Jon Han
Illustrator
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The limits of neuroscience
Truly understanding the brain requires a set of conditions we’re unlikely to meet: that knowledge about the brain is finite, and that we have both access to that knowledge and the means to understand it.
The Transmitter’s favorite essays and columns of 2024
From sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease to enduring citation bias, experts weighed in on important scientific and practical issues in neuroscience.

The Transmitter’s favorite essays and columns of 2024
Imagining the ultimate systems neuroscience paper
A growing body of papers on systems neuroscience and on giant simulations of neural circuits involves data beyond the point that anyone can reasonably understand end to end. Looking ahead, “paper-bots” could solve that problem.

Imagining the ultimate systems neuroscience paper
What makes memories last—dynamic ensembles or static synapses?
Teasing out how different subfields conceptualize central terms might help move this long-standing debate forward. I asked eight scientists to weigh in.

What makes memories last—dynamic ensembles or static synapses?
Averaging is a convenient fiction of neuroscience
But neurons don’t take averages. This ubiquitous practice hides from us how the brain really works.

Averaging is a convenient fiction of neuroscience
Explore more from The Transmitter
Coding error caused layoffs at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke this week, source says
Thirty employees—including 11 lab heads—at the institute should “immediately return to work,” according to an email the institute’s Office of Human Resources sent to top administration at the institute Wednesday evening.

Coding error caused layoffs at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke this week, source says
Thirty employees—including 11 lab heads—at the institute should “immediately return to work,” according to an email the institute’s Office of Human Resources sent to top administration at the institute Wednesday evening.
PTEN problems underscore autism connection to excess brain fluid
Damaging variants in the autism-linked gene cause congenital hydrocephalus—a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain—by turbocharging a downstream signaling pathway that promotes the growth of cells, according to a new study.

PTEN problems underscore autism connection to excess brain fluid
Damaging variants in the autism-linked gene cause congenital hydrocephalus—a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain—by turbocharging a downstream signaling pathway that promotes the growth of cells, according to a new study.
U.S. health agency purge includes 10 lab heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
The reasons for selecting these researchers—who have led work on neuronal migration, dopamine receptors in neuronal signaling and the structure of ion channels, among other areas—remain unclear.

U.S. health agency purge includes 10 lab heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
The reasons for selecting these researchers—who have led work on neuronal migration, dopamine receptors in neuronal signaling and the structure of ion channels, among other areas—remain unclear.