The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives
Featured
‘Ancient’ brainstem structure evolved beyond basic motor control
By
Sydney Wyatt
16 May 2025 | 5 min read
NIDA shutters diversity fellowship program, axes active awards
By
Calli McMurray
14 May 2025 | 4 min read
Latest
This paper changed my life
This paper changed my life: Marino Pagan recalls a decision-making study from four titans in the field
Today’s action potentials
“The molecular bond that helps secure your memories”
By
Ajdina Halilovic in Quanta Magazine
”Particularly for trainees who have had to overcome additional barriers in their careers, “it’s a little bit of a slap in the face.” — SARA MILLS-HUFFNAGLE, GRADUATE STUDENT, PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
“The neurobiology of cognitive fatigue and its influence on effort-based choice”
By
Grace Steward et al. in the Journal of Neuroscience
Q&A
‘We still exist’: How four neuroscience advocacy groups are navigating federal DEI funding cuts
By
Paige Miranda
14 May 2025 | 2 min read
Human neurotechnology
Why the 21st-century neuroscientist needs to be neuroethically engaged
By
Karen Rommelfanger
12 May 2025 | 6 min read
Attention
The brain’s quiet conductor: How hidden cells fine-tune arousal
By
Mac Shine
7 May 2025 | 59 min watch
Spectrum logo
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.
READ MORE
Upcoming Online Seminars
May
19
2025
Andrew Leifer | Princeton University, US
Neural Signal Propagation Atlas of C. elegans
09:15 A.M. EDT
May
20
2025
Gesa Hartwigsen | University of Leipzig, Germany
Functional Plasticity in the Language Network – evidence from Neuroimaging and Neurostimulation
06:15 A.M. EDT
May
21
2025
Marion Silies | Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
From heterogeneous wiring to degenerative function in motion-detection circuits
10:15 A.M. EDT
Spectrum
Federal funding cuts imperil next generation of autism researchers
By
Brian Boyd
30 April 2025 | 5 min read
Spectrum
Expediting clinical trials for profound autism: Q&A with Matthew State
By
Lauren Schenkman
24 April 2025 | 8 min read
Funding
Proposed NIH budget cut threatens ‘massive destruction of American science’
By
Angie Voyles Askham
17 April 2025 | 3 min read
How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research
By
Anthony Zador
4 March 2025 | 5 min read
Neuroscience Ph.D. programs adjust admissions in response to U.S. funding uncertainty
By
Claudia López Lloreda, Calli McMurray
3 March 2025 | 7 min read
Nominate rising stars in neuroscience for our 2025 report.
Recognize early-career researchers who have made outstanding contributions to the field. Selected nominees will be featured on our website and in our annual book.
Learn more
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
Academia
Static pay, shrinking prospects fuel neuroscience postdoc decline
Postdoctoral researchers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health now toil longer than ever before, for less money. They are responding accordingly.
By
Katie Moisse
See all Features
See all Features - opens a new tab
31 January 2025 | 20 min read
Thinking about thinking: AI offers theoretical insights into human memory
By
Terrence Sejnowski
5 May 2025 | 7 min read
Noninvasive technologies can map and target human brain with unprecedented precision
By
Bruce Rosen
21 April 2025 | 9 min listen
From bench to bot
Keeping it personal: How to preserve your voice when using AI
By
Tim Requarth
3 March 2025 | 12 min read
From bench to bot
From bench to bot: How important is prompt engineering?
By
Tim Requarth
28 October 2024 | 8 min read
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
Neural networks
Releasing the Hydra with Rafael Yuste
Losing HHMI Investigator status prompted Yuste to study neural networks in a new way.
By
Brady Huggett, Shaena Montanari
4 April 2025 | 10 min read
Science and society
Amid confusion around U.S. science, some neuroscientists prepare to rally
By
Sydney Wyatt
4 March 2025 | 2 min read
Funding
‘A gut punch:’ How U.S. neuroscience trainees are grappling with diversity-based funding flux
By
Calli McMurray, Angie Voyles Askham, Claudia López Lloreda
14 February 2025 | 2 min read
The big picture
To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma
By
Nima Dehghani
25 November 2024 | 5 min read
The S-index Challenge: Develop a metric to quantify data-sharing success
By
Loren Frank
8 October 2024 | 6 min listen
Open neuroscience and data-sharing
A README for open neuroscience
By
Samuel Gershman
9 September 2024 | 5 min read
‘Natural Neuroscience: Toward a Systems Neuroscience of Natural Behaviors,’ an excerpt
By
Nachum Ulanovsky
15 April 2025 | 9 min read
‘Bioethics and Brains: A Disciplined and Principled Neuroethics,’ an excerpt
By
James Giordano, John Shook
14 February 2025 | 6 min read
‘Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s,’ an excerpt
By
Charles Piller
4 February 2025 | 9 min read
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
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
See all The big picture
See all The big picture - opens a new tab
14 October 2024 | 7 min read