Giovanni Petri

Giovanni Petri

@lordgrilo.bsky.social

Physicist. Topology, complex networks, neuroscience. Angoleiro and wine-drinker by passion. He. Professor NetSI @ Northeastern University London. PI @ Project CETI. lordgrilo.github.io - nplresearch.github.io

1.8K followers391 following73 posts

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NPlab@nplab.bsky.social

We are hiring a postdoc in Dublin's DII! Can explicit topology/higher-order structure make LLMs reason better about sci/tech innovation? join us for TOPO-LLM: TDA + higher-order networks + transformers, with access to MareNostrum 5. Apply by 9 Sept: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSS062

1/10 How does a sperm whale hunt in darkness, hundreds of metres beneath the surface? Our new preprint reveals a two-level strategy: persistent search across whole dives, paired with rapid switching between distinct prey-capture tactics. Link in🧵

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9/10 The larger picture: sperm whales pair persistent search with flexible, moment-to-moment hunting decisions. A testable question follows: could noise disrupt high-investment pursuits more than lower-investment captures?

1/10 How does a sperm whale hunt in darkness, hundreds of metres beneath the surface? Our new preprint reveals a two-level strategy: persistent search across whole dives, paired with rapid switching between distinct prey-capture tactics. Link in🧵

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7/10 The tactics also formed sequences. Whales often repeated one, but switched roughly every 2–3 capture attempts. Type B was about twice as likely to end a dive, consistent with tactical reassessment as encounter conditions and energetic demands change.

8/10 The contrast reappeared independently: Azorean echograms linked tactics to prey depth, while 2024 Project CETI tags in Dominica recovered the core kinematics. The validation samples are modest, but the convergence is encouraging.

1/10 How does a sperm whale hunt in darkness, hundreds of metres beneath the surface? Our new preprint reveals a two-level strategy: persistent search across whole dives, paired with rapid switching between distinct prey-capture tactics. Link in🧵

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5/10 Zoom in on 3,686 capture attempts and two recurrent tactics emerge: A: slower, more oscillatory, with short acoustic ramp-ups. B: faster, more vertically persistent, with greater roll and longer ramp-ups. Every sampled whale used both.

6/10 The contrast was substantial. Our energy model estimated that Type B attempts required ~7× more energy than Type A. This is a comparative model estimate—not a direct metabolic measurement—but the ranking held in every whale.

1/10 How does a sperm whale hunt in darkness, hundreds of metres beneath the surface? Our new preprint reveals a two-level strategy: persistent search across whole dives, paired with rapid switching between distinct prey-capture tactics. Link in🧵

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3/10 At the broad scale, the whales did not simply wander. Across 209 foraging dives, their paths showed heavy-tailed step lengths and strongly superdiffusive movement: persistent search, with many short displacements and rarer long ones.

4/10 We call this search pattern “Lévy-like.” That wording matters: the data reveal a robust movement structure, but do not prove that whales follow a single, fixed—or optimal—Lévy search rule. Similar patterns can emerge from behaviour interacting with a patchy environment.

1/10 How does a sperm whale hunt in darkness, hundreds of metres beneath the surface? Our new preprint reveals a two-level strategy: persistent search across whole dives, paired with rapid switching between distinct prey-capture tactics. Link in🧵

2/10 We combined 268 hours of sensor data from 34 tag deployments on 20 whales off Dominica. This let us reconstruct 3D paths and match movement to echolocation “buzzes”—the acoustic signatures of individual prey-capture attempts.

Giovanni Petri reposted

What an exciting week at @netsciconf.bsky.social ! If you still have some curiosity left, stop by this afternoon. I'll be presenting, “Toward Fairness in Network Algorithms: Rankings by Biased Random Walks.” 📍 Where: Algorithms, Inference & Reconstruction 3 (Kendall Square) 🕰️ When: 5PM

Giovanni Petri reposted

There seems to be a broad perception across psychology and neuroscience that work shouldn't be "too technical" in order to reach the broadest possible audience. While I think we should strive for accessibility, I feel that this attitude can also be self-defeating: why are we dumbing down?

