Kevin Mitchell
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Neurogeneticist interested in the relations between genes, brains, and minds. Author of INNATE (2018) and FREE AGENTS (2023)
Welp - playing South Park Munchkin and this is the curse card I drew! 😂 cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social
November 22, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Welp - playing South Park Munchkin and this is the curse card I drew! 😂 cc @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social
And now I'm diving into this other classic 😊: Neuroethology of releasing mechanisms: Prey-catching in toads (Ewert, 1987) 🐜👅🐸 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
November 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
And now I'm diving into this other classic 😊: Neuroethology of releasing mechanisms: Prey-catching in toads (Ewert, 1987) 🐜👅🐸 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain 🐸👁️🧠https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4065609 - A little embarrassed to admit I've just read this classic paper for the first time and I'm glad I did! 😊
November 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain 🐸👁️🧠https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4065609 - A little embarrassed to admit I've just read this classic paper for the first time and I'm glad I did! 😊
Dublin sunrise (shot from the train, at speed) 😊
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Dublin sunrise (shot from the train, at speed) 😊
It’s very moony here! 😀
November 13, 2025 at 6:24 PM
It’s very moony here! 😀
Out at the Museum of the Moon exhibit in Merrion Square for #ScienceWeek 😊
November 13, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Out at the Museum of the Moon exhibit in Merrion Square for #ScienceWeek 😊
A moody morning on the beach today…
November 12, 2025 at 9:24 PM
A moody morning on the beach today…
Been reading "What is Innateness?" by Paul Griffiths (2002) philpapers.org/rec/EGRWII in which he offers this very sound advice:
November 2, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Been reading "What is Innateness?" by Paul Griffiths (2002) philpapers.org/rec/EGRWII in which he offers this very sound advice:
Yes, very impressive Mr. President...
October 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Yes, very impressive Mr. President...
There's a psychophilosophy study to be done on the features of temperament that make some people so allergic to the idea of Chance... 😅
October 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
There's a psychophilosophy study to be done on the features of temperament that make some people so allergic to the idea of Chance... 😅
Huge congrats to our graduating class of Genetics and Human Genetics alumni! @tcddublin.bsky.social 👏🎓🍾
October 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Huge congrats to our graduating class of Genetics and Human Genetics alumni! @tcddublin.bsky.social 👏🎓🍾
To be fair, the authors present what they see as the most likely interpretation of all the evidence (and the negative evidence is not limited to work on the UKBB):
October 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
To be fair, the authors present what they see as the most likely interpretation of all the evidence (and the negative evidence is not limited to work on the UKBB):
It’s a moody October day round our way…
October 17, 2025 at 10:39 AM
It’s a moody October day round our way…
Like projections of motor neurons to muscles in the body wall of Drosophila, where removal of one gene results in 30% of RP3 neurons (a specific single cell, visualised over multiple segments) failing to innervate its target muscles
October 17, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Like projections of motor neurons to muscles in the body wall of Drosophila, where removal of one gene results in 30% of RP3 neurons (a specific single cell, visualised over multiple segments) failing to innervate its target muscles
There's no reason to think the "non-shared environment" must reflect something out in the world. We can see developmental variation at play at the neuroanatomical level, sometimes leading to quite dichotomous outcomes (e.g., in formation of the corpus callosum)
October 17, 2025 at 7:09 AM
There's no reason to think the "non-shared environment" must reflect something out in the world. We can see developmental variation at play at the neuroanatomical level, sometimes leading to quite dichotomous outcomes (e.g., in formation of the corpus callosum)
Well, it could just be the processes of development themselves. They're noisy. There's just a lot of stochasticity and sometimes that can push development down one pathway versus another. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
October 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Well, it could just be the processes of development themselves. They're noisy. There's just a lot of stochasticity and sometimes that can push development down one pathway versus another. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Written in 1999, Brave New Worlds by Bryan Appleyard is an impassioned polemic against scientism, reductionism, and genetic determinism
October 14, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Written in 1999, Brave New Worlds by Bryan Appleyard is an impassioned polemic against scientism, reductionism, and genetic determinism
Looking forward to talking at the Basic Principles of Cognition meeting tomorrow! 😊https://basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com/programme/
October 8, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Looking forward to talking at the Basic Principles of Cognition meeting tomorrow! 😊https://basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com/programme/
Looking forward to this debate with the @tcddublin.bsky.social Historical Society tomorrow. The motion is: "This house regrets free will". I will be speaking in opposition! 😊
October 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Looking forward to this debate with the @tcddublin.bsky.social Historical Society tomorrow. The motion is: "This house regrets free will". I will be speaking in opposition! 😊
This model lets us see how indeterminacy allows macroscopic causation and agential control to emerge. Our actions are not fully predetermined but they’re also not caused by specific random events – instead, they are genuinely *up to us*. philarchive.org/rec/POTCCA-6
October 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM
This model lets us see how indeterminacy allows macroscopic causation and agential control to emerge. Our actions are not fully predetermined but they’re also not caused by specific random events – instead, they are genuinely *up to us*. philarchive.org/rec/POTCCA-6
We argue against this view of ‘determinism-plus-randomness’ and in favour of a much deeper kind of indeterminacy – a ‘pervasive indefiniteness’ which leaves the future truly under-determined.
October 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
We argue against this view of ‘determinism-plus-randomness’ and in favour of a much deeper kind of indeterminacy – a ‘pervasive indefiniteness’ which leaves the future truly under-determined.
But wait, hasn’t physics shown the world really IS deterministic? Well, no, not at all – not at quantum levels and not at classical levels either. arxiv.org/abs/2503.19672
October 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
But wait, hasn’t physics shown the world really IS deterministic? Well, no, not at all – not at quantum levels and not at classical levels either. arxiv.org/abs/2503.19672
And huge thanks to Helen Steward for acting as external examiner! 🙏
October 2, 2025 at 5:17 PM
And huge thanks to Helen Steward for acting as external examiner! 🙏
Huge congratulations to Dr. Henry Potter!!! 😊👏🎉🍾
October 2, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Huge congratulations to Dr. Henry Potter!!! 😊👏🎉🍾
Beautiful sunrise this morning! 🌅😊
September 29, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Beautiful sunrise this morning! 🌅😊