Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0184-7

Finding your voice

Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0187-4

Driving sleep

Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0185-6

Rewarding the cerebellum

Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0186-5

Fake memories

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0400-9

Why do certain individuals learn faster than others, and how does the acquired information take shape within their brains? Tang and colleagues show that fast learners encode information in a particularly compact, efficient and space-saving manner.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0403-6

Synapses of retinal bipolar cells encode contrast through changes in both the frequency and amplitude of release events. The amplitude code contains symbols up to 11 vesicle equivalents and increases the efficiency of information transmission.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0406-3

Shahidi et al. show that the brain uses different strategies to encode sensory stimuli and behavior. They find that visual stimuli are encoded in firing rates, whereas behavioral accuracy is correlated with spike timing regardless of spike counts.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0396-1

The (G4C2)30+ repeat expansion is the most prominent mutation in familial FTD and ALS. Here the PAF1 complex is identified as a transcriptional regulator of this unique mutation. Data from FTD tissue positive for the C9orf72 mutation support the relevance of this complex in disease.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0420-5

Author Correction: Perceptual straightening of natural videos

Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 15 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0183-8

Certain cellular functions in artificially reperfused pig brains can be restored and maintained several hours after initial loss of cerebral blood flow.

Compulsivity and impulsivity traits linked to attenuated developmental frontostriatal myelination trajectories

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0394-3

Ziegler, Hauser et al. report brain-wide, myelin-related microstructural growth from adolescence to adulthood and show that this longitudinal growth is reduced in the presence of compulsivity and impulsivity traits.

Proneural factors Ascl1 and Neurog2 contribute to neuronal subtype identities by establishing distinct chromatin landscapes

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0399-y

Aydin et al. show that the proneural factors Ascl1 and Neurog2 bind to largely non-overlapping sites in the genome, establishing distinct chromatin landscapes that shape the activity of downstream factors during neuronal fate specification.

C9ORF72-ALS/FTD-associated poly(GR) binds Atp5a1 and compromises mitochondrial function in vivo

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0397-0

The authors generated a mouse model of C9ORF72-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia based on dipeptide repeat proteins and report that defects in mitochondria may contribute to disease pathogenesis.

The what, where and how of delay activity

Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Published online: 13 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0176-7

The short-term retention of working memory is accompanied by neural delay activity. Sreenivasan and D’Esposito describe how delay activity can be assessed, discuss where in the brain it occurs and why, and examine the possible mechanisms that underlie it.

A single-cell atlas of mouse brain macrophages reveals unique transcriptional identities shaped by ontogeny and tissue environment

A single-cell atlas of mouse brain macrophages reveals unique transcriptional identities shaped by ontogeny and tissue environment, Published online: 06 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0393-4

Van Hove et al. reveal the diversity of macrophages at the brain’s border regions via single-cell analysis and fate-mapping. This also identified a microglial subset at the surface of the choroid plexus, in direct contact with cerebrospinal fluid.

L3MBTL1 regulates ALS/FTD-associated proteotoxicity and quality control

L3MBTL1 regulates ALS/FTD-associated proteotoxicity and quality control, Published online: 06 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0384-5

Lu et al. report a pathway that reprograms protein quality control under stress. Identified in a Caenorhabditis elegans screen and characterized in mammalian systems, L3MBTL1 and its partner SETD8 modulate proteotoxicity and are deregulated in patients with ALS/FTD.

Checking macrophages at the border

Checking macrophages at the border, Published online: 06 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0411-6

The CNS harbors distinct subsets of macrophages, including parenchymal microglia and macrophages residing at border regions (for example, meninges and the choroid plexus). In this issue of Nature Neuroscience, Van Hove and colleagues elegantly demonstrate the diversity and dynamics of non-parenchymal macrophages and identify a unique microglial subtype within the choroid plexus.

Simulating another’s choice

Simulating another’s choice, Published online: 02 May 2019; doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0178-5

In monkeys, some neurons in the amygdala may simulate a social partner’s decision-making process in a reward-based decision-making task.

Causal contributions of parietal cortex to perceptual decision-making during stimulus categorization

Causal contributions of parietal cortex to perceptual decision-making during stimulus categorization, Published online: 29 April 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0383-6

Using a new auditory decision task, neuronal imaging and perturbations, Zhong et al. unveil the critical role of PPC circuits in decision-making when categorizing unknown sensory items.

Memories light the corners of my mind

Memories light the corners of my mind, Published online: 29 April 2019; doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0390-7

Using light-activated ion channels to stimulate sensory and motivational pathways, Vetere and colleagues constructed fully artificial memories in mice. Mice preferred or avoided an odor they had never smelled before, depending on the pattern of stimulation.