TWiN 49: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest mouse of all?

TWiN welcomes mice to the elite club of ‘self-aware’ animals, with a study demonstrating a mirror-induced self-directed behavior in mice resembling visual self-recognition. 

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Timothy Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison

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Download TWiN 049 (66 MB .mp3, 91 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 48: Traumatic brain injury and retroviruses

TWiN describes a study that reveals activation of endogenous retroviruses in oligodenroglia from patients with traumatic brain injury. 

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 048 (37 MB .mp3, 51 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 47: Walking after spinal cord injury

TWiN reviews an amazing study of a man who was paralyzed after a spinal cord injury and regained the ability to walk after implantation of a brain-spinal cord interface. 

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 047 (40 MB .mp3, 55 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 46: Neuronal activity promotes glioma progression

TWiN explains research showing that interaction between glioma cells and neurons in the brain shares mechanistic features with synaptic plasticity that contributes to memory and learning in the healthy brain. 

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 046 (37 MB .mp3, 51 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 45: Acupuncture modulates the immune system

TWiN discusses research showing that sciatic nerve activation with electroacupuncture at the sciatic nerve controls systemic inflammation and rescues mice from polymicrobial peritonitis, by inducing vagal activation of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, leading to the production of dopamine in the adrenal medulla. 

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 045 (38 MB .mp3, 52 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 44: ADHD and persistent pain

TWiN reviews a mouse model of ADHD to characterize hypersensitivity to pain, and that sensitization is further amplified in a pathological inflammatory state.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 044 (44 MB .mp3, 61 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 43: Pavlovian opioid tolerance

TWiN discusses a study of on the pathways that control opioid analgesic tolerance, a root cause of opioid overdose and misuse, which can develop through an associative learning.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 043 (45 MB .mp3, 63 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 42: Therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs

TWiN explains how psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA, which are being explored for treating a wide range of neuropsychiatric diseases, reopen the social reward period for critical learning.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, and Timothy Cheung

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Download TWiN 042 (34 MB .mp3, 57 min)
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Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 41: Alzheimer’s and melanin-concentrating hormone

Vivianne explains how early in Alzheimer’s disease, the brain attempts to counteract the increased excitatory drive caused by amyloid deposition, and that melanin-concentrating hormone, produced during sleep, is involved in this protective response.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, Timothy Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison

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Download TWiN 041 (39 MB .mp3, 64 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiN 40: Dopamine organizes behavior’s syllables

Tim takes TWiN through two studies on the role of dopamine: that syllables are natural units of spontaneous behavior used by the brain to structure action, and that mesolimbic dopamine release conveys causal associations but not reward prediction errors, thereby challenging the dominant theory of reward learning.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Jason Shepherd, Timothy Cheung, and Vivianne Morrison

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Download TWiN 040 (39 MB .mp3, 64 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS

Music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your neuroscience questions and comments to [email protected]

About the Hosts


Jason Shepherd, Ph.D.


Vivianne Morrison, Ph.D.


Tim Cheung, Ph.D.


Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.


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Please note that content in MicrobeTV podcasts should not be construed as medical advice.