@niko-kukushkin
Neuroscientist, author, teacher. Time patterns in cellular memory ⌛️ Prof NYU Liberal Studies/Neural Science. Book upcoming 2025 (Prometheus US / Swift Press UK). Agent: JP Marshall. https://linktr.ee/nikolaykukushkin
By the way here is a creepy but incredibly insightful video of dopamine-deficient mice (see 25:22). Not paralyzed, can chew and grip. But place them in an arena and they just sit there, completely still, not even wagging their tails. That's the dark room.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVN6...
It's "Unravelling the Mystery" on the @_SwiftPress side of the pond, "Unraveling" here in the US @prometheusbks. The excerpt is from chapter 11, "The Dark Room", which talks about the relationship between the cortex and the reward system.
Removing dopamine from the brain doesn't simply paralyse it. Instead, it puts it in the dark room – a state of nonaction and nonexperience in which it does not feel compelled to do anything at all.
Full excerpt from "One Hand Clapping" on BBC Future www.bbc.com/future/artic...
A wonderful trip through the history of life on earth. Thank you for an entertaining and informative book. I'm not done yet, no spoilers. Don't tell me how it ends.
How neurons make the brain special
🎥 Watch Episode #29 with Prof. Nikolay Kukushkin @niko-kukushkin.bsky.social to explore how #Neurons and other body cells store #Memory.
Watch the full episode on this link: youtu.be/x4dvE3uawyw?...
It’s incredible that I can now do this. Googling decent graphics for class is over. The prompt is visualizing the predictive coding architecture of the cerebral cortex.
Hello #SfN25, come see our poster about cellular memory and multiple kinds of pattern detection operating in kidney cells. Poster LBP077 1-5pm 🧠🫘
“One Hand Clapping reclaims the story of life from a cold, indifferent universe and brings it back into the warmth of the fire circle, where stories make sense of mysteries and offer guidance for how to live.”
Thank you @sadieding.bsky.social and @wsj.com for this amazing review!
Thank you Harvard Science Talks for a warm welcome!
Boston! Join us this Wednesday at 6pm at the Harvard Science Center for my book talk! Get your free ticket here: www.eventbrite.com/e/nikolay-ku...
Does a Roomba have agency? Explain pls.
One Hand Clapping is currently #1 top new release in evolutionary psychology on US Amazon! 😲🤩
Evan and I share an appreciation for the beauty of life’s building blocks — check out this discussion of One Hand Clapping, and my work on cellular memory
youtu.be/pyg6MkM8kz0
Fantastic review of One Hand Clapping in New Scientist!
Great discussion of my upcoming book, One Hand Clapping, on the BBC Instant Genius pod. How do you get from nature’s ideas, to sea slug’s ideas, to human ideas? Where do you draw the line? And what will the next thing be? Get a good sense of the book in 30 min.
podscan.fm/podcasts/ins...
One Hand Clapping is out Oct 21 in North America and Oct 28 everywhere else. Preorder now! www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1493...
Nothing feels as sci fi as shipping genes on a piece of paper. This DNA came from Australia, got lost in Singapore but made it to NYC. We’ll put these genes that someone designed halfway around the world into a drop of water and then into our cells, and they will express them. How insane is that.
I’m sorry but what is contextual reasoning and normative criteria if not statistical priors and lexical associations?
Super interesting. Seen these beautiful flowers in the Adirondacks. So, are they just parasites on fungi? Seems so hard to imagine the hosts can’t knock them off with some enzyme if all they do is leech nutrients. Is there still something in it for the fungus? Do the flowers also disperse spores? 🤔
The big q is what exactly do you get with neuron+astro plasticity that you can’t get with neurons alone. My bet is that astros act like spatial buffers of plasticity. They retain less specific information than neurons but integrate the average state of the neighborhood and broadcast it locally.
Thanks so much!!
Can I ask to be added?
In this episode, @braininspired.bsky.social talks with @niko-kukushkin.bsky.social about his new book, ‘One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind.’
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...
My book, One Hand Clapping, landed in the NYU bookstore! Preorder yours today! Out everywhere Oct 21
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-hand-c...
Describing this as a “break” on the immune system is the wrong metaphor. It implies that the immune system is static at rest, gets going upon infection, and then needs to be stopped, like a car. NOTHING in biology is static. Everything is an equilibrium. It’s not a break, it’s a counterweight.
To hold something steady on an outstretched hand, you press down on your wrist with your second hand (e.g. cops holding guns in movies). That, in a nutshell, is why we need these T-regulatory cells that work against actual antiviral T-cell fighters. Congratulations!
Ubiquitin is made in a five-pack. The last monomer has a tail. Apparently this last tailed ubiquitin is a special "fast ubiquitin" for stress. An E4 ligase (which extends already existing Ub chains and so forces them into the proteasome) grabs it under stress. Tell me AI could have predicted this
If you are in NYC, join us for my book launch party! Tuesday October 7th 5:30pm, NYU, Liberal Studies lobby, 726 Broadway, 6th floor (non-NYU: dm me to register). Conversation between myself and Prof. Jared Simard, our resident classicist! Books available! Slavic food! events.nyu.edu/event/onehan...
What can a cell remember? A lot more than you think. My latest, for @quantamagazine.bsky.social, is on memory beyond the brain—in tiny unicellular creatures and the smallest, most ancient parts of ourselves:
www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-a-c...
Ever wondered where memory truly lives? 🧠 In our latest episode, we welcome Prof. Nikolay Kukushkin @niko-kukushkin.bsky.social (NYU), to discuss the biology of memory and consciousness.
▶️ Watch the full clip here: youtu.be/VY9gqT7rs_A
🔗 More: linktr.ee/neuroscience...
