The big picture

Recent articles

Researchers ask colleagues to weigh in on important topics in the field.

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 | 5 min read
Illustration of an image of a landscape repeated over and over again, with some versions distorted and warped.

What makes memories last—dynamic ensembles or static synapses?

Teasing out how different subfields conceptualize central terms might help move this long-standing debate forward. I asked eight scientists to weigh in.

By Jason Shepherd
14 October 2024 | 7 min read
Collage of different images of brains and mechanical devices in the background with a suitcase in the foreground.

What are mechanisms? Unpacking the term is key to progress in neuroscience

Mechanism is a common and powerful concept, invoked in grant calls and publication guidelines. But scientists use it in different ways, making it difficult to clarify standards in the field. We asked nine scientists to weigh in.

By Dani S. Bassett, Lauren N. Ross
7 October 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of a sparkly brain.

What, if anything, makes mood fundamentally different from memory?

To better understand mood disorders—and to develop more effective treatments—should we target the brain, the mind, the environment or all three?

By Nicole Rust
8 April 2024 | 8 min read
Illustration of a meteorologist pointing to an aerial view of clouds swirling over a brain-shaped land mass.

Is the brain uncontrollable, like the weather?

The brain may be chaotic. Does that mean our efforts to control it are doomed?

By Nicole Rust
18 December 2023 | 10 min read

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Explore more from The Transmitter

Patient being administered an EEG test.

Single-neuron recordings are helping to unravel complexities of human cognition

As this work begins to bear fruit, researchers “are becoming less afraid to ask very difficult questions that you can uniquely ask in people.”

By Claudia López Lloreda
14 March 2025 | 8 min read
University of Puerto Rico building.

The future of neuroscience research at U.S. minority-serving institutions is in danger

Cuts to federally funded programs present an existential crisis for the University of Puerto Rico’s rich neuroscience community and for research at minority-serving institutions everywhere.

By Carmen S. Maldonado-Vlaar
14 March 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of gene expression.

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