All Episodes
Audio research news — 346 episodes
How, when and why to use agentic AI in our neuroscience labs
Climate neuroscience needs 'integration' and 'guided' research
Brainstem neurons add new element to 'already complex' anxiety circuitry
Mind over metrics: How can we tell if two brains (or AI models) are alike?
This paper changed my life: A technical breakthrough for memory studies
Are parts of the memory trace found in the 'astroengram?'
Scientific talent is global. Access to the world's scientific stage is not.
How thirteen-lined ground squirrels illuminate retinal development
In memoriam: Kevin Dunbar, who traced the neural basis of human reasoning
Redefining underrepresentation in global neuroscience
This paper changed my life: Embracing an early model for naturalistic neuroscience
Watching the mind build a world: Lucid dreaming as a model for generative perception
Mass-produced science is coming. What happens to scientists?
How to use artificial intelligence to strengthen scientific processes and scholarly output
What mosquitos lay bare about proprioception
AI can't solve the brain without data that fit together
Remembering Avis H. Cohen, who bridged disciplines to decode lamprey locomotion
Cooperating marmosets extend decision-making model of the brain
Exclusive: Janelia sunsets rodent work, launches transparent fish project
Transforming AI models into useful model organisms
Cousin comparison parses genetic effects in autism
This paper changed my life: Learning the molecular rules of cell identity
Models at the speed of thought: How AI coding is reshaping theoretical neuroscience
Maternity induces lasting gene-expression changes in mouse brains
How to incorporate open-science practices into neuroscience training
The illusion of AI consciousness: Lessons from human unconscious processing
Supported by a $40 million NIH grant, Yale brain shuttle technology raises questions
Learning why spiny mice play well with others
Eighteen teams analyzed the same neurophysiology dataset-and got wildly different answers
Every neuroscience lab needs an ethicist
Beyond glucose: The brain may feed itself
Brain's blue spot possesses unexpected structure-function ties
Still no proof for facilitated spelling methods
Oregon primate center scientists fight proposed sanctuary transition
The 'secretly awesome' side of a teaching career
What can AI teach us about 'emotions'?
This paper changed my life: Appreciating John Hopfield's brilliant neural network
How basic neuroscientists can connect with autistic people and their communities
Long-sought walking circuit found in fruit flies
The next unit of science: Is the scientific paper due to be replaced?
'Slightly unhinged' federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities
Microglia in hypothalamus help kick-start puberty
Gene activity in human cortex shows striking sex differences
What leeches reveal about movement
Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate
Frameshift: How Mia Thomaidou tapped a fellowship to connect neuroscience to criminal justice
To understand decision-making, we need to truly challenge lab animals
Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish
Arousal neurons' activity explains brain's blood flow dynamics in mice
This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli
Why neural foundation models work, and what they might-and might not-teach us about the brain
Error equation predicts brain's ability to generalize
Embrace complexity to improve the translatability of basic neuroscience
What geckos tell us about the evolution of hearing
Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business
Signs of aging vary across brain cells
Neuroscientists challenge NIH's proposed human-data access policy
Large-scale neuroimaging datasets often lack information specific to women's health, constraining AI's analysis potential
Remembering Annette Dolphin, who helped explain gabapentin's effects
Revised statistical bar extracts less-common variants from autism genetics studies
This paper changed my life: Talia Lerner reflects on dopamine neuron diversity and the value of simple experiments
Hippocampus builds reputation as 'general-purpose statistical learning machine'
Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate
Shifting neural code powers speech comprehension
Astrocytes orchestrate oxytocin's social effects in mice
Neuro's ark: Spying on the secret sensory world of ticks
Lack of reviewers threatens robustness of neuroscience literature
Post-infection immune conflict alters fetal development in some male mice
Is there a neuroscientist in the House?
