08 Nov 2005

Neuroscience research has uncovered instances in which developmental processes, which are shut off properly at certain points in a child’s life, can become reactivated in an altered form late in life, especially as neurodegenerative diseases develop. Readers who want to get up to speed on the field of neurodevelopment can conveniently pick up the current, special issue of Science Magazine. Dedicated to neurodevelopment, the journal offers articles spanning the spectrum from cell biology through neural systems to language and autism. Accompanying news stories and editorials educate and edify. In addition, AAAS's Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment (STKE, subscription required) focuses this week on the signaling and molecular changes that govern synaptic plasticity, and the Science of Aging Knowledge Environment (SAGE KE, subscription required) includes a Perspective on working memory and selective attention in cognitive aging.—Hakon Heimer.