Hindsight is 2020: The year in review
Recent articles
2020 in research images
Feast your eyes on glowing glia and organoids; high-resolution, digital renditions of mouse brains; fluorescent beads passing through zebrafish guts and more.

2020 in research images
Feast your eyes on glowing glia and organoids; high-resolution, digital renditions of mouse brains; fluorescent beads passing through zebrafish guts and more.
Rewind: Spectrum’s best from 2020
Our staff picks the stories, podcasts and special reports that stood out from the rest this past year.

Rewind: Spectrum’s best from 2020
Our staff picks the stories, podcasts and special reports that stood out from the rest this past year.
Inside the reporter’s notebook: Dispatches from 2020
Spectrum's staff couldn't report on the ground this year — with no lab visits, sit-down interviews or in-person conferences to attend — but we observed a lot of changes from our computer screens.

Inside the reporter’s notebook: Dispatches from 2020
Spectrum's staff couldn't report on the ground this year — with no lab visits, sit-down interviews or in-person conferences to attend — but we observed a lot of changes from our computer screens.
Hot topics in autism research, 2020
The Spectrum team highlights five topics that distinguished autism research in 2020: diversity in data, gene therapies, subtyping, social circuitry and the ‘autism gene’ debate.

Hot topics in autism research, 2020
The Spectrum team highlights five topics that distinguished autism research in 2020: diversity in data, gene therapies, subtyping, social circuitry and the ‘autism gene’ debate.
Notable papers in autism research, 2020
Gene therapies and the factors influencing autism traits top Spectrum’s list of the 10 most notable research findings we covered in 2020.

Notable papers in autism research, 2020
Gene therapies and the factors influencing autism traits top Spectrum’s list of the 10 most notable research findings we covered in 2020.
Explore more from The Transmitter
INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.

INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.

Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.