Toolbox

A new microscope creates images of a mouse embryo as it grows from a ball of about 100 cells into a structure with a primitive heart and brain.

Neurons grown from human stem cells and grafted onto the brains of live mice mature and form connections like those in the fetal human brain.

A new resource details the protein-coding portions of the genomes of 36 popular mouse strains.

A new database displays gene-expression patterns in individual cells of the developing mouse cerebellum over time.

A software tool finds possible functions for long RNA molecules that aren’t transcribed into proteins.

A new protocol enables researchers to rigorously test drugs for Angelman syndrome in mice.

A transparent set of electrodes enables researchers to simultaneously record electrical signals and visualize neurons in the brains of awake mice.

Two novel algorithms that analyze where a child looks as she views a video could help clinicians spot autism.

A new technique reveals the active genes and the regions that regulate them in thousands of single cells at once.

Two new methods for building ‘mini-brains’ may help researchers study how early brain development differs in people with autism.