Hippocampus

Recent articles

Alison Preston explains how our brains form mental frameworks for interpreting the world

Preston discusses her research examining differences in how children, teenagers and adults integrate new information into their memories.

By Paul Middlebrooks
12 March 2025 | 90 min listen
Dendritic spine images.

Targeting NMDA receptor subunit reverses fragile X traits in mice

The subunit acts as a “volume control” on signaling that shapes the density of dendritic spines, the new work suggests.

By Angie Voyles Askham
6 March 2025 | 5 min read
Two bats in flight in black space.

Coding bonus: Bats’ hippocampal cells log spatial, social cues

The neurons represent not only an animal’s place in space, but also the distinguishing features of its fellow bats, including their sex and social status.

By Claudia López Lloreda
30 January 2025 | 5 min read
Eleanor Maguire.

Remembering Eleanor Maguire, ‘trailblazer’ of human memory

Maguire, mastermind of the famous London taxi-driver study, broadened the field and championed the importance of spatial representations in memory.

By Calli McMurray
10 January 2025 | 8 min read
Four microphones on a table with speech bubbles above them.

The Transmitter’s favorite podcasts of 2024

Our picks include a deep dive into dopamine, the role of PKMzeta in memory, and studying the stomatogastric ganglion.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 1 min read
Research image of astrocytes in red activating alongside neurons in green in response to specific fear memories in mice.

Astrocytes star in memory storage, recall

The cells, long cast as support players in memory research, can activate or disrupt fear memories, according to a new study.

By Angie Voyles Askham
6 November 2024 | 5 min read
Photograph of two hands drawing overlapping red and blue waveforms on a chalkboard.

How to teach this paper: ‘Coordination of entorhinal-hippocampal ensemble activity during associative learning,’ by Igarashi et al. (2014)

Kei Igarashi and his colleagues established an important foundation in memory research: the premise that brain regions oscillate together to form synaptic connections and, ultimately, memories.

By Ashley Juavinett
4 November 2024 | 8 min read
Illustration of a brain.

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

The work demonstrated how to effectively combine controlled in-vitro experiments and the messiness of natural brain patterns.

By Robert Froemke
17 September 2024 | 4 min read
Illustration of ketamine blocking open ion channels in active NMDA receptors, quieting the cells and disrupting downstream signaling involved in depression.

Ketamine targets lateral habenula, setting off cascade of antidepressant effects

The drug’s affinity for overactive cells in the “anti-reward” region may help explain its rapid and long-lasting results.

By Olivia Gieger
4 September 2024 | 6 min read
Research image of place cells plotted onto a reference zebrafish larva brain.

‘Place cells’ help guide freely swimming zebrafish larvae

The newly found cells function like those in mammals, revealing that spatial cognition evolved earlier than previously thought.

By Shaena Montanari
28 August 2024 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Sequencing study spotlights tight web of genes tied to autism

The findings, shared in a preprint, help to illuminate how a large and heterogeneous group of genes could be involved in autism.

By Katie Moisse
13 March 2025 | 5 min read
A dropper above a row of beakers against a background of blackboard calculations.

Calculating neuroscience’s carbon cost: Q&A with Stefan Pulver and William Smith

The two scientists discuss how to estimate a research project’s carbon emissions, from supply procurement to energy usage.

By Calli McMurray
12 March 2025 | 7 min read

U.S. BRAIN Initiative set to lose $81 million this year

A government spending bill, which was approved today by the House of Representatives and heads next to a Senate vote, allocates 20 percent less funding for the program than last year.

By Angie Voyles Askham
11 March 2025 | 3 min read