This year, our journalists pursued many in-depth stories about the experience of working in neuroscience. They examined, for instance, the heated scientific controversy over glymphatics (and the people involved); the French researcher behind a breakthrough finding on penguin sleep—one that hinged on his ability to work with these animals in a makeshift lab in Antarctica; and a lab group recovering from a colleague’s deceit, which left a trail of falsified data and failed replications. Here are our staff’s favorites from the year.
A scientific fraud. An investigation. A lab in recovery.
by Calli McMurray
Science is built on trust. What happens when someone destroys it?
Remembering comparative neuroanatomy ‘great-grandfather’ Harvey Karten
by Sidney Wyatt
The National Academy of Sciences member and pioneer in studying non-mammalian vertebrate brains died on 15 July at 89 years old.
Martin Giurfa’s concept of home
by Gina Jiménez
The insect-cognition researcher has done his work across continents, but Argentina is never far from his mind.
At the end of the earth with Paul-Antoine Libourel
by Yves Sciama
The French researcher’s accomplishments working with chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic highlight the importance of recording sleep in the wild.
Maiken Nedergaard’s power of disruption
by Emily Sohn
The award-winning researcher’s discoveries have changed the way we think about the brain; that’s exactly what her critics dislike.
