Portrait
London, UK
Marosvásárhely, Romania | Budapest, Hungary
noemielteto@gmail.com

I am a PhD student in computational neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, working with Peter Dayan. I am fascinated by what I consider the coolest renewable resource: intelligence. I study its diverse forms in nature and explore ways to build it in machines.

In 2024, I was a student researcher at Google DeepMind in London, working with Kevin Miller and Kim Stachenfeld on automated experiment design for scientific discovery.

Before my PhD, I was working on machine learning for metabolic engineering at Intrexon (now Precigen) in Budapest/San Francisco.

Even before that, I was a research assistant at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, leading and co-leading many projects investigating skill learning in humans.

Usually, I am wearing a cognitive scientist hat. I am also wearing a small artificial intelligence hat under it. When I probe human skill learning and reasoning in gamified tasks and puzzles, I am also searching for principles of intelligence that can be useful for machine learning. Find out more about my work and publications in my CV.

One time, I also had to put on the whistleblower hat. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. It was not a metoo story -- it affected hundreds of women and men, younger and older. I chose not to write about the experience in length because the person resigned with immediate effect and I wish to minimize the damage. But I learned hard and important lessons about dealing with abuse of power in Eastern Europe which, currently, is a very different story from how it occurs and gets handled in the West. I mention this to offer support to anyone finding themselves in the same boat. You are not alone -- and do reach out for help if you need it.

And back to a lighter note. If you ever need to stop me rambling about science, bring up one of these topics: cinema (and my one-sentence movie reviews), cappuccino, perfume, taekwondo, calisthenics, sauna \& cold dips, longevity, diving, or rats. It works every time.

News

Things that seem true to me right now that didn't use to; from big things to mundane ones

  • This has been written down thousands of times already and here I am writing it down too because I didn't quite believe it when I was young: persistence wins over talent. Talent gives you a headstart and speed advantage for sure. But persistence ultimately wins the game every time.
  • The conservation of energy applies to matter and the conservation of worry applies to minds. I've seen people in extreme poverty and extreme wealth worry the same amount but about different things. The luxury that money gave me is that now I can choose what to worry about.
  • Habits and routines are not for eveyone. 'Healthy routines' enable productivity for some and stifle it for others. I was searching for the best routine only to realize I'm happiest when I don't stick to one.
  • There are as many types of mindfulness as many types of people. For me, challenge is the best inducer of mindfulness.
  • The approach-avoidance conflict. We are hard-wired to approach things that we want and avoid things that we don't want. It's difficult to learn to do the opposite. For rats, it's almost impossible to learn to avoid a food dispenser in order to ultimately get food; or to learn to approach a shock port in order to not get shocked. Humans are somewhat flexible. You have to learn to approach when you would rather avoid someone that needs soothing. You have to learn to avoid when you would rather approach someone that needs space.
  • You need quantity over quality for learning something new; and quality over quantity for mastering it. Don't ponder too long what lesson or project to start with -- just start.
  • Appreciate the time that you can spend on learning theory. Don't ask too soon 'How is this useful?'. First, understand 'What can be useful?'. Theory expands your mind. You'll have a lot of time for practice later.
  • Yes, industry does value a PhD. It's due to the saliency bias that we over-represent people that state otherwise.
  • Forgiveness is validation. Forgiving mistakes helped me a lot. And not forgiving deliberate actions also helped me a lot.
  • Cities, like people, are deceiving to the naive. For me, Budapest was the long-term first love that ultimately wasn't meant to be; New York was a f***-boy with good intentions but little self-awareness; Sydney was a quick fling that keeps me wondering if it could have been something more; and Tübingen was the nice guy that doesn't even mind being called nice and I wish I appreciated more from the beginning.
  • It is fine to sleep for 9 hours every night.
  • Academics tend to forget this but there is no real tradeoff between exterior and interior. There is wisdom in beauty and beauty in wisdom.
  • If you want real luxury, learn how to cook, mix drinks, and do your skin and hair care at home. No one else knows your tastes and needs as well as you do.
  • If I wash the front pieces of my hair in the sink with a dab of shampoo, dry it and put everything up in a ponytail, I can fool even myself into thinking I have fresh hair.
  • People asked me about how I travel with a carry-on backpack only 99% of the time. The one real hack I use: wool tops -- tank tops, t-shirts and sweaters. Cashmere since I started earning more. I can rewear them for days and often weeks because they wick moisture during the day and get refreshed overnight. May not be for everyone.
  • Stainless steel is the only material in the kitchen that is both durable and nonreactive. All of my best pans, pots, bowls, strainers, whisks, cups, lemon squeezers are stainless steel.