Ella Marushchenko is a scientific illustrator who runs a studio of artists and scientists that creates cover art, scientific and illustrations, and more. We talk about her unlikely path from artist in Russia to scientific illustrator in the US, digital vs classic art, how to interact as scientists with illustrators, how to improve scientific figures, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Ella's unlikely path to doing scientific illustrations
0:33:17: Running a studio for scientific illustrations
0:36:30: The process of commissioning a scientific figure
0:46:44: The changing landscape of scientific publications and communication
0:50:15: Unhelpful things to avoid when interacting with a science illustrator
0:59:06: Who are scientific illustrations for?
1:06:36: The purpose of illustrations in science
1:16:09: How to learn to improve scientific figures
1:22:30: How to become a scientific illustrator
1:26:10: A book or paper more people should read
1:27:48: Something Ella wishes she'd learnt sooner
1:29:10: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Ella's links

• Website: https://geni.us/marushchenko-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/marushchenko-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Some pictures by Sergey Krasnov: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sergey_krasnov/

Sergiy Minko: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TMotc_wAAAAJ

Science diagrams that look like shitposts: https://x.com/scienceshitpost

My photo of the elephant at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle: https://www.bjks.blog/nature/3n6ljuy6noa5470tdsbcuicltu48df

Episode about Cajal: https://geni.us/bjks-ehrlich

Bulgakov (1967). The Master and Margarita.

Roberto Bottini is an Associate Professor at the University of Trento. We talk about his recent work on unusual cognitive maps in blind people, image spaces, metaphors, and he gives me some advice for writing successful grant applications.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Roberto's background
0:03:20: Start discussing Roberto's paper on altered grid cells in visually impaired people: theoretical background
0:16:28: Methods & results: walking on a clock face / altered grid cells: fourfold symmetry
0:47:48: Start discussing Roberto's paper on cognitive maps and image spaces (TiCS)
0:52:05: Egocentric and allocentric perspectives
0:55:27: Metaphors and analogies
1:00:08: Tips for grant applications
1:14:18: A book or paper that more people should read
1:18:38: Something Roberto wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:20:30: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Roberto's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bottini-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bottini-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bottini-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References
Aronov, ... & Tank (2017). Mapping of a non-spatial dimension by the hippocampal–entorhinal circuit. Nature.
Bisiach & Luzzatti (1978). Unilateral neglect of representational space. Cortex.
Bottini & Doeller (2020). Knowledge across reference frames: Cognitive maps and image spaces. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Casasanto (2009). Embodiment of abstract concepts: good and bad in right-and left-handers. Journal of experimental psychology: General.
Constantinescu, ... & Behrens (2016). Organizing conceptual knowledge in humans with a gridlike code. Science.
Derdikman, ... & Moser (2009). Fragmentation of grid cell maps in a multicompartment environment. Nature neuroscience.
Eichenbaum (2014). Time cells in the hippocampus: a new dimension for mapping memories. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Gardenfors (2004). Conceptual spaces: The geometry of thought.
Gentner (1983). Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy. Cognitive science.
He & Brown (2019). Environmental barriers disrupt grid-like representations in humans during navigation. Current Biology.
Horner, ... & Burgess (2016). Grid-like processing of imagined navigation. Current Biology.
Jaynes (1976). The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
Park, ... & Boorman (2021). Inferences on a multidimensional social hierarchy use a grid-like code. Nature Neuroscience.
Sigismondi, ... & Bottini (2024). Altered grid-like coding in early blind people. Nature Communications.
Stangl, ... & Wolbers (2018). Compromised grid-cell-like representations in old age as a key mechanism to explain age-related navigational deficits. Current Biology.
Tolman (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review.
Whittington, ... & Behrens (2022). How to build a cognitive map. Nature Neuroscience.

Robert (Bob) Wilson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgia Tech. We talk about his tutorial paper (w/ Anne Collins) on computational modelling, and some of his recent work on detecting phishing.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Bob's strange path through computational cognitive neuroscience
0:07:37: Phishing: a computational model with real-life applications
0:25:46: Start discussing Bob's paper 10 simple rules for computational modeling of behavioral data
0:32:15: Rule 0: Why even do computational modelling?
0:46:24: Rules 1 & 2: Design a good experiment & Design a good model
1:02:51: Rule 3: Simulate!
1:05:48: Rules 4 & 5: Parameter estimation and recovery
1:18:28: Rule 6: Model recovery
1:25:55: Rules 7 & 8: Collect data and validate the model
1:33:15: Rule 9: Latent variable analysis
1:36:24: Rule 10: Report your results
1:37:46: Computational modelling and the open science movement
1:40:17: A book or paper more people should read
1:43:35: Something Bob wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:47:18: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Robert's links

• Website: https://geni.us/wilson-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/wilson-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/wilson-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References

Episodes w/ Paul Smaldino:
https://geni.us/bjks-smaldino
https://geni.us/bjks-smaldino_2

Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition.
Feng, Wang, Zarnescu & Wilson (2021). The dynamics of explore–exploit decisions reveal a signal-to-noise mechanism for random exploration. Scientific Reports.
Grilli, ... & Wilson (2021). Is this phishing? Older age is associated with greater difficulty discriminating between safe and malicious emails. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.
Hakim, Ebner, ... & Wilson (2021). The Phishing Email Suspicion Test (PEST) a lab-based task for evaluating the cognitive mechanisms of phishing detection. Behavior research methods.
Harootonian, Ekstrom & Wilson (2022). Combination and competition between path integration and landmark navigation in the estimation of heading direction. PLoS Computational Biology.
Hopfield (1982). Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities. PNAS.
MacKay (2003). Information theory, inference and learning algorithms.
Miller, Eugene & Pribram (1960). Plans and the Structure of Behaviour.
Sweis, Abram, Schmidt, Seeland, MacDonald III, Thomas, & Redish (2018). Sensitivity to “sunk costs” in mice, rats, and humans. Science.
Walasek & Stewart (2021). You cannot accurately estimate an individual’s loss aversion using an accept–reject task. Decision.
Wilson & Collins (2019). Ten simple rules for the computational modeling of behavioral data. Elife.

Nick Wise is a postdoc in fluid dynamics at Cambridge University. We talk about his 'detective work' on publication fraud which has gotten more than 800 papers retracted to date, including tortured phrases, discovering Facebook groups and Telegram channels in which people sell authorships on papers, how 'Special' issues can be exploited, and what we can do about this.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: How Nick got involved with publication fraud: tortured phrases
0:18:26: Why do people try to publish nonsense papers?
0:24:27: The ecosystem of fraudulent publishing
0:30:22: 'Special' issues
0:49:02: How does Nick do this detective work?
1:00:37: What can we do about publication fraud?
1:38:52: There are practically no jobs to work full-time on fraud detection
1:49:37: A book or paper more people should read
1:55:13: Something Nick wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:57:21: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Nick's links

• Website: https://geni.us/n-wise-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/n-wise-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/n-wise-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References & links

Episodes with Eugenie Reich: https://geni.us/bjks-reich

Episode with Elisabeth Bik: https://geni.us/bjks-bik

Episode with Adam Mastroianni: https://geni.us/bjks-mastroianni_2

Dorothy Bishop awards 2024: https://www.ukrn.org/2024/03/28/winners-of-the-2024-dorothy-bishop-prize/

Nick's guest blog post on Dorothy Bishop's blog: http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2022/10/what-is-going-on-in-hindawi-special.html

Nick's talk at Cambridge: https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4117618

Everything Hertz podcast: https://everythinghertz.com/

James Heathers's series of posts on Hindawi: https://jamesclaims.substack.com/p/the-hindawi-files-part-1-the-timeline

Coffeezilla: https://www.youtube.com/@Coffeezilla

Barnaby Jack's talk at DefCon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkteGFfvwJ0

Cabanac, Labbé & Magazinov (2021). Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science. Evidence of critical issues affecting established journals. arXiv.
Mastroianni & Ludwin-Peery (2022). Things could be better. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2uxwk
Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.

This is the 2nd part of my interview with Eugenie Reich, who is a lawyer who represents scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her transition from journalism to law, and discuss the legal aspects of scientific fraud: why fraudsters rarely go to prison, what whistleblowers are legally allowed to do, how and when to seek legal advice, and much more. Obviously, none of this is legal advice, but hopefully it provides some useful pointers.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: How Eugenie went from science journalist to being a lawyer and defending whistleblowers
0:13:15: Why do most people who commit scientific fraud not go to prison?
0:32:36: What are whistleblowers allowed to do?
0:48:24: What if I get sued for reporting scientific misconduct?
0:56:32: How do fraudsters try to intimidate whistleblowers?
1:01:24: What if I can't afford legal help?
1:06:18: Eugenie's plans for the future

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Eugenie's links

• Website: https://geni.us/reich-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/reich-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Woo-Suk Hwang affair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_affair
Theranos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos
Cassava: https://www.science.org/content/article/company-misled-investors-possible-alzheimer-s-drug-sec-charges
Eric Poehlman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Poehlman
Luk van Parijs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luk_Van_Parijs
The Scientific Integrity Fund: https://scientificintegrityfund.org/

Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.
Reich (2011). Fraud case we might have seen coming. Nature News.

Eugenie Reich is an attorney who represents scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her previous work as a science journalist, in particular her book Plastic Fantastic about one of the biggest fraud cases in physics, the case of Jan-Hendrik Schön. We'd planned to also discuss Eugenie's current work as an attorney, but spent all our time on the Schön case. Eugenie kindly agreed to do another interview, in which we cover the legal aspects of fraud, which will be the next episode (#106).

