Nature Neuroscience provides reviews and commentary illuminating topics of particular interest.
2007
Emotion and Disorders of Emotion Individual quality of life depends on the ability to experience emotions appropriately and to regulate them in response to stressful events. In addition, depression and anxiety are a substantial public health burden. This special focus contains four reviews and a perspective from leaders in the field, who discuss how the brain regulates emotions, how this regulation becomes impaired by disorders of emotion and which therapies may be effective in treating these disorders. September Vol 10, No 9
2006
Childhood Developmental Disorders Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus on childhood developmental disorders, which contains four perspectives exploring the overlap between normal and abnormal development, as well as the commonalties between different disorders. Disorders covered include autism, specific language impairment, dyslexia, and the mental retardation syndrome fragile X. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the March of Dimes, Autism Speaks and Cure Autism Now, this focus will be freely available online through December 2006. October Vol 9, No 10
2005
Computational and Systems Neuroscience To understand the brain, theoretical and experimental approaches must be integrated to make sense of the enormous amount of existing data, and to guide future experiments. In the December 2005 issue, we present a special focus on computational and systems neuroscience. Along with commissioned perspectives, the focus contains primary research articles featuring the best work presented at Cosyne, a meeting that rings together a diverse group of theoretical and experimental neuroscientists. December Vol 8, No 12
Neurobiology of Addiction This focus contains a series of specially commissioned reviews and perspectives on the neurobiology of drug abuse, decision making and habit formation, as well as a commentary on how these basic science insights should guide public policy on addiction and its treatment. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, this focus will be freely available online through January 2006. November Vol 8, No 11
Feeding Regulation and Obesity Food intake and body weight are subject to complex regulation by the hypothalamus and other brain centers. This focus presents six commissioned articles highlighting current progress in the neurobiology of feeding regulation, energy metabolism and obesity. It is sponsored by the Obesity Research Task Force of the National Institutes of Health, and freely accessible through July 2005. May Vol 8, No 5
2004
The Sexual Brain This focus examines the sexual development and differentiation of the brain, as well as the brain circuits behind pair bonding, a sex-associated social behavior. An accompanying commentary raises ethical issues that must be considered when studying such a complex (and controversial) topic as human sexuality. These articles are freely available for the month of October. October Vol 7, No 10
Scaling up Neuroscience These Perspectives critically appraise high-throughput methods such as proteomics, microarrays and multiple-electrode recording, and evaluate the current and future database resources that such studies require. They are freely available with help from the NIH. May Vol 7, No 5
2003
Music and the Brain Music is a universal feature of human societies, but its adaptive function remains mysterious. These six Reviews discuss how the brain processes music, and how this research influences our understanding of cognition. July Vol 6, No 7
