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Researchers are using every technique available to gain new insights into neuroscience and, in particular, the human brain. A Nature news special analyses some of these advances, and presents a range of new findings that could further transform the field.

News & Features
- - Neuroscience: Small, furry...and smart
  - Researchers have engineered more than 30 strains of 'smart mice', revealing possible ways to boost human brains. But, as Jonah Lehrer finds, cognitive enhancement may come at a cost.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Neuroscience: Opening up brain surgery
  - Neurosurgeons have unparalleled access to the human brain. Now they are teaming up with basic researchers to work out what makes it unique, finds Alison Abbott.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Chemical keeps male sex drive in check
  - A single pheromone ensures a male fruitfly's urge to mate targets the right sex.
  - 15 October 2009
Book & Arts
- - Art history's window onto the mind
  - Neuroscientists should worry less about testing abstract qualities such as beauty, and work with art historians towards a concrete understanding of types of viewing, argues Martin Kemp.
  - 15 October 2009
- - In Retrospect: Brodmann's brain map
  - A classic neurology text written 100 years ago still provides the core principles for linking the anatomy of the cerebral cortex to its functions today, explains Jacopo Annese.
  - 15 October 2009
Research
- - Intracellular dynamics of hippocampal place cells during virtual navigation
  - Taking advantage of a virtual reality environment in which mice run on ball while their heads remain stationary, the electrical activity of place cells are investigated.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Asymmetric centrosome inheritance maintains neural progenitors in neocortex
  - After cell division, the glial cell inheriting an established centrosome continues as a glial cell while the other, with a newly created centrosome, undergoes further differentiation.
  - 15 October 2009
- - A secreted complement control-related protein ensures acetylcholine receptor clustering
  - The discovery and characterization of a system of a network of extracellular proteins that cluster acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) at neuromuscular junctions in the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans.
  - 15 October 2009
- - An anatomical signature for literacy
  - A unique population of Colombian former guerrillas, who were illiterate until adulthood, are investigated using brain imaging techniques to uncover the gross changes that take place in the brain as the result of learning to read and write.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Specialized cells tag sexual and species identity in Drosophila melanogaster
  - A chemical in the cuticle of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is shown to both identify females of the species as females and to distinguish the flies from those of related species by acting as a suppressor of sexual activity.
  - 15 October 2009
News & Views
- - Neuroscience: The inside story on place cells
  - Neurons known as place cells encode spatial information that is needed to guide an animal's movement. Nearly 40 years after these cells were discovered, neuroscience gets a look at their internal dynamics.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Stem cells: A fateful age gap
  - When a stem cell divides, one sister cell differentiates and the other retains its stem-cell identity. Differences in the age of an organelle -- the centriole -- inherited at cell division may determine these differing fates.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Behavioural neurobiology: Chemical love
  - Male and female fruitflies use pheromones to flaunt their species identity and gender as they court amid other fruitfly species. The grammar of this chemical language is surprisingly sophisticated.
  - 15 October 2009
- - Q&A: Alzheimer's disease
  - The neurodegenerative disorder Alzheimer's disease is becoming more prevalent in ageing populations worldwide. The identification of effective treatments will require a better understanding of the physiological mechanisms involved, and innovative approaches to drug development and evaluation.
  - 15 October 2009
- Elsewhere in Nature
  - - Podcast
    - Interviews with David Tank about what virtual reality experiments with mice can reveal about spatial information processing in the brain and Manuel Carreiras on the brains of Colombian guerrillas who are learning to read.
    - 15 October 2009
  - - Nature Insight: Neurotechniques
    - A special supplement examines recent advances in the techniques used to probe the nervous system.
    - 15 October 2009