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
Emotion research has a communication conundrum
In 2025, the words we use to describe emotions matter, but their definitions are controversial. Here, I unpack the different positions in this space and the rationales behind them—and I invite 13 experts to chime in.
Emotion research has a communication conundrum
In 2025, the words we use to describe emotions matter, but their definitions are controversial. Here, I unpack the different positions in this space and the rationales behind them—and I invite 13 experts to chime in.
Autism-linked copy number variants always boost autism likelihood
By contrast, varied doses of the same genes decrease or increase the odds of five other conditions, with distinct biological consequences, two new preprints show.
Autism-linked copy number variants always boost autism likelihood
By contrast, varied doses of the same genes decrease or increase the odds of five other conditions, with distinct biological consequences, two new preprints show.
Everything everywhere all at once: Decision-making signals engage entire brain
The findings, gleaned from the most comprehensive map yet of brain activity during decision-making in mice, show that the process is even more distributed than previously thought.
Everything everywhere all at once: Decision-making signals engage entire brain
The findings, gleaned from the most comprehensive map yet of brain activity during decision-making in mice, show that the process is even more distributed than previously thought.