Anne Churchland

1 month ago | thetransmitter.org | Calli McMurray |Anne Churchland |Felicia Davatolhagh

A highly publicized new paper that reported high levels of microplastics in human brain tissue contains duplicated images, according to the study’s principal investigator. The duplicates likely do not affect the main findings of the work, two microplastics researchers who were not involved in the study told The Transmitter, but the amount of microplastics may have been overestimated because of other methodological issues.

Jul 29, 2024 | thetransmitter.org | Anne Churchland |Felicia Davatolhagh |Daniel Aharoni |Angie Voyles Askham

A newly launched research center in Nigeria could offer a model for expanding neuroscience across the continent. A newly launched research center in Nigeria could offer a model for expanding neuroscience across the continent. By By , An omitted citation in a high-profile paper led us to examine our own practices and to help others adopt tools that promote citation diversity.

Jul 23, 2024 | thetransmitter.org | Holly Barker |Lauren Schenkman |Jill Adams |Anne Churchland

Before Carl Linnaeus established his universal system for naming plants, botany was a confusing field. Species were “discovered” multiple times, while papers that used unfamiliar monikers were lost. To complicate matters further, different species featured the same common name—the bluebell, for instance—in different parts of the world. Nowadays the same problem plagues neuroimaging research, which has evolved from focusing on individual regions to interacting networks.

Jul 23, 2024 | thetransmitter.org | Jill Adams |Holly Barker |Anne Churchland |Felicia Davatolhagh

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 22 July. Contributing writer Share this article: Tags: Spectrum, Autism, Science and society, Spotted Variants of the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2 are associated with language skills, but not with overall communication abilities, in school-age children with autism.

Jul 22, 2024 | thetransmitter.org | Anne Churchland |Felicia Davatolhagh |Richard Drury |Megan Peters

One day last year, we opened a journal web page and were excited to find a long-awaited paper about a particular brain area’s role in a cognitive computation. The authors, based on talks they had given at conferences, had a different take on this brain area compared with another high-profile paper, and we were curious to learn more. But our hopes were soon dashed: The new paper didn’t cite the previous one, published only a year before and with female first and last authors.