Kevin Mitchell
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Neurogeneticist interested in the relations between genes, brains, and minds. Author of INNATE (2018) and FREE AGENTS (2023)
Well this old place wasn’t looking too bad this evening…
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Well this old place wasn’t looking too bad this evening…
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
this is unequivocally a war crime
Hegseth - and the people carrying out his orders - need to be tried in The Hague for this
November 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
this is unequivocally a war crime
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Are there any firmly established widely accepted causal arrows pointing from the gut microbiome to literally anything other than gut issues?
November 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Are there any firmly established widely accepted causal arrows pointing from the gut microbiome to literally anything other than gut issues?
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Same. Saw a talk about microplastics and the speaker showed a Sora video showing a brain "melting away" leaving a bunch of lego-like bits, and it made me question all the data in the rest of the talk
November 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Same. Saw a talk about microplastics and the speaker showed a Sora video showing a brain "melting away" leaving a bunch of lego-like bits, and it made me question all the data in the rest of the talk
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
With the newly minted Dr. Potter! 😊
November 28, 2025 at 5:10 PM
With the newly minted Dr. Potter! 😊
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years (www.who.int/news/item/24...)
But RFK Jr says, falsely, that the HPV vaccine increases the risk of cervical cancer & Covid vaccine increases the risk of Covid & warns of a vaccine-linked Holocaust—these are kooky anti-vaxx lies
But RFK Jr says, falsely, that the HPV vaccine increases the risk of cervical cancer & Covid vaccine increases the risk of Covid & warns of a vaccine-linked Holocaust—these are kooky anti-vaxx lies
November 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years (www.who.int/news/item/24...)
But RFK Jr says, falsely, that the HPV vaccine increases the risk of cervical cancer & Covid vaccine increases the risk of Covid & warns of a vaccine-linked Holocaust—these are kooky anti-vaxx lies
But RFK Jr says, falsely, that the HPV vaccine increases the risk of cervical cancer & Covid vaccine increases the risk of Covid & warns of a vaccine-linked Holocaust—these are kooky anti-vaxx lies
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Those of us who are immigrants should stand up today and say it loudly: I am an immigrant and I have given more to this country than I have taken. I am not ashamed.
November 28, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Those of us who are immigrants should stand up today and say it loudly: I am an immigrant and I have given more to this country than I have taken. I am not ashamed.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Print version of @thelancet.com's review of #ScienceUnderSiege
November 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Print version of @thelancet.com's review of #ScienceUnderSiege
Is the Gut Microbiome Really Causing Autism? A Scientist Breaks It Down. (Spoiler: no) www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/... cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social
Is the Gut Microbiome Really Causing Autism? A Scientist Breaks It Down
Trinity College Dublin’s Dr. Kevin Mitchell reviews the evidence behind claims that gut microbes cause autism. He argues that most microbiome studies are too small, inconsistent and confounded by diet...
www.technologynetworks.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Is the Gut Microbiome Really Causing Autism? A Scientist Breaks It Down. (Spoiler: no) www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/... cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
This is our commander in chief.
November 28, 2025 at 4:51 PM
This is our commander in chief.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
I chatted with Evan McLoughlin on The Giant's Shoulder podcast about the flaws that undermine claims of a link between autism and the microbiome cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie0S...
Dr Kevin Mitchell: What Really Causes Autism?, Tylenol & The Gut Microbiome!
YouTube video by Giant's Shoulder
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I chatted with Evan McLoughlin on The Giant's Shoulder podcast about the flaws that undermine claims of a link between autism and the microbiome cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie0S...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
✨️Call for abstracts✨️
Excited to be organizing together with @leonarddung.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social and Albert Newen the RUB-LSE joint workshop
"Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations"
Bochum 9-10 Feb 2026
Join us! 🦧🐦🐙🐀🐬🦀🐜
Abstracts due 1 Dec 2025
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Excited to be organizing together with @leonarddung.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social and Albert Newen the RUB-LSE joint workshop
"Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations"
Bochum 9-10 Feb 2026
Join us! 🦧🐦🐙🐀🐬🦀🐜
Abstracts due 1 Dec 2025
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Ruhr-University Bochum & London School of Economics joint workshop “Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations”
The following speakers are confirmed: Colin Allen, Kristin Andrews, Jonathan Birch, Tomer Czaczkes, Rebecca Dreier, Leonard Dung, Albert Newen, Simone Pika, Sanja Sreckovic, and Daria Zakharova.
philevents.org
November 27, 2025 at 12:24 AM
✨️Call for abstracts✨️
Excited to be organizing together with @leonarddung.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social and Albert Newen the RUB-LSE joint workshop
"Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations"
Bochum 9-10 Feb 2026
Join us! 🦧🐦🐙🐀🐬🦀🐜
Abstracts due 1 Dec 2025
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Excited to be organizing together with @leonarddung.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social and Albert Newen the RUB-LSE joint workshop
"Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations"
Bochum 9-10 Feb 2026
Join us! 🦧🐦🐙🐀🐬🦀🐜
Abstracts due 1 Dec 2025
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Such a beautifully written piece about how medical hyper-specialisation makes it difficult to connect the dots as a complex systems approach would require.
