Nicole Rust

Professor (UPenn). Brain researcher. Science advocate. Book: Elusive Cures (2025). https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures

https://nicolecrust.com/:

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Last Notes

2026-02-17 13:21:35 GMT

I'm grateful for the opportunity to sit down with David Eagleman to spread optimism about the next steps in understanding brain and mental disorders. For a bolus of that excitement, start at 32:50, where David nails a summary of it (in 3.5 minutes).
https://eagleman.com/podcast/what-do-brains-and-weather-systems-have-in-common-with-nicole-rust/
Those 3.5 min are exciting to me for two reasons.
First, I'm a researcher who became pessimistic myself. It took me a few years (and writing a book) to work though it. Those 3.5 min are the product — an authentic north star that I can shape my research program around to channel the genius & opportunities of this era. For examples of that, this recent National Academy of Science workshop was a terrific peek at some of the incredible insights that are following from this way of thinking about the brain. Summary and videos, here: https://fabbs.org/news/2025/11/nasem-understanding-brainbody-interactions/.
Second, we need terrific science communicators to explain what researchers are doing and why it matters. (While gratified by my own efforts), I'm humbled and inspired by David's ability to nail that in just 3.5 minutes.
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/086/155/085/007/541/original/7e7d56e96fe25350.png

2026-02-14 16:32:36 GMT

The type of wholesome science that I think we can all use in complex times: the physics of elephant whiskers. Unlike mice, elephants don’t whisk. The physics of their whiskers suggests they amplify touch.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx8981

2025-10-07 22:14:46 GMT

Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.
If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIKiNk0xp4
More info on the terrific Penn Psychology PhD program here:
https://psychology.sas.upenn.edu/graduate/information-applicants

2025-08-27 11:32:08 GMT

Not all scientists appreciate the "why" behind science writing for the public - not just as a service, but for themselves. (I didn't always get it). In this piece for Nature Reviews Neuroscience, I draw on the neuroscience of curiosity & decision making to unpack its value.
Share link - open to all:
https://rdcu.be/eCGr7

2025-06-10 11:59:56 GMT

It's publication day for 📘Elusive Cures. What a moment!
This is my 1st book & my 1st time on Mindscape (one of my favorite podcasts).
Here, @npub1x3g…k6wt and I have a wide-ranging conversation about the brain, including: Why are brain and mental disorders so hard to understand and treat?
The podcast: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/09/317-nicole-rust-on-why-neuroscience-hasnt-solved-brain-disorders/
The book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/114/658/944/888/594/706/original/53cde2c0d6b78904.jpg

2025-06-02 12:52:29 GMT

I hope Senator John Fetterman and his team enjoy nonfiction books (or at least this one).
Nearly everyone is either themselves afflicted with a brain or mental condition, or knows someone who is. We must do better for those individuals! To achieve that, we need federal support of science.
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/114/613/859/618/180/212/original/33e4569af72342aa.png

2025-06-01 14:49:26 GMT

This! This the type of work that makes me so optimistic that the next 3 decades of brain research will be more impactful that the last for understanding/treating mental conditions. We finally have the right measurement tools & analyses (eg for emotion).
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt3971
Treating the brain as a complex dynamical system where emotions are persistent, emergent properties is key to understanding emotion.
This is what we'll look back on in 30 years and point to as the genius of this era.
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures
And this type of cross-species comparative work enables exactly the types of causal perturbation experiments that some are grumbling haven't been done yet. Like this ⬇️
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07915-x

2025-05-17 12:11:48 GMT

Day 24 (breakthrough): The BrainGate brain computer interface enables individuals with extreme paralysis to move. It's the product of decades of scientific discoveries & engineering. For one man, he imagines writing letters and it's transformed into text. It's remarkable!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03506-2
More on BrainGate: https://www.braingate.org/
#ElusiveCures30
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures

2025-05-15 11:12:19 GMT

Day 26 (breakthrough): AI.
"Building" was once held up as a test of understanding. With AI, we can build w/out it. AlphaFold is an AI model that predicts protein structures from DNA, created w/out understanding protein folding.
It changes the game.
#ElusiveCures30
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03819-2

