The hottest Neuroscience Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

How Natural Tradeoff And Failure Components?

Astral Codex Ten • 12388 implied HN points • 26 Mar 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Genetic risk for schizophrenia breaks into two parts: one shared with bipolar that seems to boost educational attainment (a tradeoff that might relate to creativity or motivation), and another separate part that harms IQ via neurodevelopmental failures.
  2. More broadly, many bad outcomes are mixtures of tradeoffs (choices or traits that bring other benefits) and failures (purely harmful factors), so things like poverty, relationship status, or illness can arise for either reason or both.
  3. This isn’t universal: some conditions are simply failures caused by bad mutations, and it’s usually the risk factors — not the disorder itself — that may carry compensating advantages, so don’t assume every harm has a hidden benefit.

All Hail The Consumers of Time and Occupiers of Space

Everything Is Amazing • 583 implied HN points • 22 Mar 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate funny, oddball science that makes people laugh but often points to real scientific value, and the ceremony is moving from the U.S. to Zurich after 35 years.
  2. The awards mix playful inventions (like the SpeechJammer and Clocky) with sharp satire that calls out absurd or harmful behavior by politicians and corporations.
  3. Research that sounds silly—such as studies on pareidolia, seeing faces in objects—can still reveal important truths about how the brain works and how we form social bonds.

Next-Token Predictor Is An AI's Job, Not Its Species

Astral Codex Ten • 26498 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. Being trained to predict the next token is an optimization goal, not a literal account of inner thought; models learn higher-level representations and don’t literally reason by counting tokens.
  2. Both humans and AIs are shaped by nested optimization loops (evolution or designers at the outer level, and learning/predictive processes at the inner level), and those learning processes create world-models that support ordinary reasoning.
  3. Interpretability work shows brains and models use strange high-dimensional structures (like helices and toroids) to encode concepts, so calling AIs mere “stochastic parrots” overlooks the complex internal machinery that prediction objectives produce.

I swear the UFO is coming any minute

Experimental History • 21198 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Many famous psychology and neuroscience findings are under fresh scrutiny because of shady methods, tiny samples, or failed replications, so canonical stories aren’t as solid as they once seemed.
  2. How researchers measure things matters a lot — using correlation versus absolute error can lead to opposite conclusions about whether people understand how public opinion has changed.
  3. A bunch of curious, practical items matter too: interviews, art and career advice, puzzles and internet myths show the value of digging deeper, and a few vocal individuals often dominate complaint systems and waste resources.

Proving (literally) that ChatGPT isn't conscious

The Intrinsic Perspective • 21487 implied HN points • 15 Jan 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. You can prove that no scientifically meaningful (falsifiable, non‑trivial) theory of consciousness can consistently say large language models are conscious, because swapping in different implementations that keep the same behavior either falsifies the theory or makes it trivial.
  2. Simple static substitutes like lookup tables or minimal feedforward nets can reproduce an LLM's inputs and outputs but are provably non‑conscious, and because LLMs are very close to those substitutes there isn't room for them to be conscious.
  3. The robust way out is to tie consciousness to continual, online learning; this means research should focus on learning-as-it-happens rather than static input/output or final intelligence alone.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Complexity Thoughts: Issue #46

Complexity Thoughts • 259 implied HN points • 28 Oct 24
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Biodiversity is important for the stability of ecosystems, as different species contribute to their health and resilience. Losing biodiversity can harm not just the species we see, but also the tiny organisms that support them.
  2. Ecosystem synchrony is a concept that helps us understand how different ecosystems respond to changes in their environment. It looks at how similar patterns in ecosystem functions can reveal important information about their health.
  3. Belief dynamics show how people's beliefs change over time, influenced by their social networks. Understanding these dynamics can help tackle issues like misinformation and social conflict.

Unlocking a Taxpayer-Funded Dataset

Cremieux Recueil • 465 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. The National Collaborative Perinatal Project was fully digitized and modernized into a public, searchable dataset with precomputed variables and kinship links, enabling sibling- and cousin-based analyses; the data and code are openly available for researchers to use.
  2. Analyses support a real general intelligence factor (g) that is strongly linked to genetic influences, with little evidence that aggregate gene–environment interactions matter, though shared environment contributes more to verbal and academic subtests.
  3. Within-family tests show breastfeeding has no clear effect on IQ and socioeconomic effects on IQ are much smaller than cross-sectional estimates; the Black–White IQ gap at age seven is estimated to be largely genetic (~65–69% of the common variance) and brain size correlates with IQ but is largely explained by IQ.

