Mel Goodale
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action-brain.bsky.social
Mel Goodale
@action-brain.bsky.social
Cognitive neuroscientist and nature lover. Founding Director of Brain and Mind at Western University. https://www.uwo.ca/bmi/
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Hope! We have Milkweed growing in our yard, which attracts Monarch butterflies. We were pleased to see a Monarch chrysalis hanging from the top of a basement window a few days ago. Today, a beautiful butterfly emerged.
Reposted by Mel Goodale
wow, massive illusory motion effect here
September 23, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.

The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.

From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
September 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
Another lovely effect a bit like the last one (but maybe even more distressing!), for those seeking illusory content. No idea who made this one I'm afraid - if you happen to know, let me know so I can credit them!
October 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
For your enjoyment (by @jagarikin)
October 25, 2025 at 11:58 AM
We hiked to the Meeting Tree, a 670 year-old White Oak, located at Westminster Ponds Conservation Area, London Ontario earlier this week. The tree was a safe meeting place for slaves leaving America and traveling up north to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
November 1, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Frost on Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Fall is finally here. It's been exceptionally warm for October. 🌿
October 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
This weekend we stayed in a Yurt in Bruce Peninsula National Park parks.canada.ca/pn-np/on/bruce
The weather was amazing -- preternaturally warm. The Grotto and Indian Head Cove looked like the Mediterranean.
October 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge has a tenure-track position for a neuroscientist studying brain function across the life span in nonhuman animals. Join a terrific community of researchers in a beautiful part of the country.🧠🧪 Re-post
uleth.peopleadmin.ca/postings/8586
September 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I spotted these berries on trails near London ON: bright red American Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum); white baneberry or doll’s eye (Actaea pachypoda); and dark purple American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). Only the Highbush Cranberry is edible; the other two are poisonous to humans.🌿🌱
September 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
How good are we at estimating someone's age from their face and how does that change with the face's chronological age? @tganel.bsky.social et al.'s new framework disentangles bias and error, revealing new insights into how facial age is computed by humans and AIs. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 3, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I think this is a Peck's Skipper (Polites peckius) gracing our front garden. If you look closely, you can see its long proboscis stretching into the Liatris flower. 🌿
September 2, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
OHBM Oz rego + abstracts now open. Get amongst it!
✨✨ We are excited to announce the OHBM Australian Chapter 2025 Annual Meeting! 🧠🇦🇺

📢 Abstract submissions & registration now OPEN (abstract submission closes September 15th at 5pm)

📍 Melbourne 🏙️☕
📅 Wednesday, November 12, 2025

ohbm-aus.github.io/posts/2025-a...

We hope to see you there! 🤩
August 25, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
End of August means ECVP! This year, I am here (in beautiful Mainz) with a special mission - to find postdocs who will join us in (equally beautiful) Krakow, PL! Drop me a DM if you are interested!
@ecvp.bsky.social
August 25, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Common Eastern Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) foraging on new blooms on a Grape-leaf Anemone (Anemone tomentosa) in our front garden on this fine August afternoon. 🌱 🌿
August 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
Animal welfare is important when conducting scientific research that benefits human health. A well thought out essay by Dr. Arthur Brown, Chair of the Animal Care Committee at Western University. torontostarreplica.pressreader.com/article/2816...
Toronto Star ePaper
Toronto Star ePaper
torontostarreplica.pressreader.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
RARE BOOK COLLECTIONS IN TODAY’S LIFE - Old books carry the voices of our ancestors—the artistry of centuries. Discover the stories behind the pages—and how they shape the present. FREE public workshop and one is online! Register! www.journal.dsartistrylabs.com/home/collect...
DS Artistry Labs Journal - Workshop-Collections
Free Public Workshop
www.journal.dsartistrylabs.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Upcoming conference will explore the evolving ethical and societal questions posed by human stem cell-derived neural organoid and assembloid research, discussing strategies for the responsible advancement and communication of these technologies.
sto.stanfordtickets.org/ethical-and-... 🧪🧠 re-post
August 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Not one, not two, not three, but four Monarch caterpillars on one Milkweed plant in my daughter's front garden. Usually, Monarchs lay only one egg per plant. Was it a confused mother butterfly, or did different females lay their one egg on the same plant?
August 23, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
Now that’s what I call a special issue
#OnThisDay in 1858, a seminal journal article comprised of papers by Alfred Russel Wallace FRS and Charles Darwin FRS on the theory of evolution by natural selection was published by the Linnean Society, the first public announcement of the theory of evolution. bit.ly/3k8fq4u
August 21, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
A brain-imaging study of people with amputated arms has upended a long-standing belief

go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG
The brain’s map of the body is surprisingly stable — even after a limb is lost
Study challenges the textbook idea that the brain region that processes body sensations reorganizes itself after limb amputation.
go.nature.com
August 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Mel Goodale
Here's the schedule for the MIT Consciousness Club this year: sites.google.com/view/mit-con.... I'm looking forward to it! (Rooms will be announced soon; and we're currently working on a zoom option for those who would like to join online)
MIT Consciousness Club
The MIT Consciousness Club aims to foster interdisciplinary research on consciousness at MIT and in the broader Boston area by organizing a monthly event featuring an expert talk on consciousness foll...
sites.google.com
August 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Queen Anne's Lace and friends at Komoka Provincial Park this beautiful afternoon.
www.ontarioparks.ca/park/komoka
August 18, 2025 at 8:12 PM
A Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillar chomping its way through a leaf of the Milkweed growing in our back garden. Like the Monarch butterfly, the adult moths become unpalatable to predators from feeding on the Milkweed when they were caterpillars.
August 5, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Busy Carpenter bee foraging on Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) in our front garden. This tall perennial is native to southern Ontario. It attracts a lot of pollinators.
August 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM