The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives

Featured

Illustration of children looking at a gigantic set of building blocks, some of which display genetic sequences on their surfaces.

Spectrum

Autism is more heritable in boys than in girls

By Sneha Chaturvedi, John Constantino, Natasha Marrus, Sven Sandin, Benjamin Yip

19 September 2024 | 6 min read

Illustration of a brain.

This paper changed my life

This paper changed my life – ‘Response of hippocampal synapses to natural stimulation patterns,’ by Dobrunz and Stevens

By Robert Froemke

17 September 2024 | 4 min read

Illustration of several structures constructed out of small black squares, with scaffolding on some of the structures.

Dopamine

Does a new theory of dopamine replace the classic model?

By Naoshige Uchida

13 September 2024 | 8 min read

Latest

Repeat scans reveal brain changes that precede childbirth

Dopamine and the need for alternative theories

Reconstructing dopamine’s link to reward

Parasite-based tool delivers MECP2 and other proteins to neurons

Kim Stachenfeld on the dance between neuroscience and artificial intelligence

Craft and careers

Should I work with these people? A guide to collaboration

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

A README for open neuroscience

Cell population in brainstem coordinates cough, new study shows

Ketamine targets lateral habenula, setting off cascade of antidepressant effects

In updated U.S. autism bill, Congress calls for funding boost, expanded scope

From bench to bot

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

Today’s action potentials

UPCOMING CONFERENCE

OCTOBER

4

2024

Synaptic Dysfunction in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

QUOTE

”
At an early stage in my training, it clarified for me that it was acceptable, maybe even essential, to both perform well-controlled parametric experiments and to embrace the messiness and complexity of real brains. — ROBERT FROEMKE

NEW PREPRINT

“Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans”

By Ipshita Zutshi et al. in bioRxiv

Illustration of children looking at a gigantic set of building blocks, some of which display genetic sequences on their surfaces.

Spectrum

Autism is more heritable in boys than in girls

By Sneha Chaturvedi, John Constantino, Natasha Marrus, Sven Sandin, Benjamin Yip

19 September 2024 | 6 min read

CDKL5 gene; cerebrospinal fluid; drug combo for fragile X syndrome

In updated U.S. autism bill, Congress calls for funding boost, expanded scope

See all Spectrum

Research image of toxoplasma gondii showing cysts it creates as well as the MECP2 protein that it can deliver to neurons.

Spectrum

Parasite-based tool delivers MECP2 and other proteins to neurons

By Giorgia Guglielmi

12 September 2024 | 4 min read

See all Spectrum

Upcoming Online Seminars

Upcoming Webinar

Sep

20

2024

Kelly Aine | Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Brain Health

05:30 A.M. EDT

Upcoming Webinar

Sep

23

2024

Lukas Huber | University of Bern

Comparing supervised learning dynamics: Deep neural networks match human data efficiency but show a generalisation lag

04:30 A.M. EDT

Upcoming Webinar

Sep

26

2024

Britta Engelhardt | Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland

How the brain barriers ensure CNSimmune privilege

10:00 A.M. EDT

Powered by World Wide Neuro

Perspectives

Illustration of cranes attempting to assemble a structure out of very small black squares.

Dopamine

Dopamine and the need for alternative theories

By Vijay Mohan K. Namboodiri

13 September 2024 | 7 min read

Illustration with panels depicting two people working together at a computer and a high-five, and a lone researcher in the foreground, looking up.

Craft and careers

Should I work with these people? A guide to collaboration

By Kevin Bender

10 September 2024 | 7 min read

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

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 Perspectives

Synaptic

Illustrated portrait of Lin Tian.

Synaptic

Biosensors and being fearless with Lin Tian

By Brady Huggett

1 September 2024 | 61 min listen

Illustrated portrait of Catherine Dulac.

Synaptic

Male and female brains, Proust, and Catherine Dulac

By Brady Huggett

1 August 2024 | 81 min listen

Illustrated portrait of So Hyun “Sophy” Kim.

