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Open Access
Featured
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Correspondence |
Why can’t researchers agree about consciousness? Because it’s all in the mind
- Jose Luis Perez Velazquez
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Article
| Open AccessMultisensory gamma stimulation promotes glymphatic clearance of amyloid
Audio and visual stimulation at 40 Hz promote cerebrospinal and interstitial fluid flux in mouse brain and result in amyloid clearance via the glymphatic system in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Mitchell H. Murdock
- , Cheng-Yi Yang
- & Li-Huei Tsai
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Article
| Open AccessCrym-positive striatal astrocytes gate perseverative behaviour
In mice, a population of astrocytes in the central striatum, characterized by expression of μ-crystallin, has a role in perseveration phenotypes that are often associated with human neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Matthias Ollivier
- , Joselyn S. Soto
- & Baljit S. Khakh
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News & Views |
Non-neuronal brain cells modulate behaviour
A single gene in astrocytes can constrain repetitive behaviours, indicating that these cells are regulators of behavioural disruption in conditions such as Huntington’s disease and obsessive–compulsive disorder.
- Anna Kruyer
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Research Briefing |
Mechanisms guiding the slow pace of maturation in human neurons uncovered
Nerve cells in the human brain take a remarkably long time to mature. This study identifies an epigenetic ‘barrier’ in neural precursor cells that determines the rate of neuronal maturation and is slowly released during the process. Inhibition of the barrier is shown to accelerate maturation in multiple human stem-cell-based models.
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News & Views |
Synchronized neuronal activity drives waste fluid flow
Active neurons can stimulate the clearance of their own metabolic waste by driving changes to ion gradients in the surrounding fluid and by promoting the pulsation of nearby blood vessels.
- Lauren Hablitz
- & Maiken Nedergaard
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Article |
Neuronal dynamics direct cerebrospinal fluid perfusion and brain clearance
Rhythmic neural activity drives cerebrospinal fluid perfusion through brain parenchyma to enhance brain cleansing.
- Li-Feng Jiang-Xie
- , Antoine Drieu
- & Jonathan Kipnis
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Article |
A patterned human neural tube model using microfluidic gradients
Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.
- Xufeng Xue
- , Yung Su Kim
- & Jianping Fu
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Article |
Synaptic wiring motifs in posterior parietal cortex support decision-making
Excitatory pyramidal neurons preferentially target inhibitory interneurons with the same selectivity and, in turn, inhibitory interneurons preferentially target pyramidal neurons with opposite selectivity, forming an opponent inhibition motif that supports decision-making.
- Aaron T. Kuan
- , Giulio Bondanelli
- & Wei-Chung Allen Lee
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Article
| Open AccessWNT signalling control by KDM5C during development affects cognition
The demethylase KDM5C, mutations in which often lead to intellectual disability, is identified as a crucial player in regulating the precise timing of neurodevelopment together with the WNT signalling pathway.
- Violetta Karwacki-Neisius
- , Ahram Jang
- & Yang Shi
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Article
| Open AccessB cells orchestrate tolerance to the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4
The immune system is tolerized against the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4 by thymic B cells, which present their endogenous AQP4 to AQP4-reactive thymocytes.
- Ali Maisam Afzali
- , Lucy Nirschl
- & Thomas Korn
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News Feature |
Mind-reading devices are revealing the brain’s secrets
Implants and other technologies that decode neural activity can restore people’s abilities to move and speak — and help researchers to understand how the brain works.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article
| Open AccessVisuo-frontal interactions during social learning in freely moving macaques
Behavioural tracking and wireless neural and eye-tracking recordings show that freely moving macaques learn to cooprate using visually guided signals along the visual-frontal cortical network.
- Melissa Franch
- , Sudha Yellapantula
- & Valentin Dragoi
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Article
| Open AccessA model of human neural networks reveals NPTX2 pathology in ALS and FTLD
A neural stem cell culture system derived from induced pluripotent stem cells forms a network of synaptically connected and electrophysiologically active neurons that were used as a model system to identify a mechanism of TDP-43-induced neurodegeneration.
