The pathogenesis of multiple system atrophy, a rapidly progressing oligodendroglial α-synucleinopathy, is not well understood. In this Review, Stefanova and Wenning discuss how converging findings from genetic and neuropathological studies and experimental models have revealed a complex cascade of mechanisms that underlie the disorder.

Neural manifolds can shed light on how heterogeneous neuronal population activity drives neural computations, but linking these insights to the underlying neuronal connectivity is challenging. Engel and colleagues emphasize the importance of approaches that seek to connect neural dynamics with connectivity, providing key examples of advances towards this goal.

Recent technological advances allow recordings of human brain activity to be made as participants engage in free movement inside and outside the laboratory. Suthana and colleagues describe these innovations, their application to cognitive neuroscience studies and their potential to transform our understanding of brain function in naturalistic settings.

In this Perspective, Floegel et al. examine two perspectives — musculoskeletal plant control and perceptual control — on modelling human motor control. They discuss the implications of adopting one or the other perspective when conducting such modelling and the consequences for our understanding of actions.

New findings reveal the importance of synaptic oligomeric tau in Alzheimer disease.

The G-protein-coupled receptor GPR158 acts as a metabotropic glycine receptor in mice.

In Drosophila melanogaster, a neuronal pathway is found that mediates the effect of dietary protein ingestion on arousability from sleep.