Dr. Cate Peña

This is an excellent explainer of the value of basic science research and offers excellent examples, as well as good advice about HOW to ‘explain’ the value of basic science to the public. We are where we are because we scientists have not done a good job of this historically.

Yeah dopamine encodes reward but what about when contingencies shift and behavior needs to be flexible? Turns out VTA GABA neuron activity plays a role, check it out in my first postdoctoral research article here!👇

8 members of the Peña lab looking dapper in front of a poster

My undergrads nailed their poster presentations today at @princetonneuro.bsky.social! So proud of them and their mentors

Congrats, Ivan!

A hypothalamic circuit that modulates feeding and parenting behaviours - Nature Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mouse hypothalamus and behavioural experiments show that specific hypothalamic networks regulate conflicting feeding versus parenting behaviours of female mice.

How do animals decide if they should forage for food or stay home to take care of newborn offspring? Whose needs come first? For my PhD work now out in Nature, we examined how hunger and parenting neurons interact and are reshaped postpartum in mice 🧵⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Where's the money, Lucas?

The money is gone.

I know it's GONE, where's it gone to?

Atlantic City.

Atlantic City? Is it coming BACK from Atlantic City?

I... I don't think so.

Given the lack of significant outrage, people are either unaware or believe they can weather this storm. The latter set reminds me of folks confident they would get on the lifeboats when the Titanic was sinking. At 5% success & a six-grant application limit, there aren't enough lifeboats. /2

Democrats need to fight. I’m standing for Jersey.

SfN Neuronline logo. Professional Development Webinar. Bridging Neuroscience and Society: Exploring Interdisciplinary Pathways in Neuroethics, Neurolaw, and Policy. Tuesday, August 5, noon–1 p.m. EDT.

Explore emerging careers at the intersection of neuroscience, ethics, law, and policy in this upcoming webinar!

Attendees will hear real-world examples and learn actionable tools to create meaningful societal impact.

Register today: vist.ly/3zkcc

#neurosky #neuroskyence

This is so cool!

Harvard Is Said to Be Open to Spending Up To $500 Million to Resolve Trump Dispute

"resolve dispute" is a bizarre way to describe extortion.

14 Republican senators urge White House to release delayed NIH funds Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) is leading the letter making the ask of OMB director Russ Vought.

14 GOP senators are urging the Trump admin to release stalled NIH funds, warning that delays could shut down life-saving research, cost jobs, and erode public trust in science.

On the line? Real people, real cures, real consequences.

zurl.co/TlewL

Odds of winning NIH grants plummet as new funding policy and spending delays bite Funding multiyear grants up front will sharply cut number of investigators receiving awards

www.science.org/content/arti...

STUDY: Denmark tracked over a million children for 21 years, and found vaccines linked to zero extra cases of autism, asthma, or 48 other conditions.

Vaccines are safe, effective, and the best way to eradicate preventable disease. Period.

I spoke with a hair stylist about what’s happening to science funding. She had no idea and was appalled. (She’s staunchly independent and had even cut 45’s hair.) She didn’t know that we now have vaccines against cancers (I mean so cool!) but it’s all getting cut.
Keep talking! To EVERYONE!

Brain Surfaces of 70 primate species

1
To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!

🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

YouTube video by Steve Lawson Kara Marshall PHD-History of Science in America - Trilogy at Tehaleh 04/27/25

Watched @karalmarshall.bsky.social gave a similar talk and she had some great slides

Friends, I will soon give a 15 min talk about why NIH is a good investment to a Rotary Club in my hometown in PA. Do you have recommendations for digestible graphs or slides to show a bunch of small business owners and retirees? THX! #ResearchSavesLives

The Anne West lab at Duke is hiring a postdoc to work on nuclear cell biology in neurogenesis. Please help me spread the word! Applications to west@neuro.duke.edu.

Wonderful new work from @marykaylobo.bsky.social and @joeycheers.bsky.social: Concurrent maternal stress and THC exposure during pregnancy alters adolescent behavioral outcomes and corticolimbic molecular programs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Love that!

Screenshot of Jesse Jenkins on The Ezra Klein Show with headline "Is Decarbonization Dead?"

Screenshot of Jane Flegal on The Ezra Klein Show with headline "Is Decarbonization Dead?"

Is decarbonization dead? @janeaflegal.bsky.social & I join Ezra Klein to talk through how Trump just shredded America's most ambitious climate policy, what survived, and where we go from here. Listen @nytimes.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/o...

With even less humanity 😫

Yesterday I submitted an IACUC amendment and today I uploaded receipts to Concur. I am unstoppable!!

Ha!

It’s painful to know what literally any other industry could do with that money. Pay teachers! End homelessness and food insecurity! And of course fund our dear industry..

Even I can barely wrap my head around the prospects of only one out of four PIs *who put in six applications* landing a grant award.

Love this

Science philanthropy faces a new reality As the ground under American science shifts in troubling and unpredictable ways, questions have arisen as to how philanthropies should respond. Having recently led a private foundation that supports s...

"the persistent exclusion of those who have been marginalized historically is a stain on America’s scientific community" Whether or not funders describe their support as DEI, "they should be at least as courageous... as their grantees are." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning Neuropsychopharmacology - Estrous cycle stage gates the effect of stress on reward learning

Ever wonder how stress and the estrous cycle affects reward learning? Well we have answers for you in our paper led by @askaneuroscientist.bsky.social published in
@npp-journal.bsky.social

And huge thanks to the NIH and NSF who supported this research.