Open neuroscience and data-sharing

Recent articles

This series of scientist-written essays explores some of the benefits and challenges of data-sharing.

A figure is erasing date from a chalkboard-like surface covered with science and data related designs.

Deleting data or stopping its collection will erase years of valuable brain research

An explosion in open-neuroscience datasets has created a new generation of researchers with expertise in data science. But new federal restrictions in the United States put their research programs in jeopardy.

By Elvisha Dhamala
18 August 2025 | 7 min read
Two researchers wander through stacks of pie charts.

Neuroscience’s open-data revolution is just getting started

Data reuse represents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of science, reduce costs and increase the value of our collective research investments. New tools that make open data easier to use—and new pressures, including funding cuts—may increase uptake.

By Benjamin Dichter
7 July 2025 | 7 min read
Illustration of a funnel taking abstract shapes in at the top and spouting an organized flow of shapes out at the bottom.

To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma

An exponential growth in data size presents neuroscientists with a significant challenge: Should we be keeping all raw data or focusing on processed datasets? I asked experimentalists and theorists for their thoughts.

By Nima Dehghani
25 November 2024 | 24 min read
Illustration of three figures standing in front of a grid of dots and a world map.

The S-index Challenge: Develop a metric to quantify data-sharing success

The NIH-sponsored effort aims to help incentivize scientists to share data. But many barriers to the widespread adoption of useful data-sharing remain.

By Loren Frank
8 October 2024 | 6 min read
Illustration of three figures cleaning data with brooms and brushes.

A README for open neuroscience

Making data (and code) useful for yourself automatically makes it useful for others.

By Samuel Gershman
9 September 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of a scientist attempting to wrangle many forms of data at once: a pile of charts and graphs threatens to knock them off of their feet as they attempt to prop it up.

Neuroscience graduate students deserve comprehensive data-literacy education

Despite growing requirements around how to handle and share data, formal training is lacking.

By Letisha R. Wyatt
15 July 2024 | 6 min read
Image of neural activity in a mouse as seen through the Miniscope.

Designing an open-source microscope

Funding for the development of open-source tools is on the rise, but support for their maintenance and dissemination, both crucial for their meaningful uptake, remains a major challenge.

By Daniel Aharoni
17 June 2024 | 6 min read
An illustration of a figure looking at a flow chart

Neuroscience needs a research-video archive

Video data are enormously useful and growing rapidly, but the field lacks a searchable, shareable way to store them.

By Robert Froemke
6 May 2024 | 6 min read
An abstract illustration of colorful lines on a yellow background

Pooling data points to new potential treatment for spinal cord injury

By gathering raw data from multiple labs, we identified an overlooked predictor of recovery after spinal cord injury. Many more insights remain trapped in scattered data.

By Adam Ferguson, Hannah Radabaugh, Abel Torres-Espin
4 March 2024 | 7 min read

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Explore more from The Transmitter

Alex Maier argues that a scientific explanation of consciousness requires grounding in formalized mathematics

When it comes to discovering laws of nature for consciousness similar to those in physics, Maier argues that integrated information theory is the only game in town.

By Paul Middlebrooks
7 January 2026 | 1 min read
Two goats headbutting.

Neuro’s ark: How goats can model neurodegeneration

Since debunking an urban legend that headbutting animals don’t damage their brain, Nicole Ackermans has been investigating how the behavior correlates with neurodegeneration.

By Calli McMurray
7 January 2026 | 6 min read
Research images of the mouse visual cortex.

Astrocytes stabilize circuits in adult mouse brain

The glial cells secrete a protein that suppresses plasticity post-development.

By Holly Barker
6 January 2026 | 5 min read

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