Daniel Ansari 🇨🇦

It turns out punishing coup plotters actually is an effective deterrent!

Every time people go out and vote against fascists, authoritarians, oligarchs and tyrants, I see hope for humankind

From Lula’s victory speech. Hard to argue. 🇧🇷 “We had to overcome foreign interference through digital platforms, which we will have to regulate. We cannot have monstrously large corporations earning millions and billions, paying no taxes to this country and trying to steer our election results.”

If you're reading this and thinking, Lula sucks, actually...I probably agree? But we need to be less choosy about our friends in an increasingly unstable world. If a country is a functioning democracy and relatively aligned with us on foreign policy, good enough.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who spared a thought for my country today, who amplified information about the coup d’état attempt, and worried about Brazil’s democratic future—the world’s democratic future. We won! Women won! The Amazon won! Young people won! Democracy won! Hope won!

Lula won. Hide the ketchup.

New Opinion in TiCS on what babies "know"! Some argue for innate concepts of objects, number, and morality. I offer an alternative perspective: attentional biases + perceptual prediction. No less impressive, but importantly different! www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Looking at Canadian university financials and man, Western had a good year last year. For 2025-26, it posted a surplus of $268M or +15% (natl avg = +4%). It's mostly due to some amazing investment results (hire their advisers if you can!) - their operating budget isn't qute so hot. Still.

"Neue Satellitenaufnahmen haben das Ausmaß einer riesigen russischen Radaranlage in der Ostsee-Enklave Kaliningrad sichtbar gemacht. Das System könnte künftig Flugzeuge und Raketen über weite Teile Europas erfassen, darunter auch Deutschland"

Glorious fall afternoon 🍁

Mark Carney on Elon Musk throttling Starlink: "I search for the right adjective to describe whoever took this decision or group of people took this decision against a country that is literally fighting for the lives of the citizens against naked aggression."

The U.S. is the only major economy where planet-warming pollution dramatically increased last year. The United Nations warns the planet is on track for catastrophic warming. n.pr/4zb8sRp

Hillary Clinton: “It is truly unbelievable that we have a president who wants to be an authoritarian dictator with all of the unchecked power that suggests.”

Naheed Nenshi on the immigration questions: "I am happy to have a conversation on numbers. I am not happy to have a conversation on the dignity of newcomers, and I'm not happy to have people voting on whether other people should have human rights."

📢 We are hiring! Up to 4 (!!🥳) posts at lecturer (= TT Assistant Prof) level in @unirdg-psych.bsky.social. Those with 🧠neuro backgrounds and expertise in TMS (TMS/fMRI even better) and/or fNIRS should look no further, and join us in @unirdg-cinn.bsky.social. Closing 5 Nov. Pls share #neuroskyence

Alberta's Conservative leaders/leadership should read this. #abpoli open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

12 year old's reaction to the Alberta referendum results this morning:"Good, we get to keep our Rocky Mountains then!"

Canada possesses world-class science capabilities, but a lack of co-ordination from the federal government means they are not being used to their best effect, according to newly released @cca-reports.ca expert panel report. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/scien...

As Canada awaits the Alberta separation referendum results, let’s remember how stupid this all is. Huge public money spent on a Russian & American-fuelled separation movement for an awfully-written and badly managed unbinding referendum on whether to hold a binding referendum that would be illegal.

This is exactly what the Major Projects Office was created for.

Trump might be stupid enough to fall for Putin’s inane ideas but I doubt Xi is.

First, any country that doesnt want its fate decided by others needs to oppose this imperialist travesty. Second, say they meet and decide XYZ, how are they going to make it happen? Russia’s army isnt advancing; are China and the US going to send troops too?. Puh-lease.

Chrystia Freeland: "Your government is siding with Vladimir Putin, who is a bloodthirsty dictator and war criminal. This is not a time for us to be divided. And it's certainly not a time for America to be on the side of the bad guys, which I'm sorry to say, you are right now."

Our man is high on his own supply (a middling Zinfandel)

The crowd absolutely erupts when Carney says the Pacific Link pipeline will reduce Canada's dependence on the U.S. Mark Carney: "Careful. They might think that's election interference. They're a little touchy down there. We're not. We're getting on with it."

G20 levels of police presence to remove a fucking bike lane. Absolute cowards. (Photo: @chanface.bsky.social)

Still trying to understand how Napster got shut down, but Anthropic is going public and still hasn’t paid us authors yet after stealing our work.

🚨 UVic is hiring an Assistant Professor in Cognitive Psychology/ Cognitive Neuroscience. Come join us in beautiful BC! www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...

too real

Construction trucks leaving Bloor and Islington area after being successfully deterred from starting work on removing bike lanes in Toronto by a large protest.

My conversation with Rick Hess of Education Week about the Science of Math: www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...

We need more meta-analytic and big science work on newborns like this. Research w/ newborns is HARD 1. Measurements are noisy and often ambiguous 2. Number of drop outs is high 3. Sample sizes are usually <20 This puts the newborn work highly at risk of spurious results and poor replicability

I grew up as a Developmental Psychologist in a era of almost unbridled Nativism. To see so many of its foundations crumble and being exposed for lack of rigour is fascinating to witness

Canada’s new grocery benefit does nothing to address the root cause of high food prices: corporate greed “All levels of government continue to ignore their regulatory responsibilities, enabling unchecked price-gouging on essentials like food and housing.”

Canada supplies about 84% of the finished diesel the US imports, but let’s clap it up. 😵‍💫

Newly awarded peace laureate Navi Pillay has held states and national leaders accountable and brought hope to victims of violence and conflict. #NobelPeacePrize

Fire breathing cat #Cat #Caturday

#VanityFair

Fun fact: From a sufficient elevation on a clear day, it's possible to see across Lake Ontario and make out the shapes of the hotels in Niagara Falls. And sometimes when weather conditions are just right, the plume from the falls looks kinda like the city just got nuked.

“Our government must act and clearly spell out where that line is, for Canadians and Americans alike. Passivity implies a kind of resigned consent, and this is not something we can afford. And if the government fails to act … Canadians must step in.”

Wow. Must be nice to be the only university in Canada with money.

Warum gilt es als radikal, Wohnraum zu verstaatlichen, aber nicht, staatlichen Wohnraum zu privatisieren?

Why optogenetics deserves the hype www.wiringthebrain.com/2013/09/why-... (a piece I wrote in 2013 explaining how it works and why modulating specific cell types is so key to understanding how neural circuits and systems work)