Ali Minai
@barbarikon.bsky.social
Here only for serious stuff on:
#AI #Archaeology #Art #Biology #CognitiveScience #ComplexSystems #Farsi #History #Neuroscience #Poetry #Politics #SciFi #SouthAsia #Urdu
#AI #Archaeology #Art #Biology #CognitiveScience #ComplexSystems #Farsi #History #Neuroscience #Poetry #Politics #SciFi #SouthAsia #Urdu
Pinned
Ali Minai
@barbarikon.bsky.social
· Nov 25
“The imagination of Nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.”
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Reposted by Ali Minai
1/35 New paper out! @jamesTstroud and I dive into why long-term studies are crucial for understanding evolution. They reveal processes impossible to detect in short timescales and capture rare events that transform our understanding of evolutionary dynamics.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
March 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
1/35 New paper out! @jamesTstroud and I dive into why long-term studies are crucial for understanding evolution. They reveal processes impossible to detect in short timescales and capture rare events that transform our understanding of evolutionary dynamics.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ali Minai
Really nice experiment from Zutshi et al. looking at how the hippocampus encodes non-spatial variables, like auditory cue tones, while animals solve a spatial task: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#Neuroscience #Hippocampus #BrainScience
#Neuroscience #Hippocampus #BrainScience
Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans - Nature
Using high-density electrophysiological recordings, how internally generated cell assemblies are updated by action plans to meet external goals is explored.
doi.org
March 10, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Really nice experiment from Zutshi et al. looking at how the hippocampus encodes non-spatial variables, like auditory cue tones, while animals solve a spatial task: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#Neuroscience #Hippocampus #BrainScience
#Neuroscience #Hippocampus #BrainScience
Reposted by Ali Minai
‘Ancient Cave Discovery Reveals That 8,000 Years Ago, the Sahara Was Green’ scitechdaily.com/ancient-cave...
Ancient Cave Discovery Reveals That 8,000 Years Ago, the Sahara Was Green
Analysis of Moroccan stalagmites reveals that the Sahara received increased rainfall between 8,700 and 4,300 years ago, supporting early herding societies. This rainfall, likely driven by tropical plu...
scitechdaily.com
March 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
‘Ancient Cave Discovery Reveals That 8,000 Years Ago, the Sahara Was Green’ scitechdaily.com/ancient-cave...
Reposted by Ali Minai
Why Tononi et al's defense of IIT fails to convince me. medium.com/@kording/86f...
Why Tononi’s Defense of IIT Fails to Convince Me
I am one of the co-signers of the letter labeling IIT as “pseudoscience” for numerous reasons. These include a definition of…
medium.com
March 10, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Why Tononi et al's defense of IIT fails to convince me. medium.com/@kording/86f...
Reposted by Ali Minai
Reposted by Ali Minai
"Randall hosted a morning town hall Saturday in Bremerton that filled up in minutes. Rather than turning the overflow crowd away, she immediately held a 2nd session. 'I want to hear from everyone who took the time out of their day to be here,' she wrote online..."
www.advocate.com/politics/hug...
www.advocate.com/politics/hug...
Massive turnout at Democratic lawmakers’ town halls as Republicans hide from voters
The GOP struggles to defend the unpopular Trump administration’s policies.
www.advocate.com
March 9, 2025 at 11:57 PM
"Randall hosted a morning town hall Saturday in Bremerton that filled up in minutes. Rather than turning the overflow crowd away, she immediately held a 2nd session. 'I want to hear from everyone who took the time out of their day to be here,' she wrote online..."
www.advocate.com/politics/hug...
www.advocate.com/politics/hug...
Reposted by Ali Minai
Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans www.nature.com/articles/s41... - really nice work from G. Buzsaki and colleagues, reinforcing an affordance-laden view of neural coding
Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans - Nature
Using high-density electrophysiological recordings, how internally generated cell assemblies are updated by action plans to meet external goals is explored.
www.nature.com
March 10, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans www.nature.com/articles/s41... - really nice work from G. Buzsaki and colleagues, reinforcing an affordance-laden view of neural coding
Reposted by Ali Minai
And then Vance gives Trump a little there-there pat on the arm to Grandpa Ranty.
This did not go as they expected
This did not go as they expected
Zelenskyy gives a thumbs up after getting berated by a visibly agitated Trump
February 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
And then Vance gives Trump a little there-there pat on the arm to Grandpa Ranty.
This did not go as they expected
This did not go as they expected
This is excellent. Moving all controls to touchscreens is one of the worst features in new cars.
Next year, the EU will require cars to have buttons & dials -- not just touchscreens -- to get a top safety rating.
This is a great move. Drivers can fiddle with knobs & buttons without taking their eyes off the road, but they can't do that with touchscreens.
(Even better: Tesla will hate this)
This is a great move. Drivers can fiddle with knobs & buttons without taking their eyes off the road, but they can't do that with touchscreens.
(Even better: Tesla will hate this)
Cars will need fewer screens and more buttons to earn five-star safety rating in Europe
Euro NCAP will release new testing guidelines in 2026.
www.theverge.com
February 28, 2025 at 2:30 AM
This is excellent. Moving all controls to touchscreens is one of the worst features in new cars.
One of the most memorable places I have been to: the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion. These are just four of the thousands of beautiful urns, jars, cups, and other vessels on display. And, of course, the octopus is a star!
February 28, 2025 at 2:28 AM
One of the most memorable places I have been to: the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion. These are just four of the thousands of beautiful urns, jars, cups, and other vessels on display. And, of course, the octopus is a star!
