Neuronal competition shapes the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of precise spatial memories in mice Memories are encoded in sparse neuronal ensembles called engrams, but whether core engram principles generalize from simple associative learning to co…

Huge thanks to all involved Ying Wang, Bozhi Wu, Alex Jacob, Adam Ramsaran, Armaan Fallahi, Jung Hoon Jung, Xizoping Fang, Katherine Duncan, Meg Schlicting, @franklandlab.bsky.social

sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We found
1) core engram principles extend from associative learning to complex spatial memory
2) overlapping neuronal ensembles link memories,
3) engrams compete for control of behaviour
4) engrams can be reactivated to guide navigation under degraded or ambiguous conditions

To answer this question we used a spatial foraging task based on rewarding brain stim (shout out to Olds & Milner '54!) and found that neuronal competition based on excitability/activity governs engram formation in CA1 of dorsal hippocampus (similar to fear conditioning)

Excited to share our latest in @currentbiology.bsky.social (they who publish the coolest papers!)

Memories are encoded by sparse neuronal ensembles (engrams). But most evidence comes from "simple" associative learning tasks. What about more integrative memories like spatial navigation?

‼️ Only 10 days left until abstract submission and regular registration deadline for the Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association (SONA) 🧠 meeting at @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social on May 2, 2026! We have a fantastic lineup of speakers - see flyer! Registration and abstract links are also below 👇

Diagram of development of chronic pain

"Recognizing pain as a temporally structured brain state has important implications." Beggs & Frankland, in overview of 2 fascinating articles in Science www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

Neural Circuits and Behaviour CAN 2026 Satellite Meeting The third-annual CAN satellite event, bringing together Canadian neuroscientists studying circuits and behaviour.

Registration for the @canacn.bsky.social 2026 Neural Circuits and Behaviour satellite meeting is now live! Looking forward to hosting this event with @franklandlab.bsky.social again, and we're looking to have 4 trainee talks as part of the satellite. Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/1984146883...

Welcome home!

Happy #WomensHistoryMonth! Thank you for helping us appreciate women in neuro & their stories! We believe in the power of storytelling, & our latest profile highlights Dr. Paula Croxson (@paulacroxson.bsky.social) who made science communication her career. Enjoy!
www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...

A neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway for reformatting aversive memories during recall Tan et al. identify a neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway in rats that updates aversive memories when they are recalled. Noradrenaline from the locus coeruleus triggers synapse-to-nuclear tra...

Excited to share our new paper:
We uncover a locus coeruleus→amygdala circuit linking β-adrenergic signaling to transcription regulation in defined amygdala cells during memory reconsolidation—+ stress or elevated noradrenergic signaling at recall can strengthen memory.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

#ButHisEmails Someone has taken all the released #Epstein emails and built them into a searchable Gmail clone called JMail. Search by keyword, by contact, or by flight history. Welcome to 2026, where citizen journalists do the FBI's job better than the FBI. READ: https://www.jmail.world/

Adaptive episodic memory: how multiple memory representations drive behavior in humans and nonhumans | Physiological Reviews | American Physiological Society Episodic memory is a declarative long-term memory of a specific past experience. As such, it is multifaceted, encompassing both the objective and subjective components of that experience. These components can be flexibly represented at different levels of granularity, from precise, context-specific details to generalized, gistlike representations. In this review, we suggest that 1) multiple representations of an episodic memory at different levels of granularity are simultaneously encoded into a memory trace and 2) the relative weighting of these representations determines the extent to which a memory is reconstructed or reproduced at retrieval. We propose that this representational flexibility drives adaptive behavior by prioritizing reconstruction or reproduction depending on the age of the memory, its relationship to prior knowledge, current attentional goals or task demands, and individual differences. Drawing on research in humans and nonhuman animals, we show a close correspondence between psychological and neural representations of a memory across encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Specifically, we discuss how hippocampal activity in humans and engram formation and activation in rodents support the reproduction of detailed memory representations, whereas schema formation across species, mediated by the medial prefrontal cortex, facilitates reconstruction and generalization to guide behavior. Finally, we consider how species- and individual-level differences shape episodic memory representations. By integrating findings across species, we illustrate how the correspondence between neural and psychological representations enables multiple memory representations to balance stability and flexibility, ultimately driving adaptive behavior.

How do memories guide behaviour?

Multiple memory representations, from detailed to gist-like, let us flexibly reconstruct or reproduce past experiences to behave adaptively across species.

Now out in Physiological Reviews with Morris Moscovitch, Melanie Sekeres & @brianlevine.bsky.social!

