Austin Benn
@neurabenn.bsky.social
Postdoc at FMRIB in Oxford. Member of the cognitive neuroanatomy lab. When not at the lab I’ll see you on the ice
Pinned
Austin Benn
@neurabenn.bsky.social
· Jun 6
Precon_all is finally citeable! I’m relieved, pleased, thrilled and all other superlatives to present to you our preprint describing the inner workings of the precon_all pipeline for semi-automated non-human cortical surface reconstruction! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10
Reposted by Austin Benn
A California science bond measure to counter the Trump administration’s research cuts is back from the dead after state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom reached a deal last week to place the $7.5 billion request to voters on the March 2028 ballot. cal.news/4h5xdaU
📸 Ariana Drehsler
📸 Ariana Drehsler
September 1, 2026 at 11:30 PM
A California science bond measure to counter the Trump administration’s research cuts is back from the dead after state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom reached a deal last week to place the $7.5 billion request to voters on the March 2028 ballot. cal.news/4h5xdaU
📸 Ariana Drehsler
📸 Ariana Drehsler
Reposted by Austin Benn
A study in Nature Human Behaviour shows that directing attention to bodily sensations, rather than away, promotes more regulated acute inflammatory responses in healthy volunteers, revealing sensory and vagal pathways linking mind and immune function. go.nature.com/4x7rUNR #immunosky 🧪
August 29, 2026 at 1:32 AM
A study in Nature Human Behaviour shows that directing attention to bodily sensations, rather than away, promotes more regulated acute inflammatory responses in healthy volunteers, revealing sensory and vagal pathways linking mind and immune function. go.nature.com/4x7rUNR #immunosky 🧪
Way to go Rocco!!! Happy to see this out in the world now!
At long last, I’m excited to share our latest preprint on the cortical topography of mental imagery! Building on the tethering hypothesis of brain evolution, we examined the spatial layout of imagery-driven neural activities to know how visual, auditory, tactile & multisensory imagery is organised.
August 5, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Way to go Rocco!!! Happy to see this out in the world now!
Reposted by Austin Benn
@neurabenn.bsky.social
Very interesting study.
The stable topographic organization of imagery is compelling. However, I wonder whether these findings also point to a more fundamental mechanistic question: how are such internally generated sensory experiences physically
Very interesting study.
The stable topographic organization of imagery is compelling. However, I wonder whether these findings also point to a more fundamental mechanistic question: how are such internally generated sensory experiences physically
At long last, I’m excited to share our latest preprint on the cortical topography of mental imagery! Building on the tethering hypothesis of brain evolution, we examined the spatial layout of imagery-driven neural activities to know how visual, auditory, tactile & multisensory imagery is organised.
August 4, 2026 at 12:51 PM
@neurabenn.bsky.social
Very interesting study.
The stable topographic organization of imagery is compelling. However, I wonder whether these findings also point to a more fundamental mechanistic question: how are such internally generated sensory experiences physically
Very interesting study.
The stable topographic organization of imagery is compelling. However, I wonder whether these findings also point to a more fundamental mechanistic question: how are such internally generated sensory experiences physically
Reposted by Austin Benn
This November, like every November, I am teaching basic research proposal writing to the new phd cohort at my institute. Here is the 2 page template we start with and adapt. Link to LaTeX github.com/rmcelreath/P...
![\title[PhD Plan for CANDIDATE]{Department of \mbox{Full Luxury Galactic Metascience}\\PhD Plan for CANDIDATE}
% list committee members
\author[]{Committee:\\
Prof.~MEMBER1\\
Dr.~MEMBER2\\
Dr.~MEMBER3}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\maketitle% this prints the handout title, author, and date
\begin{marginfigure}[-5.2cm]
\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{Minerva.pdf}
\end{marginfigure}
\section{Phenomenon}
The subject matter to be addressed. What is the question? Citation for background are useful, but don't do a full lit review (yet).\cite{HenrichMcElreath:2003} Additional references can be included at the end bibliography by using \verb|\nocite|. \nocite{NBGA2005}
\section{Theoretical Perspective}
The framework for explaining the phenomenon. What are the implications of theory? If more than one theory is relevant, how do the implications differ? What are the current holes in the theory or theories?
\section{Approach}
Modeling and empirical research approach to address the theory/ies nominated above. Important thing is to \emph{justify} the approach in terms of theory.
