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DANNCE enables robust 3D tracking of animals’ limbs and other features in naturalistic environments by making use of a deep learning approach that incorporates geometric reasoning. DANNCE is demonstrated on behavioral sequences from rodents, marmosets, and chickadees.

Olfactory perception of food-derived odors influences feeding behavior, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prolonged exposure to food odor suppresses food intake and body weight gain by activating an olfactory bulb–hypothalamus circuit.

A comprehensive analysis of models of brain metastasis and multiple cohorts of patient samples identifies a targetable molecular mechanism underlying the resistance to whole-brain radiotherapy that can inform patient selection for personalized radiotherapy.

Groos et al. show that lateral habenula activity reflects individual risk preference before action selection. This activity is modulated by behavior-relevant synaptic input from the medial hypothalamus capable of glutamate and GABA co-release.

Glutamatergic neurons in the parvocellular part of the medial vestibular nucleus mediate motion-induced hypothermia and can be targeted to prevent diet-induced obesity.

Behavioural experiments in mice demonstrate that GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric acid-expressing), glutamatergic and serotonergic neurons in the median raphe nucleus have distinct and complementary functions in regulating decision-making resulting in flexible behavioural strategies.

Maternal vaccination with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 transiently enhances hippocampal neurogenesis and working memory in early postnatal offspring mice without inducing neurodevelopmental risk, thereby providing foundational evidence for its potential neuroprotective benefits.

Sequencing the transcriptomes of more than 100 species of alga yields new channelrhodopsins with promising properties for optogenetics. A far red–shifted channelrhodopsin, Chrimson, opens up new behavioral capabilities in Drosophila, and alongside a fast yet light-sensitive blue channelrhodopsin, Chronos, enables independent excitation of two neuronal populations in brain slices.

Parasitoids exploit host bodies for reproduction, selecting for host defences. A new host defence is reported, in which adult Drosophila accelerate mating behaviour at the sight of certain parasitoid wasps, mediated by the upregulation of a nervous system gene that encodes a 41-amino acid micropeptide.

A double-transgenic mouse model that enables monitoring or manipulation of dopamine and serotonin simultaneously in the brain’s nucleus accumbens shows that these neuromodulators have opponent roles in reward learning.

Researchers identify a transcriptional network engaged in stress-resilient mice that is regulated by a previously unstudied transcription factor, Zfp189, and elucidate molecular mechanisms controlling this network and resilience behavior.

Caloric restriction improves Alzheimer’s Disease outcomes in mice, but this diet not only reduces calories, but imposes a prolonged fast between meals. Here, the authors show this fast is essential to improve Alzheimer’s pathology and cognition.

Anxiety-like behaviour in mice, as a result of psychological stress, is shown to be mediated by GDF15 release in response to adipose tissue lipolysis.

Insect wings are under multiple competing selection pressures, but which are important in natural populations is not clear. Using RNAi to modify wing shape, Ray et al. show that aerial agility can be significantly enhanced in Drosophila, suggesting that natural variation does not reflect an optimization solely for flight agility.

Collective behaviour in animal groups can improve individual perception and decision-making, but the neural mechanisms involved have been hard to access in classic models for these phenomena; here it is shown that Drosophila’s olfactory responses are enhanced in groups of flies, through mechanosensory neuron-dependent touch interactions.

Oceanic shield volcanoes flank failures can generate large tsunamis. Here, the authors provide evidence that two tsunamis impacted the coast of Tenerife 170 Ma, the first generated by volcano flank failure and the second following a debris avalanche of the edifice during an on-going ignimbrite-forming eruption.

How entorhinal grid cells control hippocampal coding and behavior remains elusive. The authors report that increasing the spatial scale of grid cells expands the scale and reduces the stability of place fields, impairing spatial memory in mice.

Cold-sensitive engrams contribute to learned thermoregulation in mice that are returned to an environment in which they previously experienced a cold challenge, through a network formed between the hippocampus and hypothalamus that enables the recall of cold-related memories.

Hunting behavior typically contains a sequential motor program, including search, chase, attack, and consumption. Here, the authors show that periaqueductal gray neuronal ensembles encode the sequential hunting motor program, which might provide a framework for decoding complex instinctive behaviors.

Obesity and aging increase Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk. Here, using an AD mouse model and high-fat diet, we suggest that immune exhaustion links the two risk factors, and identify a metabolite that can hasten immune dysfunction and memory deficit.

Prior stressful experience affects subsequent behavior even in different situations. Daviu et al. demonstrate that CRH^PVN neurons encode stress controllability and contribute to shifts between active and passive innate defensive strategies.

Soden et al. use cell-type-specific retrograde tracing to identify neurotransmitter-specific inputs to the ventral tegmental area, uncovering an underappreciated number of GABAergic inputs with diverse innervation patterns and behavioral functions.

A novel antiviral targeting the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro protease shows strong efficacy in a mouse model, preventing lung pathology and reducing brain dysfunction. The study provides proof-of-principle that PLpro inhibition may be a viable strategy for preventing and treating long COVID.

