Deep brain stimulation (DBS) applied to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has proved to be useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. It was thought that the therapeutic action of DBS involved a direct inhibitory action on the STN. Li et al. simultaneously recorded local field potentials and single-unit activities from the motor cortex of freely moving Parkinsonian rats during DBS applied to the STN. They found that DBS has a more widespread influence: it induces antidromic action potentials from the STN that normalize pathological cortical β-oscillations in the motor cortex, and it is this that is thought to underlie the therapeutically beneficial effect of this treatment.