WiNUK

Is academia really the career for you? Four women in neuroscience, from PhD student to Reader, reflect on the highs, challenges and unexpected sacrifices of life in research and share the advice they wish they could give their younger selves.

The human brain is widely considered to be the most complex object in the universe, making the race to identify, diagnose, and treat neurodegenerative diseases crucial. In the 1990s, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was diagnosed using cognitive tests and brain imaging, often requiring a post-mortem autopsy for a definitive diagnosis. Treatments focused on managing symptoms rather than targeting the caus…

Being identified as gifted sets expectations that can follow you for decades. What happens when the pond gets bigger and you are no longer the biggest fish in it?

As neuroscience research expands our understanding of dementia, it is becoming increasingly clear that the disease affects more than memory alone. Exploring the biological, psychological and social realities of dementia reveals a complex disease where women remain central.

Kim reflects candidly on navigating academia alongside motherhood - including having children during the COVID-19 pandemic, managing career transitions, and balancing research leadership with family life.

The discussion of differences between the female and male brain has long been a subject of debate, extending well beyond the neuroscience community. Yet, the question of whether these differences exist at all is often treated as settled. Recent research suggests that even such fundamental metrics as sex-based differences in overall brain volume become negligible once corrected for body size. Scie…

Picture the last conversation you had with a friend. Maybe it was over Sunday brunch, drinks after work, or just a quick phone call. The conversation flowed — comments, quips, and questions came one right after another. To us, this type of back-and-forth feels effortless, but to neuroscientists, it has been puzzling for decades. Everyday conversation consists of two main processes working in rapi…

What do tennis and academia have in common? More than you might expect. In this reflective piece, the author explores how lessons learned through years of competitive sport -perseverance, discipline, and the ability to move on from setbacks - continue to shape their approach to research. From match points to p-values, it's a thoughtful reflection on the value of trusting the process and playing t…

For years, antioxidants have been marketed as tiny defenders that protect our bodies, and especially our brains, from damage and ageing. Since berries are packed with colourful antioxidant compounds, it seems logical that eating more of them should improve our brain health. But does the science actually support the hype? The answer is more complicated than wellness culture would suggest. While be…

Imagine you are four years old. A researcher shows you two dolls: Sally and Anne. Sally places a marble in a basket, then leaves the room. While she is gone, Anne moves the marble to a box. Sally comes back. The researcher turns to you and asks: where will Sally look for her marble? If you are four, there is a good chance you will point to the box, where the marble physically is. If you are five,…

Why do people trust science and what happens when that trust begins to erode? Drawing on a World Science Festival panel, this review explores what neuroscience can learn about building credibility, communicating uncertainty, and earning trust in an increasingly sceptical world.

How do we re-learn how to play as adults, when we have been taught it is an activity just for children? In a productivity-driven world, play is often dismissed as unimportant, yet affective neuroscience theories suggest it is fundamental.

On the 5th of November 2007, Alan Burgess suffered from a stroke, changing his relationship with the world permanently in the space of a morning. However, this didn’t happen in a way that most people would expect. He wasn’t left paralysed or with impaired vision; it was something much more bizarre. Alan’s stroke had left him with a syndrome called hemispatial neglect, where the left side of the w…

On topic with our Menopause and the Brain event on Monday, Lucy Browning explores the overlooked link between menopause, oestrogen and long-term brain health.

Hannah shares her journey to building her own independent research programme. She reflects on family planning in academia, job insecurity and the pressure to constantly perform.

Ever turned a complex topic into a story just to remember it? Laura Bilbao Broch dives into the science of narrative learning, exploring why our brains are wired to learn through stories and what that means for education and science communication.

Imagine clenching your fist so tightly it hurts - but the hand was amputated years ago. This unusual phenomenon, known as phantom limb syndrome, challenges everything we know about how the body reflects physical reality. Patients with phantom limb syndrome can feel movements, sensations and even debilitating pain in limbs that have been removed. As new technologies begin to interact more directly…

“Is it that time of the month yet?” How many times have we heard that one? Emotional symptoms tied to menstruation are often dismissed as “just hormones”, minimizing their credibility and impact on women. However, researchers may have just found one of the key molecular mechanisms driving these behavior patterns in the brain. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe mood disorder estim…

In our latest Spotlight On, we chat with Yolanda Ohene about MRI innovation, neurodegeneration research, and science communication.

Have you ever read a novel and felt as if you had stepped through the pages into a fictional world? Perhaps you can almost taste the salt in the air when reading about the seaside, or you feel enchanted by the magical realm described in a fantasy book. When I need a mental diversion, I crave nothing more than to delve into fictional worlds and lose myself in the pages. That is one of the many rea…