Infant visual system categorizes common objects by 2 months of age
Frameshift: Raphe Bernier followed his heart out of academia, then made his way back again
Organoid study reveals shared brain pathways across autism-linked variants
Neuroscience needs single-synapse studies
Neuroscience has a species problem
This paper changed my life: Ishmail Abdus-Saboor on balancing the study of pain and pleasure
Oligodendrocytes need mechanical cues to myelinate axons correctly
Aging neurons outsource garbage disposal, clog microglia
Oregon primate research center to negotiate with NIH on possible transition to sanctuary
From genes to dynamics: Examining brain cell types in action may reveal the logic of brain function
Cerebellum responds to language like cortical areas
Neuro's ark: Understanding fast foraging with star-nosed moles
Largest leucovorin-autism trial retracted
NIH scraps policy that classified basic research in people as clinical trials
Cell atlas cracks open 'black box' of mammalian spinal cord development
Betting blind on AI and the scientific mind
Viral remnant in chimpanzees silences brain gene humans still use
Why emotion research is stuck-and how to move it forward
How artificial agents can help us understand social recognition
Common and rare variants shape distinct genetic architecture of autism in African Americans
Bringing African ancestry into cellular neuroscience
Computational psychiatry needs systems neuroscience
This paper changed my life: John Tuthill reflects on the subjectivity of selfhood
Some facial expressions are less reflexive than previously thought
Cracking the neural code for emotional states
Neuro's ark: How goats can model neurodegeneration
The 1,000 neuron challenge
Remembering Adam Kampff, neuroscience educator and researcher
'Unprecedented' dorsal root ganglion atlas captures 22 types of human sensory neurons
Not playing around: Why neuroscience needs toy models
Psychedelics research in rodents has a behavior problem
New organoid atlas unveils four neurodevelopmental signatures
AI-assisted coding: 10 simple rules to maintain scientific rigor
How basic neuroscience has paved the path to new drugs
Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies
What is the future of organoid and assembloid regulation?
Exclusive: Springer Nature retracts, removes nearly 40 publications that trained neural networks on 'bonkers' dataset
Seeing the world as animals do: How to leverage generative AI for ecological neuroscience
Psilocybin rewires specific mouse cortical networks in lasting ways
Beyond the algorithmic oracle: Rethinking machine learning in behavioral neuroscience
This paper changed my life: Nancy Padilla-Coreano on learning the value of population coding
Noninvasive method lifts curtain on cerebrospinal-fluid dance in human brain
Aging as adaptation: Learning the brain's recipe for resilience
Perimenopause: An important-and understudied-transition for the brain
Without monkeys, neuroscience has no future
Our searchable repository of useful research can restore trust in federally funded basic science
How neuroscientists are using AI
Neuroscience needs engineers-for more reasons than you think
Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice
First Pan-African neuroscience journal gets ready to launch
The missing half of the neurodynamical systems theory
Remembering GABA pioneer Edward Kravitz
Protein tug-of-war controls pace of synaptic development, sets human brains apart
Neurons tune electron transport chain to survive onslaught of noxious stimuli
This paper changed my life: Sandra Jurado marvels at the first-ever 3D model of a synaptic vesicle
Diving in with Nachum Ulanovsky
Gene-activity map of developing brain reveals new clues about autism's sex bias
Engrams in amygdala lean on astrocytes to solidify memories
Ant olfactory neurons reveal new 'transcriptional shield' mechanism of gene regulation
New questions around motor neurons and plasticity
One year of FlyWire: How the resource is redefining Drosophila research
Neurons fuel lung tumors that have spread to brain
Why we need basic science to better understand the neurobiology of psychedelics
Reproducibility is a team sport: Lessons from a large-scale collaboration
Local circuit loops within body control fly behavior, new 'embodied' connectome reveals
Autism experts question HHS statements on Tylenol, leucovorin
Beyond Newtonian causation in neuroscience: Embracing complex causality
This paper changed my life: Dan Goodman on a paper that reignited the field of spiking neural networks
First nerve-net connectome shows how evolutionarily ancient nervous system coordinates movement
Paper by memory institute director garners expression of concern over image integrity
International scientific collaboration is more necessary-yet more challenging-than ever
Sensory gatekeeper drives seizures, autism-like behaviors in mouse model
Mitochondria set 'ancient' metabolic thermostat for sleep in flies, separate from circadian rhythms
Building the future of neuroscience at HBCUs
Emotion research has a communication conundrum
Autism-linked copy number variants always boost autism likelihood
Astrocyte networks span large swaths of brain
From bench to bot: Why AI-powered writing may not deliver on its promise
Worms help untangle brain structure/function mystery
The Transmitter's reading list: Six upcoming neuroscience books, plus notable titles in 2025
Long-standing theoretical neuroscience fellowship program loses financial support
Should neuroscientists 'vibe code'?
