The big picture

Recent articles

Researchers ask colleagues to weigh in on important topics in the field.

Data streams into a transparent box.

Accepting “the bitter lesson” and embracing the brain’s complexity

To gain insight into complex neural data, we must move toward a data-driven regime, training large models on vast amounts of information. We asked nine experts on computational neuroscience and neural data analysis to weigh in.

By Eva Dyer, Blake Richards
26 March 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of a funnel taking abstract shapes in at the top and spouting an organized flow of shapes out at the bottom.

To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma

An exponential growth in data size presents neuroscientists with a significant challenge: Should we be keeping all raw data or focusing on processed datasets? I asked experimentalists and theorists for their thoughts.

By Nima Dehghani
25 November 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of an image of a landscape repeated over and over again, with some versions distorted and warped.

What makes memories last—dynamic ensembles or static synapses?

Teasing out how different subfields conceptualize central terms might help move this long-standing debate forward. I asked eight scientists to weigh in.

By Jason Shepherd
14 October 2024 | 7 min read
Collage of different images of brains and mechanical devices in the background with a suitcase in the foreground.

What are mechanisms? Unpacking the term is key to progress in neuroscience

Mechanism is a common and powerful concept, invoked in grant calls and publication guidelines. But scientists use it in different ways, making it difficult to clarify standards in the field. We asked nine scientists to weigh in.

By Dani S. Bassett, Lauren N. Ross
7 October 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of a sparkly brain.

What, if anything, makes mood fundamentally different from memory?

To better understand mood disorders—and to develop more effective treatments—should we target the brain, the mind, the environment or all three?

By Nicole Rust
8 April 2024 | 8 min read
Illustration of a meteorologist pointing to an aerial view of clouds swirling over a brain-shaped land mass.

Is the brain uncontrollable, like the weather?

The brain may be chaotic. Does that mean our efforts to control it are doomed?

By Nicole Rust
18 December 2023 | 10 min read

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Explore more from The Transmitter

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
Research image of neurite overgrowth in cells grown from people with autism-linked PPP2R5D variants.

Cortical structures in infants linked to future language skills; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 19 May.

By Jill Adams
20 May 2025 | 2 min read
Digitally distorted building blocks.

The BabyLM Challenge: In search of more efficient learning algorithms, researchers look to infants

A competition that trains language models on relatively small datasets of words, closer in size to what a child hears up to age 13, seeks solutions to some of the major challenges of today’s large language models.

By Alona Fyshe
19 May 2025 | 7 min read