Developmental neuroscience

Recent articles

Cell ‘antennae’ link autism, congenital heart disease

Variants in genes tied to both conditions derail the formation of cilia, the tiny hair-like structure found on almost every cell in the body, a new study finds.

By Lauren Schenkman
24 July 2025 | 4 min listen

Keith Hengen and Woodrow Shew explore criticality and cognition

The two discuss their evolving views of brain criticality as a central organizing principle of cognition, development and learning.

By Paul Middlebrooks
16 July 2025 | 94 min listen
Research image of developing axons in the fly brain.

How developing neurons simplify their search for a synaptic mate

Streamlining the problem from 3D to 1D eases the expedition—a strategy the study investigators deployed to rewire an olfactory circuit in flies.

By Calli McMurray
6 June 2025 | 7 min listen
Research image of an assembloid.

Organoids and assembloids offer a new window into human brain

These sophisticated 3D cultures reveal previously inaccessible stages of human brain development and enable the systematic study of disease genes.

By Sergiu P. Pasca
31 March 2025 | 7 min read
Cognitive neuroscientist Nick Turk-Browne helps an infant into an fMRI machine.

What infant fMRI is revealing about the developing mind

Cognitive neuroscientists have finally clocked how to perform task-based functional MRI experiments in awake babies—long known for their inability to lie still or take direction. Next, they aim to watch cognition take shape and settle a debate about our earliest memories—with one group publishing a big clue today.

By Calli McMurray
20 March 2025 | 12 min read

Alison Preston explains how our brains form mental frameworks for interpreting the world

Preston discusses her research examining differences in how children, teenagers and adults integrate new information into their memories.

By Paul Middlebrooks
12 March 2025 | 90 min listen
Research image of different cell types in the neocortex.

New human brain atlas charts gene activity and chromosome accessibility, from embryo to adolescence

The resource profiles millions of single cells across the developing cortex, revealing when, where and how certain cell types emerge and illuminating possible origins of autism and other conditions.

By Saima Sidik
30 January 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of mouse brain slices.

Newfound gene network controls long-range connections between emotional, cognitive brain areas

The finding could help unravel gene regulatory networks and explain how genetic and environmental factors interact in neurodevelopmental conditions.

By Charles Q. Choi
14 November 2024 | 4 min read

Karen Adolph explains how we develop our ability to move through the world

How do babies' bodies and their environment teach them to move—and how can robots benefit from these insights?

By Paul Middlebrooks
25 October 2024 | 89 min listen
Photograph of a child sitting at a laptop and performing an executive function test.

Brain imaging at the fair with Ka Ip

Does environment affect how children from diverse backgrounds perform on tests of executive function? Ip went to the Minnesota State Fair to find out.

By Angie Voyles Askham
24 September 2024 | 9 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a musical staff with notes represented by neurons.

This paper changed my life: Abigail Person on birdsong, feed-forward circuits and convergent computations

By isolating specific neuron types involved in zebra finch birdsong, this 2002 Nature paper from Michael Fee and colleagues revealed elegant neural mechanisms controlling the timing of natural learned behavior.

By Abigail Person
12 August 2025 | 6 min listen
Research image of mouse auditory brainstems.

Prosocial effects of oxytocin are state dependent; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 11 August.

By Jill Adams
12 August 2025 | 2 min read
A series of colored rectangles in a cosmos-like black space.

The challenge of defining a neural population

Our current approach is largely arbitrary. We need new methods for grouping cells, ideally by their dynamics.

By Mark Humphries
11 August 2025 | 9 min listen