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Carnivorous aquatic Utricularia species catch small prey animals using millimetre-sized underwater suction traps, which have fascinated scientists since Darwin's early work on carnivorous plants. Suction takes place after mechanical triggering and is owing to a release of stored elastic energy in the trap body accompanied by a very fast opening and closing of a trapdoor, which otherwise closes the trap entrance watertight. The exceptional trapping speed—far above human visual perception—impeded profound investigations until now. Using high-speed video imaging and special microscopy techniques, we obtained fully time-resolved recordings of the door movement. We found that this unique trapping mechanism conducts suction in less than a millisecond and therefore ranks among the fastest plant movements known. Fluid acceleration reaches very high values, leaving little chance for prey animals to escape. We discovered that the door deformation is morphologically predetermined, and actually performs a buckling/unbuckling process, including a complete trapdoor curvature inversion. This process, which we predict using dynamical simulations and simple theoretical models, is highly reproducible: the traps are autonomously repetitive as they fire spontaneously after 5–20 h and reset actively to their ready-to-catch condition.

Concepts of cognitive control (CC) and executive function (EF) are defined in terms of their relationships with goal-directed behavior versus habits and controlled versus automatic processing, and related to the functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and related regions and networks. A psychometric approach shows unity and diversity in CC constructs, with 3 components in the most commonly studied constructs: general or common CC and components specific to mental set shifting and working memory updating. These constructs are considered against the cellular and systems neurobiology of PFC and what is known of its functional neuroanatomical or network organization based on lesioning, neurochemical, and neuroimaging approaches across species. CC is also considered in the context of motivation, as “cool” and “hot” forms. Its Common CC component is shown to be distinct from general intelligence (g) and closely related to response inhibition. Impairments in CC are considered as possible causes of psychiatric symptoms and consequences of disorders. The relationships of CC with the general factor of psychopathology (p) and dimensional constructs such as impulsivity in large scale developmental and adult populations are considered, as well as implications for genetic studies and RDoC approaches to psychiatric classification.

Conoryctes comma is a member of the enigmatic group Taeniodonta, Paleogene mammals that have been found only in North America. Taeniodonts were part of the first wave of placental mammal diversification after the end-Cretaceous extinction. The lack of postcranial elements has limited the understanding of the anatomy and locomotion of Conoryctes, and how it compared to other taeniodonts. We here describe the postcranial anatomy and functional morphology of Conoryctes, based largely on nine new specimens found in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA. The specimens include elements of the axial column, such as the axis, sacrum, and ribs; the humerus, ulna, radius, and part of the manus; the innominate, femur, tibia, and part of the pes, including the tarsals. Conoryctes was a medium-sized mammal, with a robust humerus, radius, and femur, and with anatomical similarities to other conoryctid taeniodonts and Onychodectes. The tarsal elements of Conoryctes show characteristics of the \"leptictimorph astragalocalcaneal morphology\" as seen in other Paleogene mammals, such as Escavadodon, Palaeanodon, and Procerberus. Anatomical features of the forelimb and hindlimb of Conoryctes indicate that it was a scratch-digging animal with powerful forearm muscles and well-stabilized digits, features that may have helped it adapt to the subtropical forests of the San Juan Basin, approximately 63 million years ago. This corroborates the previous hypothesis that digging adaptations are seen in all members of Taeniodonta for which the postcranial elements are known, and that digging ability was present in the common ancestor of the clade and potentially central to their radiation after the environmental destruction of the end-Cretaceous extinction.

Neurotransmitter receptors support the propagation of signals in the human brain. How receptor systems are situated within macro-scale neuroanatomy and how they shape emergent function remain poorly understood, and there exists no comprehensive atlas of receptors. Here we collate positron emission tomography data from more than 1,200 healthy individuals to construct a whole-brain three-dimensional normative atlas of 19 receptors and transporters across nine different neurotransmitter systems. We found that receptor profiles align with structural connectivity and mediate function, including neurophysiological oscillatory dynamics and resting-state hemodynamic functional connectivity. Using the Neurosynth cognitive atlas, we uncovered a topographic gradient of overlapping receptor distributions that separates extrinsic and intrinsic psychological processes. Finally, we found both expected and novel associations between receptor distributions and cortical abnormality patterns across 13 disorders. We replicated all findings in an independently collected autoradiography dataset. This work demonstrates how chemoarchitecture shapes brain structure and function, providing a new direction for studying multi-scale brain organization. Hansen et al. compile and share an atlas of neurotransmitter receptor/transporter densities in the human cortex and show that receptor achitecture reflects brain structure, function, dynamics, cognitive specialization and disease vulnerability.

