The Transmitter

01/14/2025

In this episode, of “Brain Inspired,” Paul Middlebrooks and David Krakauer discuss the historical foundations of complexity science over the past 100 years.

In his book “The Complex World,” Krakauer explores how complexity science developed, from its early roots to the four pillars that now define it—entropy, evolution, dynamics and computation.

01/13/2025

Sergio Hidalgo Sotelo shares how a recurring theme during his training taught him to be a better PI, and Arielle Keller says she'll rely on the buddy system to promote reproducibility in her lab. Part of our "Liftoff" series: https://www.thetransmitter.org/liftoff-new-lab-alerts-early-career-neuroscientists/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20250113-liftoff-jan

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario

Learn about early-career scientists starting their own labs.

01/13/2025

Brief, seconds-long microarousals during deep sleep “ride on the wave” of locus coeruleus activity and correlate with periods of waste clearing and memory consolidation, new research suggests.

By Shaena Montanari

Brief, seconds-long microarousals during deep sleep “ride on the wave” of locus coeruleus activity and correlate with periods of waste clearing and memory consolidation, new research suggests.

01/13/2025

Visit our new courses calendar, where we highlight the top neuroscience courses that should be on your radar. You can filter your search by topic.

https://www.thetransmitter.org/courses/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20250113-courses-page

01/13/2025

John Tuthill explains why practical summer courses in neuroscience matter and how this tradition helps researchers rekindle the unfettered joy that initially brought them to the field.

https://www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-careers/why-practical-summer-courses-in-neuroscience-matter/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20250113-why-summer-courses-in-neuroscience-matter

01/10/2025

Eleanor Maguire, who died 4 January at age 54, pioneered the famous London taxi-driver study and naturalistic approaches for studying spatial and episodic memory in people.

By Calli McMurray

Maguire, mastermind of the famous London taxi-driver study, broadened the field and championed the importance of spatial representations in memory.

01/10/2025

The overlapping activity in the animals’ nucleus accumbens may underpin pair bonding, a new preprint suggests.

https://www.thetransmitter.org/social-behavior/brain-gene-expression-syncs-between-bonded-prairie-voles/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20250110-brain-gene-expression-syncs-prairie-voles

By Shaena Montanari
📹 Courtesy of Paul Muhlrad

01/09/2025

Several proteins with strong links to autism are also tied to cilia, the hair-like structures on cells, a new preprint finds.

By Charles Choi

The finding may help explain autism’s association with multiple co-occurring conditions that involve cilia defects.

01/08/2025

Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

By Angie Voyles Askham

Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

01/07/2025

The majority of cells in the cerebral cortex are unspecialized, according to an unpublished analysis—and scientists need to take care in naming neurons, the researchers warn.

By Holly Barker

The majority of cells in the cerebral cortex are unspecialized, according to an unpublished analysis—and scientists need to take care in naming neurons, the researchers warn.

01/06/2025

In the latest “This paper changed my life,” Luiz Pessoa discusses the paper that taught him that mathematical modeling can be used to understand how neural networks are organized.

This paper taught me that we can use mathematical modeling to understand how neural networks are organized—and led me to a doctoral program in the department led by its authors.

01/03/2025

Nicole Rust encourages the neuroscience community to get more involved in public outreach in 2025.

If every person in the neuroscience community committed to doing one thing, imagine the cumulative difference it would make.

01/03/2025

In this episode of the Brain Inspired podcast, Eli Sennesh, shares his “divide-and-conquer” predictive coding model to explain how populations of neurons test their hypotheses about the world.

By Paul Middlebrooks

Predictive coding is an enticing theory of brain function. Building on decades of models and experimental work, Eli Sennesh proposes a biologically plausible way our brain might implement it.

01/02/2025

Our first book, “Thinking about neuroscience: Essays from the field," highlights what some of our contributing editors, including Nicole Rust, Anthony Zador and Russell Poldrack, think the field should prioritize over the next few decades. Check it out here:

The Transmitter’s first book, “Thinking about neuroscience: Essays from the field,” features a rich collection of writing from researchers Nicole Rust, Anthony Zador and many more.

01/02/2025

If we apply the global autism prevalence statistic to the total number of people who have left Ukraine, about 80,000 displaced Ukrainian people need autism services. Chrystina Dolyniuk shares her hope for the displaced Ukrainian children with autism.

The largest ongoing refugee crisis in Europe has overwhelmed humanitarian agencies. Meeting the needs of families affected by autism has not been a priority.

12/31/2024

“We’ve cured mouse-heimer’s thousands of times…”—find out who said this to a Transmitter reporter, and read our other favorite quotes from the past year:

“We’ve cured mouse-heimer’s thousands of times…”—find out who said this to a Transmitter reporter, and read our other favorite quotes from the past year.

12/30/2024

Our audio stories this year included interviews both personal and professional, and discussions probing neuroscience’s most interesting corners. Here’s a look at our favorite podcast episodes from 2024:

Our picks include a deep dive into dopamine, the role of PKMzeta in memory, and studying the stomatogastric ganglion.

12/27/2024

The voices of scientists are central to our publication—and they are central to our first book, “Thinking about neuroscience: Essays from the field," which features scientist-written essays that explore the culture, craft and practice of the field, and its evolution over time. Download it now:

The Transmitter’s first book, “Thinking about neuroscience: Essays from the field,” features a rich collection of writing from researchers Nicole Rust, Anthony Zador and many more.