Ben Schulz
@schulzb589.bsky.social
Pancomputationalism across the multiverse
Reposted by Ben Schulz
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:39 AM
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
A new paper with Bogdan Georgiev, Javier Gomez-Serrano, and Adam Zsolt Wagner: "Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale" arxiv.org/abs/2511.02864. Further discussion is at terrytao.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale
AlphaEvolve is a generic evolutionary coding agent that combines the generative capabilities of LLMs with automated evaluation in an iterative evolutionary framework that proposes, tests, and refines ...
arxiv.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 AM
A new paper with Bogdan Georgiev, Javier Gomez-Serrano, and Adam Zsolt Wagner: "Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale" arxiv.org/abs/2511.02864. Further discussion is at terrytao.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
@gershbrain.bsky.social. Thought you might find this interesting
This is a magnificent piece of research from @stevenmweisberg.bsky.social and @adekstreme.bsky.social labs:
Newly trained navigation and verbal memory skills in humans elicit changes in task-related networks but not brain structure
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Newly trained navigation and verbal memory skills in humans elicit changes in task-related networks but not brain structure
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Newly trained navigation and verbal memory skills in humans elicit changes in task-related networks but not brain structure
Learning new navigation or memory skills engages flexible brain network dynamics without altering gray matter, white matter, or hippocampal structure.
elifesciences.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM
@gershbrain.bsky.social. Thought you might find this interesting
Reposted by Ben Schulz
What can we learn about living computation from non-living machines? In this @royalsocietypublishing.org A. Adamatzky shows that a computer doesn’t need to be solid. From droplets 2 chemical waves, liquid computers blur the line between chemistry & thought. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
October 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
What can we learn about living computation from non-living machines? In this @royalsocietypublishing.org A. Adamatzky shows that a computer doesn’t need to be solid. From droplets 2 chemical waves, liquid computers blur the line between chemistry & thought. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Ben Schulz
New preprint! How can you remember an image you saw once, even after seeing thousands of them? We find a role for humble mid-level visual cortex in high-capacity, one-shot learning. doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.22.677855 🧵🧪1/
Neuronal signatures of successful one-shot memory in mid-level visual cortex
High-capacity, one-shot visual recognition memory challenges theories of learning and neural coding because it requires rapid, robust, and durable representations. Most studies have focused on the hip...
doi.org
September 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
New preprint! How can you remember an image you saw once, even after seeing thousands of them? We find a role for humble mid-level visual cortex in high-capacity, one-shot learning. doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.22.677855 🧵🧪1/
Reposted by Ben Schulz
New paper!
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
The brain has somewhat separate cognitive resources for the left and right sides of our visual field. Despite this lateralization, we have a smooth and unified perception of our environment. This rais...
www.jneurosci.org
September 22, 2025 at 11:22 AM
New paper!
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Thinking, Searching, and Acting
A reflection on reasoning models. It's easy to fixate on the "thinking" that gave reasoning models their name, but just over a year out from o1-preview's release by OpenAI, the core primitives that make up models today has expanded.
buff.ly/BpUShgg
A reflection on reasoning models. It's easy to fixate on the "thinking" that gave reasoning models their name, but just over a year out from o1-preview's release by OpenAI, the core primitives that make up models today has expanded.
buff.ly/BpUShgg
September 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Thinking, Searching, and Acting
A reflection on reasoning models. It's easy to fixate on the "thinking" that gave reasoning models their name, but just over a year out from o1-preview's release by OpenAI, the core primitives that make up models today has expanded.
buff.ly/BpUShgg
A reflection on reasoning models. It's easy to fixate on the "thinking" that gave reasoning models their name, but just over a year out from o1-preview's release by OpenAI, the core primitives that make up models today has expanded.
buff.ly/BpUShgg
Reposted by Ben Schulz
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Sian Virtue-Griffiths, Nigel C. Rogasch, et al:
Task-related changes in aperiodic activity are related to visual working memory capacity independent of event-related potentials and alpha oscillations
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Task-related changes in aperiodic activity are related to visual working memory capacity independent of event-related potentials and alpha oscillations
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
September 22, 2025 at 3:35 PM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Sian Virtue-Griffiths, Nigel C. Rogasch, et al:
Task-related changes in aperiodic activity are related to visual working memory capacity independent of event-related potentials and alpha oscillations
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Task-related changes in aperiodic activity are related to visual working memory capacity independent of event-related potentials and alpha oscillations
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
New preprint! What happens if you add neuromodulation to spiking neural networks and let them go wild with it? TLDR: it can improve performance especially in challenging sensory processing tasks. Explainer thread below. 🤖🧠🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Neuromodulation enhances dynamic sensory processing in spiking neural network models
Neuromodulators allow circuits to dynamically change their biophysical properties in a context-sensitive way. In addition to their role in learning, neuromodulators have been suggested to play a role ...
www.biorxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
New preprint! What happens if you add neuromodulation to spiking neural networks and let them go wild with it? TLDR: it can improve performance especially in challenging sensory processing tasks. Explainer thread below. 🤖🧠🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
How does the brain decide? 🧠
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Transitions in dynamical regime and neural mode during perceptual decisions - Nature
Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neura...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
How does the brain decide? 🧠
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.