- Marian Hruska-Plochan
- , Vera I. Wiersma
- & Magdalini Polymenidou
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News |
Early dementia diagnosis: blood proteins reveal at-risk people
The results of a large-scale screening study could be used to develop blood tests to diagnose diseases such as Alzheimer’s before symptoms take hold.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article |
A distinct cortical code for socially learned threat
Studies in mice show that observational fear learning is encoded by neurons in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in a manner that is distinct from the encoding of fear learned by direct experience.
- Shana E. Silverstein
- , Ruairi O’Sullivan
- & Andrew Holmes
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Article
| Open AccessConverting an allocentric goal into an egocentric steering signal
In Drosophila, FC2 neurons signal a navigational goal, which is compared with the fly’s heading by PFL3 neurons to guide moment-to-moment steering.
- Peter Mussells Pires
- , Lingwei Zhang
- & Gaby Maimon
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News & Views |
A neural circuit for navigation keeps flies on target
Studies reveal how neuronal populations in the fruit fly brain work together to compare the direction of a goal with the direction that the fly is facing, and convert this into a signal that steers the fly towards its target.
- Katherine Nagel
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Article
| Open AccessSpatial transcriptomics reveal neuron–astrocyte synergy in long-term memory
Spatial and single-cell transcriptomic analyses of the mouse basolateral amygdala reveal transcriptomic signatures, spatial resolution and interactions of cells that constitute the memory engram, including crucial neuron–astrocyte interactions.
- Wenfei Sun
- , Zhihui Liu
- & Stephen R. Quake
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Article
| Open AccessTransforming a head direction signal into a goal-oriented steering command
Here we show how PFL2 and PFL3 neurons in the Drosophila brain compare a representation of direction with internal spatial goals, both anchored in world-centric coordinates, and produce body-centric steering commands that act to correct deviations from the goal direction.
- Elena A. Westeinde
- , Emily Kellogg
- & Rachel I. Wilson
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Article
| Open AccessCirculating myeloid-derived MMP8 in stress susceptibility and depression
Serum MMP8 is increased in stress-susceptible mice following chronic stress and leads to brain structure and behavioural changes in mice.
- Flurin Cathomas
- , Hsiao-Yun Lin
- & Scott J. Russo
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Article |
Identification of direct connections between the dura and the brain
Arachnoid cuff exit points create openings in the arachnoid barrier enabling the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and exchange of molecules and cells between the dura and the subarachnoid space, therefore physically connecting the brain and the dura.
- Leon C. D. Smyth
- , Di Xu
- & Jonathan Kipnis
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Research Highlight |
The brain area that lights up in prickly people
Those who are quick to take offence show similar levels of activity in a region of the brain that’s crucial for decision-making.
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News Explainer |
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip: what scientists think of first human trial
Some researchers are concerned about a lack of transparency surrounding the implant, which aims to allow people to control devices through thought alone.
- Liam Drew
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News |
This AI learnt language by seeing the world through a baby’s eyes
A neural network that taught itself to recognize objects using the filmed experiences of a single infant could offer new insights into how humans learn.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Nature Video |
Why human brain cells grow so slowly
Some human neurons take years to reach maturity; an epigenetic ‘brake’ could be responsible.
- Shamini Bundell
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News & Views |
How speech is produced and perceived in the human cortex
A neural probe has been used to capture the activity of large populations of single neurons as people are speaking or listening, providing detailed insights into how the brain encodes specific features of speech.
- Yves Boubenec
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News Feature |
How cancer hijacks the nervous system to grow and spread
A new wave of research is unpicking the relationship between cancer and neurons — and looking for ways to stop the crosstalk.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Article
| Open AccessAn epigenetic barrier sets the timing of human neuronal maturation
The slow maturation of human neurons is regulated by epigenetic modification in nascent neurons, mediated by EZH2, EHMT1, EHMT2 and DOT1L.
- Gabriele Ciceri
- , Arianna Baggiolini
- & Lorenz Studer
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-neuronal elements of speech production in humans
Neuropixels recordings from the language-dominant prefrontal cortex reveal a structured organization of planned words, an encoding cascade of phonetic representations by prefrontal neurons in humans and a cellular process that could support the production of speech.
- Arjun R. Khanna
- , William Muñoz
- & Ziv M. Williams
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News |
Signs of ‘transmissible’ Alzheimer’s seen in people who received growth hormone
The findings support a controversial hypothesis that proteins related to the neurodegenerative disease can be ‘seeded’ in the brain through material taken from cadavers.