2025-05-11 12:05:51 GMT

30 days to the launch of Elusive Cures! I learned so much writing it, and I want to share it.
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures
For the next 30 days, I'll post brain & mind research breakthroughs on odd days, and highlight unmet needs on even ones. #ElusiveCures30
First breakthrough: Recording tech & why it matters.
The brain is a complex system in which its parts need to be studied simultaneously b/c its emergent properties follow from their interactions.
We can now do that for the first time in history. Up to 1 million neurons in mice!
https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(24)00121-1
And this is leading to ways to measure things we've never been able to before. Like how activity in the hypothalamus of a mouse gets sucked into a persistent "line attractor" to drive aggression. Understanding that is a step toward understanding emotion in humans.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07915-x
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07915-x

2025-03-22 17:27:27 GMT

What a fun time to be named Nicole … I’ll guess hold off on sending y’all those random DMs I had planned.

2025-01-03 14:11:58 GMT

In the era of Trump 2.0, we're calling on all scientists and friends to advocate and unpack science in a public-facing way. This is much bigger than anyone of us. But if we all do one thing, imagine the cumulative impact!
It need not be a burden. More here, in @npub17rv…w9lk
https://www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-careers/in-your-new-years-resolutions-for-2025-consider-public-outreach/

2024-12-19 00:53:25 GMT

Terrific! Paywalls are disappearing! No more 12 month embargo between when NIH funded work appears in a journal and when it becomes accessible to all (as of December 2025).
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/nih-issues-new-policy-speed-access-agency-funded-research-results

2024-11-08 22:53:05 GMT

Wow! The book we all need to read this weekend, for FREE (in the US). How generous, @npub1k2h…6p26
“In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.”
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/791-hope-in-the-dark

2024-11-08 12:48:52 GMT

Personal announcement - (BIG!)
With the support of the Simons Foundation , I am redirecting my research program to study how our brains support one of the biggest & most mysterious feelings: Mood.
I have so much to say about the "Why?" and "How?" behind it! More on that here:
https://www.nicolerust.com/thepivot
I am so grateful to the Simons Foundation for their support. There aren't many opportunities to pivot an entire research program like this. And to my mentor — Yael Niv at Princeton — whose lab I get to embed in for a year to learn the ropes.
Pinch me!
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2024/11/05/simons-foundation-announces-third-class-of-pivot-fellows/
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/113/447/415/225/179/985/original/a6667848a1c96588.png

2024-11-05 14:51:24 GMT

A bright blue light on a distracting day .... The cover reveal for Elusive Cures!!
(I love it!)
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures

2024-10-15 10:31:32 GMT

On academic prose ...
Following writing a book that I hope will be accessible to all (but also interesting to my academic colleagues), I'm having a hard time switching back to academic writing style as I dive back in. I'm struggling with: How much do I need to? Maybe that's just a really bad way to write.
For instance, compare:
Mood is a continuous, ever-present feeling characterized by states like happiness, sadness, anxiousness, and calmness. It is often differentiated from emotions in that emotions are targeted at something specific (such as, "I am disgusted by rotting garbage") whereas we are not always aware of what drives our moods — likely because mood reflects an integration of events that include both external experiences as well as internal physiological states like hunger and hormone fluctuations.
With:
Mood is an affective state typically defined in terms of its slow timescale, integrative properties, and contextual modulation.
Anyone can understand the first; the second is more opaque. But the second is more compact; spelling things out requires space.
Insights appreciated!

2024-10-12 12:13:54 GMT

I'm looking for papers that *map individual differences in behavior onto neural data*. Like this one by Valeria Fascianelli, Stefano Fusi ++. Any type of creature; any type of mapping. Know any?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50503-w

2024-10-11 14:45:40 GMT

Still thinking about this talk by Ed Yong
https://neuromatch.social/@NicoleCRust/113285655160234135
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/113/289/325/524/440/339/original/d6b9159b70e99ed0.png

2024-10-10 23:11:55 GMT

This is remarkable. How do we talk about [and research] heavy things with the empathetic grace they deserve while also taking responsibility for contributing something valuable AND not self destructing?
Ed Yong’s advice.
https://xoxofest.com/2024/videos/ed-yong/

2024-10-08 11:55:22 GMT

How did John Hopfield decide to work on the topic that led to his Nobel Prize?
"I was now looking for A PROBLEM, not a problem ... How mind emerges from brain is to me the deepest question posed by our humanity. Definitely A PROBLEM."
More here:
https://pni.princeton.edu/people/john-j-hopfield/now-what
The solution:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.79.8.2554
"In the model network each "neuron" has elementary properties, and the network has little structure. Nonetheless, collective computational properties spontaneously arose."
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/113/271/669/265/037/272/original/c83d8a71dfe234b1.png

2024-09-29 12:36:35 GMT

Help me understand humanity. You’re running or walking laps around a square park. Which way do you go?

