Yasemin Saplakoglu

Photos Capture the Extreme, Beautiful Work of Climate Science | Quanta Magazine Building an accurate model of Earth’s climate requires a lot of data. Photography reveals the extreme efforts scientists have undertaken to measure gases, glaciers, clouds and more.

Photography from expeditions to the farthest ends of the Earth showcase climate scientists’ adventurous effort to collect data for climate models. By Yasemin Saplakoglu @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social

www.quantamagazine.org/photos-captu...

How Smell Guides Our Inner World | Quanta Magazine A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into percep...

A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into perception in your brain. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-gu...

AI Changes Science and Math Forever | Quanta Magazine An exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing what it means to do science and math, and what it means to be a scientist.

Out today: a new special series from @quantamagazine.bsky.social about science in the age of AI! It explores the roots of AI in fundamental science, how researchers are trying to make sense of AI today, and the ways they’re grappling with an uncertain future.

www.quantamagazine.org/series/scien...

AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK | Quanta Magazine The brain’s astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.

"A maggot knows things about the outside world in a way that no computer does." Read @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social fun + fascinating feature: AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK www.quantamagazine.org/ai-is-nothin...

Why ‘De-Extinction’ Is Impossible (But Could Work Anyway) | Quanta Magazine Several projects are aiming to bring back mammoths and other species that have vanished from the planet. Whether that’s technically possible is beside the point.

Tweaking modern animals to look like ancient animals is super cool, and impressive genetic technology. But de-extinction it is not. More from @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social here www.quantamagazine.org/why-de-extin...

How Smart Were Dinosaurs? New Studies Fuel the Debate Discussions of dinosaur brainpower spark larger questions around the nature of intelligence

They don't know for sure! But here's an interesting article discussing dinosaur intelligence: www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

(@yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social covered this already. Three years ago.)

Why ‘De-Extinction’ Is Impossible (But Could Work Anyway) | Quanta Magazine Several projects are aiming to bring back mammoths and other species that have vanished from the planet. Whether that’s technically possible is beside the point.

“The biggest misconception about de-extinction is that it’s possible,” evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro told @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social in 2022. Read her explainer on the plausibility of efforts to bring back extinct species, such as dire wolves. www.quantamagazine.org/why-de-extin...

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

Thank you to @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social, who wrote a fantastic article for @quantamagazine.bsky.social about our studies on the evolution of the avian pallium. Love it! shorturl.at/vmTLq

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

Took 1.5 years at Quanta to assign my first bird story 😇

@yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social's beautiful writing + excellent reporting about the evolution of intelligence — evidence that birds evolved complex brain circuits independently of our mammal intelligence www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

Calling someone bird-brained is, in fact, a way of calling someone highly intelligent. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...

Quanta’s mission is to illuminate basic science and mathematics. Help us get recognized among the internet’s best in the The Webby Awards. Vote here: vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...

Vote for the best of the internet I just voted in The Webby People's Voice Awards and checked my voter registration.

Quanta has been nominated for Best Science Website in The Webby Awards! Help us win by voting here: vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...

Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories | Quanta Magazine Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” help us think, imagine and remember episodes from our lives.

Fascinating news feature about concept cells - neurons really can encode ideas. "Concept neurons fire for their concept no matter how it is presented: in real life or a photo, in text or speech, on television or in a podcast." @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/concept-cell...

Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too? | Quanta Magazine The discovery that other vertebrates have healthy, microbial brains is fueling the still controversial possibility that we might have them as well.

Microbiomes in the gut have major impacts on our digestion, our immune system, even our social skills. If microbes are present in the brain, it could reveal layers of neurological regulation that we never knew existed.
www.quantamagazine.org/fish-have-a-...