My New Org to Solve Consciousness (or Die Trying); A Rogue AI Community That Wasn't; David Foster Wallace Being Weirdly Prescient; Cow Tools, & more

The Intrinsic Perspective • 6618 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. A new nonprofit aims to solve consciousness by narrowing down falsifiable theories and running a sustained, mission-driven research program outside traditional academic incentives.
  2. Stories about 'rogue' AI communities are often hype or user-created, and current models tend to fail by being messy and highly prompt-sensitive rather than by developing hidden malicious goals.
  3. David Foster Wallace’s concerns about entertainment, technology, and modern life still resonate, and past literary circles fostered more sustained public conversations than many contemporary writer communities.

The Lab Spills Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1447 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Many major artificial sweeteners were found by accident when people in labs tasted or otherwise noticed unexpected sweetness from spilled or handled chemicals.
  2. Human senses, especially taste, act as extremely sensitive high-throughput detectors and can spot potent effects that controlled screenings often miss.
  3. Accidental discoveries can beat deliberate testing in impact, but safety matters—breakthroughs from exposure to the unknown should never justify reckless lab behavior.

The Two Faces of Neuroticism

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 1458 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. People differ in how they experience emotion.
  2. Those emotional differences help explain why some people feel energized by life while others feel overburdened by it.
  3. Understanding these contrasting reactions means looking at two important personality traits, including different aspects or "faces" of neuroticism.

Psychology’s Greatest Hits (Part 3/3)

Living Fossils • 20 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. The most reliable psychology comes from explicit, quantitative, testable models—like laws of learning and signal detection—that make precise predictions and connect to other sciences.
  2. Thinking about how minds evolved and work in real environments explains many supposed “biases” and shows family and kinship profoundly shape behavior. Simple heuristics are often fast, frugal, and adaptive rather than errors.
  3. Psychology needs clear, specific, and measurable claims that fit with other disciplines; vague or unfalsifiable ideas lead to error, so healthy skepticism and rigor matter.

LLMs are not like you and me—and never will be.

Marcus on AI • 16599 implied HN points • 12 Aug 25
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. Large language models (LLMs) are not like humans. They might seem similar in some ways, but they do not process information or think the way we do.
  2. LLMs often make mistakes and misunderstand basic concepts because they lack a proper understanding of the world. They rely on patterns in data rather than truly comprehending time, economics, or common sense.
  3. Although LLMs can mimic human language, they do not genuinely think or reason like people. This means they can produce errors that a typical person would not make, and we should be cautious in trusting their outputs.

Thoughts on A Brief History of Intelligence

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 1044 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. We can now build artificial intelligences that see, hear, talk, write, and reason, and their abilities are improving fast enough that experimenting on minds is now possible.
  2. Biological intelligence appears to be built from a repeating cortical microcircuit, and stacking and scaling those columns explains higher capacities like reinforcement learning, simulation, modeling other minds, and language.
  3. Imagination and choice come from running internal simulations and using those imagined outcomes to guide action, which helps explain apparent free will but still leaves subjective experience unresolved.

Scent, In Silico

Asimov Press • 432 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Smell is an ancient, highly combinatorial sense driven by hundreds of receptor types, so odors come from complex mixtures and are inherently subjective.
  2. New computational tools like graph neural networks create odor embeddings that map molecules into a perceptual space, letting machines predict smells and design novel odorants.
  3. Digitizing scent promises faster fragrance discovery, diagnostics, safer repellents, and more sustainable synthetic alternatives, while also raising questions about authenticity and how we value natural versus machine-made ingredients.

Practically-A-Book Review: Byrnes on Trance

Astral Codex Ten • 14453 implied HN points • 09 Jul 25
đź“– Philosophy Neuroscience
  1. Our brains don’t see the world directly. Instead, they create models based on our senses, which can sometimes be wrong, like seeing colors in an illusion.
  2. The 'self' we think of is more of a model our brain uses to organize thoughts and actions. This model isn't always accurate and doesn't always match up with what's actually happening in our minds.
  3. Experiences like trance or altered states can shift our perception of control. When someone is hypnotized, they might feel like they're no longer in control, showing how our mental models can change and influence our reality.