Adult human cortex does not 'reorganize' after amputation
Longer fMRI brain scans boost reliability-but only to a point
Hitting city streets to record rat behaviors: Q&A with Emily Mackevicius, Ralph Peterson
Deleting data or stopping its collection will erase years of valuable brain research
The spectrum goes multidimensional in search of autism subtypes
Exclusive: Harvard University lays off fly database team
This paper changed my life: Abigail Person on birdsong, feed-forward circuits and convergent computations
The challenge of defining a neural population
Oxytocin prompts prairie voles to oust outsiders, fortifying their friendships
Contested paper on vaccines, autism in rats retracted by journal
Body state, sensory signals commingle in mouse whisker cortex
Neural population-based approaches have opened new windows into neural computations and behavior
Poor image quality introduces systematic bias into large neuroimaging datasets
Eye puffs prompt separable sensory, affective brain responses in mice, people
What U.S. science stands to lose without international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
New dopamine sensor powers three-color imaging in live animals
Cell 'antennae' link autism, congenital heart disease
How to build a truly global computational neuroscience community
This paper changed my life: Victoria Abraira on a tasty link between circuits and behavior
Breaking the jar: Why NeuroAI needs embodiment
Four autism subtypes map onto distinct genes, traits
Systems and circuit neuroscience need an evolutionary perspective
NIH proposal sows concerns over future of animal research, unnecessary costs
Fear and loathing on study section: Reviewing grant proposals while the system is burning
Neuropeptides reprogram social roles in leafcutter ants
Nature retracts paper on novel brain cell type against authors' wishes
Drosophila, like vertebrates, filter sensory information during sleep
Neuroscience's open-data revolution is just getting started
Machine learning spots neural progenitors in adult human brains
Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior
Spatial learning circuitry fluctuates in step with estrous cycle in mice
Expanded view of hippocampal function comes into focus
Many students want to learn to use artificial intelligence responsibly. But their professors are struggling to meet that need.
The big idea with Diego Bohórquez
Genetic background steers PTEN syndrome traits
Star-responsive neurons steer moths' long-distance migration
This paper changed my life: Bradley Dickerson on how a 1940s fly neuroanatomy paper influences his research to this day
Gazing at a location from afar activates place cells in chickadees
Some dopamine neurons signal default behaviors to reinforce habits
On the importance of reading (just not too much)
How developing neurons simplify their search for a synaptic mate
'Understudied secret' in brain dampens nicotine drive in mice
Rethinking how neural activity sculpts critical periods
To understand the brain as a network organ, we must image cortical layers
Amina Abubakar translates autism research and care for Kenya
Learning in living mice defies classic synaptic plasticity rule
Cephalopods, vision's next frontier
Escaping groupthink: What animals' behavioral quirks reveal about the brain
Immune cells block pain in female mice only
The BabyLM Challenge: In search of more efficient learning algorithms, researchers look to infants
Reporter's notebook: Highlights from INSAR 2025
NIDA shutters diversity fellowship program, axes active awards
'We still exist': How four neuroscience advocacy groups are navigating federal DEI funding cuts
This paper changed my life: Marino Pagan recalls a decision-making study from four titans in the field
Exclusive: Recruitment issues jeopardize ambitious plan for human brain atlas
How pragmatism and passion drive Fred Volkmar-even after retirement
Sleep doesn't just consolidate memories; it actively shapes them
Thinking about thinking: AI offers theoretical insights into human memory
Mitochondrial 'landscape' shifts across human brain
This paper changed my life: Shane Liddelow on two papers that upended astrocyte research
What birds can teach us about the 'biological truth' of sex
Noninvasive technologies can map and target human brain with unprecedented precision
During decision-making, brain shows multiple distinct subtypes of activity
Smell studies often use unnaturally high odor concentrations, analysis reveals
Functional MRI can do more than you think
U.S. human data repositories 'under review' for gender identity descriptors
Inhibitory cells work in concert to orchestrate neuronal activity in mouse brain
Exclusive: NIH nixes funds for several pre- and postdoctoral training programs
To make a meaningful contribution to neuroscience, fMRI must break out of its silo
In vivo veritas: Xenotransplantation can help us study the development and function of human neurons in a living brain
Keep sex as a biological variable: Don't let NIH upheaval turn back the clock on scientific rigor
Single-neuron recordings are helping to unravel complexities of human cognition
U.S. BRAIN Initiative set to lose $81 million this year
New tools help make neuroimaging accessible to more researchers
About-faces in U.S. federal science funding put neuroscientists on edge
Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus 'hot spot'
Males and females show different patterns of risk for brain-based conditions. Ignoring these differences does us all a disservice.
