Psychiatric disorders

Recent articles

Research diagram of gene expression.

Prefrontal cortex has three transcriptomic acts across human lifespan, new atlas suggests

Various genes show distinct exits and entrances with age in the open-source dataset, the largest of its kind to date.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
23 September 2026 | 5 min read
Child sitting on confetti-covered ground, wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

Sensory over-responsivity tied to autism, anxiety but not other conditions

Negative reactions to sensations track with certain neurodevelopmental traits in more than 15,000 children—pointing to shared neurobiological roots.

By Diana Kwon
10 September 2026 | 5 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
A network of connected dots of light hovers inside a translucent human head, with figures in lab coats pointing to it from the foreground.

Computational psychiatry needs systems neuroscience

Dissecting different parallel processing streams may help us understand the mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms, such as delusions, and unite human and animal research.

By Michael Halassa
13 January 2026 | 7 min read
A mouse stands on a gloved hand.

Psychedelics research in rodents has a behavior problem

Simple behavioral assays—originally validated as drug-screening tools—fall short in studies that aim to unpack the psychedelic mechanism of action, so some behavioral neuroscientists are developing more nuanced tasks.

By Calli McMurray
19 December 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of a brain surrounded by a stylized silhouette of a human head with psychedelic colors and textures.

Why we need basic science to better understand the neurobiology of psychedelics

Despite the many psychedelics clinical trials underway, there is still much we don’t know about how these drugs work. Preclinical studies represent our best viable avenue to answer these lingering questions.

By Devin Effinger, Melissa Herman
1 October 2025 | 6 min read

Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By Paul Middlebrooks
13 August 2025 | 1 min read

Nicole Rust on her new book, ‘Elusive Cures’

Rust discusses how understanding the brain as a complex dynamical system will help us accelerate treatments for brain disorders.

By Paul Middlebrooks
18 June 2025 | 93 min listen
Abstract illustration of a human brain.

‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That,’ an excerpt

In her new book, published today, neuroscientist Nicole Rust takes us on her personal quest to spell out the brain research community’s “Grand Plan.”

By Nicole Rust
10 June 2025 | 9 min read
Photograph of the BRIDGE team and students visiting a laboratory.

Sharing Africa’s brain data: Q&A with Amadi Ihunwo

These data are “virtually mandatory” to advance neuroscience, says Ihunwo, a co-investigator of the Brain Research International Data Governance & Exchange (BRIDGE) initiative, which seeks to develop a global framework for sharing, using and protecting neuroscience data.

By Lauren Schenkman
20 May 2025 | 6 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Susana Carmona on the neurobiology of pregnancy

In a Q&A about her new book, “A Mother’s Brain,” Carmona shares key moments in her career that led her to study the neuroscience of motherhood and discusses some of the major questions the field still needs to address.

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario
6 October 2026 | 8 min read
Cerebellar Purkinje cells.

Aging biomarkers in autism; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 5 October.

By Jill Adams
6 October 2026 | 2 min read
Davi Bock standing in front of a poster showing visualizations of connectomes.

Beyond wiring diagrams: Inside a $19 million effort to expand access to connectome technology

Davi Bock’s lab took the millions of images that led to the complete connectome of a fruit fly brain. Now he wants to apply “this high-throughput flashlight across all areas of biology.”

By Calli McMurray
6 October 2026 | 11 min read