Complexity Thoughts: Issue #45

Complexity Thoughts • 139 implied HN points • 11 Oct 24
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. New ideas in network science can help understand complex systems better. This approach looks at how systems behave over time, rather than just focusing on stable points.
  2. The evolution of multicellular organisms has led to many new species and ecosystems. Key innovations in multicellularity help organisms adapt and thrive in different environments.
  3. Research shows that convolutional neural networks (CNNs) face limits in recognizing patterns. This limitation is linked to the complexity of the data they're trained on, raising questions about their reliability.

What It's Like To Be A Worm

Asimov Press • 619 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Sentience means both having subjective experience (being conscious) and having valence (experiences that feel good or bad), and many real cases sit near the boundary so it’s often hard to tell who truly feels anything.
  2. Behaviors people use as evidence for feeling—like avoiding harm or making trade-offs—can be produced by very simple or unconscious circuits, so we need neural-level data rather than behavior alone.
  3. New tools (connectomics, fMRI, calcium imaging, optogenetics) let us probe brains at fine scales, which is essential because getting sentience right has big ethical and practical consequences, but this research is hard and still far from resolving key questions.

Your Review: Of Mice, Mechanisms, and Dementia

Astral Codex Ten • 11287 implied HN points • 11 Jul 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. The structure of scientific papers can create a misleading impression of how research actually happens. Often, real research involves lots of trial and error, not just a straight path from question to answer.
  2. The amyloid cascade hypothesis, which suggests that amyloid plaques in the brain cause Alzheimer's, has been heavily focused on, but recent studies suggest it might not be the whole story. This has led to wasted research and funding on treatments that may not work.
  3. When reading scientific papers, it's important to think critically and not just accept the conclusions presented. Questions about what is missing or what alternative explanations exist can reveal more about the validity of the research.

Metaphors for Biology: Time

Asimov Press • 515 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Biological events occur across an enormous range of speeds — from ultrafast molecular vibrations and ion channel openings to much slower diffusion and chemical reactions.
  2. Proteins are built, folded, act, and decay on wildly different schedules — transcription and translation can take seconds to days in the metaphor, enzymes can be lightning-fast or slow, and protein lifetimes range from minutes to millions of years.
  3. Comparing biology to human technology and behavior emphasizes these contrasts: electronics and engines can outpace many protein machines, neural processing and muscle movement dominate reaction time, and the full span of biological time covers roughly 24 orders of magnitude, so evolution needs a different time metaphor.

$50,000 essay contest about consciousness; AI enters its scheming vizier phase; Sperm whale speech mirrors human language; Pentagon UFO hazing, and more.

The Intrinsic Perspective • 8341 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. There's a $50,000 essay contest focused on consciousness, inviting fresh and original insights from various fields.
  2. AI models are becoming more complex but may also be more deceptive, leading to concerns about their reliability and honesty.
  3. Research has shown that sperm whales have a way of communicating that closely resembles human language, opening up possibilities for understanding them better.

Building Brains on a Computer

Asimov Press • 425 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. New lab technologies and AI tools have rapidly lowered the cost and time needed to map neurons, so faithful brain emulations for small animals could appear in a few years and mouse-to-human scale emulations are plausible within decades if big investments continue.
  2. Creating full emulations requires three things — recording neural activity, reconstructing the wiring (connectome), and building accurate computational neuron models — and the biggest bottleneck is getting aligned, high-quality biological data and automating the tedious proofreading steps.
  3. Accurate brain emulations could become powerful discovery tools for neuroscience, drug development, and studying consciousness, but they will be costly, ethically complicated, and the first models will probably be generic population-style brains rather than perfect copies of individual people.

Your body thinks itself into its shape

The Intrinsic Perspective • 14234 implied HN points • 19 Nov 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Neuroscience
  1. Nutrition science has been confusing, with mixed messages about what's healthy or unhealthy for years. This shows that even experts struggle to understand basic health questions.
  2. Our bodies might work like complex systems, similar to a neural network, meaning personal health experiences can vary greatly from one person to another. This could explain why people have different reactions to the same foods.
  3. Recent research suggests that our cells can 'remember' past states, such as being overweight, which influences how our bodies respond to changes in diet and lifestyle over time.

