Neuroethology

Recent articles

Illustration of cranes attempting to assemble a structure out of very small black squares.

In case you missed it: Standout news stories from 2024

These five stories—on the pregnant brain, a failed imaging method and more—top our list of some of the most notable neuroscience research findings this year.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 2 min read
Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Martín Giurfa y la idea de hogar

El investigador de la cognición de insectos ha hecho su trabajo en varios continentes, pero Argentina nunca está lejos de su mente.

By Gina Jiménez
20 August 2024 | 15 min read
Research image of neurons firing in the hippocampus of Egyptian fruit bats.

Egyptian fruit bats’ neural patterns represent different experimenters

The findings underscore the importance of accounting for “experimenter effects” on lab animals.

By Sneha Khedkar
13 August 2024 | 4 min read
Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Martin Giurfa’s concept of home

The insect-cognition researcher has done his work across continents, but Argentina is never far from his mind.

By Gina Jiménez
31 July 2024 | 15 min listen
Neuroscientist Nacho Sanguinetti deadpanning the camera as he sits at his desk with a photo cutout of an agouti on his computer.

Improvising to study brains in the wild: Q&A with Nacho Sanguinetti-Scheck

A joke at a neuroscience summer program nearly a decade ago ignited a lifelong research interest for this Uruguayan scientist—one that plays on his comedic strengths.

By Rebecca Horne
9 July 2024 | 7 min read
Picture of bees in flight.

Postdoc’s grad-school sleuthing raises questions about bee waggle-dance data

A journal has flagged two papers with expressions of concern, which note a co-author acknowledged errors.

By Shaena Montanari
4 July 2024 | 6 min read
Close-up image of a dead fly with visible growths protruding from its abdomen due to Entomophthora fungus infection.

Mind control in zombie flies: Q&A with Carolyn Elya

A parasitic fungus compels its insect host to behave in strange ways by hijacking secretory neurons and circadian pathways.

By Shaena Montanari
25 June 2024 | 5 min read

Dancing in the dark: Honeybees use antennae to decode nestmates’ waggles

The insects align their antennae with their body’s angle to a dancer—information that vector-processing circuitry in the brain deciphers into a flight path, a new study suggests.

By Shaena Montanari
3 April 2024 | 0 min watch
A 3D map shows the point at which elephant seals begin spiraling during REM sleep.

Wild and free: Understanding animal behavior beyond the lab

Technological advancements have made it possible to study animals in more natural settings, but researchers are debating what that really means and whether natural is always better.

By Shaena Montanari
20 March 2024 | 9 min listen
Portrait of scientist Tessa Montague standing next to an aquatic tank. A spray of black ink shoots onto her lab coat from off-camera.

Leaving lasting marks with Tessa Montague

When the postdoctoral fellow is not deconstructing cuttlefish camouflage and dodging ink squirts in the lab, you can find her teaching neuroscience courses in correctional facilities, mentoring high school biology students in Ghana and helping to launch DNA experiments into space.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
9 February 2024 | 7 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

New human brain atlas charts gene activity and chromosome accessibility, from embryo to adolescence

The resource profiles millions of single cells across the developing cortex, revealing when, where and how certain cell types emerge and illuminating possible origins of autism and other conditions.

By Saima Sidik
30 January 2025 | 5 min read

Protocol-sharing site aims to ease administrative burden of animal research

The library of regulatory-compliant animal procedures offers experimental standards and specific language that researchers can borrow for their own legal paperwork.

By Calli McMurray
29 January 2025 | 4 min read

David Robbe challenges conventional notions of time and memory

Inspired by his own behavioral neuroscience research and the philosophy of Henri Bergson, Robbe makes the case that we don't have clocks in our brains but instead perceive time by way of our interactions with the world.

By Paul Middlebrooks
29 January 2025 | 98 min listen