Daily briefing: The brain builds a sentence neuron by neuron

Researchers have tracked the electrical activity of individual brain cells during conversation in real time. Plus, the history of GPS and a cross-species transplant that could reveal clues about the origin of animals.

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Researchers transplanted cells between embryos of a warty comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi, right) and a starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis, left) — organisms that belong to entirely different branches of the tree of life. (Paul R. Sterry/Nature Photographers Ltd/Alamy, Phil Degginger/Science Photo Library)

Researchers have discovered a new ‘embryonic organizer’ in marine predators called comb jellies (Ctenophora) and successfully transplanted them into sea anemones (Cnidaria). Organizer cells determine an organism’s body axis — a map that plots where various parts of the embryo should develop. After the transplant, the anemones developed a second body axis, complete with extra mouths and pharynxes. The findings support the idea that the emergence of organizing activity was a key step in animal evolution, says evolutionary developmental biologist Ulrich Technau.

Nature | 6 min read

Reference: Nature paper

Researchers have tracked the electrical activity of individual brain cells during conversation in real time, capturing how sentences are built before a single word is spoken. By observing these neurons in a brain region called the frontotemporal cortex, scientists have discovered that individual neurons act as specialized linguistic building blocks. “We used to think language was this diffuse, whole-network phenomenon,” says neurosurgeon and study co-author Ziv Williams. “But it turns out you have specific neurons that only care if a word is a noun, or only care if a phrase is ending.”

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: Nature paper

Ten years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the UK is set to rejoin Erasmus+, an EU exchange scheme used by PhD students and university staff. And the UK’s share of the EU’s flagship Horizon Europe funding scheme has begun to recover after the country rejoined the programme in 2024. But hurdles remain, such as how much input the UK might have in the next iteration of Horizon Europe, and the country’s increasingly inhospitable visa requirements for researchers and students.

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