Neural coding

Recent articles

Does cognition happen in brain areas or between them?

Michael Cole explains how "brain flows" are the fundamental units of brain function and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 November 2026 | 1 min read
Edgar Adrian works in the laboratory, around 1920.

The neural code at 100

In two 1926 articles, Edgar Douglas Adrian revealed that neurons communicate through trains of spikes.

By Matteo Carandini
12 October 2026 | 8 min read

Cooperating marmosets extend decision-making model of the brain

When a pair of marmosets works together to earn some marshmallow fluff, one of them decides to act only after its brain accumulates enough evidence about what the other is doing, new work shows.

By Calli McMurray
24 June 2026 | 1 min watch
Research image visualizing neuronal activity.

Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate

Face patch cells in macaque monkeys initially respond to images of any object but rapidly transition to attend to faces exclusively, a new study finds.

By Holly Barker
23 April 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of flocking birds.

From genes to dynamics: Examining brain cell types in action may reveal the logic of brain function

Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity.

By Liset M. de la Prida
9 February 2026 | 6 min read
A series of colored rectangles in a cosmos-like black space.

The challenge of defining a neural population

Our current approach is largely arbitrary. We need new methods for grouping cells, ideally by their dynamics.

By Mark Humphries
11 August 2025 | 8 min read

John Beggs unpacks the critical brain hypothesis

Beggs outlines why and how brains operate at criticality, a sweet spot between order and chaos.

By Paul Middlebrooks
21 May 2025 | 94 min listen
Composite image of a brain probe, a test tube and a brain scan.

Why the 21st-century neuroscientist needs to be neuroethically engaged

Technological advances in decoding brain activity and in growing human brain cells raise new ethical issues. Here is a framework to help researchers navigate them.

By Karen Rommelfanger
12 May 2025 | 6 min read
Mock-up of the Neuropixels probe inserted into brain tissue.

Tracking single neurons in the human brain reveals new insight into language and other human-specific functions

Better technologies to stably monitor cell populations over long periods of time make it possible to study neural coding and dynamics in the human brain.

By Edward Chang, Jason Chung
28 April 2025 | 7 min read

It’s time to examine neural coding from the message’s point of view

In studying the brain, we almost always take the neuron’s perspective. But we can gain new insights by reorienting our frame of reference to that of the messages flowing over brain networks.

By Daniel Graham
1 April 2025 | 0 min watch

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image showing genes containing microexons in mice.

Machine-learning model spots autism-linked variants that scramble splicing

The model provides a way to investigate genetic variation in regions of the genome whose functions have been difficult to interpret.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
12 November 2026 | 4 min read
Illustration of two overlapping speech bubbles patterned with blue and pink horizontal lines on a background of pink and brown horizontal lines.

Future of AI brain models sparks debate

Neuroscientists are divided about whether foundation models that predict brain responses will help the field understand how brains work.

By Natalia Mesa
11 November 2026 | 10 min read
Scans of brains using the OPM-MEG method.

Language development during the first 1,000 days; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 9 November.

By Jill Adams
10 November 2026 | 2 min read