Synaptic

Diagnosing autism and teaching neurodiversity with So Hyun “Sophy” Kim

By Brady Huggett

1 July 2024 | 67 min listen

See all Synaptic

From bench to bot

Computer-generated illustration of a sheet of paper emanating from a computer screen.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: Boost your writing with AI personas

By Tim Requarth

5 April 2024 | 10 min read

Computer-generated illustration of a three-dimensional box containing letters in a grid pattern.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: How to use AI to structure your writing

By Tim Requarth

8 January 2024 | 11 min read

Computer-generated image of a stack of papers.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: How to use AI tools to convert notes into a draft

By Tim Requarth

27 November 2023 | 10 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

Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Neuroethology

Martín Giurfa y la idea de hogar

El investigador de la cognición de insectos ha hecho su trabajo en varios continentes, pero Argentina nunca está lejos de su mente.

By Gina Jiménez

20 August 2024 | 15 min read

Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Neuroethology

Martin Giurfa’s concept of home

By Gina Jiménez

31 July 2024 | 15 min listen

A photograph of Paul-Antoine Libourel.

Sleep

At the end of the earth with Paul-Antoine Libourel

By Yves Sciama

11 June 2024 | 18 min listen

See all Profiles

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

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

Image of neural activity in a mouse as seen through the Miniscope.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Designing an open-source microscope

By Daniel Aharoni

17 June 2024 | 6 min read

An illustration of a figure looking at a flow chart

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Neuroscience needs a research-video archive

By Robert Froemke

6 May 2024 | 6 min read

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Unleashing the power of DIY innovation in behavioral neuroscience

By Alexxai Kravitz, Mark Laubach

2 April 2024 | 0 min watch

See all Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Features

Research image of green and purple mouse brain slices.

Brain stimulation

Putting a bright idea to the test

A surprising wave of findings in mice suggests that light and sound flickering at 40 hertz clears the brain of Alzheimer’s-disease-linked plaques. Several companies are hoping to prove it works in people.

By Shaena Montanari

21 August 2024 | 11 min read

an illustration of scientists parachuting

Spectrum

The perils of parachute research

Scientists who study autism in lower-income countries are working to end practices that exploit or ignore collaborators and communities on the ground.

By Linda Nordling

6 June 2024 | 11 min read

See all Features

Books

Illustration of a brain separated into four panes, each rendered in different colors and with different decorative elements.

Consciousness

How did consciousness evolve? An excerpt from ‘A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness’

By Francisco Aboitiz

26 August 2024 | 12 min read

Illustration of six different noses smelling in six different abstract landscapes.

Olfaction

Consciously smelling—an edited excerpt from ‘Stinking Philosophy! Smell Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness’

By Benjamin Young

26 August 2024 | 12 min read

Illustration of a group of books floating against a light blue and yellow background.

Reviews

Six new neuroscience books for fall—plus five titles you may have missed

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario

26 August 2024 | 6 min read

Craft and careers

Photograph of Theanne Griffith sitting at a table with her hands interlocked over a stack of books, with one that she has published at the very top.

Craft and careers

Crafting tales of science with Theanne Griffith

By Angie Voyles Askham

26 August 2024 | 8 min read

A woman stands in front of two books that are open to reveal that they contain doorways from which blue light emanates.

Summer reading

From reductionism to dynamical systems: How two books influenced my thinking across 30 years of neuroscience

By Nicole Rust

26 August 2024 | 4 min listen

Illustration of a blue face with sunglasses.

Craft and careers

Neuroscience needs a career path for software engineers

By Gaëlle Chapuis, Olivier Winter

19 August 2024 | 7 min listen

Photograph of a neuroscience research training workshop in Africa.

Craft and careers

Addressing the lack of infrastructure and training that stymies African neuroscience

By Mahmoud Bukar Maina

29 July 2024 | 6 min read

See all Craft and careers