Hello! I'm Max, a Master's candidate at the University of Edinburgh. I study Ecological Economics, and am presently writing my dissertation on how actors respond to malfunctioning institutions, with a focus on including more-than-human actors. I was formerly a behavioral neuroscientist at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke where I modeled neural computations in speech disorders. My interests are wide-ranging, but at the moment I'm particularly interested in fractal ecosystem restoration, life that doesn't rely on water, aquatic mycelial networks, and tuning carbon sequestration in ecosystems. I've also worked on sustainable biomaterials, lunar dust, electronic circuit design, and GIS for assessing urban ecosystem quality. - CV - - Essays - -Initiatives-

Publications

• Weinhold, M., Kaur, H., SheikhBahaei, S. “Voluntary motor defects in Mice with human GNPTAB stuttering mutations: Hyperactivity, Initiations, and Interruptions.” Society for Neuroscience, Nov. 2022.

• Bishop, M., Weinhold, M., Turk, A., Adeck, A., SheikhBahaei, S. “An open source tool for automated analysis of breathing behaviors in common marmosets and rodents.” eLife, Jan. 2022. Doi: 10.7554/eLife.71647

• Weinhold, M. “Don’t Ban Plastic — Rethink How It’s Designed and Make It Part of Our Ecosystem.” Plastics Today, Feb. 2023. Article

• Weinhold, M., Levine, J. “Increased concentrations of Lunar dust associated with a denser Lunar atmosphere resulting from heightened human presence and activity on the Moon.” NASA Lunar and Planetary Institute, Feb. 2020: Abstract

Research Interests

I’m passionate about nature within socio-technological institutions. Innovation must be for enhancing collective, ecosystem welfare, inclusive of humans and other. This flow is bidirectional, as it includes lessons from nature, such as biotechnology and organizational principles, alongside utilizing human ingenuity and constructions, such as blockchain or artificial intelligence. Living with and living as nature are useful frameworks in this regard.

I’m also fascinated by information flow in complex systems: be it in the biosphere, neural circuits, internet connectivity, and social networks. Information is a universality that transcends the details of any particular system, and thus allows a richer depth of understanding across fields.

As a global citizen and humanitarian, I work to promote the welfare of people and societies, local and global, whenever I can. The dual crises of climate and biodiversity loss necessitate changing our perspectives and relationships with the world. Thus, I’m passionate about developing breakthrough solutions, ideas, and policy to help us tackle the problems of today and the challenges of tomorrow.

Personal Projects

I’m designing a closed-loop algae-cultivation bioreactor for carbon sequestration and biofuel development. The inputs to the process are sunlight and algae nutrients, supplied by my turtle, Livy, which after an algal growth period are automatically filtered and extracted, with the filtered water then returned to Livy’s tank. I aim to further develop my horticulture skills to grow Livy’s food, thus allowing the entire process to be sunlight-driven.