Alexandra A. de Sousa

Thinking on your feet: potentially enhancing phylogenetic tree learning accessibility through a kinaesthetic approach - Evolution: Education and Outreach Background Phylogenetics is one of the main methodologies to understand cross-cutting principles of evolution, such as common ancestry and speciation. Phylogenetic trees, however, are reportedly chall...

Thinking on your feet: potentially enhancing phylogenetic tree learning accessibility through a kinaesthetic approach evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄?
Because many of the biggest open questions in neuroscience still revolve around the cerebral cortex — how it emerged, expanded, diversified, and why it differs so much across species.
#CorticalEvolution2026

We now describe the cortex in extraordinary detail:
cell types, layers, gene expression, developmental programs.
Yet description alone doesn’t explain why the cortex is built the way it is — or why evolution took such different paths in different lineages.
#CorticalEvolution2026

Importantly, cortical evolution is not just about the past.
Many vulnerabilities of the human brain, from developmental disorders to psychiatric disease, may be inseparable from the evolutionary trajectories that shaped cortical expansion and complexity.

𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.
Only by comparing species can we distinguish what is conserved from what is derived, what is fundamental from what is contingent, and which features come with hidden costs.
#CorticalEvolution2026

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗼.
To bring together evolutionary, developmental and systems perspectives and to rethink where the field is going next.
June 15–17, 2026 Spain
#CorticalEvolution2026

From genes to dynamics: Examining brain cell types in action may reveal the logic of brain function Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity.

Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity, writes @lmprida.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/defining-cel...

😱😱😱

CORTICAL EVOLUTION CONFERENCE
June 15-17, 2026
Organizers: Verónica Martínez Cerdeño, Fernando García Moreno, Elena Vecino, and Stephen Noctor.
ventricular.org/corticalevol...

I am looking forward to speaking at this fantastic conference!

Missed our amazing seminar with @stanley-heinze.bsky.social on insect connectomes and insectbraindb.org? You can catch up at the link here www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...

😍

Stanley Heinz on comparing insect connectomes

Stanley Heinz explains the amazing comparative database insectbraindb.org

Exciting insect brain database talk on right now! www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...

Come to the TIBBE seminar next Wednesday, where we will learn about the insect brain database!

🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar:
Comparative databasing
January 28, 3–4pm UTC

This event hosts an outstanding neuroscientist & biologist particularly interested in insect brains who will present his work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/comparativ...

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
"High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions."
Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones.
NB: study in the mouse
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Our ancestors were nerds 🤓

Who did it?

Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi - Nature A hand stencil painted on a cave wall on a small island off the coast of Sulawesi more than 67,800 years ago suggests a very early occupation of Wallacea.

The oldest documented rock art in the world.

Congratulations

Native American Rights Fund
Gathered this info for Native folks to know their rights and what to do should they be stopped by ICE.

JASs, since 1893 - Volume103 (2025) Volume 103 (2025)

Cool new thing I enjoyed reading: reflections on AI through an anthropological lens – From the Paleolithic to artificial intelligence. www.jass-anthropology.com/contents/vol...

Congratulations!

Pls report: We're hiring! Looking for a postdoctoral research fellow to join our study of individual differences in plasticity in #blindness (+ possible extension to #deafness) using fMRI.

Details and application: apply.interfolio.com/177838

#hiring #postdoc #neurojobs #Neuroscience #NeuroTwitter

I am also thinking of the industry interest in these numbers, and developers who make money off them are not contributing to acquiring new data.

I am so skeptical of any lucky numbers, unfortunately! Instead let's show WHY we need more comparative brain data!

A much needed phylogenetic approach to consciousness. Once you map the question on a tree, a hard problem becomes so much easier!

Paul Katz on recognizing neuronal homologues across species in the Evolution of Brain Cell Types seminar.