Richard Gast
@rgast.bsky.social
Neuroscientist at Scripps Research. Postdoc in Ann Kennedy's lab (@antihebbiann). Dynamical systems, mathematical modeling, neural computation. Open-source promoter and scientific software developer (github.com/pyrates-neuroscience)
Pinned
How heterogeneity shapes dynamics and computation in the brain
No two neurons are the same, yet models often treat neural populations as pools of
identical and interchangeable elements. Here, Dahmen et al. highlight recent theoretical
advances that reveal the imp...
www.cell.com
At the Bernstein Conference 2024, Jeremie Lefebvre and I organized a workshop on the computational consequences of neural heterogeneity. Now, slightly more than a year later, we funneled the emerging discussions into a perspective piece: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Richard Gast
University of Groningen: ⭐ no more big-tech by 2030 ⭐ Google Workplace 🚫 Windows 🚫 MS Office 🚫 ChatGPT 🚫 A huge challenge! Meeting culture won't get us there. Dedication and focus will. 💪🚀 Let's get to work.
ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science
ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science
We can do without them: how the UG is cutting ties with Big Tech
By 2030, the university aims to be digitally independent. And that’s not a pipe dream, say proponents of the plan.
ukrant.nl
January 21, 2026 at 3:38 PM
University of Groningen: ⭐ no more big-tech by 2030 ⭐ Google Workplace 🚫 Windows 🚫 MS Office 🚫 ChatGPT 🚫 A huge challenge! Meeting culture won't get us there. Dedication and focus will. 💪🚀 Let's get to work.
ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science
ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science
Reposted by Richard Gast
Alchemists be like
January 20, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Alchemists be like
Reposted by Richard Gast
Just out in @nature.com BME: Our Review unpacks intracortical microstimulation: axons, not somas, drive activation; direct + indirect pathways shape perception; parameters interact with neuron type, layer, and network; long-term use limited by neural depression & tissue response. 🧠⚡
rdcu.be/eZbTz
rdcu.be/eZbTz
Neural mechanisms underlying intracortical microstimulation for sensory restoration
Nature Biomedical Engineering - Intracortical microstimulation can elicit artificial sensations in persons who have lost sensation due to neurological injury or disease. This Review discusses...
rdcu.be
January 15, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Just out in @nature.com BME: Our Review unpacks intracortical microstimulation: axons, not somas, drive activation; direct + indirect pathways shape perception; parameters interact with neuron type, layer, and network; long-term use limited by neural depression & tissue response. 🧠⚡
rdcu.be/eZbTz
rdcu.be/eZbTz
Reposted by Richard Gast
Anyone have a thought about this weird mol on my hand?
January 10, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Anyone have a thought about this weird mol on my hand?
Reposted by Richard Gast
Useful browser extension to help assess issues in papers:
- retraction check
- PubPeer comments check
- tortured phrases check
- fake references check
We need more tools in this spirit to help make sense of science.
- retraction check
- PubPeer comments check
- tortured phrases check
- fake references check
We need more tools in this spirit to help make sense of science.
I launched version 3.0 of my browser extension "Lazy Scholar", a free in-browser research assistant. It opens automatically when you load an academic article.
See: lazyscholar.org/2026/01/10/l...
See: lazyscholar.org/2026/01/10/l...
January 10, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Useful browser extension to help assess issues in papers:
- retraction check
- PubPeer comments check
- tortured phrases check
- fake references check
We need more tools in this spirit to help make sense of science.
- retraction check
- PubPeer comments check
- tortured phrases check
- fake references check
We need more tools in this spirit to help make sense of science.
At the Bernstein Conference 2024, Jeremie Lefebvre and I organized a workshop on the computational consequences of neural heterogeneity. Now, slightly more than a year later, we funneled the emerging discussions into a perspective piece: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
How heterogeneity shapes dynamics and computation in the brain
No two neurons are the same, yet models often treat neural populations as pools of
identical and interchangeable elements. Here, Dahmen et al. highlight recent theoretical
advances that reveal the imp...
www.cell.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:22 PM
At the Bernstein Conference 2024, Jeremie Lefebvre and I organized a workshop on the computational consequences of neural heterogeneity. Now, slightly more than a year later, we funneled the emerging discussions into a perspective piece: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Richard Gast
Greetings from Kyiv,
where the night brought missiles and drones.