Reposted by Ali Minai
President's Day rallies
February 17, 2025 at 8:25 PM
President's Day rallies
Reposted by Ali Minai
The case for proper scientific study of unidentified flying and subsea objects. Whatever you think of that, this long paper is full of fascinating case histories.
www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.06794
www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.06794
The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)
After decades of dismissal and secrecy, it has become clear that a significant number of the world's governments take Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP), formerly known as Unidentified Fl...
www.arxiv.org
February 17, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The case for proper scientific study of unidentified flying and subsea objects. Whatever you think of that, this long paper is full of fascinating case histories.
www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.06794
www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.06794
Reposted by Ali Minai
Our paper on how neural codes track prior events in a narrative and predict subsequent memory for details, led by @collinsilvy.bsky.social, is now out in Communications Psychology! rdcu.be/d93Vc #neuroskyence #psychscisky
Neural codes track prior events in a narrative and predict subsequent memory for details
Communications Psychology - Context-dependent temporal structures are represented in multiple ways in parallel in the human brain during processing of temporally extended events. The neural...
rdcu.be
February 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Our paper on how neural codes track prior events in a narrative and predict subsequent memory for details, led by @collinsilvy.bsky.social, is now out in Communications Psychology! rdcu.be/d93Vc #neuroskyence #psychscisky
Reposted by Ali Minai
"Europe must now start the painful process of “de-risking” its relationship with the US, looking for areas of dangerous dependence on America and stripping them out of the system.” from @gideonrachman.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/11f1...
www.ft.com/content/11f1...
Vance’s real warning to Europe
Europeans need to reduce their dangerous dependence on an adversarial America
www.ft.com
February 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
"Europe must now start the painful process of “de-risking” its relationship with the US, looking for areas of dangerous dependence on America and stripping them out of the system.” from @gideonrachman.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/11f1...
www.ft.com/content/11f1...
Reposted by Ali Minai
Chris Fields and I on the origin of life:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪
Life, its origin, and its distribution: a perspective from the Conway-Kochen Theorem and the Free Energy Principle
www.tandfonline.com
February 17, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Chris Fields and I on the origin of life:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪
Reposted by Ali Minai
OMG Sarah Cooper is brilliant
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ1...
The History of Wealth Throughout History
YouTube video by Sarah Cooper
www.youtube.com
February 16, 2025 at 7:10 PM
OMG Sarah Cooper is brilliant
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ1...
Reposted by Ali Minai
In case anyone was wondering why the government was so heavily invested in scientific research (pre-DOGE) here is a clear explanation from one of the workers on the chopping block:
February 16, 2025 at 4:41 PM
In case anyone was wondering why the government was so heavily invested in scientific research (pre-DOGE) here is a clear explanation from one of the workers on the chopping block:
Reposted by Ali Minai
Now watching: Neuroscience vs Philosophy | Full Debate | Margaret Boden, Barry Smith, Steven Rose, Roger Bolton www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yp...
Neuroscience vs Philosophy | Full Debate | Margaret Boden, Barry Smith, Steven Rose, Roger Bolton
YouTube video by The Institute of Art and Ideas
www.youtube.com
February 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Now watching: Neuroscience vs Philosophy | Full Debate | Margaret Boden, Barry Smith, Steven Rose, Roger Bolton www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yp...
Reposted by Ali Minai
‘The greatest propaganda op in history’: Trump’s reshaping of US culture evokes past antidemocratic regimes. Yes. Psychological warfare is more accurate term. Suggest reading my book, The Cult of Trump- all about mind control.
February 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
‘The greatest propaganda op in history’: Trump’s reshaping of US culture evokes past antidemocratic regimes. Yes. Psychological warfare is more accurate term. Suggest reading my book, The Cult of Trump- all about mind control.
Reposted by Ali Minai
I wrote an op-ed for voters in a red state about how devastating NIH indirect cuts are. This type of writing isn’t my comfort zone, but I think we as scientists need to get the word out. Happy to chat with others looking to do the same in their communities!
www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...
www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...
National Insitutes of Health funding cuts by Trump administration benefit no one | Opinion
Indirect funds are essential for supporting the research infrastructure needed to develop innovative solutions to the most pressing health challenges.
www.tennessean.com
February 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I wrote an op-ed for voters in a red state about how devastating NIH indirect cuts are. This type of writing isn’t my comfort zone, but I think we as scientists need to get the word out. Happy to chat with others looking to do the same in their communities!
www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...
www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by Ali Minai
The "Podcast" ECoG dataset for modeling neural activity during natural language comprehension https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.14.638352v1
February 16, 2025 at 10:15 AM
The "Podcast" ECoG dataset for modeling neural activity during natural language comprehension https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.14.638352v1
Reposted by Ali Minai
Linguistic coupling between neural systems for speech production and comprehension during real-time dyadic conversations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.14.638276v1
February 16, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Linguistic coupling between neural systems for speech production and comprehension during real-time dyadic conversations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.14.638276v1
This thread says it all. What insanity!
Thanks to all of the NIHers and their friends who reached out to me. I am still here (DM me or Signal jeremymberg.78)
I still have a very incomplete picture but based on what I have been told, the damage to NIH and to many wonderful people who work(ed) there is/was impossible for me to imagine
1/n
I still have a very incomplete picture but based on what I have been told, the damage to NIH and to many wonderful people who work(ed) there is/was impossible for me to imagine
1/n
February 16, 2025 at 10:30 AM
This thread says it all. What insanity!
This, exactly 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
February 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
This, exactly 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