Giovanni Petri reposted

Very good article what it would take for AI to have "agency" and self-preservation goals (w/ a few quotes from me). & I appreciate the reiterated debunking of the "GPT-4 on its own lied to a TaskRabbit worker to solve a captcha" story. www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-we-te...

quantamagazine.orgWhy Do We Tell Ourselves Scary Stories About AI? | Quanta MagazineOur tales of AI developing the will to survive, commandeer resources, and manipulate people say more about us than they do about language models.

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Project CETI@projectceti.bsky.social

Female sperm whales support one another during the birthing journey—behavior that was long considered unique to humans and a few primates. Read now in @science.org: bit.ly/4bIKkeo

Giovanni Petri reposted

Giovanni Petri reposted

The 𝙎𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 study dives into the acoustic side of a sperm whale birth 🐋, analyzing clicks and codas to reveal distinct vocal shifts during labor, birth, and early interactions, offering rare evidence of coordinated, non-kin birth assistance in the wild. tinyurl.com/m3pshz8y

tinyurl.comDescription of a collaborative sperm whale birth and shifts in coda vocal styles during key events - Scientific ReportsScientific Reports - Description of a collaborative sperm whale birth and shifts in coda vocal styles during key events

Interesting piece — raises important questions about what higher-order formalisms actually buy us. Half-jokingly, it would make great panel material @netsciconf.bsky.social à la Leipzig dispute :) (Also, first commentaries are already coming out: lnkd.in/d8_nunck)

Tiago Peixoto@tiago.skewed.de

New blog post: "Higher orders need higher standards" skewed.de/lab/posts/hi... I discuss our current work disentangling misconceptions around "higher-order" networks: arxiv.org/abs/2602.16937 Explainer thread for the paper here: bsky.app/profile/tiag...

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Network Science Institute@nunetsi.bsky.social

‪🎉 Big news! Giovanni Petri has been selected for the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 at the Museum of Science. He’ll join 40+ fellows to advance the impact of science through digital storytelling. 👏 tinyurl.com/68skdhdy @lordgrilo.bsky.social, @museumofscience.bsky.social

Giovanni Petri reposted

Giovanni Petri reposted

Giovanni Petri reposted

How do brain areas control each other? 🧠🎛️ ✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️

Giovanni Petri reposted

🚨 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗦𝗰𝗶 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻! Secure your spot at the flagship conference of the Network Science Society and take advantage of the early bird registration special - www.netsci2026.com/registration 📅 June 1–5, 2026 | Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, MA Join us as we celebrate 20 years of NetSci!

Federico Turkheimer introducing the King’s institute for Human and Synthetic minds and opening the workshop

Giovanni Petri@lordgrilo.bsky.social

Next week (on the 15th and 16th), with @yasserroudi.bsky.social and Federico Turkheimer we will organize a workshop on the "The Topology of Human and Synthetic Minds" Please do join us! (Registration is free but required for access/catering!) lordgrilo.github.io/topology-nat...

Topological signal processing works! :P Check out out latest one out!

Andrea Santoro@andreasantoro.bsky.social

Latest work at #EUSIPCO25!🚀 We bring Topological Signal Processing to the brain 🧠 — showing that edge-based approaches outperform classical GSP in task decoding. Great collab with M.Nurisso & @lordgrilo.bsky.social 🙌 Paper 👉 eusipco2025.org/wp-content/u... #Neuroimaging #SignalProcessing #TSP

Giovanni Petri reposted

The #CRAB2025 🦀 programme is out! Join us in Siena on Sept 3 at #CCS25 for the 2nd edition of the Complexity Research in Animal Behaviour satellite 🐜🐦🦋🐳🐙🐝 🧑‍🏫 Invited talks by S. Melillo & P. Bartashevich Full programme: sites.google.com/view/crab202... @jbbrask.bsky.social @saraneven.bsky.social

sites.google.comCRAB2025Complexity Research in Animal Behaviour Satellite @ CCS 2025 - Siena, 3 September 2025 Animal groups can be considered as complex systems of interacting entities (the individuals). The collective beha...

Giovanni Petri reposted