During the Preparing the Next Generation of Neuroscience Leaders conference, speakers on this panel present data on the scientific workforce, discuss how diversity strengthens science, and provide examples of what individuals at institutions can do to ensure that diversity is prioritized at all levels. Opening remarks by Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, President, Society for Neuroscience.

Peripheral nerves differ from those in the brain in that they can readily regrow (regenerate) after injury.

The social environment has long been recognized to play an important role in substance use, which is often modeled in rodents using operant conditioning. However, most operant chambers only accommodate one rodent at a time. We present PeerPub - a unique social operant chamber. PeerPub employs touch sensors to track the licking behavior on drinking spouts. When the number of licks meets a set reinforcement schedule, it dispenses a drop of solution with a fixed volume as a reward at the tip of the spout. A radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip implanted on each rat's skull identifies it throughout the experiment. The system is managed by a Raspberry Pi computer. We evaluated PeerPub using Sprague Dawley rats in daily one-hour sessions, where supersac (a glucose and saccharin solution) was provided under a fixed ratio 5 schedule. We discovered that male rats consumed more supersac in dual rat conditions compared to single rat conditions. These findings illustrate PeerPub's effectiveness in modeling the i...

From volunteering at local science outreach events to serving on local and national committees, Andrew Bankston, a postdoc at the University of Louisville, has become closely involved in his community to spread awareness and excitement about the brain and basic research. Here, he reflects on how his outreach experiences have advanced his career and how he balances outreach with lab work.

This webinar will explore the goals, benefits, and other considerations of dual-degree programs in neuroscience and law, public policy, and engineering through case studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Neuroscience & Public Policy Program (N&PP) and Stanford University’s joint degree and cooperative programs. Learn from faculty and students currently involved in these training programs as they participate in a panel discussion and Q&A to explore the topics and answer your questions.

Plasticity is a universal property of synapses, vital for fundamental operations of the nervous system.

Many depictions of amnesia in TV, movies, and cartoons are just plain wrong — some laughably so. Host Wendy Suzuki talks with Neal Cohen, a professor and neuroscientist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For 20 years, Cohen has used bad examples of amnesia that abound in pop culture as well as the rare accurate depictions as a powerful tool in his wildly popular undergraduate course about amnesia in pop culture. Cohen entertains and educates his students with examples from TV shows and films as diverse as Futurama, Memento, and 50 First Dates, and we’ll hear some of those clips.

The pleasure of pain relief is known to everyone — satisfying, soothing, and much sought-after when one is in pain. For individuals suffering from chronic pain, pain relief is a major, often all-dominant, goal.

Technologies that allow the modulation of specific neuron subtypes are powerful tools in elucidating their function and the circuitry underlying specific behaviors.

Neuroscientists can measure changes in the brain associated with different types of memory.