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The year 2017 marks 200 years since James Parkinson'sAn Essay on the Shaking Palsywas published. In this Timeline article, Serge Przedborski provides an overview of the various avenues of research into Parkinson disease that have been pursued over these two centuries to better understand this neurodegenerative disorder.
Cajal's description of the neuron as the structural and functional unit of the nervous system formed the basis of much subsequent neuroscientific research. In this Timeline article, Yuste considers the contribution of the 'neuron doctrine' to neuroscience and discusses the recent transition in paradigm from the single neuron to neural networks.
Despite centuries of recreational use of cannabis, it is only relatively recently that its mechanisms of action, and the existence of endogenous cannabinoids, have been discovered. In this Timeline article, Raphael Mechoulam and colleagues discuss early research on the plant cannabinoids and speculate on the directions this research might take in the future.
Sir Charles Sherrington's work forms the basis of our current understanding of numerous aspects of nervous system physiology. Inspired by the recent rediscovery of a collection of Sherrington's histology slides, Molnár and Brown revisit his lifetime's achievements in neuroscience.
Studies in fruit flies have greatly aided our understanding of the nervous system. Bellen and colleagues take us through the key findings in the last century. They argue that thanks to the unmatched wealth of tools that can be used inDrosophila melanogaster, research in flies will continue to contribute to many aspects of vertebrate neuroscience.
To celebrate the centenary of Brodmann's brain map, Zilles and Amunts review his pioneering work and its legacy. This article reconsiders the original concepts described by Brodmann and the use of his map for interpreting functional and structural neuroimaging data today.
A central issue that has persisted throughout centuries of pain research concerns whether pain is an independent sensation with dedicated neural mechanisms. Perl documents the history of research since 1800, highlighting this and other important ideas about pain.
