Policy

Recent articles

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
NINDS building.

After NINDS director ouster, 40 neuroscience organizations press U.S. Congress for oversight over hiring process

A letter signed by the groups asks Congress to ensure that scientific expertise remains a priority in the search for a new director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

By Angie Voyles Askham
23 January 2026 | 3 min read
Curvy lines link brain scans and a world map.

BRAIN Initiative researchers ‘dream big’ amid shifts in leadership, funding

But whether the initiative’s road map for the next decade is feasible remains an open question.

By Claudia López Lloreda
23 January 2026 | 6 min read
Two piggy banks whose slots form a plus symbol and a minus symbol.

Neuroscience, BRAIN Initiative gain budget in ‘bad’ NIH funding bill

The bill goes before the House of Representatives today and outlines increases for neuroscience-related research—including a 33 percent increase to the BRAIN Initiative—but maintains a multiyear spending approach that could limit the number of grants awarded overall.

By Angie Voyles Askham
22 January 2026 | 4 min read
Stamp over a sheet of paper.

The Transmitter’s top news articles of 2025

Check out some of our most-read stories, covering neuroscience funding and policy changes in the United States, and methodological issues in high-profile neuroscience papers.

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 3 min read
A group of researchers reading while institutions crumble in the background, and giant mice appear on the horizon.

The Transmitter’s favorite essays of 2025

Throughout a tumultuous year in science, researchers opined on policy changes and funding uncertainty, as well as scientific trends and the impact of artificial-intelligence tools on the field.

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 2 min read
Brain organoid.

What is the future of organoid and assembloid regulation?

Four experts weigh in on how to establish ethical guardrails for research on the 3D neuron clusters as these models become ever more complex.

By Claudia López Lloreda
10 December 2025 | 7 min read
Kevin B Marvel.

A change at the top of SfN as neuroscientists gather in San Diego

Kevin B. Marvel, longtime head of the American Astronomical Society, will lead the Society for Neuroscience after a year of uncertainty in the neuroscience field.

By Natalia Mesa
16 November 2025 | 6 min read
Illustration of coins falling through space.

Establishing a baseline: Trends in NIH neuroscience funding from 2008 to 2024

Funding for neuroscience-related projects more than doubled in 16 years, rising from $4.2 billion in 2008 to $10.5 billion in 2024, according to an analysis by The Transmitter. That money went largely to private universities in coastal states.

By Natalia Mesa
15 November 2025 | 8 min read
Glasses with a pie chart in one of the lenses.

How have funding cuts affected early-career scientists’ futures?

Some say they feel terrified and anxious over all the uncertainty; many are thinking about leaving the United States, academia or science altogether; others plan to stay the course.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 9 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

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

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
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

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