I wrote a great big long email to my lab mates this morning and I figured I’d share it here just in case my collection of tweets was of interest to others!
Please do share your own favourite tweets or news stories in the comments!
Happy Friday everyone,
I’ve been finding twitter very interesting over the last few days and thought I’d share some of the more interesting articles that have been popping up on my timeline.
Researchers find the organization of the human brain to be nearly ideal
https://twitter.com/PsyPost/status/618946537708736513
This is in reference to this recent paper: Navigable networks as Nash equilibria of navigation games. It’s another paper I’d be interested to know your opinions on. If I’m being honest I read the brain section as a little over stretching the point but that’s likely to be strongly related to the fact that I don’t believe the DTI network they’re studying (Hagmann, 2008) is representative of how the brain is really sending messages. If you believe it though, then it’s a nice little fact to include in talks, introductions, grants etc. Networks FTW.
Family background influences clinical variability in #genetic neurodevelopmental disorders
https://twitter.com/deevybee/status/619396162626416640
This was re-tweeted by Dorothy Bishop (who is amaaaaazing. I loves her. You should know about her blog if you don’t already. While we’re at it you should also know about Athene Donald’s blog too.) This tweet drew my attention to the recent paper: Shift happens: family background influences clinical variability in genetic neurodevelopmental disorders. It basically argues that the “old-fashioned” splitting of psychiatric disorders into separable groups is not supported by recent analyses and that the abilities of your family members affect the abilities of children with genetic disorders – for example if parents have high IQ their child who has a genetic disorder is likely to have higher IQ (still low, but higher) than a child with an equivalent disorder whose parents have lower IQ. I think it’s a great reference for anyone who wants to understand how genes interact with the environment, brain function, how the brain changes and how different disorders overlap. Nature AND Nurture FTW.
Interesting perspective piece @NatRevNeurosci | Rethinking segregation and integration
https://twitter.com/spornslab/status/613459395402432512
This one was from Olaf Sporns and is an opinion piece arguing that whole brain modelling is good and we should do it, or as they say we should be: Rethinking segregation and integration: contributions of whole-brain modelling. Since we’re already doing that then really I suppose we can just pat ourselves on the back. But maybe it’s another useful reference for grants etc.
Come to Musical Celebration of #womeninscience All profits to @Science_Grrl w/ @Timothy_Bussey
https://twitter.com/CamNeuro/status/613372623121195009
I can’t make this night of music and fun at Portland Arms tonight (10th July) at 8pm because I’m babysitting my godson but I’d strongly encourage you to attend. There are 5 bands, including a few Cambridge Neuroscience acts and it’s raising money to support girls and women in STEM fields (£10 entry).
Really looking forward to the @CamBrainCNS Art Exhibition on 11th July at 6pm. Join us at St Barnabas church
https://twitter.com/kirstie_j/status/616256665260806144
This one was from me – I will be attending the first CamBRAIN art exhibition on Saturday at 6pm. It’s going to be gorgeous, you should come along 🙂
Former Google and Apple exec calls on women to stop saying ‘just’ at work
https://twitter.com/Independent/status/617287007312568320
This article points out how many times women (more than men) use the word “just” in their daily communications and calls it out as a “permission” word and a “child” word. “Could you just take a look at this? Just wondering if you’d managed to look at my email.” It perpetuates a stereotype of women in submission to men and is something we can easily change. Just ctrl+f every email and ask if the j-word needs to be there.Usually a shorter sentence gets the point across more easily!
HA – she says – having written the most monster email of all time.
BUT AT LEAST WE’VE ARRIVED AT THE QUESTION
I know that some of our lab are organizing a conference in September….is there any information available for it yet? I’ve been emailing with Martijn van den Heuvel and he asked if I would be there….and I realised that I didn’t know but would very much like to attend!
Update: You can find the information for the Connectome Workbench | Brain networks at micro- and macro-scales conference here. It will be held in Cambridge on 11th and 12th September 2015 and you can contact Mr Manuel Schroeter for more information.
Happy Friday everyone! (I already said that but it bears repeating)
Kx
Kirstie Whitaker 