News & Comment

A new study suggests that sustained activity in the default-mode network during a painful stimulus influences activity in pain-reducing brain areas.

Neural progenitor cell (NPC) profileration in mice is associated with oscillating patterns of expression of several transcription factors, whereas NPC differentiation is associated with the sustained, dominant expression of particular transcription factors.

Active dendritic processing has a role in neuronal computations in the visual system.

A study in mice suggests that an important function of sleep may be the removal of waste products from the brain.

Two studies provide a first account of homeostatic plasticity of firing rate in the cortex of awake animals.

By engulfing viable neurons, microglia can contribute to the brain atrophy that results from transient ischaemia.

A new study shows that the number of neurons in cortical barrel columns varies markedly within individual rats.

Two recent studies show that vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-expressing interneurons exert a disinhibitory effect on cortical pyramidal cells in a number of brain areas, and this has important implications for control of cortical processing and behaviour.

Cognitive and neurobiological changes during development influence the content and longevity of memories for events that occurred in early childhood. Mark L. Howe discusses the implications for court cases in which the main evidence consists of adults' recollections of childhood experiences.

In this Perspective article, Reiss and colleagues summarize the most recent neuroimaging studies attempting to determine the neural correlates of humour and discuss the influence of sex, personality traits and certain psychiatric disorders on humour appreciation.

The results of two new studies suggest that human cortical interneurons predominantly originate in subcortical regions.