Computation

Recent articles

David Krakauer reflects on the foundations and future of complexity science

In his book “The Complex World,” Krakauer explores how complexity science developed, from its early roots to the four pillars that now define it—entropy, evolution, dynamics and computation.

By Paul Middlebrooks
14 January 2025 | 106 min listen
Futuristic illustration of overlapping circles and bright dots.

Future watch: What should neuroscience prioritize during the next 10 to 20 years?

For The Transmitter’s first annual book, five contributing editors reflect on what subfields demand greater focus in the near future—from dynamical systems and computation to technologies for studying the human brain.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 1 min read
Illustration shows a solitary figure moving through a green and blue field of dots moving at different rates.

Explaining ‘the largest unexplained number in brain science’: Q&A with Markus Meister and Jieyu Zheng

The human brain takes in sensory information roughly 100 million times faster than it can respond. Neuroscientists need to explore this perceptual paradox to better understand the limits of the brain, Meister and Zheng say.

By Claudia López Lloreda
17 December 2024 | 8 min read

Hessameddin Akhlaghpour outlines how RNA may implement universal computation

Could the brain’s computational abilities extend beyond neural networks to molecular mechanisms? Akhlaghpour describes how natural universal computation may have evolved via RNA mechanisms.

By Paul Middlebrooks
26 November 2024 | 107 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of human figures holding brightly colored connected dots.

This paper changed my life: Dan Goodman on a paper that reignited the field of spiking neural networks

Friedemann Zenke’s 2019 paper, and its related coding tutorial SpyTorch, made it possible to apply modern machine learning to spiking neural networks. The innovation reinvigorated the field.

By Dan Goodman
17 September 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of different types of microglia in mice.

Autism and anxiety insights; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 15 September.

By Jill Adams
16 September 2025 | 2 min read

First nerve-net connectome shows how evolutionarily ancient nervous system coordinates movement

The map of a comb jelly’s aboral nerve net, which helps the animal orient and position itself within the water column, reveals a unique system for sensing the world and coordinating movement.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
16 September 2025 | 0 min watch

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