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#cognition

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A mouse study finds that electrical activity in brain synapses leads to metabolism of triglycerides in the synapses to support brain energetics. Blocking this lipid metabolism leads to torpor.

Summary: medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07

Original paper: nature.com/articles/s42255-025

Medical Xpress · Triglycerides may play an important role in brain metabolismBy Weill Cornell Medical College

New paper with Aida Gómez-Robles: “Why did the human brain size evolve: a way forward”. We propose that this seemingly unanswerable question can be tackled with simulation-based inference. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi

#brain #evolution #evodevo #math #maths #spandrel #cognition

We also discuss how this approach finds that the human brain size may surprisingly be a “spandrel” (byproduct), and empirical evidence supporting this.

The paper also discusses how our understanding of evolution by selection is affected by an explicit consideration of development.

Many thanks to Elli Leadbeater and Alex Thornton for putting together the special issue that the paper is part of. Very much looking forward to diving into the other papers!

royalsocietypublishing.org/toc

The Mind of a Bee: An Exploration of the Intelligence of Bees. A talk with bee researcher Lars Chittka (via himself on 🦋 ): biologicalrecording.co.uk/2025 "He shows that they are profoundly smart, have distinct personalities, can recognize flowers and human faces, exhibit basic emotions, count, use simple tools, solve problems, and learn by observing others. They may even possess consciousness."

Biological Recording · The Mind of a Bee: An Exploration of the Intelligence of BeesDelve into the mind of a bee with Prof Lars Chittka (Queen Mary College of the University of London) and explore how bee brains are unparalleled in the animal kingdom.

Formal study on how over reliance on LLMs is harmful for cognitive abilities for students.

> ""Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.""

media.mit.edu/publications/you

MIT Media LabYour Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task – MIT Media Lab This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine…

"Artificial intelligence is already killing off important parts of the human experience. But one of its most consequential murders—so far—is the demise of a longstanding rite of passage for students worldwide: an attempt to synthesize complex information and condense it into compelling analytical prose."

~ Brian Klaas

#AI #ArtificalIntelligence #education #cognition
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forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-of

The Garden of Forking Paths · The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of CognitionBy Brian Klaas