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The potential benefits of neuroscientific research into sexuality are great, but neuroscientists must participate in debates over the social, forensic and therapeutic implications of their findings. If serious research in sexuality is to be supported by the public, researchers must continue to earn society's trust with responsible and thoughtful presentation of their work.
Syncytin is a viral envelope protein encoded in the human genome. New work in this issue indicates that it is activated in multiple sclerosis astrocytes and microglia, contributing to the inflammation-induced myelin destruction that causes disease symptoms.
In C. elegans, dopamine signaling regulates locomotion behavior. Chase and colleagues report that this signaling occurs through extrasynaptic and antagonistically acting receptors coexpressed in motor neurons. These results provide surprising insights into the G-protein pathways mediating this antagonism, with implications for dopamine signaling across species.
Monkeys and humans work harder for immediate than for distant rewards. How are associations between reward immediacy and sensory stimuli established in the brain? A recent study suggests a crucial role for dopamine-mediated activity in the rhinal cortex.
Many primitive movements, such as swimming or scratching, are rhythmic. An imaging study now suggests that complex discrete movements may simply be a special case of rhythmic movements, in which they are stopped after only one cycle.