Central nervous system

Recent articles

Research diagram of gene expression.

Fly neurons carry molecular signatures of their origins

The pattern of transcription factors a Drosophila neuron expresses offers clues to its lineage and birth order—and ultimately how neural circuits emerge.

By Alissa de Chassey
25 September 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of a coral, sea urchin, snail, and fish.

Climate neuroscience needs ‘integration’ and ‘guided’ research

Five years after a groundbreaking paper, can a young field move beyond piecemeal studies?

By Sarah DeWeerdt
21 August 2026 | 8 min read
Astrocytes in a mouse brain.

Unexpected astrocyte gene flips image of brain’s ‘stalwart sentinels’

The genetic marker upends the accepted orientation of non-star-like astrocytes in the glia limitans superficialis.

By Lauren Schenkman
28 March 2025 | 5 min read
Two rhesus macaque monkeys.

Vasopressin boosts sociability in solitary monkeys

Inhaling the hormone did not increase aggression in unsociable rhesus macaques and appears to help the animals remember faces and reciprocate friendly behaviors.

By Charles Q. Choi
25 November 2024 | 5 min read
Research image of tau proteins in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Supersized version of Alzheimer’s protein avoids clumping in brain

“Big tau” may explain why some brain regions, such as the cerebellum and brainstem, are largely spared from neurodegeneration, even though tau is expressed throughout the nervous system.

By Charles Q. Choi
16 August 2024 | 6 min read
Research illustration groups genes by their effects on brain cell types.

Giant analysis reveals how autism-linked genes affect brain cell types

Genes that predispose people to autism account for a large portion of the neuronal and glial cell changes seen in those with the condition.

By Charles Q. Choi
20 June 2024 | 5 min read

The question of regeneration—an excerpt from ‘Periphery: How Your Nervous System Predicts and Protects Against Disease’

In his recent book, Moses Chao makes the case that the peripheral nervous system can warn of future illnesses.

By Moses V. Chao
26 April 2024 | 7 min read
Photograph of a gloved hand pointing to a computer screen that is displaying an image of a mouse brain.

Going deep: The Transmitter’s top long-form stories in 2023

Our favorite features and book excerpts from the past year delved into the neurobiology of cancer; problems with survey data; free will; mathematical minds; and questions around one startup’s quest to treat brain conditions with cell therapies.

By The Transmitter
26 December 2023 | 4 min read
Close-up of a green glass slide embedded with dozens of tiny electrodes.

Making cancer nervous

Nerve cells in the brain and throughout the body can turbocharge tumor growth — a finding that not only expands conventional ideas about the nervous system but points to novel therapeutic targets for a range of malignancies.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
13 November 2023 | 22 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Clockwise: lab mouse, zebrafish, octopus, rat pushing a cube, nematodes, fruit fly.

The term ‘model organism’ should be reserved for biological systems

By referring to artificial neural networks as model organisms, we run the risk of distorting funding priorities and disregard the explanatory power of a shared evolutionary history across biological organisms.

By Marc Coutanche
13 November 2026 | 6 min read

New phase of BRAIN Initiative spawns basal ganglia ‘parts list’

With a standardized cell naming system and infrastructure for data collection and analysis, the basal ganglia project sets the stage for a whole-brain primate atlas.

By Claudia López Lloreda
12 November 2026 | 1 min watch
Research image showing genes containing microexons in mice.

Machine-learning model spots autism-linked variants that scramble splicing

The model provides a way to investigate genetic variation in regions of the genome whose functions have been difficult to interpret.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
12 November 2026 | 4 min read