SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with various neurological effects both during and after infection. In this Review, Meinhardt and colleagues discuss the possible impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on different cell populations of the nervous system and the neurological alterations that result, thus facilitating the development of treatment options.

A prevailing notion in sleep research is that sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythmicity involve independent processes. In this Review, Franken and Dijk discuss evidence that suggests that sleep and circadian rhythmicity are interdependent and together support the homeostasis of brain function.

Neurobiological organizational principles suggest that a generative grammar exists in the brain. In this Perspective, Dragoi proposes how neural grammar enables specific experience-independent, internally generated patterns of activity acquired via spontaneous generative combination of pre-existing sequential motifs to support internally generated representations of experience in the hippocampus.

Human cortical neurons undergo a protracted period of postmitotic maturation compared with those of other species. Wallace and Pollen review the cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic mechanisms that govern neuronal postmitotic development and consider the factors that may contribute to species-specific maturation rates.

Around 10% of individuals with frontotemporal lobar dementia have amyloid filament inclusions that lack tau and TDP-43 and were thought to contain the protein FUS, but are found instead to contain the FUS homologue TAF15.

A study indicates that different mechanisms of ATP production predominate in different cellular subcompartments in neurons.

Cytoplasmic mislocalization of TDP-43 in neurodegenerative disease affects mRNA maturation and protein levels of stathmin-2, leading to a reduction in axon diameter and tearing of outer myelin layers and thereby disrupting neuronal function.

A study reveals a subpopulation of neuropeptide S-expressing neurons that regulates arousal and breathing.

A study in mice identifies formin 2 as a regulator of axon regeneration and a potential target for promoting nerve repair after peripheral nerve injury.

A mark test of self-recognition in mice reveals that self-responding ventral CA1 neurons underlie mirror-induced self-directed behaviour and are shaped by social experience with conspecifics.