The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives

Featured

Neural dynamics

Neural manifolds: Latest buzzword or pathway to understand the brain?

By Matthew Perich

2 October 2024 | 8 min read

Illustrated portrait of Tim Ryan.

Synaptic

Timothy Ryan on his pivotal switch from studying particle physics to decoding synaptic transmission

By Brady Huggett

1 October 2024 | 70 min listen

Stock photograph of several groups of people in business attire standing and having conversations.

Craft and careers

Tips to navigate SfN as a trainee

By Nancy Padilla-Coreano

30 September 2024 | 5 min read

Latest

Vijay Namboodiri and Ali Mohebi on the evolving story of dopamine’s role in cognitive function

How ‘walking fish’ feel, taste hidden food with their legs

The legacy of Steve Silberman and his book, ‘NeuroTribes’

Octopus arm anatomy, molecular makeup revealed in new maps

executive function

Brain imaging at the fair with Ka Ip

Averaging is a convenient fiction of neuroscience

Craft and careers

Seeing research through a new lens: Q&A with Pei Yuan Zhang

Autism is more heritable in boys than in girls

This paper changed my life

This paper changed my life – ‘Response of hippocampal synapses to natural stimulation patterns,’ by Dobrunz and Stevens

Does a new theory of dopamine replace the classic model?

Repeat scans reveal brain changes that precede childbirth

Today’s action potentials

FREE ONLINE COURSE

OCTOBER

14-16

2024

2024 Neuropixels course

QUOTE

”
Just when he saw the potential that we tapped into, being able to visualize synapses and study their properties in ways that had never been done before. — TIM RYAN, PROFESSOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY, WEILL CORNELL MEDICINE

NEW RESEARCH

“Circadian rhythms tied to changes in brain morphology in a densely sampled male”

By Elle M. Murata et al. in the Journal of Neuroscience

Spectrum

The legacy of Steve Silberman and his book, ‘NeuroTribes’

By Emily Willingham

26 September 2024 | 8 min read

CRISPR upregulation of genes; interneuron migration; maternal COVID-19 exposure

Parasite-based tool delivers MECP2 and other proteins to neurons

See all Spectrum

Illustration of children looking at a gigantic set of building blocks, some of which display genetic sequences on their surfaces.

Spectrum

Autism is more heritable in boys than in girls

By Sneha Chaturvedi, John Constantino, Natasha Marrus, Sven Sandin, Benjamin Yip

19 September 2024 | 6 min read

See all Spectrum

Upcoming Online Seminars

Upcoming Webinar

Oct

10

2024

Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani | The University of Queensland

Localisation of Seizure Onset Zone in Epilepsy Using Time Series Analysis of Intracranial Data

09:15 P.M. EDT

Upcoming Webinar

Oct

16

2024

Erin Grant | Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit & Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at University College London

Use case determines the validity of neural systems comparisons

09:00 A.M. EDT

Upcoming Webinar

Oct

17

2024

Belinda Pletzer | Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg (PLUS), Austria

Characterizing hormone sensitivity along the menstrual cycle and during hormonal contraceptive use

10:15 A.M. EDT

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Perspectives

Illustration of distorted lines of different colors being pulled into a box where they are smoothed in a single multicolored line.

neural coding

Averaging is a convenient fiction of neuroscience

By Mark Humphries

23 September 2024 | 7 min read

Illustration of a brain.

This paper changed my life

This paper changed my life – ‘Response of hippocampal synapses to natural stimulation patterns,’ by Dobrunz and Stevens

By Robert Froemke

17 September 2024 | 4 min read

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

Dopamine

Dopamine and the need for alternative theories

By Vijay Mohan K. Namboodiri

13 September 2024 | 7 min read

Illustration of several structures constructed out of small black squares, with scaffolding on some of the structures.

Dopamine

Does a new theory of dopamine replace the classic model?

By Naoshige Uchida

13 September 2024 | 8 min read

See all Perspectives

Synaptic

Illustrated portrait of Lin Tian.

Synaptic

Biosensors and being fearless with Lin Tian

By Brady Huggett

1 September 2024 | 62 min listen

Illustrated portrait of Catherine Dulac.

