The Transmitter

Audio research news

Science EN ↓ 300 episodes

Your latest update from The Transmitter, an essential resource for the neuroscience community, dedicated to helping scientists at all career stages stay current and build connections. Read more: https://www.thetransmitter.org/

Author

The Transmitter

Category

Science

Podcast website

www.thetransmitter.org

Latest episode

Jul 6, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

Long-sought walking circuit found in fruit flies 13.05.2026

The neuronal circuit controlling repetitive locomotion patterns in any animal has been a mystery until now.

The next unit of science: Is the scientific paper due to be replaced? 11.05.2026

Artificial intelligence is pushing scientific publishing to the brink. For a field as sprawling as neuroscience, the crisis may also be an opportunity to finally connect findings across subfields.

'Slightly unhinged' federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities 07.05.2026

The meeting last week sparked concerns about the latest Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s ability to perform its core function: developing a strategy to support autism research.

Microglia in hypothalamus help kick-start puberty 06.05.2026

In a “surprise” role, the cells regulate the neurons that produce gonadotropin-releasing hormone.

Gene activity in human cortex shows striking sex differences 05.05.2026

The results mark a “dramatic shift” in how neuroscientists think about sex differences, and they may help explain sex biases in certain neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate 23.04.2026

Face patch cells in macaque monkeys initially respond to images of any object but rapidly transition to attend to faces exclusively, a new study finds.

Frameshift: How Mia Thomaidou tapped a fellowship to connect neuroscience to criminal justice 21.04.2026

As a fellow at the Dana Foundation, she merged two familiar passions and discovered a new one: science philanthropy.

To understand decision-making, we need to truly challenge lab animals 20.04.2026

Complex, multidimensional tasks that unfold over time could reveal how different brain areas work together to support decisions.

Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish 16.04.2026

Estropipate, paclitaxel and levocarnitine altered behaviors tied to SCN2A and DYRK1A variants specifically, a new open-source platform revealed.

Arousal neurons' activity explains brain's blood flow dynamics in mice 15.04.2026

The findings could influence how researchers interpret signals from techniques that use blood flow as a surrogate for neuronal activity.

This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli 14.04.2026

A 1960s study by Kelleher and Morse found that lever pressing in squirrel monkeys depended not on whether they received a reward or shock, but on the rules of the task. This taught Calipari to think deeply about factors that influence how behavior is generated and maintained.

Why neural foundation models work, and what they might-and might not-teach us about the brain 13.04.2026

These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?

Error equation predicts brain's ability to generalize 10.04.2026

Four statistical measurements of neural network geometry capture how well brains and artificial networks use what they already know to solve new problems, a study suggests.

Embrace complexity to improve the translatability of basic neuroscience 09.04.2026

Researchers must learn to view heterogeneity as an essential feature of the systems they study and a central consideration in experimental design, not a variable to control for or reduce.

Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business 19.03.2026

Her favorite part of research was talking about it. So she left academia and turned that passion into a successful company.

Signs of aging vary across brain cells 18.03.2026

Senescence presents differently depending on the cell type, toxic trigger and neighboring cells, two new studies find.

Neuroscientists challenge NIH's proposed human-data access policy 17.03.2026

The changes would restrict the sharing of human neuroimaging, transcriptomic and genetic data.

Large-scale neuroimaging datasets often lack information specific to women's health, constraining AI's analysis potential 16.03.2026

Addressing this gap will require collecting widespread data on pregnancy, menopause and other life events women experience—and could bring us closer to the “holy grail” of linking brain and behavior.

Remembering Annette Dolphin, who helped explain gabapentin's effects 13.03.2026

The “intuitive” neuropharmacologist pushed against the status quo.

Revised statistical bar extracts less-common variants from autism genetics studies 12.03.2026

Adjusting genetic analyses could help plug autism’s heritability gap, according to a new preprint.

This paper changed my life: Talia Lerner reflects on dopamine neuron diversity and the value of simple experiments 11.03.2026

In a 2011 Neuron study, Stephan Lammel and his colleagues showed that dopamine neurons with different projections have different physiological properties. The work inspired Lerner to think about how to challenge widely held assumptions in the field.

Hippocampus builds reputation as 'general-purpose statistical learning machine' 10.03.2026

New cross-species findings may help settle a long-standing debate about whether the hippocampus is required for passive learning.

Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate 09.03.2026

Finding creative ways to keep early-career researchers in academia—for example, through part-time roles—can help the field weather the storm.

Shifting neural code powers speech comprehension 05.03.2026

Dynamic coding helps explain how the brain processes multiple features of speech—from the smallest units of sounds to full sentences—simultaneously.

Astrocytes orchestrate oxytocin's social effects in mice 04.03.2026

The cells amplify oxytocin—and may be responsible for sex differences in social behavior, two preprints find.

Listen to the Audio research news podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.