This Week in Neuroscience

01:08:50

TWiN 75: Arc, tau, and Alzheimer's

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/09/29

Jason Shepherd joins TWiN to discuss the work in his laboratory showing that Arc protein plays a role in intercellular transmission of tau protein, which becomes hyperphosphorylated and misfolded, a major histopathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung Guest: Melissa Cooper Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Arc and Tau intercellular transmission (Cell) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey

01:06:29

TWiN 74: Plastic astrocyte networks with Melissa Cooper

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/07/30

Melissa Cooper joins TWiN to discuss her discovery that astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung Guest: Melissa Cooper Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Astrocytes form plastic networks (Nature) Newly found brain network (Nature) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

01:26:34

TWiN 73: The price of a bigger brain

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/06/25

TWiN unpacks a striking paradox, that the very cell divisions that built the human brain's most advanced layers also put them at greatest risk, and how a dedicated DNA repair pathway saves them. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Expansion of outer cortical CUX2 neurons requires adaptations for DNA repair (Nature) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald

01:09:10

TWiN 72: What cesarean babies miss

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/06/01

TWiN explains the finding that vaginal microbiota transfer ameliorates cesarean-associated neurodevelopmental deficits in mice via synthesis of a sphingosine derivative on neonatal skin. .Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Vaginal microbiota transfer ameliorates cesarean-associated neurodevelopmental deficits (Cell Host Microbe) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

01:31:05

TWiN 71: Psychedelics rewire the brain from within

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/04/29

TWiN explains the finding that activation of intracellular, not plasma membrane, serotonin 2A receptors is responsible for the plasticity-promoting and antidepressant-like properties of psychedelic compounds. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Psychedelics rewire the brain from within (Science) Psychedelics elicit their effects by Gi signaling (Nature) History of

01:19:19

TWiN 70: Unraveling the axon wrap

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/03/17

TWiN explains the role of a ubiquitin ligase component in regulating the sheathing of multiple axons by Schwann cells. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Gut microbiome promotes pain in fibromyalgia (Neuron) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience questions and comments to twin@microbe.tv

01:11:29

TWiN 69: Fibromyalgia and the microbiome

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/03/05

TWiN explains a study which showed that transplanting gut microbiota from women with fibromyalgia into mice induces pain, as well as phenotypes commonly observed in patients, such as immune activation, metabolomic changes, and reduced skin innervation. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Gut microbiome promotes pain in fibromyalgia (Neuron) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey

01:14:21

TWiN 68: Firewall for the brain

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2026/01/27

TWiN explores the use of speech brain-computer interfaces to restore communication to people with paralysis, and reveals strategies for protecting private inner speech. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Keeping private inner speech from brain-computer interfaces (Cell) Mind-reading brain implant with password protection (Nature) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

01:30:40

TWiN 67: Interpreting situation-specific facial signals

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/12/24

TWiN explores how theta phase shifts mediate contextual perception of facial expressions during everyday social interactions. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Neural computations underlying contextual processing in humans (Cell Rep) Previous experience shapes perception (Front Human Neurosci) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your

01:24:11

TWiN 66: Neuroscience of overeating

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/11/26

TWiN reviews the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of overeating and obesity, the role of the hypothalamus and reward systems in controlling food intake and energy balance, and how dysregulation in these systems leads to overeating. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Neurobiology of overeating (Neuron) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees

01:37:18

TWiN 65: Air pollutants promote dementia

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/11/04

TWiN explains epidemiological data showing that exposure to air pollution was associated with an increased risk of developing Lewy body dementia, and nasal administration of air pollution in mice led to brain atrophy and impaired cognition and motor function. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Links between air pollution and dementias (Science) Letter from Susan

01:14:01

TWiN 64: How the brain decides what we see

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/10/08

TWiN explains how visual neurons show functional flexibility by selectively responding to subsets of inputs representing attended objects while ignoring those conveying information about irrelevant objects. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Gamma-band synchronization in visual cortex (Nat Comm) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your

01:31:51

TWiN 63: Microbiome-targeted neurotherapy

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/08/21

TWiN discusses research showing that Lactobacillus acidophilus promotes cognitive function recovery after cerebral ischemia, by regulating microglial peroxisomal function. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vivianne Morrison, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Arc is pdb molecule of the month (PDB) Probiotics after stroke (Cell Host Microbe) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your

01:21:48

TWiN 62: Memories of bad food

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/07/23

TWiN explains research which identifies the regions of the brain that register a long-lasting aversion to potentially poisonous food even with meal to illness delays of several days. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server A neural mechanism for post-ingestion feedback (Nature) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience questions and comments to

01:40:12

TWiN 61: Blood to the brain

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/06/25

TWiN reveals that proteins travel from the blood to the brain where they are taken up by microglia, revealing a new mode of communication between the brain and the periphery. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Tim Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Circulatory proteins taken up by brain microglia (bioRxiv) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience questions and

01:05:21

TWiN 60: You get the gist of it?

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/06/03

TWiN discusses experiments which show that high-fidelity memories that lose their precision with time depends on reorganization of hippocampal circuitry. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Loss of precision memory and the hippocampus (Nature) Changes in hippocampi of cab drivers (PNAS) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience

01:14:45

TWiN 59: AI co-scientist

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/04/02

Tim explains AI co-scientist, a tool released by Google, which it hopes to help scientists generate hypotheses and research proposals, and to accelerate the speed of scientific and biomedical discoveries. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Tim Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server AI cracks superbug problem (BBC) Accelerating scientific breakthroughs (Google Research) Towards an AI co-scientist (arXiv)

01:14:21

TWiN 58: Tongue-dragging rescue behavior

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/03/10

TWiN explains a study showing that when a mouse is confronted with an unconscious conspecific, it engages in behavior including tongue-dragging to resuscitate the animal via a tongue-brain connection. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Tim Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Tongue-dragging in mice (Sci Adv) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your neuroscience questions and

40:09

TWiN 57: Repetitive injury, herpes, and Alzheimer's

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2025/02/04

TWiN discusses a study showing that repetitive injury reactivates HSV-1 in a human brain tissue model and induces phenotypes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Repetitive injury, herpes, and Alzheimers (Sci Signal) The tau of herpesvirus (TWiV 1187) Fishing for viruses in senile (TWiV 519) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Music is by Ronald Jenkees

01:00:44

TWiN 56: Astrocytes help neurons remember

This Week in Neuroscience ·

2024/11/26

TWiN explains a study showing that while groups of neurons, form the basis for memory, astrocytes are key components of the adaptive reponse to learning experiences, and regulate the flow of information during circuit plasticity and memory recall. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Tim Cheung Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server Write your Senator, oppose RFK Jr nomination Astrocytes and memory (Nature) Timestamps

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