the brain”
“Engineers know how to make things work […] This is what makes engineering closer to biology than to other […] sciences”
Neuroscience needs engineers—for more reasons than you think
Adopting an engineering mindset will help the field focus its research priorities.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Really enjoyed reading this short opinion piece by Tim O'Leary. I think it echoes the classic Feynman quote "what I cannot create I do not understand". I think engineering approaches such as neuromorphic computing will prove fundamental to scientific understanding of how biological brains work
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Proud to have contributed to @gaiabianchini.bsky.social and @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social new paper on how the superior colliculus temporally integrates multisensory information
Functional specialisation of multisensory temporal integration in the mouse superior colliculus - Nature Communications
Whether and how anatomically distinct regions of the superior colliculus (SC) exhibit specialisation in multisensory temporal integration to facilitate different behavioural responses are not fully un...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Proud to have contributed to @gaiabianchini.bsky.social and @flor-iacaruso.bsky.social new paper on how the superior colliculus temporally integrates multisensory information
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
> Computing has always been a seesawing discipline. We had the AI winters of the 1970s and the 1990s, and we had the dot. com crash and the ensuing “Image Crisis.” It seems another crisis is upon us. Will we ever learn? It is time for some serious thinking!
cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
October 23, 2025 at 11:29 AM
> Computing has always been a seesawing discipline. We had the AI winters of the 1970s and the 1990s, and we had the dot. com crash and the ensuing “Image Crisis.” It seems another crisis is upon us. Will we ever learn? It is time for some serious thinking!
cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Researchers at the Crick found that virgin female mice can become aggressive towards pups when hungry, but only in certain hormonal states.
It highlights the importance of understanding hormones when observing how different physical states interact in the brain.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-10...
It highlights the importance of understanding hormones when observing how different physical states interact in the brain.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-10...
Hunger influences the behaviour of female mice towards pups
Researchers find that virgin female mice can become aggressive towards pups when hungry, but only in certain hormonal states.
www.crick.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Researchers at the Crick found that virgin female mice can become aggressive towards pups when hungry, but only in certain hormonal states.
It highlights the importance of understanding hormones when observing how different physical states interact in the brain.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-10...
It highlights the importance of understanding hormones when observing how different physical states interact in the brain.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-10...
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Happy Sarkozy in prison Day
L’ancien chef d’État Nicolas Sarkozy a été officiellement incarcéré ce mardi matin à la prison de la Santé de Paris. Il sera placé dans un quartier d’isolement et sera seul en cellule.
Financement libyen : l’ancien président de la République Nicolas Sarkozy incarcéré à la prison de la Santé
l.leparisien.fr
October 21, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Happy Sarkozy in prison Day
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Join us *next Monday*!
#CrickXrays25
X-ray #nanoimaging of biological tissues
🇬🇧🌐 @crick.ac.uk & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25
Sponsored by @dectris.bsky.social, @webknossos.org and @biologists.bsky.social and backed by @brukercorporation.bsky.social and Histomography
#CrickXrays25
X-ray #nanoimaging of biological tissues
🇬🇧🌐 @crick.ac.uk & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25
Sponsored by @dectris.bsky.social, @webknossos.org and @biologists.bsky.social and backed by @brukercorporation.bsky.social and Histomography
October 7, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Join us *next Monday*!
#CrickXrays25
X-ray #nanoimaging of biological tissues
🇬🇧🌐 @crick.ac.uk & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25
Sponsored by @dectris.bsky.social, @webknossos.org and @biologists.bsky.social and backed by @brukercorporation.bsky.social and Histomography
#CrickXrays25
X-ray #nanoimaging of biological tissues
🇬🇧🌐 @crick.ac.uk & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25
Sponsored by @dectris.bsky.social, @webknossos.org and @biologists.bsky.social and backed by @brukercorporation.bsky.social and Histomography
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
So a small update on French politics for my English speaking followers the guy who had been charged with forming a government and came up with the same government than the previous government has quit this morning following the announcement of his government and is now in charge of forming a new one
October 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM
So a small update on French politics for my English speaking followers the guy who had been charged with forming a government and came up with the same government than the previous government has quit this morning following the announcement of his government and is now in charge of forming a new one
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Applications for Doctoral Clinical Fellowships at the Crick, including a project in my lab, are now open! Please share widely!
We're looking for clinicians who are passionate about research to join our 3-year fully funded clinical PhD programme. 🔬🩺
Apply by 14 November 2025. 👇
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Apply by 14 November 2025. 👇
www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Doctoral clinical fellows
The Crick's clinical PhD programme.
www.crick.ac.uk
October 2, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Applications for Doctoral Clinical Fellowships at the Crick, including a project in my lab, are now open! Please share widely!
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
Many AI researchers draw inspiration from neuroscience. Naomi Saphra favors a different analogy. Interpretability, in her view, should take a cue from evolutionary biology.
To Understand AI, Watch How It Evolves | Quanta Magazine
Naomi Saphra thinks that most research into language models focuses too much on the finished product. She’s mining the history of their training for insights into why these systems work the way they…
www.quantamagazine.org
September 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Many AI researchers draw inspiration from neuroscience. Naomi Saphra favors a different analogy. Interpretability, in her view, should take a cue from evolutionary biology.
Reposted by Nicolas Skatchkovsky
GUESS WHAT WEEK IT IS
September 22, 2025 at 11:12 AM
GUESS WHAT WEEK IT IS