Cerebellar dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Tsai, Stoodley and colleagues show that the cerebellum modulates cortical association areas and that the underlying circuits show atypical connectivity in an ASD mouse model and individuals with autism.

This month's special issue of Nature Neuroscience features a series of reviews and opinionated pieces on the theme of spatial cognition.

Animals navigate the environment by using multiple types of information. In their study, Shiozaki and Kazama recorded neural activity in fruit flies navigating in a virtual space and discovered parallel neural circuits that separately encode distinct navigation cues. Image: a tethered fly flying toward a selected visual target in a choice task.13231395

Sleep is important for memory consolidation. Gulati and colleagues used a neuroprosthetic learning task to demonstrate that sleep-dependent processing is essential for establishing network 'credit assignment'. Image: abstract depiction of the concept that slow-wave oscillations during sleep can result in more ordered network activations upon awakening.p 1277

In this issue, Chan et al. describe AAVs engineered for broad and efficient gene delivery to the central and peripheral nervous system through the vasculature. The cover shows dorsal root ganglion neurons expressing a mixture of three fluorescent proteins delivered via the new AAVs.10411172

Zebra finches learn to sing by copying a tutor song. Roberts, Hisey and their colleagues show that a pathway in the zebra finch brain that connects the song motor nucleus HVC to Field Avalanche, a part of the auditory system, is critical to song learning. Image: a flock of zebra finches fleeing an avalanche. Credit: Jason Wu, Duke Universityp 978

In this issue, Bower and colleagues describe a population of mural lymphatic endothelial cells found along meningeal blood vessels in the adult zebrafish. These mural cells are distinct from meningeal lymphatic vessel cells but form by developmental lymphangiogenesis. They take up low-density lipoproteins from the bloodstream and can modulate angiogenesis during meningeal vascularization. Image: major arteries (yellow), surrounded by mural lymphatic endothelial cells (magenta), enter the zebrafish brain ventrally (nuclei are in cyan), while networks of finer blood capillaries permeate the deeper tissue in this cross-section composite image.p 774

Arteries (white) meander along the surface of a mouse brain before penetrating into its depths. After diving, they begin to lose their smooth muscle coverage, giving way to a vast underlying network of capillaries (red).631717

A shadow image of a seahorse (hippocampus), constructed by illuminating scattered wooden blocks from a specific angle, illustrates the association of discrete objects in the hippocampus through learning.p 559

Over the last few decades, human brain structure and function have been examined using various techniques. This issue focuses on some of the latest considerations and advances in human brain mapping both within and across techniques, which together may help neuroscientists obtain a more complete picture of the brain.297–377

This focus issue on neuroimmune communication highlights recent advances on how the immune and nervous system are connected, communicate and reciprocally influence physiology in the context of development, health and disease. Artwork by Lewis Long. (p 127)

Targeting and manipulating the activity of specific neuronal populations is crucial for understanding brain function. In this issue, Ghashghaei and colleagues chemogenetically manipulated developmentally defined circuits in the forebrain and discovered two circuits that differentially regulate processing and learning of aversive versus appetitive odors. Image: Artistically rendered confocal image of distinct neuronal populations in the mouse olfactory bulb. Credit: Troy Ghashghaei. (p 20)