Immune cell interlopers breach-and repair-brain barrier in mice
NeuroAI: A field born from the symbiosis between neuroscience, AI
Timing tweak turns trashed fMRI scans into treasure
Brains, biases and amyloid beta: Why the female brain deserves a closer look in Alzheimer's research
This paper changed my life: 'Spontaneous cortical activity reveals hallmarks of an optimal internal model of the environment,' from the Fiser Lab
The S-index Challenge: Develop a metric to quantify data-sharing success
A scientific fraud. An investigation. A lab in recovery.
Repeat scans reveal brain changes that precede childbirth
Reconstructing dopamine's link to reward
In updated U.S. autism bill, Congress calls for funding boost, expanded scope
From reductionism to dynamical systems: How two books influenced my thinking across 30 years of neuroscience
Neuroscience needs a career path for software engineers
Nonsense correlations and how to avoid them
Is it time to worry about brain chimeras?
Martin Giurfa's concept of home
Women are systematically under-cited in neuroscience. New tools can change that.
Future of BRAIN Initiative funding remains unclear
At the end of the earth with Paul-Antoine Libourel
Can an emerging field called 'neural systems understanding' explain the brain?
Reviving 'inside-out' hypothesis of amyloid beta to explain Alzheimer's mysteries
At the credit crossroads: Modern neuroscience needs a cultural shift to adopt new authorship practices
Should we use the computational or the network approach to analyze functional brain-imaging data-why not both?
How to explore your scientific values and develop a vision for your field
Carol Jennings, whose family's genetics informed amyloid cascade hypothesis, dies at 70
How to use race and ethnicity data responsibly in neuroscience research
NIH seeks input on how structural racism affects brain research, health
New look at lampreys rewrites textbooks on origins of sympathetic nervous system
FDA describes 'objectionable conditions' at New York State Psychiatric Institute
Breaking down the winner's curse: Lessons from brain-wide association studies
Wild and free: Understanding animal behavior beyond the lab
Knowledge gaps in cephalopod care could stall welfare standards
Nobel Prize winner Thomas Südhof retracts study
Newly found hypothalamus circuits shape bullying behaviors in mice
Maiken Nedergaard's power of disruption
Expanding 'little brain' may have powered dinosaur flight
How long-read sequencing will transform neuroscience
Incentivizing data-sharing in neuroscience: How about a little customer service?
'Into the wild': Moving studies of memory and learning out of the lab
Making cancer nervous
Vast diversity of human brain cell types revealed in trove of new datasets
Journal club: Why do some children lose their autism diagnosis?
