30 days to the launch of Elusive Cures! I learned so much writing it, and I want to share it.
Elusive Cures
A neuroscientist’s bold proposal for tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time—brain and mental illnesses
 For the next 30 days, I'll post brain & mind research breakthroughs on odd days, and highlight unmet needs on even ones. #ElusiveCures30 First breakthrough: Recording tech & why it matters. The brain is a complex system in which its parts need to be studied simultaneously b/c its emergent properties follow from their interactions. We can now do that for the first time in history. Up to 1 million neurons in mice! https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(24)00121-1 And this is leading to ways to measure things we've never been able to before. Like how activity in the hypothalamus of a mouse gets sucked into a persistent "line attractor" to drive aggression. Understanding that is a step toward understanding emotion in humans. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07915-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07915-x
What a fun time to be named Nicole … I’ll guess hold off on sending y’all those random DMs I had planned.
In the era of Trump 2.0, we're calling on all scientists and friends to advocate and unpack science in a public-facing way. This is much bigger than anyone of us. But if we all do one thing, imagine the cumulative impact! It need not be a burden. More here, in @npub17rvd...w9lk
The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives
In your New Year’s resolutions for 2025, consider public outreach
If every person in the neuroscience community committed to doing one thing, imagine the cumulative difference it would make.
Terrific! Paywalls are disappearing! No more 12 month embargo between when NIH funded work appears in a journal and when it becomes accessible to all (as of December 2025). https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/nih-issues-new-policy-speed-access-agency-funded-research-results
Wow! The book we all need to read this weekend, for FREE (in the US). How generous, @npub1k2he...6p26 “In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.”
haymarketbooks.org
Hope in the Dark
Bestselling author Rebecca Solnit reminds us that activism has changed the world in remarkable ways.
Personal announcement - (BIG!) With the support of the Simons Foundation , I am redirecting my research program to study how our brains support one of the biggest & most mysterious feelings: Mood. I have so much to say about the "Why?" and "How?" behind it! More on that here: https://www.nicolerust.com/thepivot I am so grateful to the Simons Foundation for their support. There aren't many opportunities to pivot an entire research program like this. And to my mentor — Yael Niv at Princeton — whose lab I get to embed in for a year to learn the ropes. Pinch me!
Simons Foundation
Simons Foundation Announces Third Class of Pivot Fellows
The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce its 2024 class of Pivot Fellows.
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A bright blue light on a distracting day .... The cover reveal for Elusive Cures!! (I love it!)
Elusive Cures
A neuroscientist’s bold proposal for tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time—brain and mental illnesses
On academic prose ... Following writing a book that I hope will be accessible to all (but also interesting to my academic colleagues), I'm having a hard time switching back to academic writing style as I dive back in. I'm struggling with: How much do I need to? Maybe that's just a really bad way to write. For instance, compare: Mood is a continuous, ever-present feeling characterized by states like happiness, sadness, anxiousness, and calmness. It is often differentiated from emotions in that emotions are targeted at something specific (such as, "I am disgusted by rotting garbage") whereas we are not always aware of what drives our moods — likely because mood reflects an integration of events that include both external experiences as well as internal physiological states like hunger and hormone fluctuations. With: Mood is an affective state typically defined in terms of its slow timescale, integrative properties, and contextual modulation. Anyone can understand the first; the second is more opaque. But the second is more compact; spelling things out requires space. Insights appreciated!
I'm looking for papers that *map individual differences in behavior onto neural data*. Like this one by Valeria Fascianelli, Stefano Fusi ++. Any type of creature; any type of mapping. Know any? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50503-w
Still thinking about this talk by Ed Yong
neurospace.live
Nicole Rust (@NicoleCRust@neuromatch.social)
This is remarkable. How do we talk about [and research] heavy things with the empathetic grace they deserve while also taking responsibility for co...
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