Featured
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News |
COVID’s toll on the brain: new clues emerge
A leaky blood–brain barrier and inflammation might account for some of the cognitive symptoms of COVID-19.
- Claudia López Lloreda
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Article |
The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song
A detailed analysis of male song structure in zebra finches shows how females use particular features of songs as indicators of male quality in species that learn only one song.
- Danyal Alam
- , Fayha Zia
- & Todd F. Roberts
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Article |
Disease-associated astrocyte epigenetic memory promotes CNS pathology
In an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model in mice, a subset of astrocytes retains an epigenetically regulated memory of past inflammation, causing exacerbated inflammation upon subsequent rechallenge.
- Hong-Gyun Lee
- , Joseph M. Rone
- & Francisco J. Quintana
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Correspondence |
Three reasons why AI doesn’t model human language
- Johan J. Bolhuis
- , Stephen Crain
- & Andrea Moro
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News & Views |
From the archive: constantly quivering eyes, and chemistry troubles
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Article |
Structural insights into vesicular monoamine storage and drug interactions
Monoamines and neurotoxicants share a binding pocket in VMAT1 featuring polar sites for specificity and a wrist-and-fist shape for versatility, and monoamine enrichment in storage vesicles arises from dominant import via favoured lumenal-open transition of VMAT1 and protonation-precluded binding during its cytoplasmic-open transition.
- Jin Ye
- , Huaping Chen
- & Weikai Li
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Career Feature |
The neuroscientist formerly known as Prince’s audio engineer
Susan Rogers worked with the legendary singer-songwriter before earning a PhD in her 50s on auditory memory and how we listen to music throughout life.
- Anne Gulland
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Nature Index |
Researchers call for a major rethink of how Alzheimer’s treatments are evaluated
An approach that aims to quantify how long a drug can delay or halt the progression of disease is gathering steam.
- Esther Landhuis
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Article
| Open AccessAPOE4/4 is linked to damaging lipid droplets in Alzheimer’s disease microglia
A microglial state, featuring lipid droplets and secretion of neurotoxic factors, is shown to be most prominent in people with Alzheimer’s disease who have the APOE4 genotype.
- Michael S. Haney
- , Róbert Pálovics
- & Tony Wyss-Coray
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Article
| Open AccessMitochondrial complex I activity in microglia sustains neuroinflammation
Blocking mitochondrial complex I in pro-inflammatory microglia protects the central nervous system against neurotoxic damage and improves functional outcomes in vivo in an animal disease model.
- L. Peruzzotti-Jametti
- , C. M. Willis
- & S. Pluchino
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Article |
Neural signatures of natural behaviour in socializing macaques
Single-neuron and population activity in the macaque prefrontal and temporal cortex robustly encodes 24 species-typical behaviours, reciprocity in social interactions and social support.
- Camille Testard
- , Sébastien Tremblay
- & Michael L. Platt
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Obituary |
Roger Guillemin (1924–2024), neuroscientist who showed how the brain controls hormones
Nobel prizewinner whose discovery of how the brain drives hormone production had far-reaching impacts on studies of metabolism, reproduction and growth.
- Greg Lemke
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Outlook |
Could the gut give rise to alcohol addiction?
Microorganisms in the gut might make a person more vulnerable to substance-use disorders.
- Tammy Worth
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Career Feature |
Communication barriers for a Deaf PhD student meant risking burnout
Megan Majocha is gearing up to complete her PhD. But developing a sign-language lexicon to help her succeed took an immense toll during her scientific research.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Article
| Open AccessA concerted neuron–astrocyte program declines in ageing and schizophrenia
A synaptic neuron and astrocyte program (SNAP) varies among healthy humans, may shape interindividual differences in synapses and plasticity, and is undermined in schizophrenia and with advancing age.
- Emi Ling
- , James Nemesh
- & Steven A. McCarroll
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Article |
Collective sensing in electric fish
Through modelling, neural recordings and behavioural experiments, a study shows that individual electric fish use electrical pulses of conspecifics to extend their electrolocation range, discriminate objects and increase information transmission.
- Federico Pedraja
- & Nathaniel B. Sawtell
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Article
| Open AccessSubicular neurons encode concave and convex geometries
Longitudinal calcium imaging reveals the ability of corner cells to synchronize their activity with the environment, with the results implying the potential of the subiculum to contain the information required to reconstruct spatial environments.