Explosions still continue this morning.
Emergency power outages.
Heating problems.
Residential buildings hit.
where the night brought missiles and drones.
Explosions still continue this morning.
Emergency power outages.
Heating problems.
Residential buildings hit.
December 27, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Greetings from Kyiv,
where the night brought missiles and drones.
Explosions still continue this morning.
Emergency power outages.
Heating problems.
Residential buildings hit.
where the night brought missiles and drones.
Explosions still continue this morning.
Emergency power outages.
Heating problems.
Residential buildings hit.
Reposted by Richard Gast
Christmas Procession in Kyiv.
View from the bell tower of St. Michael's Monastery.
I want the world to see this.
View from the bell tower of St. Michael's Monastery.
I want the world to see this.
December 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Christmas Procession in Kyiv.
View from the bell tower of St. Michael's Monastery.
I want the world to see this.
View from the bell tower of St. Michael's Monastery.
I want the world to see this.
Reposted by Richard Gast
anyone got any advice on the following situation? I wrote and did a big chunk of the admin for a large MRC grant which also also awarded. I am named in the Staff breakdown on the grant as "researcher co-lead" with 100%FTE, and I am mentioned by name as "postdoctoral researcher Maria Niedernhuber"
December 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
anyone got any advice on the following situation? I wrote and did a big chunk of the admin for a large MRC grant which also also awarded. I am named in the Staff breakdown on the grant as "researcher co-lead" with 100%FTE, and I am mentioned by name as "postdoctoral researcher Maria Niedernhuber"
Reposted by Richard Gast
The Tasselled Wobbegong is a master of disguise that can eat a fish almost as big as itself in one gulp. It's classified as a shark, but when it lays on the sea floor it looks like a harmless rug if you manage to see it. But with powerful jaws and sharp teeth they are no fish to mess with.
December 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The Tasselled Wobbegong is a master of disguise that can eat a fish almost as big as itself in one gulp. It's classified as a shark, but when it lays on the sea floor it looks like a harmless rug if you manage to see it. But with powerful jaws and sharp teeth they are no fish to mess with.
Reposted by Richard Gast
This is such a great visualization of the carbon cycle and of how humanity has completely altered it within a geological instant, by @rarohde.bsky.social:
December 7, 2025 at 11:17 PM
This is such a great visualization of the carbon cycle and of how humanity has completely altered it within a geological instant, by @rarohde.bsky.social:
Reposted by Richard Gast
Reposted by Richard Gast
This is a scandal.
Public universities should be banned from paying these insane buyouts for college coaches.
No pro sports teams are paying $33 million to fire their incompetent coach, so why are colleges paying this kind of money?!?
Public universities should be banned from paying these insane buyouts for college coaches.
No pro sports teams are paying $33 million to fire their incompetent coach, so why are colleges paying this kind of money?!?
SOURCES: Michigan State is firing head coach Jonathan Smith, @theathletic.com has learned.
He went 9-15 in two seasons, including 1-8 in the Big Ten this year. (ESPN first reported).
MSU players meeting called for 2:45. Smith has a $33 million buyout (with offset).
He went 9-15 in two seasons, including 1-8 in the Big Ten this year. (ESPN first reported).
MSU players meeting called for 2:45. Smith has a $33 million buyout (with offset).
November 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
This is a scandal.
Public universities should be banned from paying these insane buyouts for college coaches.
No pro sports teams are paying $33 million to fire their incompetent coach, so why are colleges paying this kind of money?!?
Public universities should be banned from paying these insane buyouts for college coaches.
No pro sports teams are paying $33 million to fire their incompetent coach, so why are colleges paying this kind of money?!?
Reposted by Richard Gast
And I swear, once again, this is not dunking on kids. We are seeing this at all levels--even grad students. AI + social media has had a profound impact on how we think and process our world, and we can't stop to reflect on it, because billionaires keep hurling addictive tech at us.
November 28, 2025 at 10:34 PM
And I swear, once again, this is not dunking on kids. We are seeing this at all levels--even grad students. AI + social media has had a profound impact on how we think and process our world, and we can't stop to reflect on it, because billionaires keep hurling addictive tech at us.
