The interoceptive origin of reinforcement learning This Review article represents a true quest for the Holy Grail: the origin of reward! In short, reward originates deep within our bodies, in our viscera, and not in the external environment! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/n

Very excited to share my second postdoc, now out in Science Advances! We used targeted snRNA-seq to profile four major subnuclei of the primate across three species (including humans). 1/13 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Sad day for peope who still believe brain areas are the primary organizational units of function in the brain. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

First day of the #senc 20th meeting in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This morning it has been a great symposium of the neuroevodevo PRamón Network, paying tribute to Prof. Rudolf Nieuwenhuys. Congratulations to the organizers @loretamedinah.bsky.social and Nerea Moreno and to all speakers!

Remarkable. Uncontrollable laughing or crying can happen *without* emotion ("pseudobulbar affect"). Here's a video of one individual whose crying is triggered by real or imagined rubbing of his finger & thumb. Intense response but not sadness. /1 static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10...

1 To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised! 🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

New paper out in @pnas.org Thalamic CGRP neurons form a spinothalamic pain pathway relaying pain signal to the amygdala & insular, but not sensory cortex to encode the affective dimension of pain. Huge congrats to first author Sukjae Kang & coauthors. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Which neural circuits allow memory retrieval to influence behaviors? This study shows how #fear #memory activation initiates & sustains #FreezingBehavior in mice via the interplay of #norepinephrine & activation of different prefrontal #neuron subtypes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3TGqt7a

How does the human brain coordinate hierarchical cortical development? Our work in Nature Neuroscience identifies a role for thalamocortical structural connectivity in the expression of hierarchical periods of cortical plasticity & environmental receptivity in youth 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/3 First evidence of anxiety in snails They exhibit fear responses hours after the source of their anxiety is removed. These responses can be reduced with an anxiolytic, such as alprazolam. They have also demonstrated high-level learning. (paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Alert! ... for the child development world! @fluxsociety.bsky.social @fitngin.bsky.social ‪ The Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study has released its first data wave - it’s massive. Check here: docs.hbcdstudy.org and here: nbdc-datahub.org Here’s why it matters 🧠🍼

NEW PAPER🎺 How does cognition determine an individual’s fitness? A systematic review of the links between cognition, behaviour and fitness in non-human animals Lots of studies try to explain how cognition might evolve, by taking a behavioural ecology approach Has this approach made any progress?🧵

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Wonderful!

Congratulacions!

Fotaza de mi abuelo!😍

This is a wonderful material for working with the students AI usefulness!!! 😉

Music is universal. It varies more within than between societies and can be described by a few key dimensions. That’s because brains operate by using the raw materials of music: oscillations (brainwaves). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #neuroscience

Our Lab’s five years of work is out! www.cell.com/cell-reports... 🥳 Vasopressin (AVP) excites BNST neurons via oxytocin receptor (and not V1aR or V1bR) 🔬AVP excites CRF-BNST and OTR-BNST neurons 🧠 AVP inputs from SCN and SON excite BNST via OTR 🐁 OTR-BNST neurons reduce anxious arousal in male rats

High-throughput single-cell CRISPRi screens stratify neurodevelopmental functions of schizophrenia-associated genes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.13.659629v1

The cortical scene processing network emerges in infancy, prior to independent navigation experience https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.16.655720v1

Less than two months before our book is finally released. If you are interested in bird behaviour or comparative neurobiology and want to learn more, this is the book for you! mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273... And the ebook will be open access! #neuroskyence #ornithology #birds 🧪🧠

New preprint from lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Sexual dimorphism arises not through wholesale transcriptional reprogramming, but via selective sex-specific survival of neurons defined by birth order and shared developmental programs.

🌊 Hoy, 8 de junio, se celebra el #DíaMundialdelosOcéanos 🔬 El #CSIC trabaja para mejorar nuestra comprensión sobre los océanos y concienciar a la sociedad sobre su protección y conservación Dentro🧵👇

Este lunes 9 participarán dos juezas palestinas en un acto que hemos organizado en Valencia desde Juezas y Jueces para la Democracia. No dejemos de hablar de Gaza hasta lograr parar las atrocidades genocidas. Nuestra voz vale mucho si la unimos a la de millones de personas.

Journal of Comparative Neurology | Systems Neuroscience Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

It's an interesting phenomenon that some of the deepest questions about how life works have become what looks like impossibly obscure molecular biology stuck right at the back of Nature, which will never get covered by the science media. Like this. /1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Now we just have to figure out the implications for understanding their brains and brain evolution!