Synaptic

Male and female brains, Proust, and Catherine Dulac

By Brady Huggett

1 August 2024 | 81 min listen

Illustrated portrait of So Hyun “Sophy” Kim.

Synaptic

Diagnosing autism and teaching neurodiversity with So Hyun “Sophy” Kim

By Brady Huggett

1 July 2024 | 67 min listen

See all Synaptic

From bench to bot

Computer-generated illustration of a pencil.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: Does AI really make you a more efficient writer?

By Tim Requarth

3 September 2024 | 11 min read

Computer-generated illustration of a sheet of paper emanating from a computer screen.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: Boost your writing with AI personas

By Tim Requarth

5 April 2024 | 10 min read

Computer-generated illustration of a three-dimensional box containing letters in a grid pattern.

From bench to bot

From bench to bot: How to use AI to structure your writing

By Tim Requarth

8 January 2024 | 11 min read

See all From bench to bot

Get notified whenever a new column is published in the AI: From bench to bot series.

Profiles

Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Neuroethology

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

Portrait of insect-cognition researcher Martin Giurfa.

Neuroethology

Martin Giurfa’s concept of home

By Gina Jiménez

31 July 2024 | 15 min listen

A photograph of Paul-Antoine Libourel.

Sleep

At the end of the earth with Paul-Antoine Libourel

By Yves Sciama

11 June 2024 | 18 min listen

See all Profiles

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Illustration of three figures cleaning data with brooms and brushes.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

A README for open neuroscience

By Samuel Gershman

9 September 2024 | 5 min read

Illustration of a scientist attempting to wrangle many forms of data at once: a pile of charts and graphs threatens to knock them off of their feet as they attempt to prop it up.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Neuroscience graduate students deserve comprehensive data-literacy education

By Letisha R. Wyatt

15 July 2024 | 6 min read

Image of neural activity in a mouse as seen through the Miniscope.

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Designing an open-source microscope

By Daniel Aharoni

17 June 2024 | 6 min read

An illustration of a figure looking at a flow chart

Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Neuroscience needs a research-video archive

By Robert Froemke

6 May 2024 | 6 min read

See all Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Features

Research image of green and purple mouse brain slices.

Brain stimulation

Putting a bright idea to the test

A surprising wave of findings in mice suggests that light and sound flickering at 40 hertz clears the brain of Alzheimer’s-disease-linked plaques. Several companies are hoping to prove it works in people.

By Shaena Montanari

21 August 2024 | 11 min read

an illustration of scientists parachuting

Spectrum

The perils of parachute research

Scientists who study autism in lower-income countries are working to end practices that exploit or ignore collaborators and communities on the ground.

By Linda Nordling

6 June 2024 | 11 min read

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Books

Illustration of a brain separated into four panes, each rendered in different colors and with different decorative elements.

Consciousness

How did consciousness evolve? An excerpt from ‘A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness’

By Francisco Aboitiz

26 August 2024 | 12 min read

Illustration of six different noses smelling in six different abstract landscapes.

Olfaction

Consciously smelling—an edited excerpt from ‘Stinking Philosophy! Smell Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness’

By Benjamin Young

26 August 2024 | 12 min read

Illustration of a group of books floating against a light blue and yellow background.

Reviews

Six new neuroscience books for fall—plus five titles you may have missed

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario

26 August 2024 | 6 min read

Craft and careers

Young researcher sitting in the grass holding a pillow shaped like a fish.

Craft and careers

Seeing research through a new lens: Q&A with Pei Yuan Zhang

By Olivia Gieger

20 September 2024 | 7 min read

Illustration with panels depicting two people working together at a computer and a high-five, and a lone researcher in the foreground, looking up.

Craft and careers

Should I work with these people? A guide to collaboration

By Kevin Bender

10 September 2024 | 7 min read

Photograph of Theanne Griffith sitting at a table with her hands interlocked over a stack of books, with one that she has published at the very top.

Craft and careers

Crafting tales of science with Theanne Griffith

By Angie Voyles Askham

26 August 2024 | 8 min read

A woman stands in front of two books that are open to reveal that they contain doorways from which blue light emanates.

Summer reading

From reductionism to dynamical systems: How two books influenced my thinking across 30 years of neuroscience

By Nicole Rust

26 August 2024 | 4 min listen

See all Craft and careers