Reposted by Richard Gast
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification
Most behaviors involve neural dynamics in high-dimensional activity spaces. A common approach is to extract dimensions that capture task-related variability, such as those separating stimuli or choice...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Reposted by Richard Gast
Hello New York! Giving a Swartz seminar at NYU today, come say hi!
as.nyu.edu/departments/...
as.nyu.edu/departments/...
November 21, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Hello New York! Giving a Swartz seminar at NYU today, come say hi!
as.nyu.edu/departments/...
as.nyu.edu/departments/...
Reposted by Richard Gast
Conferences, or whatever your professional domain’s equivalent communal gathering happens to be, are a fundamentally load-bearing aspect of building anything worthwhile at scale. Just excellent to feel like one amidst a host of likeminded people largely pulling in the same direction.
November 16, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by Richard Gast
Tonight was a very bad night.
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Tonight was a very bad night.
Reposted by Richard Gast
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Richard Gast
We’re hiring a technician!!
We’re an inclusive team of behavioral neuroscientists trying to discover the brain circuits of learning, decision making, and habit. More info👇
wassumlab.psych.ucla.edu/join-the-lab/
Job posting:
jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/8968
We’re an inclusive team of behavioral neuroscientists trying to discover the brain circuits of learning, decision making, and habit. More info👇
wassumlab.psych.ucla.edu/join-the-lab/
Job posting:
jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/8968
November 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
We’re hiring a technician!!
We’re an inclusive team of behavioral neuroscientists trying to discover the brain circuits of learning, decision making, and habit. More info👇
wassumlab.psych.ucla.edu/join-the-lab/
Job posting:
jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/8968
We’re an inclusive team of behavioral neuroscientists trying to discover the brain circuits of learning, decision making, and habit. More info👇
wassumlab.psych.ucla.edu/join-the-lab/
Job posting:
jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/8968
Reposted by Richard Gast
Today, as the Fed cuts, is another good day to note how we’ve just totally normalized & moved on from the unprecedented violation of central bank independence that Stephen Miran represents. This would’ve been a huge scandal requiring his resignation from at least one post in any prior admin. Now? 🤪
It's tedious to keep pointing out, & there's bigger fascism going on, but if Joe Biden had tried to appoint Jared Bernstein to the Fed AND have him stay on at CEA, every media outlet in the country would have made it a nonstop national scandal, & yet here we are, again, just 🤪 for One Special Boy.
Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst Article I constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & then, well, 👇🤷♂️🤦♂️
October 29, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Today, as the Fed cuts, is another good day to note how we’ve just totally normalized & moved on from the unprecedented violation of central bank independence that Stephen Miran represents. This would’ve been a huge scandal requiring his resignation from at least one post in any prior admin. Now? 🤪
Reposted by Richard Gast
The whole Third Term Project isn’t actually about Trump. The people behind it know he will likely be dead or enfeebled by 2029. It is about them, the vastly unpopular group around Trump, wanting to grift us forever without elections.
October 29, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The whole Third Term Project isn’t actually about Trump. The people behind it know he will likely be dead or enfeebled by 2029. It is about them, the vastly unpopular group around Trump, wanting to grift us forever without elections.
Reposted by Richard Gast
A year ago, I launched my book #OnFreedom in a war zone – in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 35 seconds from Russian artillery. Today, I'm launching the paperback in Portland, Oregon. Which is NOT a war zone. There is a difference in the real world between what's a war and what is not, and between truth and lies.
October 28, 2025 at 9:46 PM
A year ago, I launched my book #OnFreedom in a war zone – in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 35 seconds from Russian artillery. Today, I'm launching the paperback in Portland, Oregon. Which is NOT a war zone. There is a difference in the real world between what's a war and what is not, and between truth and lies.
Reposted by Richard Gast
once you understand that we never outgrew wanting to watch gladiatorial battles and throw tomatoes at people in the stocks and eat junk food at public hangings the internet makes a lot more sense
October 24, 2025 at 8:56 PM
once you understand that we never outgrew wanting to watch gladiatorial battles and throw tomatoes at people in the stocks and eat junk food at public hangings the internet makes a lot more sense