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Fluorescent sensors of molecular activity have revolutionized our knowledge of the brain. However, their signals report a reaction between the target and the sensor molecules rather than the activity of interest per se. Thus, understanding the location, sensitivity and imaging environment of a sensor should help to avoid misinterpretation of its readout.
Modern approaches for multiregion investigation provide new opportunities and considerations for exploring brainwide neural dynamics. In this Review, Machado, Kauvar and Deisseroth discuss advances in the simultaneous measurement and analysis of neuronal activity across many brain regions.
The progenitor cell populations that establish the developing human cortex exhibit distinct forms of apical–basal polarity. Kriegstein and colleagues review the mechanisms that regulate human cortical progenitor polarity, its importance for cortical development and the consequences of its disruption in neurological disorders.
The modern human variant of the gene transketolase-like 1, but not the Neanderthal variant, promotes the production of basal radial glia during neocortical development.
Neuromodulation with specific frequencies at specific brain locations selectively enhances either working memory or long-term memory in older adult humans.
One major form of timing is the estimation of duration. In this Review, Tsao et al. describe the neural bases for estimating ongoing durations and those for estimating durations between past events within memory.
Calcium–calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has a central role in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. In this Review, Yasuda, Hayashi and Hell provide an overview of the postsynaptic regulation and function of CaMKII.
A study in male mice finds that neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis shape hypothalamic neural representations to control the transition from appetitive to consummatory innate social behaviour towards conspecifics of both sexes.
A new study shows that many olfactory sensory neurons in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes express more than one type of chemosensory receptor and some of these neurons can respond to multiple olfactory cues.