Understanding complex systems such as the human brain requires characterization of the system's architecture across multiple levels of organization – from neurons, to local circuits, to brain regions, and ultimately large-scale brain networks. Here we focus on characterizing the human brain's large-scale network organization, as it provides an overall framework for the organization of all other levels. We developed a highly principled approach to identify cortical network communities at the level of functional systems, calibrating our community detection algorithm using extremely well-established sensory and motor systems as guides. Building on previous network partitions, we replicated and expanded upon well-known and recently-identified networks, including several higher-order cognitive networks such as a left-lateralized language network. We expanded these cortical networks to subcortex, revealing 358 highly-organized subcortical parcels that take part in forming whole-brain functional networks. Notably, the identified subcortical parcels are similar in number to a recent estimate of the number of cortical parcels (360). This whole-brain network atlas – released as an open resource for the neuroscience community – places all brain structures across both cortex and subcortex into a single large-scale functional framework, with the potential to facilitate a variety of studies investigating large-scale functional networks in health and disease. •Large-scale functional network map of the entire human brain.•Cortical networks based on multiband fMRI, recently-identified regions.•Subcortical extension of networks covering all subcortical structures.•Multiple quality assessments demonstrate robustness of functional networks.•Network atlas released as public resource, providing framework for future studies.

Systems neuroscience approaches with a focus on large-scale brain organization and network analysis are advancing foundational knowledge of how cognitive control processes are implemented in the brain. Over the past decade, technological and computational innovations in the study of brain connectivity have led to advances in our understanding of how brain networks function, inspiring new conceptualizations of the role of prefrontal cortex (PFC) networks in the coordination of cognitive control. In this review, we describe six key PFC networks involved in cognitive control and elucidate key principles relevant for understanding how these networks implement cognitive control. Implementation of cognitive control in a constantly changing environment depends on the dynamic and flexible organization of PFC networks. In this context, we describe major empirical and theoretical models that have emerged in recent years and describe how their functional architecture and dynamic organization supports flexible cognitive control. We take an overarching view of advances made in the past few decades and consider fundamental issues regarding PFC network function, global brain dynamics, and cognition that still need to be resolved. We conclude by clarifying important future directions for research on cognitive control and their implications for advancing our understanding of PFC networks in brain disorders.

The development of human cognition results from the emergence of coordinated activity between distant brain areas. Network science, combined with non-invasive functional imaging, has generated unprecedented insights regarding the adult brain's functional organization, and promises to help elucidate the development of functional architectures supporting complex behavior. Here we review what is known about functional network development from birth until adulthood, particularly as understood through the use of resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI). We attempt to synthesize rs-fcMRI findings with other functional imaging techniques, with macro-scale structural connectivity, and with knowledge regarding the development of micro-scale structure. We highlight a number of outstanding conceptual and technical barriers that need to be addressed, as well as previous developmental findings that may need to be revisited. Finally, we discuss key areas ripe for future research in order to (1) better characterize normative developmental trajectories, (2) link these trajectories to biologic mechanistic events, as well as component behaviors and (3) better understand the clinical implications and pathophysiological basis of aberrant network development. •Reviews development of functional connectivity networks from birth until adulthood.•Reviews trends in resting-state functional MR imaging (rs-fMRI) and network analysis.•Synthesizes developmental rs-fMRI findings with structural connectivity and EEG/MEG.•Suggests strategies to overcome limitations of rs-fMRI in developmental studies.•Suggests approaches to interrogate neurodevelopmental disorders.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has provided converging descriptions of group-level functional brain organization. Recent work has revealed that functional networks identified in individuals contain local features that differ from the group-level description. We define these features as network variants. Building on these studies, we ask whether distributions of network variants reflect stable, trait-like differences in brain organization. Across several datasets of highly-sampled individuals we show that 1) variants are highly stable within individuals, 2) variants are found in characteristic locations and associate with characteristic functional networks across large groups, 3) task-evoked signals in variants demonstrate a link to functional variation, and 4) individuals cluster into subgroups on the basis of variant characteristics that are related to differences in behavior. These results suggest that distributions of network variants may reflect stable, trait-like, functionally relevant individual differences in functional brain organization.

