Cerebrospinal fluid

Recent articles

Close-up of high-resolution fMRI images.

Functional MRI can do more than you think

Recent technological advances provide a range of new and different information about brain physiology. But taking full advantage of these gains depends on collaboration between engineers and neuroscientists.

By Laura Lewis
14 April 2025 | 8 min listen
Research image of rodent brains.

PTEN problems underscore autism connection to excess brain fluid

Damaging variants in the autism-linked gene cause congenital hydrocephalus—a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain—by turbocharging a downstream signaling pathway that promotes the growth of cells, according to a new study.

By Holly Barker
3 April 2025 | 4 min read
Two rhesus macaque monkeys.

Vasopressin boosts sociability in solitary monkeys

Inhaling the hormone did not increase aggression in unsociable rhesus macaques and appears to help the animals remember faces and reciprocate friendly behaviors.

By Charles Q. Choi
25 November 2024 | 5 min read
Research image of mouse cells.

Immune cell interlopers breach—and repair—brain barrier in mice

The choroid plexus, the protective network of blood vessels and epithelial cells that line the brain’s ventricles, recruits neutrophils and macrophages during inflammation, a new study shows.

By Claudia López Lloreda
20 November 2024 | 6 min listen
New method reignites controversy over brain clearance during sleep.

New method reignites controversy over brain clearance during sleep

Tracers injected directly into mouse brain tissue instead of the cerebrospinal fluid show that brain clearance slows during sleep and under anesthesia, according to a study published last week—but proponents of the glymphatic system theory take issue with the technique.

By Elissa Welle
22 May 2024 | 8 min read
Maiken Nedergaard, Britta Engelhardt and Christer Betsholtz on a floating rock island with university facilities and abstract shapes.

Maiken Nedergaard’s power of disruption

The award-winning researcher’s discoveries have changed the way we think about the brain; that’s exactly what her critics dislike.

By Emily Sohn
26 February 2024 | 26 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of neuron organization in c elegans.

Worms help untangle brain structure/function mystery

The synaptic connectome of most animals bears little resemblance to functional brain maps, but it can still predict neuronal activity, according to two preprints that tackle the puzzle in C. elegans

By Holly Barker
29 August 2025 | 7 min read
Research image of microglia in organoids.

Microglia nurture young interneurons

The immune cells secrete a growth factor that “sets the supply of GABAergic interneurons in the developing brain.”

By Lauren Schenkman
28 August 2025 | 4 min read

Xaq Pitkow shares his principles for studying cognition in our imperfect brains and bodies

Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances.

By Paul Middlebrooks
27 August 2025 | 1 min read

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