Vivien Chevaleyre was a gifted neuroscientist and electrophysiologist who delighted to follow the less-taken road. We lost him to lung cancer on January 10th, 2024, four days before his 51st birthday. Although his career was cut short, he made a wide range of pioneering discoveries in the fields of synaptic plasticity and hippocampal function. Vivien was an extraordinarily creative neuroscientist who loved the challenge of performing difficult and rigorous experiments that so often led to transformative results ..read more

Infections frequently cause behavioral changes, known as sickness behavior. In a recent study, Yipp and collaborators discovered a sensory circuit that is activated by a bacterial lipopolysaccharide during lung infection and drives sickness behaviors independent of inflammation. Biofilm-producing bacteria, however, avoid activating this lung-brain circuit, resulting in infection without sickness behavior ..read more

Adequate reperfusion after ischemic stroke is a major determinant of functional outcome yet remains unpredictable and insufficient for most survivors. In this issue of Neuron, Binder et al. identify leptomeningeal collaterals (LMCs) in mice and human patients as a key factor in regulating reperfusion and hemorrhagic transformation following stroke ..read more

Animal models are instrumental to understanding the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder, yet translating human behavioral phenotypes remains challenging. Wang et al. leverage a conserved sensorimotor reflex to elucidate synaptic deficits in Scn2a haploinsufficiency and pilot novel rescue strategies ..read more

Maternal well-being is important for the development of the fetus, with a key influence on its nervous system. In this issue of Neuron, Krontira et al. implicate glucocorticoids, the stress hormones, in the regulation of neural stem cell identity and proliferation, with long-lasting consequences on brain architecture and educational attainment ..read more

In a recent issue of Cell, Vargas and colleagues demonstrate that task-driven neural network models are superior at predicting proprioceptive activity in the primate cuneate nucleus and sensorimotor cortex compared with other models. This provides valuable insights for better understanding the proprioceptive pathway ..read more

“Supporting human flourishing” is a goal of governments and societies, yet the construct may appear hard to define. We discuss the emerging science of pleasure and flourishing, insights into the brain mechanisms of meaning making and thriving, and the potential for interdisciplinary studies to advance this promising scientific field ..read more

Scientists face challenges in communicating about their careers in biomedical research to the public, despite the importance of doing so. Here, we discuss tools and resources for outreach, such as posters, videos, and presentations that can be leveraged by scientists to help educate communities about the pivotal role of animals in medical progress ..read more

Cheng et al. report two modes, phasic and tonic, of GABA transductions that alternatively regulate short-term sensory adaptation and long-term neuronal aging in a Caenorhabditis elegans glia-neuron circuit. They propose that targeting glia-neuronal GABAergic transductions could serve as a lifelong strategy for promoting healthy aging and preserving neuronal stability ..read more

Krontira et al. study the effects of glucocorticoids on neurogenesis in human cerebral organoids and mice. They find that glucocorticoids, via ZBTB16, increase PAX6+EOMES+ basal progenitors, a cell type enriched in species with a gyrified brain, and upper-layer neurons. This is associated with beneficial postnatal outcomes such as enhanced cognitive performance ..read more