Astrocytes

Recent articles

The silent majority: How astrocytes shape the brain across scales

Melissa Cooper talks to Mac Shine about her new work that reveals how these glial cells—long dismissed as the brain’s housekeepers—wire together in precise, long-range networks that remodel in response to experience.

By Mac Shine
12 May 2026 | 29 min watch
Astrocytes in a mouse brain.

Taking a closer look at astrocytes and autism

These glial cells are increasingly linked to neurodevelopmental conditions and the regulation of social behaviors and anxiety.

By The Transmitter
2 April 2026 | 2 min read
Research image of astrocytes in the mouse brain.

Astrocytes in mouse amygdala encode emotional state

The glial cells’ activity reliably tracks with freezing, hesitancy and other behaviors reminiscent of anxiety.

By Holly Barker
24 March 2026 | 4 min read
Research image of senescing cells.

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
Research image of astrocytes in a mouse brain.

Astrocytes orchestrate oxytocin’s social effects in mice

The cells amplify oxytocin—and may be responsible for sex differences in social behavior, two preprints find.

By Holly Barker
4 March 2026 | 5 min read
Research images of the mouse visual cortex.

Astrocytes stabilize circuits in adult mouse brain

The glial cells secrete a protein that suppresses plasticity post-development.

By Holly Barker
6 January 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of human figures holding brightly colored connected dots.

The best of ‘this paper changed my life’ in 2025

From a study that upended astrocyte research to one that reignited the field of spiking neural networks, experts weighed in on the papers that significantly shaped how they think about and approach neuroscience.

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 2 min read
Overlapping speech bubbles.

Talking shop: The Transmitter’s top quotes of 2025

Find out what “may be one of the brain’s most underappreciated superpowers” and why it’s so crucial to “talk about our research in our everyday lives.”

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 4 min read
Research image of organoids derived from stem cell lines from people with intellectual disability, polymicroglia or microcephaly, alongside a control organoid.

New organoid atlas unveils four neurodevelopmental signatures

The comprehensive resource details data on microcephaly, polymicrogyria, epilepsy and intellectual disability from 352 people.

By Diana Kwon
17 December 2025 | 4 min read
Research image of astrocytic activation in mice.

Engrams in amygdala lean on astrocytes to solidify memories

Disrupting the astrocyte-neuronal dynamic in mice destabilizes their memory of fear conditioning.

By Lauren Schneider
15 October 2025 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Outside influences on CHD8 variant phenotypes, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 18 May.

By Jill Adams
19 May 2026 | 2 min read
stack of books illustration.

Reforming neuroscience graduate education for—and with—AI

In disrupting the status quo, artificial intelligence can help us critically reassess and redefine what neuroscience graduate training should look like—and potentially address long-standing training challenges in novel and innovative ways.

By Tari Tan
19 May 2026 | 7 min read
deciphering emotion illustration.

What can AI teach us about ‘emotions’?

Exploring why Anthropic’s AI, Claude, displays something like emotion could ultimately help us better understand the function that emotions serve in humans.

By Nicole Rust
18 May 2026 | 7 min read