- Yanjun Sun
- , Douglas A. Nitz
- & Lisa M. Giocomo
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Article
| Open AccessA vagal reflex evoked by airway closure
A specific neural reflex of the vagus nerve is identified that induces gasping in response to airway closure.
- Michael S. Schappe
- , Philip A. Brinn
- & Stephen D. Liberles
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Article
| Open AccessThe molecular basis of sugar detection by an insect taste receptor
A study reports structures of an insect taste receptor in the absence and presence of different sugars, providing details on the molecular basis of sugar detection and selectivity in insects.
- João Victor Gomes
- , Shivinder Singh-Bhagania
- & Joel A. Butterwick
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Correspondence |
Why can’t researchers agree about consciousness? Because it’s all in the mind
- Jose Luis Perez Velazquez
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Article
| Open AccessMultisensory gamma stimulation promotes glymphatic clearance of amyloid
Audio and visual stimulation at 40 Hz promote cerebrospinal and interstitial fluid flux in mouse brain and result in amyloid clearance via the glymphatic system in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Mitchell H. Murdock
- , Cheng-Yi Yang
- & Li-Huei Tsai
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Article
| Open AccessCrym-positive striatal astrocytes gate perseverative behaviour
In mice, a population of astrocytes in the central striatum, characterized by expression of μ-crystallin, has a role in perseveration phenotypes that are often associated with human neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Matthias Ollivier
- , Joselyn S. Soto
- & Baljit S. Khakh
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News & Views |
Non-neuronal brain cells modulate behaviour
A single gene in astrocytes can constrain repetitive behaviours, indicating that these cells are regulators of behavioural disruption in conditions such as Huntington’s disease and obsessive–compulsive disorder.
- Anna Kruyer
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Research Briefing |
Mechanisms guiding the slow pace of maturation in human neurons uncovered
Nerve cells in the human brain take a remarkably long time to mature. This study identifies an epigenetic ‘barrier’ in neural precursor cells that determines the rate of neuronal maturation and is slowly released during the process. Inhibition of the barrier is shown to accelerate maturation in multiple human stem-cell-based models.
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News & Views |
Synchronized neuronal activity drives waste fluid flow
Active neurons can stimulate the clearance of their own metabolic waste by driving changes to ion gradients in the surrounding fluid and by promoting the pulsation of nearby blood vessels.
- Lauren Hablitz
- & Maiken Nedergaard
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Article |
Neuronal dynamics direct cerebrospinal fluid perfusion and brain clearance
Rhythmic neural activity drives cerebrospinal fluid perfusion through brain parenchyma to enhance brain cleansing.
- Li-Feng Jiang-Xie
- , Antoine Drieu
- & Jonathan Kipnis
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Article |
A patterned human neural tube model using microfluidic gradients
Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.
- Xufeng Xue
- , Yung Su Kim
- & Jianping Fu
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Article |
Synaptic wiring motifs in posterior parietal cortex support decision-making
Excitatory pyramidal neurons preferentially target inhibitory interneurons with the same selectivity and, in turn, inhibitory interneurons preferentially target pyramidal neurons with opposite selectivity, forming an opponent inhibition motif that supports decision-making.
- Aaron T. Kuan
- , Giulio Bondanelli
- & Wei-Chung Allen Lee
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Article
| Open AccessWNT signalling control by KDM5C during development affects cognition
The demethylase KDM5C, mutations in which often lead to intellectual disability, is identified as a crucial player in regulating the precise timing of neurodevelopment together with the WNT signalling pathway.
- Violetta Karwacki-Neisius
- , Ahram Jang
- & Yang Shi
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Article
| Open AccessB cells orchestrate tolerance to the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4
The immune system is tolerized against the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4 by thymic B cells, which present their endogenous AQP4 to AQP4-reactive thymocytes.
- Ali Maisam Afzali
- , Lucy Nirschl
- & Thomas Korn
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News Feature |
Mind-reading devices are revealing the brain’s secrets
Implants and other technologies that decode neural activity can restore people’s abilities to move and speak — and help researchers to understand how the brain works.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article
| Open AccessVisuo-frontal interactions during social learning in freely moving macaques
Behavioural tracking and wireless neural and eye-tracking recordings show that freely moving macaques learn to cooprate using visually guided signals along the visual-frontal cortical network.
- Melissa Franch
- , Sudha Yellapantula
- & Valentin Dragoi
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Article
| Open AccessA model of human neural networks reveals NPTX2 pathology in ALS and FTLD
A neural stem cell culture system derived from induced pluripotent stem cells forms a network of synaptically connected and electrophysiologically active neurons that were used as a model system to identify a mechanism of TDP-43-induced neurodegeneration.
