Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Inhibitory GABAergic synapses on dendritic spines and shafts have a key role in the localized regulation of neuronal Ca2+signalling. In this Progress article, Higley explains how the influences of dendritic inhibition on electrical and biochemical activity in neurons shape synaptic plasticity.
The ability of sensory neurons to sense temperature is dependent on thermosensitive ion channels. In this Review, Voets and colleagues examine the ion channels — notably, the transient receptor potential cation channels — that have been implicated in the detection of temperature in mammals.
Recent developments in genetic techniques and monitoring neuronal activity are allowing the roles of different neurons in various fly behaviours to be probed. In light of this progress, Alexander Borst reviews the neuronal circuits underlying visual course control inDrosophila melanogaster.
The sensitivity, frequency resolution and dynamic range of hearing depend upon the cochlear active process, a mechanical-amplification system within the cochlea. In this Review, Hudspeth summarizes evidence that these features result from the operation of hair cells near a dynamical instability, the Hopf bifurcation.
Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) produce all of the retina's cells through an evolutionarily conserved series of divisions and cell fate decisions. In this article, Cepko describes recent studies that have shed light on the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that drive this process and argues that individual terminally dividing RPCs are molecularly specified to produce particular progeny.
