Systems neuroscience

Recent articles

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Catch up on what you missed from our recent coverage, and get breaking news alerts.

Figure in profile walking through the woods holding a branch that resembles a dendrite.

Dendrites help neuroscientists see the forest for the trees

Dendritic arbors provide just the right scale to study how individual neurons reciprocally interact with their broader circuitry—and are our best bet to bridge cellular and systems neuroscience.

By Justin O’Hare
27 February 2026 | 7 min read
Gloved hand reaches out to touch a mouse.

This paper changed my life: Ishmail Abdus-Saboor on balancing the study of pain and pleasure

A 2013 Nature paper from David Anderson’s lab revealed a group of sensory neurons involved in pleasurable touch and led Abdus-Saboor down a new research path.

By Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
13 February 2026 | 7 min read
A network of connected dots of light hovers inside a translucent human head, with figures in lab coats pointing to it from the foreground.

Computational psychiatry needs systems neuroscience

Dissecting different parallel processing streams may help us understand the mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms, such as delusions, and unite human and animal research.

By Michael Halassa
13 January 2026 | 7 min read
Mouse on top of drinking water spout in crowded cage.

Cracking the neural code for emotional states

Rather than act as a simple switchboard for innate behaviors, the hypothalamus encodes an animal's internal state, which influences behavior.

By Natalia Mesa
8 January 2026 | 8 min read
Books.

The Transmitter’s most-read neuroscience book excerpts of 2025

Books by Nachum Ulanovsky, Nicole Rust, and Andrew Iwaniuk and Georg Striedter made the list of some of the year's most engaging neuroscience titles.

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 2 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a leaking pipe.

Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate

Finding creative ways to keep early-career researchers in academia—for example, through part-time roles—can help the field weather the storm.

By Lucina Q. Uddin
9 March 2026 | 4 min read
Illustration of a sheet of paper with many holes punched out of it.

Let’s teach neuroscientists how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers

Blanco-Suárez revamped the traditional journal club by developing a course in which students peer review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

By Elena Blanco-Suárez
6 March 2026 | 6 min read
Megaphone with many different shapes and textures emanating from it.

New autism committee positions itself as science-backed alternative to government group

The Independent Autism Coordinating Committee plans to meet at the same time as the U.S. federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee later this month—and offer its own research agenda.

By Angie Voyles Askham
5 March 2026 | 5 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.