Nature Neuroscience

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 25 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02285-1 By combining magnetoencephalography and eye tracking, this study sheds light on why people fixate on some parts of natural scenes longer than others. Rather than visual complexity, fixation durations are affected by memory encoding.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 25 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02314-z Lozano et al. show that REM sleep is gated by low-dimensional brainstem network dynamics, in which opposing neuron populations across the midbrain and pons determine when transitions into REM sleep can occur.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 21 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02302-3 Foamy microglia are associated with multiple sclerosis progression, linking phagocytosis, altered lipid metabolism (oxylipins) and lysosomal stress to nonclassical neuroinflammation and disease severity, highlighting potential therapeutic targets.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02319-8 Lesion network mapping (LNM), or atrophy network mapping, has become a widely adopted tool for linking focal brain lesions or neurodegenerative brain clusters, respectively, to distributed functional networks associated with cognitive or clinical deficits. Recent insights, however, suggest that LNM primarily captur…

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02299-9 Tau aggregates disrupt heterochromatin by sequestering H3K9me3, reactivating transposable elements. This generates Z-RNAs, activating ZBP1 to drive neuronal death. ZBP1 haploinsufficiency reverses cognitive decline in aged tau mice, offering a therapeutic target for tauopathies.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 18 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02267-3 Myeloid cells show marked heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease. This study introduces CODEX-CNS, a single-cell spatial proteomics pipeline, and identifies a human microglial subpopulation enriched in Alzheimer’s disease brains that associates with dense amyloid-β plaques.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02269-1 Autism is remarkably heterogeneous, posing a long-standing challenge for linking genetics to brain dynamics. A cross-species study identifies two principal dysconnectivity signatures across 20 mouse models of autism risk, each associated with distinct molecular pathways, and shows analogous connectivity patterns in…

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02282-4 The axon initial segment was known to receive GABAergic synaptic inputs. Yang et al. show that it can be excited directly via specialized ‘axonic spines’. These spines thus boost neuronal firing and act as a fast track to route circuit information.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02287-z Pagani et al. used cross-species fMRI to reveal two autism subtypes, characterized by lower and higher brain connectivity and linked to synaptic and immune-related pathways, respectively.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02300-5 This study reveals that the immune system has a role in driving ALS. These findings link blood immune changes to spinal cord damage and suggest personalized treatments targeting specific immune pathways.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02268-2 Combining connectomics, physiology and behavior, this study shows how the cerebellum decides when to learn. Synchronized climbing-fiber error signals lift an inhibitory signal gate on Purkinje cells, enabling synaptic plasticity and motor adaptation.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02296-y The authors report surprising covariations between subthreshold activity of single V1 neurons and behavior, demonstrating that interactions between external sensory inputs and internal states are implemented by a nonlinear modulatory signal in V1.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02294-0 Intracranial recordings in children revealed neural signals predicting attentional lapses. Closed-loop stimulation rescued performance and scalp EEG enabled noninvasive modulation, identifying a reproducible marker of attentional control.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02293-1 The authors developed an optics-free spatial genomics method to map mouse brain aging, revealing region-specific inflammation and showing that lymphocytes promote harmful interferon signaling, whereas their loss preserves ependymal cells and reshapes glial states.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02292-2 La Greca and colleagues show that by witnessing a conspecific’s actions, mice learn how actions can lead to shared food, forming flexible social action–outcome associations that require dorsal CA1 and bias future prosocial or selfish behaviors.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02281-5 This study shows that brain signals can identify and amplify the voice a person wants to hear in a crowded scene. Choudhari et al. provide evidence that brain-controlled hearing can improve speech perception and clarity in noisy environments.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 08 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02306-z A couple of couplings

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 08 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02305-0 The choreography of cerebral vasculature development

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 08 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02304-1 Neurons for seeing and imagining

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 08 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02307-y Screening for photoreceptor survival