- Marian Hruska-Plochan
- , Vera I. Wiersma
- & Magdalini Polymenidou
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News |
Early dementia diagnosis: blood proteins reveal at-risk people
The results of a large-scale screening study could be used to develop blood tests to diagnose diseases such as Alzheimer’s before symptoms take hold.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article |
A distinct cortical code for socially learned threat
Studies in mice show that observational fear learning is encoded by neurons in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in a manner that is distinct from the encoding of fear learned by direct experience.
- Shana E. Silverstein
- , Ruairi O’Sullivan
- & Andrew Holmes
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Article
| Open AccessConverting an allocentric goal into an egocentric steering signal
In Drosophila, FC2 neurons signal a navigational goal, which is compared with the fly’s heading by PFL3 neurons to guide moment-to-moment steering.
- Peter Mussells Pires
- , Lingwei Zhang
- & Gaby Maimon
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News & Views |
A neural circuit for navigation keeps flies on target
Studies reveal how neuronal populations in the fruit fly brain work together to compare the direction of a goal with the direction that the fly is facing, and convert this into a signal that steers the fly towards its target.
- Katherine Nagel
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Article
| Open AccessSpatial transcriptomics reveal neuron–astrocyte synergy in long-term memory
Spatial and single-cell transcriptomic analyses of the mouse basolateral amygdala reveal transcriptomic signatures, spatial resolution and interactions of cells that constitute the memory engram, including crucial neuron–astrocyte interactions.
- Wenfei Sun
- , Zhihui Liu
- & Stephen R. Quake
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Article
| Open AccessTransforming a head direction signal into a goal-oriented steering command
Here we show how PFL2 and PFL3 neurons in the Drosophila brain compare a representation of direction with internal spatial goals, both anchored in world-centric coordinates, and produce body-centric steering commands that act to correct deviations from the goal direction.
- Elena A. Westeinde
- , Emily Kellogg
- & Rachel I. Wilson
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Article
| Open AccessCirculating myeloid-derived MMP8 in stress susceptibility and depression
Serum MMP8 is increased in stress-susceptible mice following chronic stress and leads to brain structure and behavioural changes in mice.
- Flurin Cathomas
- , Hsiao-Yun Lin
- & Scott J. Russo
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Article |
Identification of direct connections between the dura and the brain
Arachnoid cuff exit points create openings in the arachnoid barrier enabling the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and exchange of molecules and cells between the dura and the subarachnoid space, therefore physically connecting the brain and the dura.
- Leon C. D. Smyth
- , Di Xu
- & Jonathan Kipnis
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Research Highlight |
The brain area that lights up in prickly people
Those who are quick to take offence show similar levels of activity in a region of the brain that’s crucial for decision-making.
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News Explainer |
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip: what scientists think of first human trial
Some researchers are concerned about a lack of transparency surrounding the implant, which aims to allow people to control devices through thought alone.
- Liam Drew
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News |
This AI learnt language by seeing the world through a baby’s eyes
A neural network that taught itself to recognize objects using the filmed experiences of a single infant could offer new insights into how humans learn.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Nature Video |
Why human brain cells grow so slowly
Some human neurons take years to reach maturity; an epigenetic ‘brake’ could be responsible.
- Shamini Bundell
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News & Views |
How speech is produced and perceived in the human cortex
A neural probe has been used to capture the activity of large populations of single neurons as people are speaking or listening, providing detailed insights into how the brain encodes specific features of speech.
- Yves Boubenec
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News Feature |
How cancer hijacks the nervous system to grow and spread
A new wave of research is unpicking the relationship between cancer and neurons — and looking for ways to stop the crosstalk.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Article
| Open AccessAn epigenetic barrier sets the timing of human neuronal maturation
The slow maturation of human neurons is regulated by epigenetic modification in nascent neurons, mediated by EZH2, EHMT1, EHMT2 and DOT1L.
- Gabriele Ciceri
- , Arianna Baggiolini
- & Lorenz Studer
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-neuronal elements of speech production in humans
Neuropixels recordings from the language-dominant prefrontal cortex reveal a structured organization of planned words, an encoding cascade of phonetic representations by prefrontal neurons in humans and a cellular process that could support the production of speech.
- Arjun R. Khanna
- , William Muñoz
- & Ziv M. Williams
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