Astrocytes enable amygdala neural representations supporting memory Mice were male C57BL/6J mice (000664) and male Vglut1-cre mice (023527) mice obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor) and male Glt1-G-CaMP740 mice obtained from RIKEN BioResource Research Center (G7NG817, RBRC09650). Mice were at least 8 weeks old at the time of surgery, before which they were group-housed in a temperature (72 ± 5 °F) and humidity (45 ± 15%) controlled vivarium under a 12 h–12 h light–dark cycle (lights on 06:00). After surgery, the mice were single housed to prevent cage mates from damaging intracranial implants. Experimental procedures were approved by the NIAAA and National Institute of Natural Sciences Animal Care and Use Committees and followed the NIH guidelines outlined in ‘Using Animals in Intramural Research’ and the local Animal Care and Use Committees. General surgical and histological procedures Surgery To target injection of viral constructs, optic fibres and GRIN lenses, mice were placed in a stereotaxic alignment system (Kopf Instruments) under isoflurane anaesthesia. Unless stated otherwise, viral constructs (see the relevant sections for details) were unilaterally (one-photon imaging, fibre photometry) or bilaterally (behavioural experiments, single-unit recordings) infused into the BLA in a volume of 0.36 µl over 10 min using a pulled-glass capillary (Drummond Scientific, 2-000-001; tip diameter,...

Astrocytes enable amygdala neural representations supporting memory
->Nature | More on "Astrocytes enable amygdala memory representations" at BigEarthData.ai

Dopamine’s secret agent: serotonin Dopamine suppresses GABA release from striatal terminals in the substantia nigra pars reticulata. Molinari et al. recently demonstrated that this suppression is frequency-dependent—instituting a high-...

Happy to share this Spotlight article, drawing attention to recent work by @borgkvistlab.bsky.social on the mechanisms of dopamine action in the SNr.

Read our summary and then read their paper! Many cool implications!
@cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social

www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

From an imessage conversation, newer first: Unknown: OK Epstein?: both are welcome to our secret society , they will join join joi ito ed boyden and caleb . (mit agro)

for fuck's sake
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

Taylor Swift embodies female economic power in new book by KU professor • Kansas Reflector Misty Heggeness released “Swiftynomics,” a book explaining how female economic power radiates from the music star.

Taylor Swift embodies female economic power in new book by KU professor kansasreflector.com/2026/01/30/t...

Ick!!!!!!

nearly a thousand entries

every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds

A stress-dependent postembryonic role for the core CPA factor CFIM-1 in germline integrity Abstract. Post-transcriptional processing of pre-mRNAs by alternative polyadenylation (APA) generates a diversity of transcript isoforms at the 3’ untransl

I am pleased to share our latest paper on the role of the alternative polyadenylation factor CFIM-1 (NUDT21) in C. elegans germline development. academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Why emotion research is stuck—and how to move it forward Studying how organisms infer indirect threats and understand changing contexts can establish a common framework that bridges species and levels of analysis.

My perspective in @thetransmitter.bsky.social on why emotion research feels stuck and how we might move forward—by focusing on how the brain uses internal brain models to shape emotional processing across species. www.thetransmitter.org/emotion/why-...

Save the date for the annual "Neural Circuits and Behaviour" satellite conference at the Canadian Association for Neuroscience annual meeting, cohosted by @franklandlab.bsky.social and myself on May 18, 2026. We have a great speaker lineup and will be selecting 4 trainees talks from our registrants!

The Heritage Minutes: Wilder Penfield
It is one of the most famous Heritage Minutes ever made, all thanks to "I smell burnt toast"
And the story of Wilder Penfield is one of a man who expanded our knowledge of the brain.

Nominate a colleague for the Peter Seeburg Integrative Neuroscience Prize! Your nominee should exemplify an innovative spirit and contribute significantly to understanding the brain.

The award will be presented at the FENS Forum and the recipient will receive a $100,000 prize.

vist.ly/4mh9i

It has not escaped our notice that this very amygdala-centric paper was just published in a journal called "Hippocampus"!

Huge thanks to @awheel-lab.bsky.social and @franklandlab.bsky.social and the rest of the crew for guidance.

Our 3D mapping reveals that the amygdala has a highly organized, hierarchical engram architecture.

Interestingly, we observed lots of similarities between the architecture of neurons engaged when mice recalled an aversive vs. a neutral memory, suggesting the amygdala engrams have similar architecture regardless of memory valence.

At the network level, we used graph theory and found that engram ensembles are structured networks with "hub" neurons. These hubs likely function as major communication centers for efficient memory recall.

At the micro-scale level, rather than being randomly distributed, we observed active neurons form tightly packed clusters. These local modules may be the building blocks that allow neurons to interact and stabilize the engram.