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Panels showing different kinds of microglia
Mapping Tool Reveals Microglia’s Shape-Shifting Secrets
The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.
Mapping Tool Reveals Microglia’s Shape-Shifting Secrets
Mapping Tool Reveals Microglia’s Shape-Shifting Secrets

The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.

The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.

cell & molecular biology, neuroscience

Portrait of Chuck Stevens
Famed Neuroscientist Charles Stevens Dies at 88
Lisa Winter | Nov 9, 2022 | 3 min read
His work blended biology and the methods of theoretical physics to explain neural networks. 
Fluorescent cells in culture connected by tunneling nanotubules
SARS-CoV-2 Could Use Nanotubes to Infect the Brain
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jul 21, 2022 | 4 min read
Stressed cells can form hollow actin bridges to neighbors to get help, but the virus may hijack these tiny tunnels for its own purposes, a study suggests.
MUSCLE CONTROL: Researchers pinpoint how C. elegans (pictured) manages to expel food from its mouth.
The Science Behind How Roundworms Spit
Diana Kwon | Dec 1, 2021 | 4 min read
By viewing countless hours of expectorating worms, researchers discover a unique way in which neurons control the movement of muscles.
An illustration of a yeast cell (right) and a human neuron (left) showing the processes/features that are similar in the two
Infographic: Modeling Neurodegenerative Diseases with Yeast
Mahlon Collins | Oct 1, 2021 | 3 min read
Conservation of structures and functions between single-celled fungi and human cells allow researchers to probe the brain.
Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known as Baker's or Brewer's yeast.
Yeast Models Provide New Insights into Neurodegenerative Diseases
Mahlon Collins | Oct 1, 2021 | 10+ min read
The single-celled fungus allows researchers to study Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and other brain diseases with unparalleled speed and scale.
a drawing of black goggles receiving a beam of light than is then transmitted to an eyeball. from the retina there is a zoom-in of blue and purple cells and purple viruses
Blind Patient Recovers Partial Vision with Optogenetics
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | May 24, 2021 | 4 min read
After receiving an intraocular injection of the gene for a light-sensitive protein, a 58-year-old man diagnosed with the neurodegenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa was able to locate objects on a table using engineered goggles.
Can Single Cells Learn?
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2021 | 10+ min read
A controversial idea from the mid-20th century is attracting renewed attention from researchers developing theories for how cognition arises with or without a brain.
Infographic: Investigating Whether Single Cells Learn
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2021 | 2 min read
Historical and modern experiments have hinted that unicelluar organisms can learn from their experiences, but the idea still has its critics.
Contributors
Asher Jones and Kerry Grens | Apr 1, 2021 | 3 min read
Meet some of the people featured in the April 2021 issue of The Scientist.
Mary Jeanne Kreek, heroin, addiction, methadone, drug addiction, The Rockefeller University,
Mary Jeanne Kreek, Methadone Developer, Dies at 84
Asher Jones | Mar 31, 2021 | 2 min read
A physician and neurobiologist at the Rockefeller University who specialized in addiction research, Kreek was best known for her work on developing the treatment for heroin addiction.
neurological disorder, brain disease, Q&A, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, neurodegeneration, blood-brain barrier, sex
Sex of Human Cells Matters in Studying Neurological Disease
Amanda Heidt | Mar 18, 2021 | 5 min read
Authors of a new review urge researchers to consider how the chromosomal sex of a cell affects experiments in research on neurodegeneration.
early-life stress, histone, chromatin, epigenetics, epigenetic modification, methylation, DNA, protein, stress, adversity, mice, genetics, genomics
Early-Life Stress Exerts Long-Lasting Effects Via Epigenome
Asher Jones | Mar 18, 2021 | 5 min read
In mice, epigenetic marks made on histones during infancy influence depression-like behavior during adulthood. A drug that reverses the genomic tags appears to undo the damage.
Gene-Edited Organoids Explore Neanderthal Brain Function
Jef Akst | Feb 12, 2021 | 3 min read
Using CRISPR to swap an archaic variant of the NOVA1 gene into human stem cells, researchers create organoids with neurodevelopmental differences from those carrying modern DNA.
Editor’s Picks of The Scientist’s Best Infographics of 2020
Jef Akst | Dec 15, 2020 | 2 min read
This year’s most captivating illustrations tell stories from the micro scale—such as newborn neurons in the adult brain and bacteria in the infant gut—to the scale of entire ecosystems, including reintroduced predators and rising seas.
Blood Transplants from Active Mice Give Brain Boost to Others
Lisa Winter | Jul 12, 2020 | 2 min read
The researchers behind the results propose that an exercise-induced protein in circulation is responsible for the benefits.
Did Contaminated Water Exacerbate Brazilian Babies’ Zika Symptoms?
Ashley Yeager | Jun 1, 2020 | 4 min read
Elevated levels of a neurotoxin in northeastern Brazil’s drinking water and a high incidence of microcephaly in the region led scientists to look for a link, and they found one.
What Do New Neurons in the Brains of Adults Actually Do?
Ashley Yeager | May 1, 2020 | 10+ min read
Adult neurogenesis, already appreciated for its role in learning and memory, also participates in mental health and possibly even attention, new research suggests.
Infographic: How Adult-Born Neurons Integrate into the Brain
Ashley Yeager | May 1, 2020 | 2 min read
Cutting-edge microscopy is revealing how new neurons made in adult mice’s brains tap into existing neuronal connections.
Lost Smell and Taste Hint COVID-19 Can Target the Nervous System
Ashley Yeager | Mar 24, 2020 | 5 min read
The symptoms suggest SARS-CoV-2 might infect neurons, raising questions about whether there could be effects on the brain that play a role in patients’ deaths, but the data are preliminary.
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