The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives
Featured
NeuroAI
Why neural foundation models work, and what they might—and might not—teach us about the brain
By
Juan Gallego
13 April 2026 | 8 min read
Systems neuroscience
Error equation predicts brain’s ability to generalize
By
Natalia Mesa
10 April 2026 | 5 min read
Today’s action potentials
One Mind is accepting applications for early-career researchers for the “Rising Star Awards,” which include three-year grants of up to $300,000. The application deadline is 27 April.
”Neural foundation models can help us improve our understanding of the language of neural populations. — JUAN GALLEGO, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, CHAMPALIMAUD CENTRE FOR THE UNKNOWN
A new preprint on the mechanism behind capsaicin-induced hypothermia identifies “a direct circuit-level link between peripheral TRPV1 signalling and central control of body temperature.”
Science and society
Embrace complexity to improve the translatability of basic neuroscience
By
Linda Douw, Klaus Eyer, Lara Keuck
9 April 2026 | 5 min read
Computational neuroscience
Computational neuroscientist Keith Hengen explains his work through illustrations
By
Helena Kudiabor
7 April 2026 | 4 min read
How to teach this paper
How to teach programming in the age of AI
By
Ashley Juavinett
30 March 2026 | 8 min read
Neuro education
‘Friction-maxxing’ in school: Students should read primary literature, not AI summaries
By
Nora Bradford
26 March 2026 | 5 min read
Spectrum logo
Spectrum
Astrocytes in mouse amygdala encode emotional state
By
Holly Barker
24 March 2026 | 4 min read
Funding
Letter asks Congress for nearly $500 million to sustain BRAIN Initiative
By
Angie Voyles Askham
31 March 2026 | 3 min read
Funding
Funding for animal research alternatives reaches ‘inflection point’
By
Claudia López Lloreda
26 March 2026 | 4 min read
Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate
By
Lucina Q. Uddin
9 March 2026 | 5 min read
Spectrum
New autism committee positions itself as science-backed alternative to government group
By
Angie Voyles Askham
5 March 2026 | 5 min read
Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business
By
Katie Moisse
19 March 2026 | 6 min read
David Sussillo on persistence, luck and the bonds between life and work
By
Francisco J. Rivera Rosario, David Sussillo
17 March 2026 | 7 min watch
Lack of reviewers threatens robustness of neuroscience literature
By
Jakob Voigts
2 March 2026 | 14 min read
Brain imaging
A brief history of precision self-scanning
When a researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious.
By
Lauren Gravitz
21 January 2026 | 13 min read
Neuroscience
The state of neuroscience in 2025: An overview
The Transmitter presents a portrait of the field through four lenses: its focus, its output, its people and its funding.
By
The Transmitter
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15 November 2025 | 4 min read
This paper changed my life: Ishmail Abdus-Saboor on balancing the study of pain and pleasure
By
Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
13 February 2026 | 7 min read
This paper changed my life: John Tuthill reflects on the subjectivity of selfhood
By
John Tuthill
12 January 2026 | 7 min read
Methods
What a bird’s-eye view of half a million papers reveals about neuroscience
By
Mac Shine
6 April 2026 | 36 min watch
Retraction
Researchers retract multisensory learning paper after failed replications
By
Calli McMurray
31 March 2026 | 4 min read
Books
The Transmitter’s most-read neuroscience book excerpts of 2025
By
The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 2 min read
Top news
The Transmitter’s top news articles of 2025
By
The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 3 min read
Early-career researchers
The Transmitter ’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025
We recognize the outstanding achievements of 25 neuroscientists who stand to shape the field for years to come.
By
Francisco J. Rivera Rosario, Lauren Schneider
15 November 2025 | 23 min read
Community
The Transmitter’s New Lab Directory
By
Francisco J. Rivera Rosario
15 November 2025 | 21 min read
Diving in with Nachum Ulanovsky
By
Claudia López Lloreda
16 October 2025 | 14 min read
Systems neuroscience
‘Digital sphinx’ raises questions about connectome models
By
Natalia Mesa
2 April 2026 | 5 min read
Spatial cognition and navigation
Head direction cells stably orient mice to outside world
By
Angie Voyles Askham
25 March 2026 | 0 min watch
Hippocampus builds reputation as ‘general-purpose statistical learning machine’
By
Natalia Mesa
10 March 2026 | 5 min read
Dendrites
Dendrites help neuroscientists see the forest for the trees
By
Justin O’Hare
27 February 2026 | 7 min read
‘The Brain, In Theory,’ an excerpt
By
Romain Brette
7 April 2026 | 5 min read
‘The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved,’ an excerpt
By
Rogier Mars
10 March 2026 | 6 min read
‘Wired for Words: The Neural Architecture of Language,’ an excerpt
By
Gregory Hickok
2 December 2025 | 8 min read
The big picture
Trading places: What happens when neuroscience turns into machine learning, and machine learning turns into neuroscience?
Neuroscience has become increasingly concerned with prediction, and machine learning with causal explanation, with each field adopting methods from the other. I asked eight experts to weigh in on what we stand to learn from this exchange.
By
Samuel Gershman
23 March 2026 | 22 min read
The big picture
The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.
By
Grace Lindsay
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13 October 2025 | 24 min read