Today in @nature.com , we report a spatial single-cell atlas of human cortical development, revealing surprisingly early specification of human cortical layers and areas. We built an interactive browser to explore the spatial data: walshlab.org/research/cor... Paper link below 👇

I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8) rdcu.be/el19t

The brains of amniotes (such a modern groups with amniotic sacs like reptiles) appear to be considerably reorganized relative to other tetrapods (like amphibians). Check the amazing work by @edesfilis.bsky.social and Loreta Medina.

Happy to share our latest article, out now in at Scientific Data @natureportfolio.nature.com, presenting a single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of the shark retina. 🦈👁️🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to share a short commentary I wrote remembering Professor Rudolf Nieuwenhuys rdcu.be/ejuRl which was published by Brain Structure and Function @springernature.com , within the collection Rudolf Nieuwenhuys: Neurofascination link.springer.com/collections/...

A stressed agency Stress exerts opposing effects on two amygdala–striatal pathways to disrupt agency and promote habit Great achievement 👏 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks to all who contributed to the special issue of Cerebral Cortex honoring my career academic.oup.com/cercor/issue...

Happy to see my PhD work in the Fleischmann lab at Brown University @carneyinstitute.bsky.social published in @natureneuro.bsky.social! -Single-cell genomics of the mouse olfactory cortex reveals contrasts with neocortex and ancestral signatures of cell type evolution nature.com/articles/s41...

Lots of good preparatory work done in Lisbon, looking forward to what is to come! #AffectEvo

Delighted to see part of my PhD project, supervised by @edesfilis.bsky.social and @loretamedinah.bsky.social, published as our contribution out in "Dopaminoceptive Forebrain Regions Research topic" ✨🧠 @frontiersin.bsky.social @irblleida.bsky.social @udl.cat www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...

We invite you to @eseb2025.bsky.social in Barcelona 😁 With 51 symposia at a unique location and around 2000 delegates expected, this is shaping up to be the biggest ESEB meeting ever! ESEB members are entitled to reduced registration fee - we look forward to seeing you there - don't miss out!

Great discussions emerging from Working Group 1! #AffectEvo-Lisbon25 #AffectEvo

Our paper @dulaclab.bsky.social on social homeostasis is online today! We characterized “social rebound” behavior after social isolation in multiple mouse strains and revealed its neural basis. Intriguingly, soft touch plays a key role in satisfying social need! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New papers in Science provide evidence for the convergent development and evolution of neurons and their connections in the bird and mammalian pallia, highlighting the need for multiple perspectives in brain comparative studies. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/41xuqjl

It's the post-"standard model" age! Our Preview of a fantastic new study from Yi Zhong's lab on the role of the hippocampus in updating remote memories. Fun putting this together with Ali Golbabaei. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kZ4f3BtfH...

Check out the January 2025 issue of TINS: www.cell.com/issue/S0166-... Free featured articles & more: cell.com/trends/neuro... Cover article: "Development and function of the medial amygdala" by N. Prakash, A. Abu Irqeba & J. Corbin @thecorbinlab.bsky.social www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

El passat novembre va faltar Rudolf Nieuwenhuys, una eminència mundial en el camp de la neuroanatomia a qui Mètode va tindre el plaer d'entrevistar. Us deixem ací baix l'entrevista que li van fer les companyes @loretamedinah.bsky.social i @edesfilis.bsky.social👇

El pasado noviembre falleció Rudolf Nieuwenhuys, una eminencia mundial en el campo de la neuroanatomía a quien Mètode tuvo el placer de entrevistar. Os dejamos aquí abajo la entrevista que le hicieron las compañeras @loretamedinah.bsky.social y @edesfilis.bsky.social 👇

Very cool new work by Jonny Kohl's lab on how hunger promotes infanticide dependent on the estrus cycle in mice. When hungry, Agrp neurons in the hypothalamus arcuate release NPY onto the medial preoptic area, promoting an infanticide aggressive state www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Every government needs effective science advisers; not every scientist is a born adviser but schooling and practice can help to bridge the gap, as we argue in this week’s Nature’s editorial @natureportfolio.bsky.social 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Kudos to @elliescerri.bsky.social & the whole Human Palaeo-Systems team for organising a conference on ‘West Africa and the origins of human kind’, providing a forum giving much needed attention to this area (so much to learn!), and a platform for a diverse range of scholars & voices 👏👏

Early-life stress impairs development of functional interactions and neuronal activity within prefrontal-amygdala networks in vivo https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.04.626305v1