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The latest developments in neuroscience

Largest leucovorin-autism trial retracted

A reanalysis of the data revealed errors and failed to replicate the results.

By Claudia López Lloreda
3 February 2026 | 4 min read

NIH scraps policy that classified basic research in people as clinical trials

The policy aimed to increase the transparency of research in humans but created “a bureaucratic nightmare” for basic neuroscientists.

By Calli McMurray
3 February 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of the mouse dorsal horn.

Cell atlas cracks open ‘black box’ of mammalian spinal cord development

The atlas details the genetics, birth dates and gene-expression signatures of roughly 150 neuron subtypes in the dorsal horn of the mouse spinal cord.

By Natalia Mesa
3 February 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of fish.

Pangenomic approaches to the genetics of autism, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 2 February.

By Jill Adams
3 February 2026 | 2 min read
A human silhouette with lines connecting the brain to various organs.

PIEZO channels are opening the study of mechanosensation in unexpected places

The force-activated ion channels underlie the senses of touch and proprioception. Now scientists are using them as a tool to explore molecular mechanisms at work in internal organs, including the heart, bladder, uterus and kidney.

By Calli McMurray
30 January 2026 | 6 min read
US Department of Health and Human Services building.

Latest iteration of U.S. federal autism committee comes under fire

The new panel “represents a radical departure from all past rosters,” says autism researcher Helen Tager-Flusberg.

By Angie Voyles Askham
29 January 2026 | 9 min read
Progenitors cells in the medial ganglionic eminence become increasingly organized during development as rows of brain imaging progress from top to bottom.

‘Tour de force’ study flags fount of interneurons in human brain

The newly discovered cell type might point to the origins of the inhibitory imbalance linked to autism and other conditions.

By Holly Barker
29 January 2026 | 4 min read
Walter Koroshetz.

‘Peer review is our strength’: Q&A with Walter Koroshetz, former NINDS director

In his first week off the job, the former National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke director urges U.S. scientists to remain optimistic about the future of neuroscience research, even if the executive branch “may not value what we do.”

By Angie Voyles Askham
27 January 2026 | 7 min read
Chimpanzee neural organoid.

Viral remnant in chimpanzees silences brain gene humans still use

The retroviral insert appears to inadvertently switch off a gene involved in brain development.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
27 January 2026 | 5 min read
Brain scans showing people with autism have a thinner cortex in many brain regions than do people with ADHD, but greater measures of cortical curvature.

FDA website no longer warns against bogus autism therapies, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 26 January.

By Jill Adams
27 January 2026 | 2 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Figure resembling Rodin's The Thinker made from paper scraps.

Betting blind on AI and the scientific mind

If the struggle to articulate an idea is part of how you come to understand it, then tools that bypass that struggle might degrade your capacity for the kind of thinking that matters most for actual discovery.

By Tim Requarth
2 February 2026 | 11 min read

Michael Shadlen explains how theory of mind ushers nonconscious thoughts into consciousness

All of our thoughts, mostly nonconscious, are interrogations of the world, Shadlen says. The opportunity to report our answers to ourselves or others brings a thought into conscious awareness.

By Paul Middlebrooks
28 January 2026 | 1 min read

Why emotion research is stuck—and how to move it forward

Studying how organisms infer indirect threats and understand changing contexts can establish a common framework that bridges species and levels of analysis.

By Joshua P. Johansen
26 January 2026 | 0 min watch

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