Survey

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Two hands hold a paper airplane.

How will neuroscience training need to change in the future?

Training in computational neuroscience, data science and statistics will need to expand, say many of the scientists we surveyed. But that must be balanced with a more traditional grounding in the scientific method and critical thinking. Researchers noted that funding concerns will also affect training, especially for people from underrepresented groups.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 11 min read
A book in which one page is a door.

How will the field’s relationship to industry change over the next decade? Will a larger neurotechnology sector emerge?

Interactions between academic neuroscience and industry will grow, and the neurotech sector will expand, most survey respondents predict. The current funding upheaval in the United States may accelerate this trend as the field searches for new funding models.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 10 min read
Two bouncing balls.

What are the fastest-growing areas in neuroscience?

Respondents pointed to computational neuroscience, systems neuroscience, neuroimmunology and neuroimaging, among other subfields.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 6 min read
Glasses with a pie chart in one of the lenses.

How have funding cuts affected early-career scientists’ futures?

Some say they feel terrified and anxious over all the uncertainty; many are thinking about leaving the United States, academia or science altogether; others plan to stay the course.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 9 min read
Archery target.

What should the field prioritize over the next 10 years?

Respondents pointed to a range of challenges in basic neuroscience—such as understanding naturalistic behaviors, intelligence and embodied cognition—and called for more circuit-level research, more precise brain recordings and more work in alternative models. Just as many pushed for a translational pivot.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 11 min read
Aerial view of a house isolated on an iceberg.

Is neuroscience a coherent field? Or is it becoming more fragmented?

The latter, say about half of the neuroscientists we surveyed. They note the sheer volume of research being generated, an increasing trend toward specialization in neuroscience education, and competition among labs. About another quarter told us it is “becoming much more interconnected.”

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 9 min read
Deconstructed scissors in the shape of a percentage sign.

How do you anticipate the field changing in the wake of recent funding cuts?

Most survey respondents said they are bracing for a major reduction in the scientific workforce in the United States; some foresee research and staff shifting from academia to the private sector; and a few predict growth in translational studies and research on artificial intelligence.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 10 min read
Concentric circles.

What are the most transformative neuroscience tools and technologies developed in the past five years?

Artificial intelligence and deep-learning methods featured prominently in the survey responses, followed by genetic tools to control circuits, advanced neuroimaging, transcriptomics and various approaches to record brain activity and behavior.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 14 min read
View from inside a piggy bank show coins falling through the slot.

Neuroscience funding: A source directory

Our list features expected and lesser-known governmental and nongovernmental sources of funding for basic neuroscience research.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 4 min read
Two test tubes filled with coins.

Which sources fund your neuroscience research?

Government sources are the main overall contributors to neuroscience labs, but funding breakdown varies across labs, career stages and neuroscience subfields, a survey by The Transmitter shows.

By Claudia López Lloreda
15 November 2025 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Two lab mice fighting.

From friend to foe: How the brain updates feelings toward others

A specific hippocampus-to-amygdala pathway reassigns emotional valence to a known individual, whereas the hippocampus’s own representation of that individual’s identity remains stable.

By Natalia Mesa
9 July 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of scientist in lab coat looking at shelves of computer network models.

Mass-produced science is coming. What happens to scientists?

Artificial intelligence may soon enable researchers to generate high-quality science at a previously unimaginable speed. For science consumers—the public, medical patients, technology users—the likely effects will be positive. For scientists, the effects will be as disruptive as industrial mass production was for artisan manufacturers.

By Kenneth Harris
9 July 2026 | 9 min read
Adriano Aguzzi.

Neuropathologist not guilty of research misconduct, says university probe

The investigation determined that seven papers by corresponding author Adriano Aguzzi have “scientifically significant” errors, which Aguzzi attributes to his former students.

By Dalmeet Singh Chawla
8 July 2026 | 5 min read