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The authors find that calcium signaling triggers liquid–liquid phase separation of CaMKII. This reorganizes the postsynaptic structure, acting as a potential mechanism to increase the efficacy of synaptic transmission during memory formation.

Optimal decision making in a changing world requires non-linear evidence accumulation. Murphy et al. report signatures of this adaptive computation in recurrent dynamics of human parietal and motor cortices, accompanied by feedback to sensory cortex.

Most of the cerebral microcirculation is comprised of capillaries that are lined with pericytes, but the influence of pericytes on local blood flow was not previously established. A new study by Hartmann and colleagues uses selective optical ablation or activation to demonstrate that capillary pericytes exert both static and slow types of regulation on capillary diameter to affect flow, which are distinct from canonical rapid regulation by arteriole smooth muscle.

The act of remembering information or planning actions in short term memory can often be robust to distracting or conflicting information. Finkelstein et al. reveal the neural computations behind this robustness against distractors using a combination of optogenetics, behavior, neural recordings and neural network modelling.

In new research, Smith et al. identify thousands of novel genetic associations with human brain structure and function, including those on the X chromosome, by analyzing ~4,000 MRI-derived traits measured in almost 40,000 individuals from the UK Biobank resource.

The Elliott and Smith teams used imaging and genetics data from 40,000 volunteers in the UK Biobank healthcare study, discovering new genetic influences over brain structure and function, which are of relevance to both rare and common diseases.

The flow of information in the brain is regulated over space and time. The authors show that mice can adaptively filter stimuli originating in the sensory cortex. The stimuli are gated by attractor dynamics in the frontal cortex, revealing a mechanism of gating of neural information.

Liu et al. present a flexible, insertable and transparent microelectrode (FITM) array termed Neuro-FITM. Multimodal recordings with Neuro-FITM reveal diverse and selective large-scale cortical activation patterns associated with hippocampal sharp-wave ripples.

Julian and Doeller show that trial-by-trial modulation of map-like representations in the human hippocampal–entorhinal system predicts contextual memory retrieval during virtual reality navigation independent of visual experience.

Xu et al. developed and characterized a new animal model of maternal immune activation based on a parasite mimetic. They show that immune and behavioral abnormalities in adult offspring are reversed by adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells.

Wingo et al. integrate depression GWAS results with human brain proteomes to perform proteome-wide association studies followed by Mendelian randomization. They identify 25 proteins as potential causal mediators of depression, of which 20 are new.

McNamee et al. develop a theory of entorhinal–hippocampal processing. Distributed entorhinal input drives hippocampal activity between distinct statistical and dynamical regimes of activity, thereby unifying several empirical observations.

Social interactions and relationships are often associated with a rewarding experience. Hu et al. show that mice display positive reinforcement of social interaction, and they identify an amygdala-to-hypothalamus circuit in mediating this social reward.

The authors develop a genetically encoded GPCR-based sensor to image serotonin dynamics in behaving animals with high specificity, sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution.

During implicit learning, the authors find that sensory representations in mouse auditory cortex evolve over time, rotating into orthogonal memory representations. This allows short-term memories to avoid interference from new sensory inputs.

Disrupting reconsolidation of the maladaptive memories underlying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could be transformative for treatment. However, patients cannot undergo the direct re-exposure to trauma-cues used to induce reconsolidation in animal studies. Ressler and colleagues report ‘covert’ memory reactivation in rats, bolstering hopes for translation of reconsolidation-based interventions.

This study shows that hippocampus-dependent fear memories can be indirectly reactivated, captured and pharmacologically attenuated in rats. This reinforces the utility of imaginal reminders to target traumatic memories in humans.

AAV9-SMN is used to treat SMA. This study shows that AAV9-mediated SMN overexpression in mice causes late-onset motor dysfunction and synaptic and neuronal loss through protein aggregation, suggesting caution on the long-term safety of SMN gene therapy.

Academics are not immune to the biases contributing to persistent inequalities in society. We face an urgent need to overhaul and dismantle current evaluation practices that uphold inequities at multiple points along the academic pipeline. Graduate admissions and faculty advancement are two arenas of gatekeeping in which a reimagining and redistribution of weighting of commonly used evaluation metrics are warranted. We define and promote the use of dynamic, flexible holistic evaluation models that can be implemented by first recognizing and acknowledging the biases that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in academia. Leaders of academic institutions must step up to drive adoption of these revised evaluation metrics.