In this Perspective, Barabási, Ferreira Castro and Engert challenge the notion that learning and plasticity primarily drive the assembly of neural circuits. They present a tripartite framework for how neural circuits form, outlining the relative contributions of developmental, associative learning and tuning-based factors to this process and knowledge acquisition.

Within the CNS, lipids have vital roles in numerous cellular functions and the maintenance of lipid homeostasis is essential for brain health. Bogie and colleagues explore the mechanisms that regulate lipid biogenesis, metabolism and remodelling in the CNS, the transfer of lipids between different CNS cell types and the impact of loss of lipid homeostasis in neurodegenerative diseases.

During vertebrate embryonic development, the spinal cord emerges from the posterior portion of the neural tube. Saade and Martí describe the complex series of morphogenetic events that shape the neural tube and the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the formation of the embryonic spinal cord.

Midbrain dopamine neurons are widely assumed to signal a unidimensional value-based prediction error. In this Perspective, Kahnt and Schoenbaum overview accumulating evidence that challenges this assumption, highlighting the need for a new theory on the role of dopamine in error-based learning that goes beyond value.

A possible mechanism underlying the worsening of asthma symptoms after eating is found in mice, where type 2 immunity in the lung (which is a primary driver of asthma) is found to be potentiated by food intake.

A modified looming paradigm teases apart how top-down cortical inputs from visual areas can override instinctive fear responses in mice via an endocannabinoid-mediated inhibitory plasticity mechanism in subcortical circuits.

A study explores the sexually dimorphic circuits that regulate sociosexual preferences in mice.

A new study reveals distinct circuit features of the human hippocampal CA3 region.

Inhibition of CaMKII blocks short-term memory but not long-term memory of inhibitory avoidance in mice.

A study explores the circuits through which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex orchestrates social competition in mice.