The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives

Featured

Research image of portions of the adult dentate gyrus.

Neurogenesis

Machine learning spots neural progenitors in adult human brains

By Claudia López Lloreda

3 July 2025 | 7 min listen

Group of researchers in a room looking at computer screens.

Spectrum

INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series

By Lauren Schenkman

30 June 2025 | 4 min read

Overlapping speech bubbles.

Statistics

Memory study sparks debate over statistical methods

By Katie Moisse

2 July 2025 | 5 min read

Latest

Xiao-Jing Wang outlines the future of theoretical neuroscience

Attention not necessary for visual awareness, large study suggests

How to teach this paper

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)

Null and Noteworthy

Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order

Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior

Authors correct image errors in Neuron paper that challenged microglia-to-neuron conversion

Building a climate neuroscience subfield: Q&A with Angie Michaiel

Neuroendocrinology

Spatial learning circuitry fluctuates in step with estrous cycle in mice

Expanded view of hippocampal function comes into focus

From bench to bot

Many students want to learn to use artificial intelligence responsibly. But their professors are struggling to meet that need.

The big idea with Diego Bohórquez

Today’s action potentials

NEW RESEARCH

“Pain integration of multimodal noxious stimulation based on the perceptual instruction”

By Yu Zhang et al. in Proceedings of the Royal Society B

QUOTE

”
The INSAR Institute provided a fantastic platform for visibility at an early stage in my career. — GAVIN STEWART, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON

NEW PREPRINT

“Mitochondrial energy transformation capacity influences brain activation during sensory, affective, and cognitive tasks”

By Ke Bo et al. in bioRxiv

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Perspectives

A hand points to a chalkboard with an astrocyte on it.

How to teach this paper

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)

By Ashley Juavinett

30 June 2025 | 10 min read

AI-generated, blueprint-like illustration of a classroom.

From bench to bot

Many students want to learn to use artificial intelligence responsibly. But their professors are struggling to meet that need.

By Tim Requarth

23 June 2025 | 8 min listen

Illustration of a fly in various poses.

This paper changed my life

This paper changed my life: Bradley Dickerson on how a 1940s fly neuroanatomy paper influences his research to this day

By Bradley Dickerson

17 June 2025 | 5 min listen

Illustration of complex, intersecting biological structures.

Alzheimer’s disease

Everything, everywhere, all at once: Inside the chaos of Alzheimer’s disease

By Michael A. Yassa

16 June 2025 | 7 min read

See all Perspectives

Group of researchers in a room looking at computer screens.

Spectrum

INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series

By Lauren Schenkman

30 June 2025 | 4 min read

Genetic testing; LSD1 inhibitors; and more

Genetic background steers PTEN syndrome traits

See all Spectrum

decorative blue background.

Fact sheet: Autism prevalence

Explore our coverage of what the science says about diagnostic changes over time, the role of genes and the environment, and more.

Funding and policy

Hundred dollar bill digitally cut into small pieces.

Funding

NIH cuts quash $323 million for neuroscience research and training

By Claudia López Lloreda

16 June 2025 | 8 min read

Distorted floppy discs.

Spectrum

NIH autism database announcement raises concerns among researchers

By Angie Voyles Askham

5 June 2025 | 5 min read

A crumpled sheet of paper with a fly printed on it.

Community

FlyBase funding squashed amid Harvard grant terminations

By Calli McMurray

4 June 2025 | 4 min read

Image of a connectome being split into two.

Funding

Multisite connectome teams lose federal funding as result of Harvard cuts

By Angie Voyles Askham

28 May 2025 | 5 min read

See all funding and policy

Craft and careers

An opaque cube is repeated multiple times to create the appearance of overlapping cubes.

Spectrum

Sounding the alarm on pseudoreplication: Q&A with Constantinos Eleftheriou and Peter Kind

By Lauren Schenkman

12 June 2025 | 6 min read

A figure in a lab coat walks between rows of giant books.

Craft and careers

On the importance of reading (just not too much)

By Sheena Josselyn

9 June 2025 | 9 min listen

Illustration of a scientist reaching toward a shelf of beakers in the shape of a speech bubble.

Outreach

How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research

By Anthony Zador

4 March 2025 | 5 min read

See all Craft and careers

Features

Judit Pungor and Angelique Allen stand in front of a saltwater tank.

Vision

Cephalopods, vision’s next frontier

For decades, scientists have been teased by the strange but inaccessible cephalopod visual system. Now, thanks to a technological breakthrough from a lab in Oregon, data are finally coming straight from the octopus brain.