\section{Specifics of Approach}
Outline any special skills, equipment, or techniques that will be required. This includes, in the case of field research, a paragraph on the background of the field location. Data analysis approach needs a sketch. Can use citation\cite{Merowetal2014} for further detail.
\section{Expected Products}
A list of the (usually 3) articles expected for completion of the PhD. Think of each as a fantasy abstract.
\begin{enumerate}
\item \emph{The Evolution of Human Uniqueness.} There is wide agreement that humans are unique. But it is rarely asked: Have they always been unique? In this paper, we derive a general uniqueness theorem that states that any unique species must have been less unique at some point in the past. This theorem has implications for the achievement of world peace.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ta2whs6wjtpljvpqgs5leu36/bafkreihnoflhyf2lajrvcsovawt3xr47qlm76jfhzet5lqumkabtzufvoe)
November 3, 2025 at 7:45 AM
This November, like every November, I am teaching basic research proposal writing to the new phd cohort at my institute. Here is the 2 page template we start with and adapt. Link to LaTeX github.com/rmcelreath/P...
Sports betting is sadly everywhere these days, but have you tried betting on your running permutation tests ? More of a thrill, less yet more at stake
November 3, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Sports betting is sadly everywhere these days, but have you tried betting on your running permutation tests ? More of a thrill, less yet more at stake
Reposted by Austin Benn
This delights me for some reason - a comparative anatomical framework for the brains of 26 carnivore species!
Comparative neuroimaging of the carnivoran brain: Neocortical sulcal anatomy | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 22, 2025 at 5:06 AM
This delights me for some reason - a comparative anatomical framework for the brains of 26 carnivore species!
Reposted by Austin Benn
1
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
July 27, 2025 at 5:26 PM
1
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!
🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Fitting title for tonight 🥵
Hot Summer Nights the new album by the Natural Philosophers is out now.
If you would like to help:
Stream it a few times
Post reply mentioning a track you like by name.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0Tju52...
Apple Music
music.apple.com/us/album/hot...
Soundcloud
soundcloud.com/npwa/sets/ho...
If you would like to help:
Stream it a few times
Post reply mentioning a track you like by name.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0Tju52...
Apple Music
music.apple.com/us/album/hot...
Soundcloud
soundcloud.com/npwa/sets/ho...
July 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Fitting title for tonight 🥵
Reposted by Austin Benn
ping @r3rt0.bsky.social
Cross-species neuroanatomy in primates using tractography | Brain Structure and Function link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Cross-species neuroanatomy in primates using tractography | Brain Structure and Function link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Cross-species neuroanatomy in primates using tractography - Brain Structure and Function
Due to their integrative role in brain function, long-range white matter connections exhibit high individual variability, giving rise to personalised brain circuits. This neurovariability is more evid...
link.springer.com
July 10, 2025 at 3:14 AM
ping @r3rt0.bsky.social
Cross-species neuroanatomy in primates using tractography | Brain Structure and Function link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Cross-species neuroanatomy in primates using tractography | Brain Structure and Function link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Austin Benn
A US judge has ordered hundreds of terminated research projects at the US National Institutes of Health to be reinstated, calling the processes that led to their cancellation “bereft of reasoning”.
https://go.nature.com/4kOmXDy
https://go.nature.com/4kOmXDy
Judge rules against NIH grant cuts — and calls them discriminatory
The decision means that the US biomedical agency has to restore funding to hundreds of research projects, but the government will likely appeal.
go.nature.com
June 16, 2025 at 11:24 PM
A US judge has ordered hundreds of terminated research projects at the US National Institutes of Health to be reinstated, calling the processes that led to their cancellation “bereft of reasoning”.
https://go.nature.com/4kOmXDy
https://go.nature.com/4kOmXDy
Reposted by Austin Benn
Explore our Mentorship Directory to discover mentorship opportunities from prominent organizations, and build your neuroscience network: www.thetransmitter.org/mentorship-d...
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence
Neuroscience Mentorship Program Directory
Discover neuroscience mentorship opportunities through this living directory, connecting mentors and mentees at all stages of their careers.
www.thetransmitter.org
June 16, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Explore our Mentorship Directory to discover mentorship opportunities from prominent organizations, and build your neuroscience network: www.thetransmitter.org/mentorship-d...
