The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives
Featured
Neurons tune electron transport chain to survive onslaught of noxious stimuli
Vicente Raja brings ecological psychology concepts to neuroscience
This paper changed my life: Sandra Jurado marvels at the first-ever 3D model of a synaptic vesicle
Today’s action potentials
”It resembled a molecular piñata—tiny, spherical and absolutely bursting with surprises inside and out—so densely packed it looked like one tap could trigger an exocytic meltdown. I was captivated. — SANDRA JURADO, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, SPANISH NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Whole-brain, bottom-up neuroscience: The time for it is now
The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
One year of FlyWire: How the resource is redefining Drosophila research
Why we need basic science to better understand the neurobiology of psychedelics
Gene-activity map of developing brain reveals new clues about autism’s sex bias
Boosting SCN2A expression reduces seizures in mice
Fly database secures funding for another year, but future remains in flux
Autism researchers ‘pleasantly surprised’ by list of NIH data project grantees, despite initial concerns
NIH awarded 37 percent fewer neuroscience-related grants in 2025 than in past years
International scientific collaboration is more necessary—yet more challenging—than ever
Should neuroscientists ‘vibe code’?
What U.S. science stands to lose without international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
How to build a truly global computational neuroscience community
New questions around motor neurons and plasticity
A researcher’s theory hangs muscle degeneration on a broken neural circuit.
Cephalopods, vision’s next frontier
For decades, scientists have been teased by the strange but inaccessible cephalopod visual system. Now, thanks to a technological breakthrough from a lab in Oregon, data are finally coming straight from the octopus brain.
This paper changed my life: Dan Goodman on a paper that reignited the field of spiking neural networks
This paper changed my life: Victoria Abraira on a tasty link between circuits and behavior
From bench to bot: Why AI-powered writing may not deliver on its promise
Keeping it personal: How to preserve your voice when using AI
Diving in with Nachum Ulanovsky
With an eye toward realism, the neuroscientist, who has a new study about bats out today, creates microcosms of the natural world to understand animal behavior.
Facial movements telegraph cognition in mice
Michael Breakspear and Mac Shine explain how brain processing changes across neural population scales
Everything everywhere all at once: Decision-making signals engage entire brain
The Transmitter’s reading list: Six upcoming neuroscience books, plus notable titles in 2025
‘What Is Intelligence?’: An excerpt
‘Bird Brains and Behavior,’ an excerpt
‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That,’ an excerpt
Beyond Newtonian causation in neuroscience: Embracing complex causality
The traditional mechanistic framework must give way to a richer understanding of how brains actually generate behavior over time.
Emotion research has a communication conundrum
In 2025, the words we use to describe emotions matter, but their definitions are controversial. Here, I unpack the different positions in this space and the rationales behind them—and I invite 13 experts to chime in.