Neural networks

Recent articles

Illustration of two neon-toned sets of concentric circles overlapping, with bright spots where they intersect.

Are Brains and AI Converging?—an excerpt from ‘ChatGPT and the Future of AI: The Deep Language Revolution’

In his new book, to be published next week, computational neuroscience pioneer Sejnowski tackles debates about AI’s capacity to mirror cognitive processes.

By Terrence Sejnowski
21 October 2024 | 12 min read
Research image of brain scans showing the structural integrity of white-matter tracts.

Repeat scans reveal brain changes that precede childbirth

A detailed look at a “pregnant brain” highlights a need to investigate the neural alterations that occur during a transition experienced by nearly 140 million people worldwide each year.

By Shaena Montanari
16 September 2024 | 9 min listen
Illustration of three-dimensional blocks with wavy edges assembled together like lego bricks.

Neural-network analysis posits how brains build skills

Discrete computational subunits may offer mix-and-match motifs for cognition.

By Alla Katsnelson
7 August 2024 | 7 min read
Research image of a variety of brain atlases.

New ‘decoder’ tool translates functional neuroimaging terms across labs

The compendium of brain-parcellation atlases makes it possible to compare large-scale network data, which often involves different and overlapping network names.

By Holly Barker
23 July 2024 | 4 min read
Illustration of a series of squares containing distinct patterns.

Can an emerging field called ‘neural systems understanding’ explain the brain?

This mashup of neuroscience, artificial intelligence and even linguistics and philosophy of mind aims to crack the deep question of what "understanding" is, however un-brain-like its models may be.

By George Musser
5 June 2024 | 21 min listen
A hand holds multi-colored cubes.

Should we use the computational or the network approach to analyze functional brain-imaging data—why not both?

Emerging methods make it possible to combine the two tactics from opposite ends of the analytic spectrum, enabling scientists to have their cake and eat it too.

By Mac Shine
13 May 2024 | 7 min listen
Headshots of Larry Abbott, Terry Senjowski and Haim Sompolinsky.

Theoretical and computational neuroscientists net 2024 Brain Prize

Larry Abbott, Terrence Sejnowski and Haim Sompolinsky split $1.45 million in recognition of their decades of work uncovering principles of brain structure and function.

By Gina Jiménez
5 March 2024 | 3 min read
Scientists collaborating in an imagined lab space, with tiny skiers on slopes in the distance.

The origins of COSYNE: Building a community

Thirty years ago, theoretical and experimental neuroscientists rarely went to the same conferences. So I helped launch a meeting to get them talking.

By Anthony Zador
27 February 2024 | 7 min read
A colorful silhouette of a hand.

Glow-in-the-dark labels accelerate AI-assisted animal motion tracking

The labeling technique trains machine-learning algorithms with larger datasets and less effort than ever before.

By Celia Ford
13 November 2023 | 5 min read
Close up of blood vessels shows probe sticking to vessel wall.

Brain-surgery-free probes can record single-neuron activity

The new devices, which monitor neural activity from within blood vessels, show long-term stability in rats and could one day deliver electrical stimulation.

By Charles Q. Choi
15 August 2023 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

New tissue-clearing techniques let microscopes peer deeper into living brains

Washing mouse brain tissue with a blood protein or complex sugar can illuminate cells 550 micrometers into the cortex without compromising its normal physiology.

By Calli McMurray
18 October 2024 | 0 min watch
A younger looking set of hands holds an older looking set of hands.

New catalog charts familial ties from autism to 90 other conditions

The research tool reveals associations stretching across three generations.

By Charles Q. Choi
17 October 2024 | 4 min read
Illustration of three columns of text with certain passages underlined and circled.

This paper changed my life: ‘Spontaneous cortical activity reveals hallmarks of an optimal internal model of the environment,’ from the Fiser Lab

Fiser’s work taught me how to think about grounding computational models in biologically plausible implementations.

By Megan Peters
16 October 2024 | 6 min listen