Null and Noteworthy

Recent articles

A monthly newsletter about neuroscience research that fails to support a hypothesis or replicates a previously proposed one.

Research image of EEG scans showing dopamine levels in human brains.

Null and Noteworthy: Learning theory validated 20 years later

The first published paper from the #EEGManyLabs replication project nullifies a null result that had complicated a famous reinforcement learning theory.

By Laura Dattaro
30 May 2025 | 4 min read
Memory astrocytes.

Null and Noteworthy: Reanalysis contradicts report of immune memory in astrocytes

The analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed, attributes the finding to misidentified immune cells instead.

By Laura Dattaro
30 April 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of a line graph emanating from a beaker.

Null and Noteworthy: Reexamining registered reports

Out of 92 preregistered studies that resulted in published papers, only 15 had fully adhered to their preregistration details, according to a new analysis.

By Laura Dattaro
28 March 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of a line graph emanating from a beaker.

Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker

This edition of Null and Noteworthy—the first for The Transmitter—highlights new findings about the auditory steady-state response in people with schizophrenia that, all within one study, somehow packed in a null result and a failed replication.

By Laura Dattaro
28 February 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

The true meaning of a null result

This edition of Null and Noteworthy highlights results that reveal the difficulty in drawing definitive conclusions from data, including new findings about epidurals that contradict several others and an apparent null result on sex differences that may derive from “circular logic.”

By Laura Dattaro
14 August 2023 | 4 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

Prenatal exposures; Angelman trial suspension; autistic adult well-being

This month’s issue of the Null and Noteworthy newsletter breaks down some negative results involving prenatal exposures, an experimental treatment for Angelman syndrome, and the role that age at autism diagnosis plays in subsequent outcomes, and more.

By Emily Harris
17 July 2023 | 4 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

Null and Noteworthy: Modified MRI; father findings

This month’s newsletter tackles null findings from an attempted replication of a “revolutionary” MRI approach and an analysis of family genetics.

By Emily Harris
22 June 2023 | 4 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

Null and Noteworthy: Arbaclofen results; another oxytocin edition

New data from clinical trials of arbaclofen and oxytocin underscore the murkiness of null results. Plus, researchers seek clarity on the neurodevelopmental effects of oxytocin during childbirth.

By Laura Dattaro
17 May 2023 | 4 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

Null and Noteworthy: Reader response; cerebrospinal fluid; connectivity subgroups

In this edition of Null and Noteworthy, researchers upend early interventions and diagnostic boundaries.

By Laura Dattaro
18 April 2023 | 4 min read
Computer-generated image of mountains against a black background.

Detecting a signal amid noise in autism early-intervention research

Studies of behavioral treatments for autism are complex and can easily be misunderstood. Here we provide some guidance.

By Isabel Smith, Kate Tsiplova, Wendy Ungar
28 March 2023 | 5 min read

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Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of developing axons in the fly brain.

How developing neurons simplify their search for a synaptic mate

Streamlining the problem from 3D to 1D eases the expedition—a strategy the study investigators deployed to rewire an olfactory circuit in flies.

By Calli McMurray
6 June 2025 | 6 min read
Distorted floppy discs.

NIH autism database announcement raises concerns among researchers

The U.S. National Institutes of Health announced a plan to pour $50 million into data science projects intended to investigate the condition’s causes, but the initiative’s short timeline and other atypicalities have prompted questions.

By Angie Voyles Askham
5 June 2025 | 5 min read
Image of alpha-synuclein filaments in the brain.

Large study links autism to Parkinson’s disease

Autistic adults appear to be prone to an early-onset form of Parkinson’s, according to a long-term study that tracked 2.2 million people in Sweden.

By Charles Q. Choi
5 June 2025 | 4 min read