2024-09-13 18:23:50 GMT

Incredible talk today by
@npub18rd…efux about the development of a new treatment for severe depression. At Penn, we had all read and discussed the work.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06541-3
But seeing Chris present it was next-level. I’m walking away in awe and inspired.
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/113/131/638/959/149/428/original/6dc79a1b9b03b418.jpeg

2024-09-08 12:06:57 GMT

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monthslong is a word - who knew?
(It's not months long)
https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/03/monthslong.html

2024-09-08 11:38:43 GMT

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hone in versus home in
To hone something means to sharpen it. It usually refers to a blade, but can also be used metaphorically to mean improving at something, like honing your skills by practicing the clarinet.
Home, when used as a verb and often followed by "in on," means to head towards a destination, like your home — although you can home in on any place.
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/pardon-the-expression/home-in-vs-hone-in/
Covert attention allows you to "home" in on where something is happening without shifting your gaze (not hone).
Good to know!

2024-09-06 15:05:18 GMT

So excited to change my profile from "Writing a book" (which has been up since I joined the Furry Elephant movement in Dec 2022) to include a link to that very book.
Wow - this feeling!

2024-09-05 15:46:43 GMT

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Which versus that
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/which-vs-that/
The difference between which and that depends on whether the clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive.
In a restrictive clause, use that. >> My bike that has a broken seat is in the garage. (Implies I have more than 1 bike)
In a nonrestrictive clause, use which. >> My bike, which has a broken seat, is in the garage.
launching with the history (which even many brain researchers don’t know)
not
launching with the history (that even many brain researchers don’t know)
b/c there are not multiple histories!

2024-09-05 15:16:42 GMT

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Who vs that
"Who is always used to refer to people. That is always used when talking about inanimate objects (that computer, that piece of paper…) That can also be used when talking about a class or type of person, such as “that” team."
https://www.touro.edu/departments/writing-center/tutorials/when-to-use-who-or-that/
Jessica Jones, the director of An Important Agency *who* proceeded Rachel ..
not
Jessica Jones, the director of An Important Agency *that* proceeded Rachel ..
(yeah, sounds a lot better and makes sense ...)

2024-09-05 14:51:25 GMT

Thread for us amateur grammar nerds. (Things I'm learning as I review the copy edits for my book).
(Before I begin, let me voice my appreciation for editors!!)
#1) Comprised vs composed
https://www.scribbr.com/commonly-confused-words/comprised-vs-composed/
The university comprises a number of different campuses.
The university is composed of a number of different campuses.
Amyloid plaques are not comprised of amyloid-beta, they are composed of it - good to know!

2024-09-04 14:31:52 GMT

They picked me! (Audiobook)
Yeah! It looks like I'll be the narrator for the audiobook of my own book. It's something I really wanted to do, but it's not guaranteed (you have to apply).
I'm working with a narration coach to help ensure it's good. I'm learning that good narration is an art! I'm excited to learn more about it.
The adventure continues ...
(If you're wondering, "What book?", it's this one: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691243054/elusive-cures)

2024-08-30 19:29:16 GMT

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Imposing a strong filter (as I've been obsessing about this for over two years as I write my own book and I could go on and on ....)
My take is that we can and should applaud a brilliant high-level synthesis and explanation of the genius of an era. For example, *just this morning* I was on a zoom call with a director-of-a-fabulous-science-institute telling me about how Chaos by @npub1kh4…0dny changed his life, inspiring his career in complex systems. That book was first published in (checks notes) 1987! The fact that it inspired so many notable careers, and those folks are still talking about it decades later, is clear evidence that the book is important and matters.
What we shouldn't confuse ourselves about is the idea that an author is the source of all the ideas (as opposed to channeling the genius of a community). I have a very negative, visceral reaction to books that deliver a genius narrative as if the author ere the source, absent attribution of where it's actually coming from.
I get that it's a bit of cognitive dissonance - as scientists, it's to our benefit to hype the hype to get the papers published and grants funded. That's the thing we need to change, I suspect - the narrative!

