Neural coding

Recent articles

Edgar Adrian works in the laboratory, around 1920.

The neural code at 100

In two 1926 articles, Edgar Douglas Adrian revealed that neurons communicate through trains of spikes.

By Matteo Carandini
12 October 2026 | 8 min read

Cooperating marmosets extend decision-making model of the brain

When a pair of marmosets works together to earn some marshmallow fluff, one of them decides to act only after its brain accumulates enough evidence about what the other is doing, new work shows.

By Calli McMurray
24 June 2026 | 1 min watch
Research image visualizing neuronal activity.

Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate

Face patch cells in macaque monkeys initially respond to images of any object but rapidly transition to attend to faces exclusively, a new study finds.

By Holly Barker
23 April 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of flocking birds.

From genes to dynamics: Examining brain cell types in action may reveal the logic of brain function

Defining brain cell types is no longer a matter of classification alone, but of embedding their genetic identities within the dynamical organization of population activity.

By Liset M. de la Prida
9 February 2026 | 6 min read
A series of colored rectangles in a cosmos-like black space.

The challenge of defining a neural population

Our current approach is largely arbitrary. We need new methods for grouping cells, ideally by their dynamics.

By Mark Humphries
11 August 2025 | 8 min read

John Beggs unpacks the critical brain hypothesis

Beggs outlines why and how brains operate at criticality, a sweet spot between order and chaos.

By Paul Middlebrooks
21 May 2025 | 94 min listen
Composite image of a brain probe, a test tube and a brain scan.

Why the 21st-century neuroscientist needs to be neuroethically engaged

Technological advances in decoding brain activity and in growing human brain cells raise new ethical issues. Here is a framework to help researchers navigate them.

By Karen Rommelfanger
12 May 2025 | 6 min read
Mock-up of the Neuropixels probe inserted into brain tissue.

Tracking single neurons in the human brain reveals new insight into language and other human-specific functions

Better technologies to stably monitor cell populations over long periods of time make it possible to study neural coding and dynamics in the human brain.

By Edward Chang, Jason Chung
28 April 2025 | 7 min read

It’s time to examine neural coding from the message’s point of view

In studying the brain, we almost always take the neuron’s perspective. But we can gain new insights by reorienting our frame of reference to that of the messages flowing over brain networks.

By Daniel Graham
1 April 2025 | 0 min watch

Dmitri Chklovskii outlines how single neurons may act as their own optimal feedback controllers

From logical gates to grandmother cells, neuroscientists have employed many metaphors to explain single neuron function. Chklovskii makes the case that neurons are actually trying to control how their outputs affect the rest of the brain.

By Paul Middlebrooks
12 February 2025 | 99 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of resting-state functional MRI.

Acetaminophen effects on developing brain organoids; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 12 October.

By Jill Adams
13 October 2026 | 1 min read
Illustration of hands holding cash.

Private initiative makes ‘historic’ investment in autism research

Aligning Research to Impact Autism has committed more than $450 million to build a new multidisciplinary research network to uncover the roots of profound autism and develop treatments.

By Madeline Shaw
13 October 2026 | 4 min read
Illustrated collage of a monkey profile, a gloved hand holding a vaccine syringe touching an outline of the United States with two primates sitting near it, a strand of DNA, and flags of the United States and China in the background.

U.S. national primate research centers face an uncertain future

The facilities were meant to last 100 years. Four decades shy of that mark, amid flatlined funds and mounting political pressure, their directors are trying to find a path forward.

By Calli McMurray
9 October 2026 | 12 min read