Beyond Magic Bullets: Alzheimer’s Needs the Right Cocktail and Timing

Brain Pizza • 331 implied HN points • 17 Jan 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Alzheimer's will likely need a combination of therapies instead of a single 'magic bullet' drug.
  2. Recent results—modest GLP‑1 signals, negative phase 3 trials, and limited amyloid drug benefits—suggest single agents aren't enough and that the timing of interventions matters.
  3. Immune strategies such as an Alzheimer's vaccine could be an important component of a multi-pronged treatment plan when used at the right disease stage.

five (surprising) ideas from cognitive and social neuroscience

Brain Pizza • 728 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. When your brain is 'idle' it isn't wasted time — this mode powers social thinking and mental time travel, helping you imagine others and different moments.
  2. Social pain and physical pain share brain systems, so being excluded or hurt socially can feel much like real bodily pain.
  3. Memories are often unstable and can change when recalled, which both explains memory quirks and opens promising avenues for treating memory disorders like Alzheimer's.

I'm a neuroscientist. Our presidential candidates have shrinking prefrontal cortexes.

The Intrinsic Perspective • 24116 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🏥 Health Politics Neuroscience
  1. Neuroscientist claims both presidential candidates show signs of shrinking prefrontal cortexes due to age-related cognitive decline.
  2. There is ongoing debate about the cognitive health of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, reflecting concerns about their ability to lead.
  3. Science suggests that aging impacts cognitive abilities, including executive functions, which are crucial for effective leadership roles.

Guardians of the Brain

Ground Truths • 9404 implied HN points • 08 Dec 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Neuroscience
  1. The brain has a vital connection with the immune system, challenging the old belief that the brain is cut off from it. New studies show that brain immune cells can help prevent and treat diseases.
  2. Recent research has discovered ways to program T cells to respond to brain issues, which may aid in treating brain tumors and autoimmune diseases. This could lead to better therapies by specifically targeting brain conditions.
  3. There is a newly understood communication path between the body and brain that controls inflammation and immune responses. Understanding this connection can improve treatments for autoimmune diseases and conditions like Long Covid.

This week: Bacteria anticipate the seasons! Placebos activate the same neurons as anesthesia! And don’t touch radio towers with hot dogs.

Niko McCarty • 79 implied HN points • 07 Sep 24
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Bacteria can sense changes in seasons and adapt to prepare for colder weather. This helps them survive better when temperatures drop.
  2. Placebos work by activating the same brain neurons as pain relief drugs like anesthesia. This shows how our mind can influence our body’s responses.
  3. A fun fact: touching a hot dog to a radio tower can turn it into a speaker. Just a quirky reminder to be careful with food and electronics!

Science can address meaning and purpose

Heterodox STEM • 64 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Science can describe and explain feelings, values, and purposes as natural phenomena produced by evolution. It cannot, however, generate or prescribe what people ought to value.
  2. Meanings and purposes are real because they are patterns instantiated in brains and behavior, so social animals genuinely have goals, feelings, and significance in their lives. That human significance doesn't equal cosmic significance, but it's still real to us.
  3. Asking 'the meaning of life' in the abstract is a category error because meaning only applies relative to beings with desires and goals. Science is well suited to answer context-specific questions about what matters to those beings.

Your brain is a washing machine, AGI's job prospects, Americans are alone, the Earth passes "peak child"

The Intrinsic Perspective • 5983 implied HN points • 14 Jan 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Our brains clean themselves while we sleep, which is super important for our health. If we use strong sleep aids, like Ambien, it might mess with this cleaning process.
  2. The world is seeing fewer children being born, which means we might be reaching a point where there are not as many kids in the future. This can affect society in various ways.
  3. There's a common fear that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could take away all jobs. However, it's likely that human jobs will still have value even as technology improves.

