Manifolds

Recent articles

Tatiana Engel explains how to connect high-dimensional neural circuitry with low-dimensional cognitive functions

Neuroscientists have long sought to understand the relationship between structure and function in the vast connectivity and activity patterns in the brain. Engel discusses her modeling approach to discovering the hidden patterns that connect the two.

By Paul Middlebrooks
3 December 2025 | 1 min read
Illustration of a colorful, donut-shaped object resting on a distorted plane with its own topography.

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

When you cut away the misconceptions, neural manifolds present a conceptually appropriate level at which systems neuroscientists can study the brain.

By Matthew Perich
2 October 2024 | 8 min read

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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 | 5 min read
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 | 6 min read

Cortical area remixes macaques’ knowledge blocks to solve new problems

When monkeys draw complex shapes, their neural activity reflects patterns of activation elicited by drawing simpler, component shapes.

By Lauren Schenkman
19 June 2026 | 0 min watch