2024-08-30 18:38:48 GMT

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@npub18g0…0a9e
I’m optimistic it’s time for a rebrand. The genius narrative is so 1990s. The new era is about collective intelligence. Soon, marketing one’s self as a genius who is here to fix all the things will be regarded as misguided and foolish (hooray!).

2024-08-28 02:29:14 GMT

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As a wise man once said, “You gotta know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away; know when to run …”

2024-08-28 02:24:45 GMT

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I admire the wisdom (to delay) and the commitment (to do something)!

2024-08-28 02:10:03 GMT

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Egads. I’ve never heard of this. Curious: where does the money go? Not the professor. I hope!

2024-08-16 19:52:20 GMT

Profound and beautuful and wow:
ALS (which afflicted Stephen Hawking and Lou Gehrig) is a terrible neurodegenerative disorder. Researchers have been working to create brain-computer-interfaces to restore communication when patients become locked-in (conscious but unable to communicate) with notable sucess (like they imagine writing letters and they appear on a computer screen). But it’s all a bit tedious and finiky.
One researcher, now an Assistant Professor at UC Davis (Sergey Stavisky) had an idea: if we read out signals from the bits of the brain not used for motor functions like writing but the ones used to speak … well … just watch the video. CW: tears might be shed.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=thPhBDVSxz0

2024-06-17 20:19:27 GMT

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Really curious to hear! If it were brain research, that would be @npub17rv…w9lk . For space junk, I wonder if @npub1fqk…asz9 & Scientific American?

2024-06-17 06:18:30 GMT

Fact check gem of the day: numbers of neurons in the brains of different animals
A lovely wikipedia article. There are two animals that have more than our 86 billion: elephants and whales.
The roundworm clocks in with it's famous 302. Then it's a jump to the jellyfish at 5K. The famous fruit fly: 150K!
First animal with 1 billion: swans. First with 10 billion: giraffes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_by_number_of_neurons

2024-06-14 10:00:54 GMT

Fact check gem of the day: The hare/lynx story in the textbooks is all wrong!!
The 101 description of how properties can "emerge" in a complex system through interaction of its parts often relies on the observation that hare and lynx populations oscillate up and down with a phase shift, and this can be described by the Lokta/Volterra coupled differential equations. The gist is that the numbers of lynx around depend on the hares to be eaten, but the numbers of hares depend on the numbers of lynx around to eat them. From the math, the oscillation emerges; it's not coming from either of the parts alone.
This is a story that is in *many* (many!) textbooks and books (including mine, but it's still in revision - whew!). The problem is that it's an inaccurate description of the data insofar as the phase is off: the equations predict that the peak of the lynx will follow the peak of the hare but the data say the opposite. (Oops).
This inspired the hilarious title of one hilarious paper, "Do hares eat lynx?"
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/282870?journalCode=an
The presumed resolution has to do with the nature of the data: the animal numbers were counted via the pelt yield of trappers in Canada. Trappers are a third source to consider. When trappers are incorporated into the model, the phase shift is well-predicted:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188134744.pdf

2024-06-09 15:43:51 GMT

Fact check gem of the day: On Karl Popper's contribution to neurotransmission
In the early 1950s, neuroscientists were arguing about whether neurons communicate with one another via electricity (sparks) or chemical neurotransmissions (soups). It was known as "The War of the Soups and the Sparks" (Big reveal: It's mostly soups).
The experiment that put the debate to rest (at least for the spinal cord) was performed in 1950 by John Eccles and colleagues. In that experiment, they demonstrated that their own hypothesis (sparks) was *wrong*.
What inspired them to do a "disproving" experiment as opposed to the type that would gather support for their favorite theory? In 1944, Eccles met Karl Popper, and they began corresponding. Per one historian,
"The association with Popper made Eccles reformulate his experimental questions in accord with Popper’s philosophy that apparent ‘‘authentication” is no proof at all. It is only the clear-cut ‘‘falsification” of a theory that carried intellectual weight."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18617413/