PODCAST · science
Audio research news
by The Transmitter
Your latest update from The Transmitter, an essential resource for the neuroscience community, dedicated to helping scientists at all career stages stay current and build connections. Read more: https://www.thetransmitter.org/
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How to use artificial intelligence to strengthen scientific processes and scholarly output
As AI-driven systems are integrated into all aspects of science, we need to make sure that they read and write to a shared data and knowledge space.
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What mosquitos lay bare about proprioception
By comparing the proprioceptive systems of mosquitos and fruit flies, Sweta Agrawal aims to uncover fundamental features of the ability to sense self-movement.
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298
AI can't solve the brain without data that fit together
The brain’s first foundation models exist because some areas of neuroscience did the slow work of developing and adopting standards to help integrate data. Artificial intelligence cannot do that work for us.
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297
Remembering Avis H. Cohen, who bridged disciplines to decode lamprey locomotion
The founding director of the University of Maryland’s Neuroscience and Cognitive Science program brought neuroscience, math and engineering together.
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296
Cooperating marmosets extend decision-making model of the brain
When a pair of marmosets works together to earn some marshmallow fluff, one of them decides to act only after its brain accumulates enough evidence about what the other is doing, new work shows.
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295
Exclusive: Janelia sunsets rodent work, launches transparent fish project
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is banking on whole-brain imaging in the Danionella fish to advance neuroscience, but some scientists forced to close their labs say that even with a three-year runway and transitional support, they feel betrayed by the pivot.
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294
Transforming AI models into useful model organisms
These systems were not built to explain the brain. But treating them as model organisms that we can perturb and evolve will move us closer to that goal.
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293
Cousin comparison parses genetic effects in autism
The approach helps reveal whether maternal genes contribute directly to autism in children or have indirect effects on the prenatal environment.
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292
This paper changed my life: Learning the molecular rules of cell identity
A 1987 Cell paper showed that a single transcription factor could turn fibroblasts into muscle cells. The work inspired Ardem Patapoutian to think about the molecular codes that define neuronal subtypes.
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291
Models at the speed of thought: How AI coding is reshaping theoretical neuroscience
Agentic coding makes it possible to specify a neuroscience model in hours instead of months. Seven neuroscientists weigh in on what that tectonic change may bring to the field.
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290
Maternity induces lasting gene-expression changes in mouse brains
The findings add to a small but growing body of research on neurological changes linked to pregnancy, birth and parenting.
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289
How to incorporate open-science practices into neuroscience training
If we want emerging neuroscientists to implement open science throughout their careers, we need to establish its practices as a core principle of training.
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288
The illusion of AI consciousness: Lessons from human unconscious processing
Complex, goal-directed and even emotionally responsive behavior can unfold without awareness, providing a useful lens for interpreting artificial systems.
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287
Supported by a $40 million NIH grant, Yale brain shuttle technology raises questions
Yale University claims its STEP platform might be able to deliver gene-editing tools into the brain via multiple routes. Researchers are eager to see more.
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286
Eighteen teams analyzed the same neurophysiology dataset-and got wildly different answers
The “Brainhack” hackathon revealed that disagreement in neuroscience runs deeper than most researchers suspect—even in electrophysiology, a field that prides itself on hard data.
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285
Every neuroscience lab needs an ethicist
The ethics issues that arise in neuroscience research are usually novel, unresolved and understudied. Embedding ethicists in labs helps scientists navigate these challenges and develop strategies in real time to prevent harm.
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284
Beyond glucose: The brain may feed itself
Myelin may serve as an energy reserve for the brain, according to recent findings, prompting neuroscientists to rethink how the brain stores, shares and protects energy.
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283
Brain's blue spot possesses unexpected structure-function ties
The spatial arrangement of neurons in the locus coeruleus of mice corresponds with the cells’ targets across the brain, according to a new study.
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282
Still no proof for facilitated spelling methods
A systematic review into whether the “rapid prompting method” or “spelling to communicate” can help autistic people express themselves comes up empty yet again.
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281
Oregon primate center scientists fight proposed sanctuary transition
A group of employees has launched a series of campaigns to advocate for their work and argue against the center’s potential transition to an animal sanctuary.
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280
The 'secretly awesome' side of a teaching career
The freedom to do “wacky” research projects that interest you is a major perk of the teaching stream, says Suzanne Wood, a teaching professor at the University of Toronto.
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279
What can AI teach us about 'emotions'?
Exploring why Anthropic’s AI, Claude, displays something like emotion could ultimately help us better understand the function that emotions serve in humans.