Last month, I found out I have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, after decades of chronic pain and medical disinterest.
I've decided to write publicly about this, not just about hypermobility and its health impacts, but about how it feels when doctors don't care:
medium.com/p/4fea6398b8ba
I've decided to write publicly about this, not just about hypermobility and its health impacts, but about how it feels when doctors don't care:
medium.com/p/4fea6398b8ba
Welcome to my body
After twenty years of pain and repeated medical dead ends, a stranger sent me a message on Instagram. It led to a diagnosis all the doctors…
medium.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Such a beautifully written piece about how medical hyper-specialisation makes it difficult to connect the dots as a complex systems approach would require.
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
"An old saying about such follies is that “six months in the lab can you save you an afternoon in the library”; here we may have wasted a trillion dollars and several years to rediscover what cognitive science already knew."
garymarcus.substack.com/p/a-trillion...
garymarcus.substack.com/p/a-trillion...
A trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste
The machine learning community is finally waking up to the madness, but the detour of the last few years has been costly.
garymarcus.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:41 AM
"An old saying about such follies is that “six months in the lab can you save you an afternoon in the library”; here we may have wasted a trillion dollars and several years to rediscover what cognitive science already knew."
garymarcus.substack.com/p/a-trillion...
garymarcus.substack.com/p/a-trillion...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
One for the heredity scolds: construct a multi-tissue GRM where people
are differentially related to themselves.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
are differentially related to themselves.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
We are all mosaics: vast genetic diversity found between cells in a single person
Technical advances allow researchers to trace the genetic changes that occur over time.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:16 AM
One for the heredity scolds: construct a multi-tissue GRM where people
are differentially related to themselves.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
are differentially related to themselves.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Wow. I've been working on something about metaphors for the genome, so this is really fascinating. Esp. since generative models have now been used as a metaphor for the genome.
It's so interesting how we humans use metaphor to sort of bootstrap up to understanding entirely new concepts.
It's so interesting how we humans use metaphor to sort of bootstrap up to understanding entirely new concepts.
November 28, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Wow. I've been working on something about metaphors for the genome, so this is really fascinating. Esp. since generative models have now been used as a metaphor for the genome.
It's so interesting how we humans use metaphor to sort of bootstrap up to understanding entirely new concepts.
It's so interesting how we humans use metaphor to sort of bootstrap up to understanding entirely new concepts.
The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago
The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Unc...
www.science.org
November 28, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Starting the week strong! Cheering myself up for the next challenges with 15 min of axonal growth cone dynamic madness. F-actin (cyan) and membrane (magenta) show their dance. One image taken every 10 s.🧠🔬
#MicroscopyMonday #LiveImaging #Neuroscience #Microscopy
#MicroscopyMonday #LiveImaging #Neuroscience #Microscopy
November 25, 2024 at 1:05 PM
Starting the week strong! Cheering myself up for the next challenges with 15 min of axonal growth cone dynamic madness. F-actin (cyan) and membrane (magenta) show their dance. One image taken every 10 s.🧠🔬
#MicroscopyMonday #LiveImaging #Neuroscience #Microscopy
#MicroscopyMonday #LiveImaging #Neuroscience #Microscopy
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
![On April 17th, 2020, meme creator Welcome To My Meme Page posted a parody infographic to Facebook,[1] Instagram,[2] and Twitter,[3] titled, "STOP DOING MATH" (shown below). The infographic describes various ridiculous reasons why people should stop doing math, including that "numbers were not supposed to be given names," and ends with the phrase, "they have played us for absolute fools." The post gained over 9,800 reactions on Facebook, 77,000 likes and 23,000 retweets, and 18,500 likes on Instagram in 10 months.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreier7r5uluprz24b47wich5lrs5tc4kxdkbc5kbu34cxlvf5ukzgbq@jpeg)
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
C. elegans researchers were early adopters of open science: "The development of common resources and the belief that research findings and mutant strains should be freely shared has propelled worm research to the forefront"
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
From nematode to Nobel: How community-shared resources fueled the rise of Caenorhabditis elegans as a research organism | PNAS
Experimental organisms such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are fundamental
to biological discovery. The success of C. elegans research has ...
www.pnas.org
November 28, 2025 at 8:00 AM
C. elegans researchers were early adopters of open science: "The development of common resources and the belief that research findings and mutant strains should be freely shared has propelled worm research to the forefront"
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
The hippocampus is not a library, it is a simulation engine.
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
November 28, 2025 at 3:02 AM
The hippocampus is not a library, it is a simulation engine.
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
Reposted by Kevin Mitchell
I am proud to appear as the seasick scientist on left of this picture, filling in a data log (clipboards still in use in 2025) of my guess at where the hell we were out in the pacific!
In my latest for @nytimes.com, scientists and Indigenous sailors in the Marshall Islands are studying seafaring and the human brain. I became completely fascinated by navigation while reporting this story.
(gift link!)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
(gift link!)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
A Voyage Into the Art of Finding One’s Way at Sea
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I am proud to appear as the seasick scientist on left of this picture, filling in a data log (clipboards still in use in 2025) of my guess at where the hell we were out in the pacific!