- Carissa Wong
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News |
Obesity drugs have another superpower: taming inflammation
The blockbuster medications that reduce body weight also reduce inflammation in organs such as the brain, raising hopes that they can treat Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
This fast-living marsupial chooses sex over sleep — and dies young
Male antechinus make the most of their single breeding season by forgoing shut-eye.
- Sara Reardon
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Article |
Cortical regulation of helping behaviour towards others in pain
A study describes the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in coding and regulating helping behaviour exhibited by mice towards others experiencing pain.
- Mingmin Zhang
- , Ye Emily Wu
- & Weizhe Hong
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Article |
A dedicated hypothalamic oxytocin circuit controls aversive social learning
In mice, the neural mechanisms underlying aversive social learning, specifically avoidance and fear after defeat, involve oxytocin signalling in the anterior subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus, ventrolateral part.
- Takuya Osakada
- , Rongzhen Yan
- & Dayu Lin
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Correspondence |
Funders must get behind brain project data sharing
- Helena Ledmyr
- , Mathew Abrams
- & Randy McIntosh
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News |
How does chronic stress harm the gut? New clues emerge
A bacterium in the intestines of stressed mice interferes with cells that protect against pathogens.
- Max Kozlov
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Article |
Top-down control of flight by a non-canonical cortico-amygdala pathway
This study describes a projection from the medial prefrontal cortex to the central amygdala that is involved in the regulation of defensive responses to threat.
- Chandrashekhar D. Borkar
- , Claire E. Stelly
- & Jonathan P. Fadok
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News Feature |
The consciousness wars: can scientists ever agree on how the mind works?
There are dozens of theories of how the brain produces conscious experience, and a new type of study is testing some of them head-to-head.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessAlternative splicing of latrophilin-3 controls synapse formation
Latrophilin-3 organizes synapses through a convergent dual-pathway mechanism in which Gαs signalling is activated and phase-separated postsynaptic protein scaffolds are recruited.
- Shuai Wang
- , Chelsea DeLeon
- & Thomas C. Südhof
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News & Views |
From the archive: the royal ‘we’, and an experiment in telegraphy
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Medical AI falters when assessing patients it hasn’t seen
Physicians rely on algorithms for personalized medicine — but an analysis of schizophrenia trials shows that the tools fail to adapt to new data sets.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Research Briefing |
Observing mammalian cerebellum development through an evolutionary lens
Tracking the gene-expression profiles of individual cerebellar cells during development in humans, mice and opossums revealed evolutionarily conserved as well as species-specific cellular and molecular features.
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Research Briefing |
Drain ‘pipes’ behind the nose clear cerebrospinal fluid from the brain
This study reveals a distinctive network of lymphatic vessels at the back of the nose that serves as a major hub for the outflow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to deep cervical lymph nodes in the neck. These deep cervical lymphatics remain intact with ageing, and their pharmacological activation enhanced CSF drainage in mice.
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Nature Podcast |
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023
The team select some of their favourite stories from the past 12 months.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Nature Podcast |
What were some of the biggest stories of 2023? Join us for the Nature Podcast quiz!
In a game of twenty questions our contestants stretch their memories to remember some of the science stories that made headlines this year.
- Shamini Bundell
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Article
| Open AccessProtracted neuronal recruitment in the temporal lobes of young children
A stream of young neurons migrating into the entorhinal cortex (EC) continues postnatally in humans, but not in macaques; these young neurons, which belong to a unique class of local circuit cells, continue to be recruited in the EC during infancy and early childhood.
- Marcos Assis Nascimento
- , Sean Biagiotti
- & Shawn F. Sorrells
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News & Views Forum |
2D materials ratchet up biorealism in computing
A transistor made from atomically thin materials mimics the way in which connections between neurons are strengthened by activity. Two perspectives reveal why physicists and neuroscientists share equal enthusiasm for this feat of engineering.
- Frank H. L. Koppens
- , James B. Aimone
- & Frances S. Chance
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News & Views |
Mysterious ultraslow and ordered activity observed in the cortex
Neurons with a role in navigation fire sequentially in mice, forming patterns that repeat every minute or so — but which are neither spatially organized, nor related to any visible behaviour.
- Gilles Laurent
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