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: One of the biggest fraud cases in physics/all of science
0:05:47: How and why Eugenie started writing about the Schön case
0:09:26: Why did Schön commit fraud?
0:19:30: Schön's PhD: he never saved any original data
0:30:05: Bell Labs vs. Schön's PhD lab: long-term revolutions vs. short-term applications
0:36:42: Schön's first work at Bell Labs was 'unpublishable'
0:41:42: How to get away with fraud: pretend you collected data in another lab
0:47:45: Bertram Batlogg and the role of the supervisors of fraudsters
0:56:20: How the bursting of the Dot-Com Bubble and 9/11 may (indirectly) have exacerbated Schön's fraud
1:01:09: How to use your colleagues' ideas to commit better fraud
1:05:05: How Schön's fraud unraveled
1:13:45: What is Schön doing now?
1:18:11: A book or paper more people should read
1:20:20: Something Eugenie wishes she'd learnt sooner
1:22:58: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Eugenie's links

• Website: https://geni.us/reich-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/reich-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Episode with Simine Vazire: https://geni.us/bjks-vazire
Episode with Elisabeth Bik: https://geni.us/bjks-bik

Bell Labs (2002). The Schon report: https://media-bell-labs-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pages/20170403_1709/misconduct-revew-report-lucent.pdf
Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.
Shapin & Schaffer (1985). Leviathan and the air-pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the experimental life.

James (Mac) Shine is a PI and fellow at the University of Sydney. We talk about his background in sports, using fMRI to integrate various parts of neuroscience, collaboration, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Mac's sporting background
0:07:46: Overview of Mac's review in Nature (w/ Emily Finn and Russell Poldrack)
0:14:03: The role of great editors in improving scientists and their work
0:32:53: Connecting different levels of description
0:40:07: Integration and specialisation
0:48:49: You can scan any animal with fMRI - but they're usually anaesthetised
0:54:13: The transfer from human fMRI to animal electrophysiology
1:01:53: N=1 studies and layer-fMRI in clinical neuroscience
1:16:17: Collaboration and building a multidisciplinary lab
1:26:52: The magic formula in science: annoyance, excitement, and a constructive mindset
1:34:51: Writing grants as a test to oneself, and the art of reframing
1:41:52: A book or paper more people should read
1:43:37: Something Mac wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:45:43: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Mac's links

• Website: https://geni.us/shine-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/shine-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/shine-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

OHMB interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucDj_94ovaU

Boyden, ... & Deisseroth (2005). Millisecond-timescale, genetically targeted optical control of neural activity. Nature Neuroscience.
Finn, Poldrack & Shine (2023). Functional neuroimaging as a catalyst for integrated neuroscience. Nature.
Friston, ... (2017). Active inference: a process theory. Neural Computation.
Munn, ... Larkum & Shine (2023). A thalamocortical substrate for integrated information via critical synchronous bursting. PNAS.
Newbold, ... & Dosenbach (2020). Plasticity and spontaneous activity pulses in disused human brain circuits. Neuron.
Pezzulo & Cisek (2016). Navigating the affordance landscape: feedback control as a process model of behavior and cognition. TiCS.
Poldrack, ... (2015). Long-term neural and physiological phenotyping of a single human. Nature Communications.
Rao & Ballard (1999). Predictive coding in the visual cortex: a functional interpretation of some extra-classical receptive-field effects. Nature Neuroscience.
Shine, ... (2011). Visual misperceptions and hallucinations in Parkinson's disease: dysfunction of attentional control networks?. Movement Disorders.
Shine, ... & Poldrack (2016). The dynamics of functional brain networks: integrated network states during cognitive task performance. Neuron.
Shine, ... & Poldrack (2016). Temporal metastates are associated with differential patterns of time-resolved connectivity, network topology, and attention. PNAS.
Shine & Poldrack (2018). Principles of dynamic network reconfiguration across diverse brain states. NeuroImage.

Brandon Brown is a professor at University of California Riverside, where he studies global health and ethics. He also writes career columns for Nature and Science, which we talk about: negotiations in academia, his sabbatical, his life owning and working a farm, different types of grants and contributions in academia, and much more

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Brandon's path to becoming a scientist
0:20:39: Start discussing Brandon's career columns in Nature
0:32:17: Grant applications: small vs. big
0:41:36: Postdoc-phase: is my plan crazy?
0:55:32: Different types of contribution/recognition in academia
1:09:22: Negotiation in academia
1:22:47: Contributing to team science
1:30:30: Sabbaticals
1:39:19: Brandon's farm
1:48:15: A book or paper more people should read
1:49:33: Something Brandon wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:51:43: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Brandon's links

• Website: https://geni.us/brown-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/brown-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/brown-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

CAMP: https://www.campstatewide.org/
truEvolution: https://www.truevolution.org/

Brandon's columns (most of which we discussed):
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02390-w
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03184-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00381-5
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.364.6447.1306
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.372.6548.1358

Coelho (1988). The Alchemist.