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278
This paper changed my life: Appreciating John Hopfield's brilliant neural network
In a 1982 paper, the Nobel laureate created his namesake recurrent neural network—work that taught Maria Geffen to always ground research questions in biology.
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How basic neuroscientists can connect with autistic people and their communities
A first-of-its-kind workshop offers a template for autism researchers who want to incorporate community perspectives into their work.
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276
Long-sought walking circuit found in fruit flies
The neuronal circuit controlling repetitive locomotion patterns in any animal has been a mystery until now.
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275
The next unit of science: Is the scientific paper due to be replaced?
Artificial intelligence is pushing scientific publishing to the brink. For a field as sprawling as neuroscience, the crisis may also be an opportunity to finally connect findings across subfields.
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274
'Slightly unhinged' federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities
The meeting last week sparked concerns about the latest Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s ability to perform its core function: developing a strategy to support autism research.
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273
Microglia in hypothalamus help kick-start puberty
In a “surprise” role, the cells regulate the neurons that produce gonadotropin-releasing hormone.
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272
Gene activity in human cortex shows striking sex differences
The results mark a “dramatic shift” in how neuroscientists think about sex differences, and they may help explain sex biases in certain neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental conditions.
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271
Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate
Face patch cells in macaque monkeys initially respond to images of any object but rapidly transition to attend to faces exclusively, a new study finds.
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270
Frameshift: How Mia Thomaidou tapped a fellowship to connect neuroscience to criminal justice
As a fellow at the Dana Foundation, she merged two familiar passions and discovered a new one: science philanthropy.
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269
To understand decision-making, we need to truly challenge lab animals
Complex, multidimensional tasks that unfold over time could reveal how different brain areas work together to support decisions.
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268
Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish
Estropipate, paclitaxel and levocarnitine altered behaviors tied to SCN2A and DYRK1A variants specifically, a new open-source platform revealed.
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267
Arousal neurons' activity explains brain's blood flow dynamics in mice
The findings could influence how researchers interpret signals from techniques that use blood flow as a surrogate for neuronal activity.
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266
This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli
A 1960s study by Kelleher and Morse found that lever pressing in squirrel monkeys depended not on whether they received a reward or shock, but on the rules of the task. This taught Calipari to think deeply about factors that influence how behavior is generated and maintained.
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265
Why neural foundation models work, and what they might-and might not-teach us about the brain
These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?
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264
Error equation predicts brain's ability to generalize
Four statistical measurements of neural network geometry capture how well brains and artificial networks use what they already know to solve new problems, a study suggests.
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Embrace complexity to improve the translatability of basic neuroscience
Researchers must learn to view heterogeneity as an essential feature of the systems they study and a central consideration in experimental design, not a variable to control for or reduce.
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262
Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business
Her favorite part of research was talking about it. So she left academia and turned that passion into a successful company.
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261
Signs of aging vary across brain cells
Senescence presents differently depending on the cell type, toxic trigger and neighboring cells, two new studies find.
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260
Neuroscientists challenge NIH's proposed human-data access policy
The changes would restrict the sharing of human neuroimaging, transcriptomic and genetic data.
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Large-scale neuroimaging datasets often lack information specific to women's health, constraining AI's analysis potential
Addressing this gap will require collecting widespread data on pregnancy, menopause and other life events women experience—and could bring us closer to the “holy grail” of linking brain and behavior.
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258
Remembering Annette Dolphin, who helped explain gabapentin's effects
The “intuitive” neuropharmacologist pushed against the status quo.
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257
Revised statistical bar extracts less-common variants from autism genetics studies
Adjusting genetic analyses could help plug autism’s heritability gap, according to a new preprint.
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This paper changed my life: Talia Lerner reflects on dopamine neuron diversity and the value of simple experiments
In a 2011 Neuron study, Stephan Lammel and his colleagues showed that dopamine neurons with different projections have different physiological properties. The work inspired Lerner to think about how to challenge widely held assumptions in the field.
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255
Hippocampus builds reputation as 'general-purpose statistical learning machine'
New cross-species findings may help settle a long-standing debate about whether the hippocampus is required for passive learning.
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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.
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253
Shifting neural code powers speech comprehension
Dynamic coding helps explain how the brain processes multiple features of speech—from the smallest units of sounds to full sentences—simultaneously.
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252
Astrocytes orchestrate oxytocin's social effects in mice
The cells amplify oxytocin—and may be responsible for sex differences in social behavior, two preprints find.
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Neuro's ark: Spying on the secret sensory world of ticks
Carola Städele, a self-proclaimed “tick magnet,” studies the arachnids’ sensory neurobiology—in other words, how these tiny parasites zero in on their next meal.
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