Nancy Kanwisher
Nancy Kanwisher
@nancykanwisher.bsky.social

Scientist, mentor, activist, explorer.

Nancy Gail Kanwisher FBA is the Walter A Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a researcher at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She studies the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying human visual perception and cognition. .. more

Neuroscience 75%
Computer science 12%

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

To study how animals understand the physical world (and the rules that govern its dynamics), @jinyao-y.bsky.social trains rats to play fetch with robots 🐀🤖🎾

To learn more, come to our poster Tuesday morning!
[Board W11] Rats learn and use intuitive physics knowledge to solve fetch tasks.
#SfN2025

This is an amazing opportunity: work with Vivian Paulun
‪@vivianpaulun.bsky.social‬, who has deep insights about perception, and extraordinary skills as an experimentalist and theorist.
🚨I am looking for a POSTDOC, LAB MANAGER/TECH and GRAD STUDENTS to join my new lab in beautiful Madison, WI.
We study how our brains perceive and represent the physical world around us using behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging methods.
paulunlab.psych.wisc.edu
#VisionScience #NeuroSkyence

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

🚨I am looking for a POSTDOC, LAB MANAGER/TECH and GRAD STUDENTS to join my new lab in beautiful Madison, WI.
We study how our brains perceive and represent the physical world around us using behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging methods.
paulunlab.psych.wisc.edu
#VisionScience #NeuroSkyence
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.

Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

🧪🗳️Scientists and experts around the country: we need your voice now! Please join us November 20 for a virtual training on how the scientific community can stand up for our democracy and push back against the growing authoritarian threat in the US. Register here: act.ucsusa.org/44007SY

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

“Veena Dubal, the general counsel of the American Association of University Professors, one of the groups that brought the case, said in an interview on Friday that she was “kind of in tears” after the ruling.” 🥹
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding
www.nytimes.com

100%!!!
@markhisted.org , you have been and are incredibly brave and admirable.

I hope the rumors are false.

and: keep up the amazing work!
Hearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers.

I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.

As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

@markhisted.org , you have been and are incredibly brave and admirable.

I hope the rumors are false.

and: keep up the amazing work!
Hearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers.

I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.

As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
Institutions are failing us, including universities that, in principle, ought to be standing up for academic freedom.

Academic friends, if you want to survive this moment, join the AAUP. Help yourself and colleagues at other institutions.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

Infinitely worse for non-U.S. citizens of course.

This is why U.S. citizens must stand up and do what we can

A happy post: Went oystering with a couple of friends in West Falmouth harbor last night, a delightful demographically diverse local event. The town farms oysters, which removes nitrogen from the water, then dumps the oysters in the harbor for us to harvest. A fabulous roasted oyster feast ensued.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

Watch this. I mean it. Watch it

Need to feed your kids? Fine do that first. But the bathroom? Hold it. Watch this first

Jennifer Moriarty describes being thrown in a Border Patrol vehicle & spending hours driven around by, per Daniel Biss, the Keystone Kops danielbiss.substack.com/p/daniel-bis...
Daniel Biss talks with detained ICE protestor Jennifer Moriarty
In this recording from our live conversation, I spoke with Evanston resident Jennifer Moriarty, who was "grabbed by the neck" and then detained while peacefully protesting against ICE.
danielbiss.substack.com
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?

Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
Chris Murphy: "There will be pretty substantial damage to a Dem brand that has been rehabilitated if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop... if we surrender without having gotten anything, I worry it'll be hard to get them back up off the mat"

Shame on us!
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Great advice on fellowship essay writing:
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.

Caveats:
-*-*-*-*


> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees

> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.

Caveats:
-*-*-*-*


> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees

> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

If you're a Jewish New Yorker who can't understand why people in your city voted for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social , ask your children. They probably did too.

and get him branded a traitor. It may be using your body to shield someone more vulnerable... It may be withdrawing your economic cooperation. It is weighing leaving against staying, moral obligation against fear, flying under the radar against taking a risk — and opting for the risk."

Important wisdom from @mashagessen.bsky.social:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/o...
"To be a good citizen of a bad state, one has to do scary things. It may be writing an op-ed calling for your own country’s isolation, as Sfard did, knowing that it would cost him friendships...
www.nytimes.com
NEWS: Federal agents crashed with woman’s car, pointed guns at her, dragged her out by legs, tossed her in a minivan, held her and (eventually) let her go without charges. This as Chicagoans say the immigration blitz is out of control. (DHS blames her.)
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...
Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability
The arrest of Dayanne Figueroa highlights growing concerns about the use of force against U.S. citizens and due process. She was released after a few hours without charges.
www.chicagotribune.com

It was a blast ‪@standehaene.bsky.social‬, with one fantastic talk after another, thank you so much for inviting me!
And OMG the roof deck of the College de France!

A funny conversation with a newcomer at the contra dance in Woods Hole last night:
Me: What brings you to Woods Hole?
He: I’m a neuroscientist, working on octopuses.
Me: I’m a neuroscientist too! I study patches of human cortex that do ridiculously specific things.
He: Oh like that Kanwisher stuff?

I love my lab!
15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher

The US isn't giving Sudan+Syria weapons to commit those crimes. If Michael Oren is concerned about Sudan, he should urge Israel to impose sanctions on the UAE, which is arming genocidal militias there. But he couldn't care less about Sudan. It's a transparent effort to deflect criticism of Israel.

—through a doctrine that has come to be known, however unspecifically, as “Supremacy Clause immunity.” But the rule is not nearly as categorical as Miller suggests—nor is it a “felony” for local or state authorities to arrest someone who they have probable cause to believe committed a state crime.

even in the course of carrying out their duties."

Further, concerning "Miller’s insinuation that ICE officers would be immune from local or state prosecutions. There certainly are some contexts in which the Constitution forecloses local or state governments from prosecuting federal officers...