Spectrum Autism Research

The new study challenges a long-held view that the barrel cortex exclusively encodes sensory signals from the whiskers.

Neural manifold properties can help us understand how animal brains deal with complex information, execute flexible behaviors and reuse common computations.

Analyses that include low-quality MRI data underestimate cortical thickness and overestimate cortical surface area, according to new findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

Post-puff brain state might not be an emotion, some researchers caution, but the protocol provides a cross-species approach to study emotions.

Neuroscience in other countries will strengthen—at the United States' expense—as rising visa restrictions and rejections block many international students from enrolling at U.S. institutions and dissuade others from applying.

The tool leverages a previously unused segment of the color spectrum to track the neurotransmitter and can be used with two additional sensors to monitor other neurochemicals at different wavelengths.

Variants in genes tied to both conditions derail the formation of cilia, the tiny hair-like structure found on almost every cell in the body, a new study finds.

Computational sciences offer an opportunity to increase global access to, and participation in, neuroscience. Neuromatch's inclusive, scalable model for community building shows how to realize this promise.

The findings from Charles Zuker's lab put the taste system on the map, revealing that some fundamental principles of behavior are hardwired.

Brain function is inexorably shaped by the body. Embracing this fact will benefit computational models of real brain function, as well as the design of artificial neural networks.

An analysis of more than 5,000 autistic children and their siblings underscores the idea that autism can be understood as multiple conditions with distinct trajectories.

To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, neuroscientists must frame their research through an evolutionary lens.

The new NIH policy calls for greater incorporation of new approach methodologies in all future Notices of Funding Opportunities related to animal model systems.

As grants are canceled, delayed and subject to general uncertainty, participating in study sections can feel futile. But it's more important than ever.

The mechanisms that control the labor roles of ants may also be conserved in naked mole rats, a new study shows.

A 2022 paper was retracted after an independent team of researchers reanalyzed the data and questioned its validity.

Predictive sensory processing in sleeping Drosophila echoes vertebrate research, establishing an evolutionarily conserved neural signature of sleep.

Data reuse represents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of science, reduce costs and increase the value of our collective research investments. New tools that make open data easier to use—and new pressures, including funding cuts—may increase uptake.

But the finding has not settled the long-standing debate over the existence and extent of neurogenesis during adulthood, says Yale University neuroscientist Juan Arellano.

Astrocytes serve as crucial mediators of neuromodulatory processes previously attributed to direct communication between neurons, four new studies show.

Cyclic shifts in estradiol levels coincide with changes in dendritic spine density and the activity of place cells in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, a new study shows.

After decades of debate, the region's role is being rewritten. Rather than using sensory input to simply log key points in time and space, the hippocampus may serve to contextualize our experiences and memories—and ultimately make predictions about the future.

Effectively teaching students how to employ AI in their writing assignments requires clear guidelines—and detailed, case-specific examples.

His theories around the neuropod have challenged the boundaries of classic ideas regarding gut-brain communication.

People with the syndrome, caused by variants in the gene PTEN, often have autism or cancer, or both, but it depends on the genetic diversity encoded in the components of distinct cell signaling pathways, according to a new study.

Cells in the bogong moth brain respond to astral landmarks to orient the insects in the direction they need to go.

This classic paper by zoologist John Pringle describes the haltere—a small structure in flies that plays a crucial role in flight control. It taught me to think about circuits and behavior as greater than the sum of their parts.

The results help explain how the hippocampus can recall information about a place without an animal physically revisiting it.

Movement-sensing neurons that target the striatum influence a mouse's choice of action by favoring routine.

The real fun of being a neuroscientist, and maybe the key to asking and answering new questions, is to think big and take intellectual risks.

Streamlining the problem from 3D to 1D eases the expedition—a strategy the study investigators deployed to rewire an olfactory circuit in flies.

The interpeduncular nucleus produces an aversion to nicotine, even at low doses, and helps moderate how rewarding mice find the drug.

New findings on the role of neural activity in developing circuits are challenging our prior notions about the rules that govern critical periods.

Human neuroscience research has largely overlooked this spatial scale—which bridges cells and brain areas. But new advances in functional MRI technology are changing that.

First an educator and now an internationally recognized researcher, the Kenyan psychologist is changing autism science and services in sub-Saharan Africa.

Donald Hebb's theory—memorably summarized as “cells that fire together, wire together”—does not explain the shifting hippocampal connections in mice learning to navigate a virtual environment, according to a new study.

For decades, scientists have been teased by the strange but inaccessible cephalopod visual system. Now, thanks to a technological breakthrough from a lab in Oregon, data are finally coming straight from the octopus brain.

Neuroscientists have long ignored the variability in animals' behavioral responses in favor of studying differences across groups. But work on the brain differences that underlie that variability is beginning to pay off.

Regulatory T cells in the spinal meninges release endogenous opioids in a sex-specific manner, new work shows.

A competition that trains language models on relatively small datasets of words, closer in size to what a child hears up to age 13, seeks solutions to some of the major challenges of today's large language models.

The annual meeting brought autism researchers, advocates and clinicians to Seattle to discuss the latest research, including attempts to define subgroups, a potential new CHD8 macaque model and life expectancy gaps.

It's unclear if the cancellation at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse extends to the fellowships awarded by other institutes within the National Institutes of Health.

Trainees from underrepresented backgrounds are losing pillars of support in the current funding climate. Grassroots mentorship organizations are stepping in to continue championing early-career researchers.

Valerio Mante and David Sussillo, along with their mentors Krishna Shenoy and Bill Newsome, revealed the complexity of neural population dynamics and the power of recurrent neural networks.

A lack of six new brain donors may stop the project from meeting its goal to pair molecular and cellular data with the functional organization of the cortex.

Whether looking back at his career highlights or forward to his latest projects, the psychiatrist is committed to supporting autistic people at every age.

The rapid eye movement (REM) phase preserves newly acquired memories, but deeper non-REM sleep helps to adapt and update them, according to “heroic” day-long electrode recordings in rats.

We need a new conceptual framework for understanding cognitive functions—particularly how globally distributed brain states are formed and maintained for hours.

Evolutionarily newer regions sport mitochondria with a higher capacity for energy production than older regions, according to the first detailed map of the organelles in a tissue slice, adding to mounting evidence that the brain features a metabolic gradient.

A game-changing cell culture method developed in Ben Barres' lab completely transformed the way we study astrocytes and helped me build a career studying their reactive substates.

Part of our job as educators is to give students a deeper understanding of the true diversity of sex and gender in the natural world.