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Austin Benn
Now out in Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com : “End-to-end topographic networks as models of cortical map formation and human visual behaviour”. Please check our NHB link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
June 6, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Now out in Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com : “End-to-end topographic networks as models of cortical map formation and human visual behaviour”. Please check our NHB link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Precon_all is finally citeable! I’m relieved, pleased, thrilled and all other superlatives to present to you our preprint describing the inner workings of the precon_all pipeline for semi-automated non-human cortical surface reconstruction! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10
June 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Precon_all is finally citeable! I’m relieved, pleased, thrilled and all other superlatives to present to you our preprint describing the inner workings of the precon_all pipeline for semi-automated non-human cortical surface reconstruction! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10
Reread the preprint yesterday and can’t help but think I prefer the original title! Congrats to the team though this is a really fantastic approach
Introducing the Krakencoder: a tool to translate between structural and functional connectivity in the brain, as applied to data from the Human Connectome Project.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
June 6, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reread the preprint yesterday and can’t help but think I prefer the original title! Congrats to the team though this is a really fantastic approach
Reposted by Austin Benn
The OxCIN Global Scholars programme offers a year of remote MRI training and collaboration for early-career researchers from the Global South. Apply by June 30th to join the 2025/26 cohort. Please repost!
www.oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/traini...
www.oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/traini...
May 26, 2025 at 7:46 PM
The OxCIN Global Scholars programme offers a year of remote MRI training and collaboration for early-career researchers from the Global South. Apply by June 30th to join the 2025/26 cohort. Please repost!
www.oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/traini...
www.oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/traini...
Reposted by Austin Benn
When a Decision on Manuscript email arrives a minute before you go out to celebrate your birthday
May 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM
When a Decision on Manuscript email arrives a minute before you go out to celebrate your birthday
Reposted by Austin Benn
Choose Science. Choose Europe.
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
May 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Choose Science. Choose Europe.
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
I'm really loving lm notebook! You can now output podcasts about an article in multiple languages! It means I can share my work with my in-laws in spanish!
May 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I'm really loving lm notebook! You can now output podcasts about an article in multiple languages! It means I can share my work with my in-laws in spanish!
I think I want a Canadian team to win the cup this year. Rantanen may single handedly make that impossible. What a streak
May 8, 2025 at 9:09 AM
I think I want a Canadian team to win the cup this year. Rantanen may single handedly make that impossible. What a streak
Reposted by Austin Benn
🎨🧑🎨 Looking for a tool to visualize subcortical/thalamic data in 2D? Check out this python-based package I put together (subcortex-visualization on PyPI), plus a guide for creating your own custom atlas meshes and vector graphics! All feedback/tips welcome 😊
anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
May 4, 2025 at 10:13 AM
🎨🧑🎨 Looking for a tool to visualize subcortical/thalamic data in 2D? Check out this python-based package I put together (subcortex-visualization on PyPI), plus a guide for creating your own custom atlas meshes and vector graphics! All feedback/tips welcome 😊
anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
anniegbryant.github.io/subcortex_vi...
Reposted by Austin Benn
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond
Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.
elifesciences.org
March 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Reposted by Austin Benn
Placebo-controlled trials can be dangerous when safer alternatives already exist. That’s why scientists now use active comparator trials to ensure safety and protect lives.
Forcing placebo use across the board isn’t science—it’s recklessness disguised as “gold standard science.”
Forcing placebo use across the board isn’t science—it’s recklessness disguised as “gold standard science.”
May 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Placebo-controlled trials can be dangerous when safer alternatives already exist. That’s why scientists now use active comparator trials to ensure safety and protect lives.
Forcing placebo use across the board isn’t science—it’s recklessness disguised as “gold standard science.”
Forcing placebo use across the board isn’t science—it’s recklessness disguised as “gold standard science.”
Go California go!
SB 829 would create a new state agency, the California Institute for Scientific Research, to fund research in biomedicine, public health, climate, oceanography, coastal ecosystems sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/trump-g...
As Trump Guts Federal Science Agencies, Senator Wiener Introduces Legislation to Create New Science Institute and Authorize Vaccine Purchase and Production
Official website of Senator Scott Wiener, representing California Senate District 11.
sd11.senate.ca.gov
May 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Go California go!