After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.
rdcu.be/eGUrv
Reposted by Ben Schulz
🚨 NEW PREPRINT: Multimodal inference through mental simulation.
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
September 16, 2025 at 7:04 PM
🚨 NEW PREPRINT: Multimodal inference through mental simulation.
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
@elisennesh.bsky.social @mjdramstead.bsky.social It seems their approach is tangentially related to active inference with entropy maps.
Very exciting preprint from Dan Yamins' NeuroAI lab, proposing Probabilistic Structure Integration (PSI), a way to bootstrap from pixels to higher-level visual abstractions through a kind of visual prompting. One of the deepest and most original ideas I've read in a while.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
World Modeling with Probabilistic Structure Integration
We present Probabilistic Structure Integration (PSI), a system for learning richly controllable and flexibly promptable world models from data. PSI consists of a three-step cycle. The first step, Prob...
arxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 9:08 PM
@elisennesh.bsky.social @mjdramstead.bsky.social It seems their approach is tangentially related to active inference with entropy maps.
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Very exciting preprint from Dan Yamins' NeuroAI lab, proposing Probabilistic Structure Integration (PSI), a way to bootstrap from pixels to higher-level visual abstractions through a kind of visual prompting. One of the deepest and most original ideas I've read in a while.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
World Modeling with Probabilistic Structure Integration
We present Probabilistic Structure Integration (PSI), a system for learning richly controllable and flexibly promptable world models from data. PSI consists of a three-step cycle. The first step, Prob...
arxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Very exciting preprint from Dan Yamins' NeuroAI lab, proposing Probabilistic Structure Integration (PSI), a way to bootstrap from pixels to higher-level visual abstractions through a kind of visual prompting. One of the deepest and most original ideas I've read in a while.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09737
Reposted by Ben Schulz
In an EEG study spearheaded by Marlena Baldauf, we show that 8-month-old babies’ visual systems resonate at 4Hz (theta rhythm) — unlike adults, who resonate around 10Hz (alpha).
👶🧠 echoes at 4Hz
👩🦰🧠 echoes at ~10Hz
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👶🧠 echoes at 4Hz
👩🦰🧠 echoes at ~10Hz
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Infant Brains Tick at 4Hz - Resonance Properties of the Developing Visual System
Neural rhythms of the infant brain are not well understood. Testing the rhythmic properties of the adult visual system with periodic or broadband visual stimulation elicited neural resonance phenomena...
www.biorxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:19 PM
In an EEG study spearheaded by Marlena Baldauf, we show that 8-month-old babies’ visual systems resonate at 4Hz (theta rhythm) — unlike adults, who resonate around 10Hz (alpha).
👶🧠 echoes at 4Hz
👩🦰🧠 echoes at ~10Hz
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👶🧠 echoes at 4Hz
👩🦰🧠 echoes at ~10Hz
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Gene editing of single, targeted neurons in vivo is now feasible. We are proud to present our preprint for highly efficient single-cell electroporation using RNA. With @alex-fratzl.bsky.social, @munzlab.bsky.social, Botond Roska @iobswiss.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In vivo single-cell gene editing using RNA electroporation reveals sequential adaptation of cortical neurons to excitatory-inhibitory imbalance
The balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission is fundamental for normal brain function, yet the adaptation of individual neurons to disrupted excitatory-inhibitory balance is not wel...
www.biorxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Gene editing of single, targeted neurons in vivo is now feasible. We are proud to present our preprint for highly efficient single-cell electroporation using RNA. With @alex-fratzl.bsky.social, @munzlab.bsky.social, Botond Roska @iobswiss.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
By working together, cells can extend their senses beyond their direct environment phys.org/news/2025-09...
By working together, cells can extend their senses beyond their direct environment
The story of the princess and the pea evokes an image of a highly sensitive young royal woman so refined, she can sense a pea under a stack of mattresses. When it comes to human biology, it also takes...
phys.org
September 14, 2025 at 1:32 AM
By working together, cells can extend their senses beyond their direct environment phys.org/news/2025-09...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
September 12, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Esoteric languages challenge coders to think way outside the box. In a conversation with @spectrum.ieee.org, author and artist Daniel Temkin dives into the coding exercise/art form. Look for his new book, "Forty-Four Esolangs: The Art of Esoteric Code," later this month:
Can You Code With Pictures? Esoteric Languages Challenge How We Code
Esoteric languages spark creativity by challenging conventional coding. Daniel Temkin is writing codes to confront the lack of creativity in AI code.
spectrum.ieee.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Esoteric languages challenge coders to think way outside the box. In a conversation with @spectrum.ieee.org, author and artist Daniel Temkin dives into the coding exercise/art form. Look for his new book, "Forty-Four Esolangs: The Art of Esoteric Code," later this month:
Reposted by Ben Schulz
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀?
Dynamical processing winding through most brain regions.
Looks like a must read.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀?
