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Fall is upon us here in New York and the school year is beginning anew. This week, several tweets and threads about school and learning caught the attention of our Twitter feeds.
“Are you an aspiring or practicing neuroscientist who wants it? learn Python free?” Patrick Bloniasz, a graduate student in computational neuroscience at Boston University in Massachusetts, posed the question to any lifelong learner willing to master a new skill using the programming language, and the response was great. Bloniasz explained that Mark Kramer , also from Boston University, has created a freely available virtual book on the subject.
Are you an aspiring or practicing neuroscientist who wants to learn Python for free? dr Mark Kramer and colleagues @BU_Tweets has developed a great virtual introductory book using Jupyter Notebooks with neuro data. A???? of the included topics: @PhDVoice @AcademicChatter
— Patrick F. Bloniasz (he/him) (@PatrickBloniasz) August 17, 2022
In a thread describing the various learning modules, or notebooks, in the book (15 in total), Bloniasz also offered to “make one study group with people on Zoom to go through these notebooks!”
There are 15 notebooks in total, which can be integrated with Google Colab, Jupyter Notebooks, etc. Sign up if you need help getting started! : ) If there’s enough interest, I’m also happy to set up a study group with people on Zoom to go through these notebooks!
— Patrick F. Bloniasz (he/him) (@PatrickBloniasz) August 17, 2022
“That looks great! My comp may need to be retooled. method class at @NDSUPsychology around it,” replied Ben Balas, a professor of psychology at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
That looks great! My comp may need to be retooled. method class at @NDSUPsychology around these. https://t.co/nMSTda6Cb4
– Ben Balas (@bjbalas) August 18, 2022
“That is a great resourceand a nice hands-on way to learn some Python!” tweeted Jake Ahern, a PhD student in Neurodynamics at the University of Bristol in the UK.
This is a great resource and a nice hands-on way to learn some Python! https://t.co/kU6Ddqco4A
— Jake Ahern (@JakeAhern4) August 18, 2022
Ona Marija Singh, a doctoral student at Hannover Medical School in Lower Saxony, Germany, tweeted that she was “starting to learn dissect brains just today, wow, that’s a sign.”
just started learning how to dissect brains today wow that’s a sign ????????
— Ona Marija Singh (@MarijaSingh) August 19, 2022
“I dream of moving Computational Neurosciencebut my university never offered such courses!” tweeted Emina, a molecular biologist from Croatia.
Thanks for that! I dream of switching to Computational Neuroscience but my university has never offered such courses!????
— Emina (Science Pit) (@science_pit) August 19, 2022
Bloniasz replied: “You will be great! 😀 let me know if I can be of any help. By the way, I enjoyed quickly skimming your blog!” what Emina said made her day.
Thank you, you just made my day ????
— Emina (Science Pit) (@science_pit) August 19, 2022
To draw our attention to younger learners, Laura Fox, a PhD student at the University of York in the UK, shared her article, which was published in autism “Examining the Impact of COVID-19 and School Transition on autistic children friendship.”
The work “illuminates the diversity of needs among autistic children and calls for a personalized approach to transitional support…” Fox explained in the thread.
The study highlights the diversity of needs of autistic children and calls for a personalized approach to transitional support as a way to support autistic children in developing positive relationships with their peers.
— Laura Fox ???????? (@laura_j_fox) September 6, 2022
Annis Stenson, lecturer in student engagement at the University of York, called the study a “important new paper‘ in a quote tweet.
Important new paper from my colleague at @DeptEdYork, looking forward to reading! https://t.co/B8uGUiqbBA
– dr Annis Stenson (@AnnisDoesPhD) September 8, 2022
“New Paper, led by the Fabulous @laura_j_fox what the school transition looked like autistic children during COVIDand how the experience is related to the development and maintenance of friendships,” responded study co-author Kathryn Asbury, director of the GenOmics And Life Stories group at the University of York.
New paper led by the fabulous @laura_j_fox what the school transition was like for autistic children during COVID and how the experience relates to developing and maintaining friendships. Well done Laura! https://t.co/OYwZt0BHI2
— Kathryn Asbury (@KathrynAsbury1) September 6, 2022
Speaking of learning, have you ever wondered what lies behind modern humans’ cognitive abilities? A new study in Science suggests that “a single amino acid change helps explain ours cognitive power compared to Neanderthals,” tweeted Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California.
A single amino acid change helps explain our cognitive performance compared to Neanderthals!https://t.co/MnvqZxeyVwhttps://t.co/iJ5etwtnsI@ScienceMagazine
And a @karlzimmer Explainerhttps://t.co/njk0bQqbt6 @NYTScience pic.twitter.com/Gq1NwEaboZ— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) September 8, 2022
The study’s researchers compared genome sequences from modern humans to those of Neanderthals and found “that an amino acid swap encoded in the TKTL1 gene” played a role in the design of the modern human brain.
However, some researchers were skeptical. “It’s intriguing, but are we really supposed to believe that TKTL1 is a driver of human cognition?” wrote Jonathan Sebat, professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, in a quote tweet.
Wouldn’t we expect that there would be many such changes in the human genome, with similar effect sizes in either direction? It’s intriguing, but are we really supposed to believe that TKTL1 is a driver of human cognitive abilities? ???? https://t.co/c7yN64eclf
– Jonathan Sebat (@sebatlab) 09/10/2022
Karol Estrada of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, also had doubts, tweeting: “I bet my colleagues are working on it Genetics of Cognitive Skills will have something to say about that.”
Could a single AA explain cognitive superiority? I doubt my colleges that work on the genetics of cognitive abilities can comment on that. https://t.co/xmSpFahtjg
– Karol Estrada (@karls_es) 09/10/2022
“Fascinating if true. Much more work is needed to evaluate the mutation,” tweeted Jason Locasale of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Fascinating if true. Much more work is needed to assess the mutation. Eg whether lysine is modified for function, the enzyme’s contribution to glucose metabolism, what causes the mutation to regulate the signaling pathway, etc. https://t.co/j1f0wUEvqA
— Jason Locasale (@LocasaleLab) 09/10/2022
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
That’s it for this week’s community newsletter! If you have any suggestions for interesting social posts you’ve seen in the field of autism research, please feel free to email [email protected].
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