Press
In the Media
Our research, explained for non-specialists.
Stories about our research written for a general audience, from science news outlets and university press offices. Newest first.
-
Holographic mesoscope reads, writes from different cortical regions simultaneously
The tool could help reveal how information transmission between areas relates to perception, cognition and behavior.
The paper: Probing inter-areal computations with a cellular resolution two-photon holographic mesoscope — Nature Neuroscience, 2026
-
Holographic optogenetics could enable faster brain mapping for new discoveries
Coverage of a collaboration between the Paninski and Adesnik labs on using holographic stimulation of neural ensembles, together with compressed sensing, to map synaptic connectivity much faster.
The paper: Rapid learning of neural circuitry from holographic ensemble stimulation enabled by model-based compressed sensing — Nature Neuroscience, 2025
-
Bombarding Brain Cells with Lasers, Scientists Pinpoint the Source of Illusions, Revealing New Insights Into Schizophrenia
How a small set of neurons in visual cortex lets the brain fill in edges that aren’t really there — and what that could mean for understanding hallucinations.
The paper: Recurrent pattern completion drives the neocortical representation of sensory inference — Nature Neuroscience, 2025
-
Scientists shine a laser light on the brain cells that show us illusions
Researchers at UC Berkeley and Seattle’s Allen Institute identify the “illusion neurons” that help the brain see shapes that aren’t actually present.
The paper: Recurrent pattern completion drives the neocortical representation of sensory inference — Nature Neuroscience, 2025
-
Brain illusion: US scientists use lasers to reveal how we see what isn’t there
Stimulating “IC-encoder” neurons with light recreated the brain activity of viewing an optical illusion, even with no illusion on the screen.
The paper: Recurrent pattern completion drives the neocortical representation of sensory inference — Nature Neuroscience, 2025
-
Scientists shoot lasers into brain cells to uncover how illusions work
Supported by the Allen Institute’s OpenScope program, the findings could help us better understand neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and reshape our understanding of vision.
The paper: Recurrent pattern completion drives the neocortical representation of sensory inference — Nature Neuroscience, 2025
-
Null and Noteworthy: Downstream brain areas read visual cortex signals en masse in mice
The finding contradicts a theory that the regions prioritize neurons that are adept at identifying specific stimuli.
The paper: Network influence determines the impact of cortical ensembles on stimulus detection — Neuron, 2025
-
Mind-blowing science: ‘Star Wars-style’ holograms to communicate with the brain
On the holographic neurotechnology platform being developed by Hillel Adesnik, Laura Waller and Rikky Muller for two-way communication with the brain — what Hillel calls a “Hubble telescope for the brain.”
-
Researchers are developing a device that can edit brain activity
How projecting holograms into the brain lets researchers switch groups of about 50 neurons on and off, hundreds of times per second.
The paper: Precise multimodal optical control of neural ensemble activity — Nature Neuroscience, 2018
-
Editing brain activity with holography
UC Berkeley neuroscientists use holographic projection to activate or suppress dozens of neurons at once, copying real patterns of brain activity.
The paper: Precise multimodal optical control of neural ensemble activity — Nature Neuroscience, 2018
-
A mouse’s view of the world, seen through its whiskers
Neurons in the mouse somatosensory cortex build a smooth map of the space around the head as the whiskers scan it, not just a map of the whiskers themselves.
The paper: Surround integration organizes a spatial map during active sensation — Neuron, 2017
-
Incredible brain-controlling microscope revealed
A microscope that can watch the activity of individual brain cells with millisecond precision, and switch those same cells on and off with light.
-
Novel IR microscope can manipulate neural activity in live animals
An infrared microscope built at UC Berkeley that controls the firing of individual neurons in the living brain, to decode how neural signals give rise to brain function.