Jon Han
Illustrator
From this contributor
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
Exclusive: Recruitment issues jeopardize ambitious plan for human brain atlas
A lack of six new brain donors may stop the project from meeting its goal to pair molecular and cellular data with the functional organization of the cortex.

Exclusive: Recruitment issues jeopardize ambitious plan for human brain atlas
A lack of six new brain donors may stop the project from meeting its goal to pair molecular and cellular data with the functional organization of the cortex.
How pragmatism and passion drive Fred Volkmar—even after retirement
Whether looking back at his career highlights or forward to his latest projects, the psychiatrist is committed to supporting autistic people at every age.

How pragmatism and passion drive Fred Volkmar—even after retirement
Whether looking back at his career highlights or forward to his latest projects, the psychiatrist is committed to supporting autistic people at every age.
The brain’s quiet conductor: How hidden cells fine-tune arousal
New research published today suggests that the pericoeruleus acts as a kind of micromanager of arousal, selectively inhibiting different subgroups of locus coeruleus neurons depending on the behavioral context.
The brain’s quiet conductor: How hidden cells fine-tune arousal
New research published today suggests that the pericoeruleus acts as a kind of micromanager of arousal, selectively inhibiting different subgroups of locus coeruleus neurons depending on the behavioral context.