Uncertainty and excitement surround one company's cell therapy for epilepsy
Mutations in multipurpose gene deal dendrites a double whammy
UBE3A's link to synaptic pruning bolstered by fly study
Debate unfurls over inclusivity and authenticity in research involving minimally verbal autistic people
Common genetic variants shape the structure of the cortex
Six tips for postdoc success
Alterations in circuits characterize six neuropsychiatric conditions
Tablet-based tool to spot autism validated in two studies
Neuronal deafness to stress may add to protein surplus in fragile X
Social skills decline during adolescence for a sliver of autistic youth
Scammers threaten quality of research survey data
Father's genes may drive sociability in male monkeys
Is excess brain fluid an early marker of autism?
Unwritten rules of tenure
Co-occurring conditions in autistic teens increase with age
Autism in Adulthood gets its first impact factor
Exclusive: Shake-up at top psychiatric institute following suicide in clinical trial
Amy Wetherby: Impatient for progress
'Gain-of-function' mutation spawns autism traits
Change of heart and mind: Autism's ties to cardiac defects
'A catalyst for change': NIH makes first call for research supporting minimally verbal autistic people
Repurposed electronics lens spies neurons across entire mouse brain
Dispute erupts over role of sticky proteins in astrocytes
New gene-editing method flags fragile X mutation for repair
Partner selection may amplify rare variants in children
Serotonin powers pruning of developing brain circuits in mice
Mitochondria mediate effects of PTEN mutations
Autism's ties to the cell skeleton
Donald Triplett, autism's 'Case 1,' dies at 89
Retraction, She Wrote: Dorothy Bishop's life after research
AI model helps decode brain activity underlying conversation
Controversial 'cost of autism' paper retracted
Capturing autism's sleep problems with devices nearable and wearable
Preprint questions validity of postmortem brain studies
Two scientists, two interventions: A 'gentle rivalry' to aid autistic children
Debate remains over changes in DSM-5 a decade on
Swings and misses with Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele
Antihistamine aids myelination in Pitt-Hopkins mice
'Polygenic risk scores' for autism, explained
Neuroscience journal retracts 13 papers at once
Genetic background sways effects of autism-linked mutation
Null and Noteworthy: Arbaclofen results; another oxytocin edition
Dataset maps connectivity in 40,000 brains
Grafted organoids reveal how microglia adapt to shifting brain environments
Flawed protocol for levodopa clinical trial brings retractions
Trials of arbaclofen for autism yield mixed results
Medley of models reveals misbehaving pathways in autism-linked condition
Spectrum Launch: Demystifying academia with Laurel Gabard-Durnam
What kind of autism research should we do, and where should we do it?
Loss of autism-linked gene dampens social interactions in animals
Acetaminophen on trial over possible links to autism, ADHD
Company on brink takes psilocybin to trial for fragile X syndrome
U.S. study charts changing prevalence of profound and non-profound autism
A questionable study linked epidurals to autism. Then what?
Null and Noteworthy: Reader response; cerebrospinal fluid; connectivity subgroups
New measure characterizes gender diversity in study participants
Journal club: Does lithium in drinking water contribute to autism?
Rare autism-linked mutation starves growing neurons of essential nutrients
RNA therapy restores gene function in monkeys modeling Angelman syndrome
Immune molecule alters cellular makeup of human brain organoids
New technique details brainstem's response to sounds
Going on Trial: Trofinetide approval for Rett; n-of-1 ASO therapies; cord-blood deals
Brain connectivity, behavior flag four autism subtypes
Maternal immune response dulls male rats' social radar
U.S. autism prevalence continues to rise as race and sex gaps shrink, new stats show
Cannabis compound rebalances signaling to quell seizures in mice
'Splice-switching' strategy boosts SYNGAP1 expression
Brain imaging do-over offers clues to field's replication problem
African genetics study NeuroDev shares initial findings
FDA approval of trofinetide may spur further drug development for Rett
Wiring map reveals how larval fruit fly brain converts sensory signals to movement
To repair DNA, neurons harness autism-linked proteins
Spectrum Launch: How early-career researchers can use ChatGPT to boost productivity
New journals seek to fill neurodiversity gap
Biotech downturn hurts companies targeting autism-linked conditions
People's perceptions of 'social' animations don't always square with researchers' labels
Autism subgroups converge on cell growth pathway