WiNUK

For decades, Alzheimer’s disease was largely viewed as an inevitable consequence of ageing. But in 1991, Dr Alison Goate and her team uncovered a genetic mutation linked to familial Alzheimer’s disease, a breakthrough that transformed modern neuroscience. In this piece, Élise Goate explores the discovery that reshaped Alzheimer’s research, the legacy of the Amyloid Hypothesis, and the ongoing imp…

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain by David Eagleman was the book that first introduced me to neuroscience at the age of 14. Its accessibility and sheer enjoyability remain striking to me even today, making it a compelling example of science writing that sparks curiosity and continues to feel relevant years after publication. What distinguishes the book is Eagleman's ability t…

Busy doesn’t always mean productive. This blog explores “structured procrastination”, the hidden habit of avoiding difficult priorities by filling time with other useful tasks. Blending neuroscience, psychology, and personal insight, it unpacks why high-achievers often mistake motion for progress.

Let’s say you come across two neuroimaging studies, both reporting an effect in the amygdala. While one study links it to fear conditioning, the other links it to predicting uncertainty. Although this might seem comparable, the amygdala isn’t a single, uniform structure - it contains subregions with slightly different functions. So if those two studies are using inconsistent boundaries, the same …

Laura Rich reflects on career stability, teaching, and the challenges of planning for the future in academia.

In this blog, Riya Verma reflects on her experience as an eldest daughter in a South-Asian household, exploring how early responsibility, cultural expectations, and hyper-independence can shape avoidant attachment and adult relationships.

In this interview, Dr Lauren Gascoyne discusses OPM-MEG, a cutting-edge, wearable neuroimaging technique that measures the brain’s magnetic fields in more naturalistic settings. She shares how it compares to traditional methods, her role in developing the technology, and reflects on her career path and the importance of careful science communication.

In a previous blog (How Pregnancy Reshapes the Brain: A Groundbreaking Study), we explored one of the first studies to map the brain across an entire pregnancy. That research followed a single participant in extraordinary detail, revealing widespread reductions in grey matter and cortical thickness alongside increases in white matter integrity as pregnancy progressed.  Importantly, that study est…

Manifestation is everywhere right now. Can visualising success really change your life? Or is this just repackaged wishful thinking?

In this blog, Pam Walker reflects on living with multiple sclerosis since adolescence, offering insight into long-term adaptation, resilience, and the often-overlooked gaps in psychological and practical support.

Distress isn’t always a sign of personal weakness - often it reflects the pressures of the world we live in. This piece looks at why systemic change matters.

Discover the real science behind stammering and why understanding it can transform how we support those who stammer.

In October, I came across the Instagram page of Neuro-Psych of Women (@neuropsychofwomen), a student organisation founded in Glasgow that seeks to highlight the inequities women have historically faced in research. As I read through their posts, I felt an immediate sense of recognition; many of the frustrations I had experienced as an undergraduate were being articulated clearly and openly. Even …

Read, write and comment on blog posts from our community... WiNUK blog posts cover a variety of topics, from advice on tackling the unique challenges women face in neuroscience, to inspiring career stories and summaries of new neuroscientific research. Reality covers everything to do with being a neuroscientist, both reflective pieces and advice. Research brings you the latest neuroscience news a…

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The Struggles of Balancing Work and Family Life continues with Gareth Hathway, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham. In this interview, Gareth reflects on his journey from undergraduate studies in Cardiff to postdoctoral research at UCL and his current role in Nottingham, alongside the deeply personal choices he and his wife made about parenting, career progression, and finan…

As women, we often view our hormones as things that hinder us, or that we need to learn to manage. With hormone-driven mood swings, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), menstrual pain, and an abundance of women’s health related conditions (that aren’t always taken seriously by medical professionals and society), it can be easy to feel frustrated by our hormones and the, often negative, role we perceive t…

I remember having to beg my parents for a DVD player when I was a child. Tired of tracking down cartoons on TV programming, I wanted my own on-demand entertainment. With my parents being apprehensive at first, we entered a long, arduous negotiation over time limits, school work, and chores. When I finally got the player, I felt like a new world had opened up to me; like no technology would ever t…

We are back with our 'Spotlight On' interview series, shedding light on inspiring women working in the field of neuroscience, and reflecting on their distinct backgrounds and career journeys. The questions posed to these individuals explore the themes of job perks and challenges, developing new skills, inspirations in the neuroscience field, and goals for the future. Stay tuned to see new intervi…

Cinema has long been one of humanity’s shared pastimes, serving as a window into a plethora of different worlds that we can traverse as a mode of escapism. Whether it’s the high emotion and drama of Titanic, or the evergreen, incisive comedy of Mean Girls, movies capture nearly the entire spectrum of human experience and offer a sense of community. Alfred Hitchcock once said that “creation is bas…