By Calli McMurray

27 May 2025 | 14 min listen

Illustration of a paper draft covered in notes and sign-off signatures, and surrounded by many hands reaching towards it.

Academia

The last two-author neuroscience paper?

Author lists on papers have ballooned, and it’s getting hard to discern contribution.

By Lydia Denworth

25 February 2025 | 3 min read

See all Features

Human neurotechnology

Composite image of a brain probe, a test tube and a brain scan.

Human neurotechnology

Why the 21^st-century neuroscientist needs to be neuroethically engaged

By Karen Rommelfanger

12 May 2025 | 6 min read

A blue 3D cube made of interlacing smooth, round tubes.

Human neurotechnology

Thinking about thinking: AI offers theoretical insights into human memory

By Terrence Sejnowski

5 May 2025 | 8 min listen

Mock-up of the Neuropixels probe inserted into brain tissue.

Human neurotechnology

Tracking single neurons in the human brain reveals new insight into language and other human-specific functions

By Edward Chang, Jason Chung

28 April 2025 | 7 min read

See all Human neurotechnology

From bench to bot

Computer-generated image of a waveform.

From bench to bot

Keeping it personal: How to preserve your voice when using AI

By Tim Requarth

3 March 2025 | 12 min read

Computer-generated illustration of a black box with many lines coming into its left side and a compressed stream coming out of its right side.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: How important is prompt engineering?

By Tim Requarth

28 October 2024 | 8 min read

Computer-generated illustration of a pencil.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: Does AI really make you a more efficient writer?

By Tim Requarth

3 September 2024 | 11 min read

See all From bench to bot

Get notified whenever a new column is published in the AI: From bench to bot series.

PROFILES

Diego Bohorquez portrait on blue background.

Gut-brain

The big idea with Diego Bohórquez

His theories around the neuropod have challenged the boundaries of classic ideas regarding gut-brain communication.

By Sydney Wyatt

20 June 2025 | 14 min listen

Gerry Fischbach.

Neuroscience

Neuroscientist Gerry Fischbach, in his own words

By Ivan Oransky

30 May 2025 | 2 min read

Amina Abubakar, dressed in yellow, stands outside and looks into the camera lens.

Spectrum

Amina Abubakar translates autism research and care for Kenya

By Ruth Kadide Keah

29 May 2025 | 8 min listen

See all Profiles

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Illustration of a funnel taking abstract shapes in at the top and spouting an organized flow of shapes out at the bottom.

The big picture

To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma

By Nima Dehghani

25 November 2024 | 5 min read

Illustration of three figures standing in front of a grid of dots and a world map.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

The S-index Challenge: Develop a metric to quantify data-sharing success

By Loren Frank

8 October 2024 | 6 min listen

Illustration of three figures cleaning data with brooms and brushes.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

A README for open neuroscience

By Samuel Gershman

9 September 2024 | 5 min read

Illustration of a scientist attempting to wrangle many forms of data at once: a pile of charts and graphs threatens to knock them off of their feet as they attempt to prop it up.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Neuroscience graduate students deserve comprehensive data-literacy education

By Letisha R. Wyatt

15 July 2024 | 6 min read

See all Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Books

Abstract illustration of a human brain.

Community

‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That,’ an excerpt

By Nicole Rust

10 June 2025 | 9 min read

Illustration of a treeline in front of a human brain.

Systems neuroscience

‘Natural Neuroscience: Toward a Systems Neuroscience of Natural Behaviors,’ an excerpt

By Nachum Ulanovsky

15 April 2025 | 9 min read

A brain made up of a matrix of small, predominately blue dots.

Ethics

‘Bioethics and Brains: A Disciplined and Principled Neuroethics,’ an excerpt

By James Giordano, John Shook

14 February 2025 | 6 min read

The big picture

Data streams into a transparent box.

NeuroAI

Accepting “the bitter lesson” and embracing the brain’s complexity

To gain insight into complex neural data, we must move toward a data-driven regime, training large models on vast amounts of information. We asked nine experts on computational neuroscience and neural data analysis to weigh in.

By Eva Dyer, Blake Richards

26 March 2025 | 8 min read

Illustration of an image of a landscape repeated over and over again, with some versions distorted and warped.

The big picture

What makes memories last—dynamic ensembles or static synapses?

Teasing out how different subfields conceptualize central terms might help move this long-standing debate forward. I asked eight scientists to weigh in.

By Jason Shepherd

14 October 2024 | 7 min read

See all The big picture