Cheng Soon Ong

Excited to announce a new book telling the story of mathematical approaches to studying the mind, from the origins of cognitive science to modern AI! The Laws of Thought will be published in February and is available for pre-order now.

Hot take: If you are thinking about observation planning, and if you have choices, you should choose the plan that maximizes your long-term future-discounted information gain.
. . .

Joseph Y. Halpern Obituary February 13, 2026 - Bangs Funeral Home View Joseph Y. Halpern's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

Was saddened today to hear the passing of Joseph Halpern. I knew him from my undergraduate days at Cornell, for part of which he was the department chair.
www.bangsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/j...

This Is How a Child Dies of Measles When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak

This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”

2025 was a blockbuster year for TMLR -- big growth from 2024, but also cementing our J2C partnership with NeurICMLR, and launching Beyond PDF.

Also, cutting the cord: with the founding EiCs completing their tenure, I am now the old guy 👴

Check out the annual report for more!

As a neuroscientist I’m genuinely worried about the impact of excessive AI use on the brain… especially young brains. It’s like getting a personal trainer to lift your weights for you.

This is an excerpt from a chat I had with Jules Sebastian on #TeaWithJules
#brainhealth #ai #neuroscience

Swarms of AI bots can sway people’s beliefs – threatening democracy A simulation shows that social media bots powered by today’s AI can infiltrate human networks on social media and influence what people believe.

This story via @theconversation.com weaves together research done with @yang3kc.bsky.social @baottruong.bsky.social and several others: 🧪 Swarms of AI bots can sway people's beliefs – threatening democracy

theconversation.com/swarms-of-ai...

Space Name Registry A unique gift for your loved one

So much frustration, in fact, that I made a whole website that looks like a star-selling website, but if you click "buy now" you can actually symbolically name a star for free

spacenameregistry.com

You can't actually buy stars on my website of course. It instead explains why you can't

🔭🧪

@abistephenson.bsky.social on The Point about why tax policy is far sexier than you think

Quick math question (@ccanonne.github.io?): let's say I sample n points iid from a gaussian in dimension d. What is the ratio of the volume of the biggest cone without samples, intersected with the smallest encompassing hypersphere, and that hypersphere. i.e., the relative volume without sample

On this day that supports inclusive futures for women and girls in science, let's not forget all the women that were sidelined, ignored, or forced out of science because they:
- had children
- prioritised family/caring
- did science differently
- questioned boundaries & norms
- fought the patriarchy

Other things in my life have needed full attention, so I totally forgot that book number 10 was due to make its way into the world!

A great collab!

This book shows you how to work with the research mess without getting into a mess. I hope people enjoy ❤️

www.routledge.com/Managing-You...

New SIGACT award expository work, created in memory of Luca Trevisan: "intended to promote and recognize high-impact work expositing ideas and results from the Theory of Computation."

A wonderful initiative—consider nominating people!

⏰ Nomination deadline: April 10
sigact.org/prizes/trevi...

Most AI-war research asks how machines fight. This special issue asks how they might decide to wage war, shifting focus from the battlefield to the war-room.

Read the open-access special issue guest edited by Prof. Toni Erskine here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@anu-asiapacific.bsky.social

Excellent review on using generative models to design enzymes

@noeliaferruz.bsky.social @lassemiddendorf.bsky.social

arxiv.org/abs/2602.03779

New report from @copyright.com.au 'Hidden risks of GenAi in the workplace'

More employees are using genAI tools for work and uploading third party material, but few understand the terms and ethics of these tools.
www.copyright.com.au/licences-per...

Why Do Recipe Writers Lie About How Long It Takes To Caramelize Onions? Browning onions is a matter of patience. My own patience ran out earlier this year while leafing through the New York Times food section. There, in the...

For everybody who's cooking today in advance of the storm: Here's the truth about carmelizing onions, which is that cookbooks lie about carmelizing onions. "In truth, the best time to carmelize onions is yesterday."
A classic by @tomscocca.bsky.social slate.com/human-intere...

Hot take: it's 2026 we don't need to be manually doing citations or asking llms to do them overleaf should just autogenerate the citations from dois

Add scikit-learn · linuxfoundation insights · Discussion #1506 We'd like to request enrolling scikit-learn into LFX Insights. The GitHub org is https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn. Scikit-learn is the most used machine learning library: download numbe...

Hi everyone,
If you like @scikit-learn.org, how about upvoting my request to add it to the LinuxFoundation insight board:
github.com/linuxfoundat...
Thanks 🧡💙

Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...

Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more

Course Coordinator - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia Classification: Academic Level BSalary package: $121,598 – 137,870 per annum plus 17% superannuation Terms: Full-time, Continuing (flexible arrangements, job share, or part time hours will be consider...

Have you got a PhD in Statistics (or related field) and experience in Statistical Consulting? A continuing position at the Australian National University is now open 🇦🇺🦘🐨.

Would love to get an #rstats person if possible ☺️

Apply by 18 Jan 👉 jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/course-... #statssky #statsky

To anyone who may have been present at my talk today in which I intimated that you can just, you know, do this: you can just, you know, do this.

was at an event on AI for science yesterday, a panel discussion here at NeurIPS. The panelists discussed how they plan to replace humans at all levels in the scientific process. So I stood up and protested that what they are doing is evil.

Full post:
togelius.blogspot.com/2025/12/plea...

I'm preparing for a PhD forum panel discussion at #AJCAI, and recalling the nice guide for ML conferencing that @khimya.bsky.social and I wrote for #AISTATS in 2025.

virtual.aistats.org/Conferences/...

Hope this guide is useful for early career researchers travelling to #NeurIPS2025

I'm preparing for a PhD forum panel discussion at #AJCAI, and recalling the nice guide for ML conferencing that @khimya.bsky.social and I wrote for #AISTATS in 2025.

virtual.aistats.org/Conferences/...

Wikipedia reckons...

The unusual name is said to be based on the yellow and streaky red eggs-and-bacon flowers that grow in the area from the pea family of Fabaceae. An alternative, though likely untrue, story is that Lady Jane Franklin, ate bacon and eggs there around 1840

I write about some interesting developments in the ATmosphere (and the broader universe of decentralised and federated social media). Very intrigued by #Eurosky, especially the idea of shared moderation infrastructure. I will be following (and hopefully writing about!) this with a lot of interest.

The Mathematics of Artificial Intelligence: In this introductory and highly subjective survey, aimed at a general mathematical audience, I showcase some key theoretical concepts underlying recent advancements in machine learning. arxiv.org/abs/2501.10465

If you like our @deisenroth.bsky.social #mathematics for #machinelearning textbook, and want a hard copy, Cambridge is providing a 30% discount for #NeurIPS2025.

Of course you can buy other books, and also download the PDF from: mml-book.com

www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
Discount code: 107890