Zheng et al. uncover the neural basis for specific food preferences, showing that separate thalamic populations mediate intake of high-fat and high-sugar diets. They identify a histamine H3 receptor-mediated circuit that specifically regulates fat consumption in response to orosensory cues, suggesting potential targets for precise weight management.

Animals share common patterns of brain activity across trials and sessions. Exploiting this shared structure improves the prediction of behavior from neural activity, scales across many sessions and brain regions, and offers interpretable alternatives to deep-learning-based foundation models.

Ährlund-Richter et al. show that in mice, discrete subregions of the prefrontal cortex send distinct feedback signals to the primary visual cortex. These pathways differentially modulate visual processing depending on behavioral state, revealing how higher-order cortical areas dynamically influence sensory representations to integrate perception with internal state.

This review by Kipnis et al. explores recent advances in brain fluid dynamics, emphasizing CSF flow’s role in waste clearance, the glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic systems, and neuroimmune interactions, with implications for neurodegenerative and neuroimmune disorders.

Eddings et al. illustrate that synaptic membrane trafficking can be studied with millisecond resolution in resected human brain tissues using the technique “zap-and-freeze” time-resolved electron microscopy. Using this method, they find that synaptic vesicles are recycled via ultrafast endocytosis in human neocortical slices.

In this NeuroResource, Schroeder et al. present a transcriptomic atlas across brain regions and developmental time points in mouse and marmoset. Detailed analysis focused on astrocytes revealed that their embryonically patterned regional heterogeneity changes significantly over the course of postnatal development, with both species conservation and divergence.

Noise damages the cochlea, triggering maladaptive plasticity in the auditory cortex (ACtx) that makes moderate-intensity sounds seem uncomfortably loud. Clayton, Awwad, McGill, et al. show that brief activation of parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory neurons in the ACtx at 40 Hz sustainably reverses this plasticity and restores normal loudness perception for up to 1 week.

Zhou et al. identify a pro-inflammatory C5aR1⁺ microglial subtype enriched in human cerebral edema tissues after TBI and ICH. C5aR1⁺ microglia amplify neuroinflammation, promote neurotoxic astrocyte polarization via LGALS9-CD44, and recruit neutrophils via CCL3/CCL5. Pharmacological C5aR1 inhibition reduces cerebral edema, highlighting a potential therapeutic target.

Schiereck et al. find that expert rats update subjective beliefs to infer hidden task states, a process they show is impaired by inactivation of OFC. Rats naive to hidden states passively adapt to reward statistics. Neural activity in OFC reflected the use of distinct strategies, identifying neural correlates of inference.

Gao et al. reported a comprehensive single-neuron projectome for 18,621 neurons covering the entire mouse cortex, revealing fine-grained organizations of cortico-cortical connectivity and cortico-subcortical projections. Integrative analysis showed a high degree of correlation between cortico-cortical connectivity with calcium activity, gene expression, and electrophysiology.

(Neuron 55, 53–68; July 5, 2007)

Hypertension is a major cause of cognitive decline, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Using scRNA-seq in an angiotensin II mouse model, Schaeffer and Pacholko identify early endothelial, interneuron, and oligodendrocyte vulnerability linked to angiotensin II signaling, revealing molecular pathways that drive later neurovascular dysfunction and cognitive impairment in hypertension.

Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential studies underpinning these claims and find them conceptually and methodologically flawed.

The landmark report on personalized CRISPR genome editing to treat an infant (baby KJ) with a life-threatening liver disease sparked widespread attention, ushering in a new era of precision genetic intervention. This piece discusses the key challenges and opportunities in translating this milestone into treatments for genetic brain disorders.

Through whole-brain neurovascular imaging in larval zebrafish, Sun and Peng et al. show that the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system orchestrates globally patterned pericyte activities through complementary direct NE and indirect glia-relayed actions. Such LC-NE neuron-pericyte coupling exerts global vasoconstrictive drives that coordinate blood flow and support sustained behavioral performance.

Does neural variability reflect random noise or a feature that benefits adaptive behavior? Using intracranial recordings in humans, Terlau et al. demonstrate that neural variability results from the r...

Does neural variability reflect random noise or a feature that benefits adaptive behavior? Using intracranial recordings in humans, Terlau et al. demonstrate that neural variability results from the recurrent connectivity structure along the cortical hierarchy, which supports the spatiotemporal unfolding from perceptual to cognitive processing.

Zhang, Leonard, et al. use high-density direct human brain recordings to reveal how the superior temporal gyrus (STG) detects word boundaries in natural speech and encodes whole auditory word forms. Neural populations dynamically reflect properties of the whole-word units listeners perceive in continuous, connected speech.

Wen et al. reveal that social interaction reduces breast cancer progression by activating ACCGlu→BLAGlu circuits, inhibiting intratumoral sympathetic activity. This neural mechanism enhances antitumor...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord. A important proportion of patients gradually transition into the progressive stage of MS, characterized by continuous neurological decline and limited treatment options.