Q&A

Recent articles

Hitting city streets to record rat behaviors: Q&A with Emily Mackevicius, Ralph Peterson

Capturing the rodents’ vocalizations and movements in the wild offers an opportunity to study naturalistic behaviors in a complex urban environment, Mackevicius and Peterson say.

By Marta Hill
19 August 2025 | 7 min listen
Illustration of overlapping, multi-colored human head silhouettes.

Perspectives from the field: Opinions in autism research

This collection of Spectrum articles from the past 12 months highlights expert perspectives on autism’s heritability and its link to biological sex, the value of transdiagnostic frameworks, and the field’s future, among other topics.

By Daisy Yuhas
10 July 2025 | 3 min read
A silhouette of a human head with flame-like shapes within it and smoke wafting over it.

Building a climate neuroscience subfield: Q&A with Angie Michaiel

Michaiel, a program officer at the Kavli Foundation, shares what it took to cultivate research on the relationship between climate change and the nervous system.

By Calli McMurray
26 June 2025 | 5 min read
An opaque cube is repeated multiple times to create the appearance of overlapping cubes.

Sounding the alarm on pseudoreplication: Q&A with Constantinos Eleftheriou and Peter Kind

Most studies of neurological disorders in mice erroneously treat multiple samples from a single animal as independent replicates, according to a new analysis. But scientists and journals can take steps to curb this practice.

By Lauren Schenkman
12 June 2025 | 6 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
Composite illustration of Ashley Bourke, Christian Cazares, Minerva Contreras, De-Shaine Murray, Fernanda Juarez Anaya, Maeghan Murie-Mazariegos and Maribel Patiño.
DEI Microphone

‘We still exist’: How four neuroscience advocacy groups are navigating federal DEI funding cuts

Trainees from underrepresented backgrounds are losing pillars of support in the current funding climate. Grassroots mentorship organizations are stepping in to continue championing early-career researchers.

By Paige Miranda
14 May 2025 | 18 min listen

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.

By Mac Shine
7 May 2025 | 59 min watch
A red speech bubble emanates from a megaphone.

‘These plans are simply not acceptable’: Q&A with Helen Tager-Flusberg

Last week, Tager-Flusberg formed the Coalition of Autism Scientists to push back on the U.S. government’s plans for autism research, as described by Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. The coalition already has 220 members.

By Sydney Wyatt
1 May 2025 | 5 min read
A clinician holds a clipboard while someone else sits on a couch.

Expediting clinical trials for profound autism: Q&A with Matthew State

Aligning Research to Impact Autism, a new initiative funded by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, wants to bring basic science discoveries to the clinic faster.

By Lauren Schenkman
24 April 2025 | 8 min read
A group of scientists discusses in a lab.

Learning scientific rigor: Q&A with Konrad Kording and Hao Ye

The developers of a new open-access curriculum to teach rigor discuss confirmation bias and other common errors in scientific thinking, plus ways to avoid these missteps.

By Calli McMurray
19 March 2025 | 6 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of neural progenitor cells derived from people with 16p11.2 duplications and 16p11.2 deletions, which have cilia that are shorter or longer, respectively, than in controls.

Protein interactions important to SYNGAP1-related conditions; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 8 September.

By Jill Adams
9 September 2025 | 2 min read
Sleep-control neurons glow cyan in the central nervous system of a fly.

Mitochondria set ‘ancient’ metabolic thermostat for sleep in flies, separate from circadian rhythms

During waking hours, a specialized set of sleep neurons in the fly brain accumulates reactive oxygen species, which eventually trigger sleep to clean up and repair the damage they do.

By Viviane Callier
9 September 2025 | 7 min listen
Collage of black researchers, buildings at HBCUs and scientific equipment.

Building the future of neuroscience at HBCUs

Black In Neuro is launching a new program to help historically Black colleges and universities advance neuroscience research and education, focusing on cross-institutional collaboration, joint curriculum development and improved mentoring initiatives.

By Jheannelle Johnson
8 September 2025 | 8 min listen

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