Hearing -

Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus issue on hearing, which covers recent advances in genetics, clinical treatment and neuroscience which have advanced our understanding of how sounds are translated into neural signals and processed to support functions such as language.

June Vol. 12, No. 6

Developing the brain -

Subtle abnormalities during birth, proliferation, migration, phenotypic maturation and wiring of CNS neurons may contribute to mental retardation, schizophrenia, and autism-spectrum disorders, necessitating a detailed understanding of developmental mechanisms. Brain "development", we also know, is not finished after adolescence. In this Web Focus we present a collection of papers highlighting the latest progress in the field, published over the course of the last year by Nature Neuroscience and other journals in the Nature Publishing Group family.

Decision making -

The ability to make appropriate choices is critical for survival. Successful decision making requires the integration of sensory information, motivational states and potential outcomes to select the best action. Recently, there has been great progress in our understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting decision making in a wide range of contexts, including risky choices and social interactions. This special focus on decision making contains four reviews that highlight recent achievements in this important field.

April Vol. 11, No. 4

Glia and Disease -

Glia are critical to many brain disorders. Glial cells regulate brain vasculature and the blood-brain barrier, modulating ischemia and blood flow changes in response to neural activity. Moreover, they are important in brain repair after injury and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. This special focus on glia and disease contains four reviews and two perspectives that highlight recent research in these areas and discuss how advances in understanding glial biology may lead to new treatments.

November Vol. 10, No. 11

Emotion and Disorders of Emotion -

Individual quality of life depends on the ability to experience emotions appropriately and to regulate them in response to stressful events. In addition, depression and anxiety are a substantial public health burden.This special focus contains four reviews and a perspective from leaders in the field, who discuss how the brain regulates emotions, how this regulation becomes impaired by disorders of emotion and which therapies may be effective in treating these disorders.

September Vol. 10, No. 9

Childhood Developmental Disorders -

Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus on childhood developmental disorders, which contains four perspectives exploring the overlap between normal and abnormal development, as well as the commonalties between different disorders. Disorders covered include autism, specific language impairment, dyslexia, and the mental retardation syndrome fragile X. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the March of Dimes, Autism Speaks and Cure Autism Now, this focus will be freely available online through December 2006.

October Vol. 9, No. 10

Computational and Systems Neuroscience -

To understand the brain, theoretical and experimental approaches must be integrated to make sense of the enormous amount of existing data, and to guide future experiments. In the December 2005 issue, we present a special focus on computational and systems neuroscience. Along with commissioned perspectives, the focus contains primary research articles featuring the best work presented at Cosyne, a meeting that rings together a diverse group of theoretical and experimental neuroscientists.

December Vol. 8, No. 12

Neurobiology of Addiction -

This focus contains a series of specially commissioned reviews and perspectives on the neurobiology of drug abuse, decision making and habit formation, as well as a commentary on how these basic science insights should guide public policy on addiction and its treatment. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, this focus will be freely available online through January 2006.

November Vol. 8, No. 11

Feeding Regulation and Obesity -

Food intake and body weight are subject to complex regulation by the hypothalamus and other brain centers. This focus presents six commissioned articles highlighting current progress in the neurobiology of feeding regulation, energy metabolism and obesity. It is sponsored by the Obesity Research Task Force of the National Institutes of Health, and freely accessible through July 2005.

May Vol. 8, No. 5

The Sexual Brain -

This focus examines the sexual development and differentiation of the brain, as well as the brain circuits behind pair bonding, a sex-associated social behavior. An accompanying commentary raises ethical issues that must be considered when studying such a complex (and controversial) topic as human sexuality. These articles are freely available for the month of October.

October Vol. 7, No. 10

Scaling up Neuroscience -

These Perspectives critically appraise high-throughput methods such as proteomics, microarrays and multiple-electrode recording, and evaluate the current and future database resources that such studies require. They are freely available with help from the NIH.

May Vol. 7, No. 5

Music and the Brain -

Music is a universal feature of human societies, but its adaptive function remains mysterious. These six Reviews discuss how the brain processes music, and how this research influences our understanding of cognition.

July Vol. 6, No. 7

Beyond the Bench: the Practical Promise of Neuroscience -

This supplement grew out of our curiosity about how neuroscience has contributed to improving the quality of people's lives. Fifteen review articles discuss recent progress toward a variety of practical applications of basic neuroscience, including memory enhancement, brain-computer interfaces, biotechnology of taste and smell, virtual reality, face recognition software, spinal cord injury and many others. In addition, five commentaries suggest ways to optimize the transfer of basic research to uses outside the laboratory. This special issue was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

November Vol. 5, Issue 11s

Molecular Approaches to Neural Development -

The events that transform a single cell into a fully developed individual with a complex nervous system have fascinated biologists for centuries. Advances in molecular biology, genomics and imaging have moved the investigation of development into the molecular realm and allowed researchers to follow cellular events in living animals. This special issue of Nature Neuroscience, sponsored by Cogent Neuroscience Inc., reviews recent progress in molecular approaches to developmental neuroscience. Cover images courtesy of R.W. K_r and S.E. Fraser.

November Vol. 4, Issue 11s