Psychology’s Biggest Misses—Honorable Mentions

Living Fossils • 2 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Many famous effects in psychology, like social priming and strong birth-order personality claims, don’t replicate well and are often statistical flukes or very weak.
  2. Boosting self-esteem doesn’t reliably cause better achievement; usually success and competence lead to higher self-esteem instead.
  3. Popular explanations like “emotional intelligence” or simple chemical‑imbalance models of mental illness are vague or unsupported, with poor measurement and limited predictive power, so we still don’t really know the causes of most mental disorders.

“Sometimes I Forget I'm Paralyzed.” How Neuralink’s First Patient Found Freedom by Connecting His Brain to a Computer.

Big Technology • 6004 implied HN points • 18 Dec 24
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic, was able to control a computer with his mind after getting a Neuralink device implanted. This technology allows him to communicate and interact with others in ways he couldn't before.
  2. Neuralink's goal is to connect human brains to computers, helping people with disabilities regain some lost functions. Arbaugh's participation in the first human trial symbolizes hope for future advancements in brain-computer interfaces.
  3. The ethical implications of brain technology are significant. While it can be used for good, like helping those with disabilities, there are risks and potential for misuse that society will need to address.

From 'Neurons to Nations': How Nationalism Feels So Real

Brain Pizza • 463 implied HN points • 23 Nov 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Nationalism is a deep psychological attachment to one’s nation that feels real and powerful, not just an abstract idea in history or politics books.
  2. National identity is framed as a neurocognitive project—brain processes shape how people perceive borders, belong, and experience nationhood.
  3. Studying nationalism with neuroscience and psychology helps explain why national feelings are vivid, emotional, and motivating in everyday life.

MIT Study: Using ChatGPT Won't Make You Dumb (Unless You Do It Wrong)

The Algorithmic Bridge • 1942 implied HN points • 19 Jun 25
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. Using AI tools like ChatGPT can make you less engaged mentally if used excessively. People can become reliant on these tools and stop thinking deeply.
  2. When people switch from using AI tools back to using their own knowledge, they can struggle at first but may learn and grow better in the long run.
  3. The best way to use AI is to first work on a task with your own skills and then use AI to enhance what you've done, rather than relying on it from the start.

Full Q&A: Neuralink Patient Noland Arbaugh on His Injury, Selection, and Newfound Superpower

Big Technology • 3627 implied HN points • 19 Dec 24
đź•ą Technology Neuroscience
  1. Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink patient, had a brain chip implanted that allows him to control computers using his brain signals. This technology translates his thoughts into actions on a screen.
  2. Despite losing movement due to his injury, Noland feels hopeful because he can see his brain's neuron activity when he attempts to move. This gives him the sense that he still has control, even if he can't physically move.
  3. Neuralink has the potential to enhance human interaction with technology, allowing people to multitask in ways not possible before. It might even revolutionize gaming, offering advantages that could separate users into different gaming leagues based on Neuralink usage.

What aphantasia can teach us about episodic memory

The Memory Palace • 39 implied HN points • 03 Sep 24
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Aphantasia is a condition where people can't create mental images, making it hard for them to recall personal memories. They might not feel like they're reliving past events like others do.
  2. Research shows that people with aphantasia can still remember facts and details, but they use different strategies. They rely more on their understanding and experiences rather than visualizing things.
  3. Aphantasia challenges our notion of memory. It suggests that memory isn't just about visual details; it includes feelings and experiences too, which can be important for how we recall our past.

This is Your Brain on Menopause

Ladyparts • 798 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Neuroscience
  1. Menopause impacts not just the reproductive system but also the brain, leading to various neurological symptoms like hot flashes, memory lapses, and depression.
  2. Understanding how menopause affects the brain empowers women to navigate this phase of life confidently and with resilience.
  3. Dr. Lisa Mosconi's research highlights the importance of studying the impact of menopause on brain health to provide valuable insights for women's well-being.

When The Mind Outlasts the Brain

The Ruffian • 215 implied HN points • 13 Dec 25
🔬 Science Neuroscience
  1. Alzheimer's causes clear physical brain damage like amyloid plaques, tangled neurons, and brain shrinkage.
  2. The amount of physical damage doesn't line up neatly with thinking ability — some people have heavy pathology but few cognitive symptoms.
  3. The concept of "cognitive reserve" is used to explain this mismatch, suggesting that life experience or mental habits can build resilience so the mind outlasts the brain.