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Illustration of needle sewing through multicolor strips.

How to use artificial intelligence to strengthen scientific processes and scholarly output

As AI-driven systems are integrated into all aspects of science, we need to make sure that they read and write to a shared data and knowledge space.

By Satrajit Ghosh
6 July 2026 | 6 min listen
Mosquito.

What mosquitos lay bare about proprioception

By comparing the proprioceptive systems of mosquitos and fruit flies, Sweta Agrawal aims to uncover fundamental features of the ability to sense self-movement.

By Calli McMurray
1 July 2026 | 5 min listen
A funnel collects falling images and objects related to various fields of neuroscience.

AI can’t solve the brain without data that fit together

The brain's first foundation models exist because some areas of neuroscience did the slow work of developing and adopting standards to help integrate data. Artificial intelligence cannot do that work for us.

By Sean Hill
29 June 2026 | 9 min listen
Avis Cohen.

Remembering Avis H. Cohen, who bridged disciplines to decode lamprey locomotion

The founding director of the University of Maryland’s Neuroscience and Cognitive Science program brought neuroscience, math and engineering together.

By Sarah Thau
26 June 2026 | 9 min listen

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 | 5 min listen
Thermal image of Danionella fish.

Exclusive: Janelia sunsets rodent work, launches transparent fish project

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is banking on whole-brain imaging in the Danionella fish to advance neuroscience, but some scientists forced to close their labs say that even with a three-year runway and transitional support, they feel betrayed by the pivot.

By Calli McMurray
22 June 2026 | 6 min listen
A brain shape outlined in cylindrical dials with multi colored wires stretched between them.

Transforming AI models into useful model organisms

These systems were not built to explain the brain. But treating them as model organisms that we can perturb and evolve will move us closer to that goal.

By Mariya Toneva
22 June 2026 | 7 min listen
Two infants.

Cousin comparison parses genetic effects in autism

The approach helps reveal whether maternal genes contribute directly to autism in children or have indirect effects on the prenatal environment.

By Charles Q. Choi
18 June 2026 | 4 min listen
Illustration of cells converting from fibroblasts to myoblasts.

This paper changed my life: Learning the molecular rules of cell identity

A 1987 Cell paper showed that a single transcription factor could turn fibroblasts into muscle cells. The work inspired Ardem Patapoutian to think about the molecular codes that define neuronal subtypes.

By Ardem Patapoutian
17 June 2026 | 7 min listen
Illustration of pixelated AI models.

Models at the speed of thought: How AI coding is reshaping theoretical neuroscience

Agentic coding makes it possible to specify a neuroscience model in hours instead of months. Seven neuroscientists weigh in on what that tectonic change may bring to the field.

By Brian DePasquale
16 June 2026 | 20 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Adriano Aguzzi.

Neuropathologist not guilty of research misconduct, says university probe

The investigation determined that seven papers by corresponding author Adriano Aguzzi have “scientifically significant” errors, which Aguzzi attributes to his former students.

By Dalmeet Singh Chawla
8 July 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of proliferating neural cells.

Diverse autism genes derail common developmental pathways

Multiple genetic mouse models initially show delayed cortical development, but the animals’ molecular trajectories diverge within weeks after birth, a new study finds.

By Holly Barker
8 July 2026 | 5 min read
Brain scans showing sex-based activation differences.

Brain’s sex differences are subtle and contradictory, large MRI study finds

Sex-based behavioral differences do not match with variations in brain activation or structure in a study of almost 1,000 people.

By Lauren Schenkman
8 July 2026 | 5 min read