For our immune system to contain or eliminate malignant solid tumours, both myeloid and lymphoid haematopoietic cells must not only extravasate from the bloodstream into the tumour tissue but also further migrate to various specialized niches of the tumour microenvironment to functionally interact with each other, with non-haematopoietic stromal cells and, ultimately, with cancer cells. These interactions regulate local immune cell survival, proliferative expansion, differentiation and their execution of pro-tumour or antitumour effector functions, which collectively determine the outcome of spontaneous or therapeutically induced antitumour immune responses. None of these interactions occur randomly but are orchestrated and critically depend on migratory guidance cues provided by chemokines, a large family of chemotactic cytokines, and their receptors. Understanding the functional organization of the tumour immune microenvironment inevitably requires knowledge of the multifaceted roles of chemokines in the recruitment and positioning of its cellular constituents. Gaining such knowledge will not only generate new insights into the mechanisms underlying antitumour immunity or immune tolerance but also inform the development of biomarkers (or ‘biopatterns’) based on spatial tumour tissue analyses, as well as novel strategies to therapeutically engineer immune responses in patients with cancer. Here we will discuss recent observations on the role of chemokines in the tumour microenvironment in the context of our knowledge of their physiological functions in development, homeostasis and antimicrobial responses. In this Review, Mempel et al. use our understanding of the physiological response programmes of the immune system to the more commonplace challenges it encounters as a framework to interpret observations of chemokine function in tumours. When viewed in this way, the design of more effective therapeutic interventions leveraging the chemokine system to recalibrate response patterns to cancer might be possible.

SignificanceMastering diverse cognitive tasks is crucial for humans. We study how the brain’s functional organization at rest is configured to support diverse cognitive phenotypes. Emphasizing the multilevel, hierarchical modular structure of brain’s functional connectivity to derive eigenmode-based measures, we demonstrate that the resting brain’s functional organization in healthy young adults is configured to maintain a balance between network segregation and integration. This functional balance is associated with better memory. Furthermore, brains tending toward stronger segregation versus integration foster different cognitive abilities. Thus, the segregation–integration balance empowers the brain to support diverse cognitive abilities. These findings yield high potential to understand the role of whole-brain resting state dynamics in human cognition and to develop neural biomarkers of atypical cognition. Diverse cognitive processes set different demands on locally segregated and globally integrated brain activity. However, it remains an open question how resting brains configure their functional organization to balance the demands on network segregation and integration to best serve cognition. Here we use an eigenmode-based approach to identify hierarchical modules in functional brain networks and quantify the functional balance between network segregation and integration. In a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 991), we combine the whole-brain resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data with a mean-filed model on the structural network derived from diffusion tensor imaging and demonstrate that resting brain networks are on average close to a balanced state. This state allows for a balanced time dwelling at segregated and integrated configurations and highly flexible switching between them. Furthermore, we employ structural equation modeling to estimate general and domain-specific cognitive phenotypes from nine tasks and demonstrate that network segregation, integration, and their balance in resting brains predict individual differences in diverse cognitive phenotypes. More specifically, stronger integration is associated with better general cognitive ability, stronger segregation fosters crystallized intelligence and processing speed, and an individual’s tendency toward balance supports better memory. Our findings provide a comprehensive and deep understanding of the brain’s functioning principles in supporting diverse functional demands and cognitive abilities and advance modern network neuroscience theories of human cognition.