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    "story_id": "mp-2026-11-11-005",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-connectome-physiology-confound",
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    "headline": "The Real Wiring Can Lose When Physiology Is Constrained",
    "slug": "the-real-wiring-can-lose-when-physiology-is-constrained",
    "dek": "A connectome audit separates structural advantage from the hidden tuning choices that make a circuit model work.",
    "summary": "A connectome audit separates structural advantage from the hidden tuning choices that make a circuit model work.",
    "body_text": "Connectome-constrained models can appear to prove that measured wiring beats shuffled alternatives even when the decisive difference comes from unmeasured physiology. The study compares three protocols across synthetic ground truth and three Drosophila circuit models, including one in which each wiring is tuned only within physiology consistent with independent data. Some claims survived every protocol, but in a mushroom-body model the real wiring's 0.09 advantage became a 0.09 loss under the data-constrained protocol. The authors argue that structural claims need matched optimization, independently constrained physiology and a model that still functions under those constraints.",
    "why_it_matters": "A connectome audit separates structural advantage from the hidden tuning choices that make a circuit model work.",
    "limitations": [
      "The study compares three protocols across synthetic ground truth and three Drosophila circuit models, including one in which each wiring is tuned only within physiology consistent with independent data."
    ],
    "importance": 8,
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    "first_published_at": "2026-11-11T09:00:00.000-05:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-11-11T09:00:00.000-05:00",
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        "text": "A connectome audit separates structural advantage from the hidden tuning choices that make a circuit model work.",
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        "qualification": "The study compares three protocols across synthetic ground truth and three Drosophila circuit models, including one in which each wiring is tuned only within physiology consistent with independent data."
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    "source_ids": [
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    "tags": [
      "connectome",
      "structure",
      "function",
      "physiology",
      "confound"
    ],
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-11-11-005",
      "title": "arXiv:2611.14508v1",
      "publisher": "arXiv / Cornell University",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.14508v1",
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      "published_at": "2026-11-10T13:55:48.000-05:00",
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "The Real Wiring Can Lose When Physiology Is Constrained",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-11-11T09:00:00.000-05:00",
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