The nucleus accumbens is a key region in rewarding and aversive behaviors. Here, authors show that nucleus accumbens shell D1- and D2-MSNs were similarly co-recruited during appetitive and aversive conditioning, yet D2-MSNs appeared to be more relevant for the extinction of aversive associations.

Here, using ex-vivo human adult cortical tissue and a mouse model, the authors investigate the functional consequences of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the adult brain, and show that ZIKV causes synapse damage and altered brain function that impacts cognition via activation of innate and inflammatory factors.

Impaired NMDAR-dependent engram formation in prefrontal neurons underscores the synaptic basis of social memory deficits in autism, and these deficits can be rescued by once-weekly “pulsed” administration of D-cycloserine, a partial NMDAR agonist.

In response to food cues, a hypothalamic circuit in the mouse brain transiently inhibits neurons expressing agouti-related peptide, and this promotes learning of cue-initiated food-seeking tasks.

A subset of pediatric gliomas harbour alterations in fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)-family proteins. Here, the authors characterise the genomic landscape of 11,635 gliomas across ages and use isogenic model systems to explore the underlying biology of FGFR1-altered gliomas and potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Motor units in the superior colliculus of mice exhibit poorly defined representation of static visual fields and instead rely largely on kinetic visual features to link visual inputs to behavioural outcomes.

Prosaposin (PSAP) variants are linked to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Here, the authors report PSP changes in PD and lipid dyshomeostasis and PD-like phenotypes in mice lacking PSAP in dopamine neurons; PSAP overexpression counteracts experimental PD.

The authors report that genetic disruption of the connectivity of CCK⁺ basket cells during development reveals a critical role for these interneurons in the regulation of theta oscillatory activity and in the coding of spatial information in the adult mouse hippocampus.

The largest harmonized proteomic dataset of plasma, serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples across major neurodegenerative diseases reveals both disease-specific and transdiagnostic proteomic signatures, including a robust plasma profile associated with the APOEε4 genotype.

Exposure of mice to high fructose during gestation or early postnatal life causes decreased microglial phagocytosis during brain development and leads to anxiety-like behaviour in adolescence.

The authors find that behavioral habituation to the repeated presentation of visual stimuli, measured as reduced occurrence of a brief motor response called a 'vidget', depends on primary visual cortex in mice and is accompanied by a potentiation of layer 4 responses to visual stimuli. Local manipulations indicate that this form of recognition memory is stored in primary visual cortex.

Social encounters are associated with varying degrees of stress. The authors show that modulation of stress system components in the medial amygdala alters preference for familiar vs. novel conspecifics. Inhibition of the relevant circuit in a group of familiar mice kept under semi-natural conditions increased pro-social behavior.

A neural circuit in Drosophila reveals how the fly’s internal sense of heading rotates when it turns.

Deep reinforcement learning (RL) has been successful in many fields but has not been used to directly improve behaviours by interfacing with living nervous systems. Li et al. present a framework that integrates deep RL agents with the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Their study shows that trained agents can assist animals in biologically relevant tasks and can be studied after training to map out effective neural policies.

IL-17a induced by immune activation affects cortical neural activity and promotes social interaction in a mouse model of neurodevelopmental disorders.

The immune-checkpoint molecule TIM-3 regulates microglial homeostasis, and its microglial-specific deletion reduced cognitive impairment in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

The existence of a common substrate for emotional valence and anxiety remained elusive. Here we show that excitatory neurons of the anterior insular cortex (aIC), including neurons projecting to the basolateral amygdala (aIC-BLA) encode both states.

Learning and memory are subject to circadian variation, though the molecular mechanisms behind this are unclear. Here, the authors show SCOP, a regulator of hippocampal memory, undergoes circadian changes in CA1 membrane raft dynamics and contributes to time-dependent changes in long-term memory.

Most instances of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are sporadic or not associated with a particular mutation. Here, the authors develop knock-in mice that express wildtype human Aβ under control of the mouse App locus, which may have potential for modelling some aspects of sporadic late onset AD.

APOE4 is associated with widespread gene expression changes across all cell types of the human brain, altered cholesterol homeostasis and transport signalling pathways, and decreased myelination in the brain.

Azobenzene-based photoswitchable drugs traditionally require activation with UV-blue light having poor tissue penetration. Here, the authors show triplet sensitized photoisomerization of an azo drug with far-red and NIR light, allowing deep tissue penetration and in vivo heart rate control in frog tadpoles.

Deep-brain stimulation in freely behaving mice can be achieved via wide-field near-infrared illumination and stereotactically injected photothermal transducers activating neurons ectopically expressing a temperature-sensitive cation channel.

Chronic stress can trigger or worsen motor symptoms in neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, the authors show that SOM interneurons in the striatum are involved in stress-induced motor behaviors.

Persistent neural activity in the mouse hypothalamus encodes aversive emotional states related to specific threatening stimuli.

Cross-species research is key to fully understanding brain function. Here, the authors present the ferret as a species for hippocampal research and show that, in stark contrast to rats, ferrets have robust theta oscillations during immobility.