Perception

Recent articles

Illustration of ants marching back to an anthill.

This paper changed my life: John Tuthill reflects on the subjectivity of selfhood

Wittlinger, Wehner and Wolf’s 2006 “stilts and stumps” Science paper revealed how ants pull off extraordinary feats of navigation using a biological odometer, and it inspired Tuthill to consider how other insects sense their own bodies.

By John Tuthill
12 January 2026 | 7 min read
Illustration of a woman sitting on a branch with a singing bird.

This paper changed my life: Stephanie Palmer on the ties between human speech and birdsong—and her ‘informal life coach’

A groundbreaking review by Allison Doupe, who was Palmer’s mentor, and Patricia Kuhl helped shape the field’s understanding of the neural and evolutionary dynamics of speech.

By Stephanie Palmer
18 March 2025 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Signs of aging vary across brain cells

Senescence presents differently depending on the cell type, toxic trigger and neighboring cells, two new studies find.

By Claudia López Lloreda
18 March 2026 | 4 min read
A computer cursor hovers over distorted data.

Neuroscientists challenge NIH’s proposed human-data access policy

The changes would restrict the sharing of human neuroimaging, transcriptomic and genetic data.

By Claudia López Lloreda
17 March 2026 | 5 min read

David Sussillo on persistence, luck and the bonds between life and work

In a Q&A about his new book, “Emergence,” Sussillo shares why he wrote it and how challenging circumstances shaped his journey into neuroscience.

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario, David Sussillo
17 March 2026 | 7 min watch