Stress modulates immune system function and systemic inflammation is linked to stress-related disorders, including depression. Russo and colleagues outline the neural circuits through which the CNS regulates immune cell function in peripheral tissues in response to stress and consider how these responses contribute to stress-related pathophysiology.

Membrane excitability is central to neuronal function, and neurons must be resilient to changes in its underlying parameters. In this Perspective article, Marom and Marder suggest that two complementary mechanisms contribute to the resilience of membrane excitability: rapid ‘kinetic-based’ regulation of ion channel proteins and slower homeostatic control of ion channel membrane densities.

Neurodegenerative diseases show idiosyncratic spatial patterns of progressive protein malformations in the brain. In this Perspective, Vogel et al. discuss the role of inter-regional connectivity in constraining and modulating the spread of pathological proteins and provide a framework for patient-tailored prognostics.

Motherhood in humans is associated with numerous neurobiological adaptations. In this Review, Servin-Barthet et al. focus on the interplay among pregnancy-related hormones, brain plasticity and maternal behaviour and aim to provide a roadmap for future investigations.

A study dissects the neural circuit through which pup cries induce oxytocin release and maternal behaviour in mice.

A study reports that in the mouse hippocampus, the induction of long-term potentiation is dependent on the structural functions of CaMKII and not its enzymatic activity.

A juvenile hormone-degrading enzyme localized in the insect equivalent of the blood–brain barrier governs which social role, forager or soldier, worker carpenter ants fulfil.

During retinal development in the mouse, angiogenesis was unexpectedly found to depend on temporally restricted dopamine production by retinal ganglion cells, rather than by canonical retinal dopamine neurons.

A study identified two different blood biomarker profiles in people hospitalized for COVID-19 that predicted later cognitive deficits.