Academia

Recent articles

Illustration of a paper draft covered in notes and sign-off signatures, and surrounded by many hands reaching towards it.

The last two-author neuroscience paper?

Author lists on papers have ballooned, and it’s getting hard to discern contribution.

By Lydia Denworth
25 February 2025 | 3 min read
A man stands in front of a ladder; a woman to his right stands in front of an identical ladder missing every rung except the top and bottom rungs.

Adapt or die: Safeguarding the future of diversity and inclusion funding in neuroscience

As diversity and inclusion funding initiatives crumble, we as neuroscientists need to change how we write grants, better communicate the economic benefits of our work and engage in constructive conflict when necessary.

By David Barker
25 February 2025 | 6 min read
Grid of black-and-white headshots of neuroscience trainees.

‘A gut punch:’ How U.S. neuroscience trainees are grappling with diversity-based funding flux

Ten trainees spoke with The Transmitter about how the precarious state of U.S. federal funding is affecting their research and career plans.

By Calli McMurray, Angie Voyles Askham, Claudia López Lloreda
14 February 2025 | 2 min read
Illustrated collage of women doing scientific tasks: looking at brain slices, pouring a solution into a beaker and looking into a microscope.

How eight initiatives are tackling neuroscience’s gender gap

In honor of today’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, The Transmitter spoke with some of the women working to bolster their ranks in the field through storytelling podcasts, speaker repositories, social media networks and other community-based advocacy projects.

By Paige Miranda
11 February 2025 | 2 min read
A figure walks a narrow path in a canyon.

Static pay, shrinking prospects fuel neuroscience postdoc decline

Postdoctoral researchers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health now toil longer than ever before, for less money. They are responding accordingly.

By Katie Moisse
31 January 2025 | 20 min read
Illustration of an open book with the pages creating a brain shape, and with a tassel resembling a DNA sequence.

Open-access neuroscience comes to the classroom: Q&A with Liz Kirby

Neuroscience textbooks can be prohibitively expensive for some undergraduate students. A new open-access alternative seeks to change that.

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario
13 December 2024 | 6 min read
Black-and-white photograph of Bryan W Jones holding a camera and pointing it back at the photographer.

An eye for science: Q&A with Bryan W. Jones

The researcher explains how the beauty of the retina drew him into the vision field and why photography reminds him of the value of that work.

By Angie Voyles Askham
6 December 2024 | 7 min read
A repeating pattern of orange butterflies against a blue background.

‘Huge influx’ of neuroscientists migrates to Bluesky

Daily neuroscience-related posts on the social-media platform this week have increased more than 400 percent, on average, compared with October.

By Calli McMurray
21 November 2024 | 5 min read
Two surreal heads touch each other’s faces.

The case for redefining ‘theory of mind’: Q&A with François Quesque

In a new commentary, Quesque and 44 experts in neuroscience and psychology propose a standardized lexicon for research on the attribution of mental states.

By Lauren Schenkman
10 October 2024 | 7 min read
Illustrated portrait of Kanaka Rajan.

How neuroscience comics add KA-POW! to the field: Q&A with Kanaka Rajan

The artistic approach can help explain complex ideas frame by frame without diluting the science, Rajan says.

By Olivia Gieger
9 October 2024 | 7 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a line graph emanating from a beaker.

Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker

This edition of Null and Noteworthy—the first for The Transmitter—highlights new findings about the auditory steady-state response in people with schizophrenia that, all within one study, somehow packed in a null result and a failed replication.

By Laura Dattaro
28 February 2025 | 5 min read
Computer-generated images of the human brain showing functional networks.

Cell ‘fingerprints’ identify distinct cortical networks

These networks align with different assemblages of cells, a finding that could reveal how cellular diversity influences brain function, according to a new study.

By Holly Barker
28 February 2025 | 4 min read
Child playing with blocks.

Structure of striatum varies by sex in autistic children

The changes could reflect different developmental trajectories between boys and girls with autism, a new study suggests.

By Holly Barker
27 February 2025 | 4 min read