Dynamical processing winding through most brain regions.
Looks like a must read.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
Until recently, it has been possible to examine activity in the brain globally through regional averaging or locally at cellular resolution. These studies characterized regions as functionally homogen...
www.biorxiv.org
September 9, 2025 at 4:17 PM
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀?
Dynamical processing winding through most brain regions.
Looks like a must read.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Spatially distributed and regionally unbound cellular resolution brain-wide processing loops in mice
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀?
Dynamical processing winding through most brain regions.
Looks like a must read.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Ben Schulz
📢 New preprint!
How do humans learn from arbitrary, abstract goals? We show that, when goal spaces can be compressed, costly working-memory processes give way to internalized reward functions, enabling efficient goal-dependent reinforcement learning. @annecollins.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2509.06810
How do humans learn from arbitrary, abstract goals? We show that, when goal spaces can be compressed, costly working-memory processes give way to internalized reward functions, enabling efficient goal-dependent reinforcement learning. @annecollins.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2509.06810
Reward function compression facilitates goal-dependent reinforcement learning
Reinforcement learning agents learn from rewards, but humans can uniquely assign value to novel, abstract outcomes in a goal-dependent manner. However, this flexibility is cognitively costly, making l...
arxiv.org
September 9, 2025 at 1:58 AM
📢 New preprint!
How do humans learn from arbitrary, abstract goals? We show that, when goal spaces can be compressed, costly working-memory processes give way to internalized reward functions, enabling efficient goal-dependent reinforcement learning. @annecollins.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2509.06810
How do humans learn from arbitrary, abstract goals? We show that, when goal spaces can be compressed, costly working-memory processes give way to internalized reward functions, enabling efficient goal-dependent reinforcement learning. @annecollins.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2509.06810
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Here's my syllabus and reading list for an introductory, up-to-date course covering the philosophy, ethics, and politics of artificial intelligence: www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/philosophy....
September 8, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Here's my syllabus and reading list for an introductory, up-to-date course covering the philosophy, ethics, and politics of artificial intelligence: www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/philosophy....
Reposted by Ben Schulz
I'm pleased to announce that my second first-author paper has been accepted for publication in MNRAS. I thank the FRT Scholarship for allowing me to work at the Australian National University and Christoph Federrath for having faith in me to write this paper!
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04818
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04818
Turbulence from CO observations
Turbulence influences the structure and dynamics of molecular clouds, and plays a key role in regulating star formation. We therefore need methods to accurately infer turbulence properties of molecula...
arxiv.org
September 8, 2025 at 3:11 AM
I'm pleased to announce that my second first-author paper has been accepted for publication in MNRAS. I thank the FRT Scholarship for allowing me to work at the Australian National University and Christoph Federrath for having faith in me to write this paper!
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04818
arxiv.org/abs/2509.04818
Reinforcement learning by LLM's can fundamentally change how they operate with genuinely new compositions.
husky-morocco-f72.notion.site/From-f-x-and...
husky-morocco-f72.notion.site/From-f-x-and...
From f(x) and g(x) to f(g(x)): LLMs Learn New Skills in RL by Composing Old Ones | Notion
Lifan Yuan$^*$, Weize Chen$^*$, Yuchen Zhang, Ganqu Cui, Hanbin Wang, Ziming You, Ning Ding, Zhiyuan Liu, Maosong Sun, Hao Peng
husky-morocco-f72.notion.site
September 8, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reinforcement learning by LLM's can fundamentally change how they operate with genuinely new compositions.
husky-morocco-f72.notion.site/From-f-x-and...
husky-morocco-f72.notion.site/From-f-x-and...
Reposted by Ben Schulz
How does the brain🧠 make causal inferences and use memories to understand narratives🎬?
We built an RNN🤖 with key-value episodic memory that learns causal relationships between events and retrieves memories like humans do!
Preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
w/ @qlu.bsky.social, Tan Nguyen &👇
We built an RNN🤖 with key-value episodic memory that learns causal relationships between events and retrieves memories like humans do!
Preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
w/ @qlu.bsky.social, Tan Nguyen &👇
A neural network with episodic memory learns causal relationships between narrative events
Humans reflect on past memories to make sense of an ongoing event. Past work has shown that people retrieve causally related past events during comprehension, but the exact process by which this causa...
www.biorxiv.org
September 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
How does the brain🧠 make causal inferences and use memories to understand narratives🎬?
We built an RNN🤖 with key-value episodic memory that learns causal relationships between events and retrieves memories like humans do!
Preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
w/ @qlu.bsky.social, Tan Nguyen &👇
We built an RNN🤖 with key-value episodic memory that learns causal relationships between events and retrieves memories like humans do!
Preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
w/ @qlu.bsky.social, Tan Nguyen &👇
Reposted by Ben Schulz
Only a pre-print for now, but after 4 years of hard work I couldn't resist sharing this!
The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems
📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!
The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems
📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!
September 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Only a pre-print for now, but after 4 years of hard work I couldn't resist sharing this!
The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems
📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!
The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems
📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!