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Neurodegenerative diseases of the brain pose a major and increasing global health challenge, with only limited progress made in developing effective therapies over the last decade. Interdisciplinary research is improving understanding of these diseases and this article reviews such approaches, with particular emphasis on tools and techniques drawn from physics, chemistry, artificial intelligence and psychology.

Network science is a powerful tool that can be used to better explore the complex structure of brain networks. Leveraging graph and motif analysis tools, we interrogate C. elegans connectomes across multiple developmental time points and compare the resulting graph characteristics and substructures over time. We show the evolution of the networks and highlight stable invariants and patterns as well as those that grow or decay unexpectedly, providing a substrate for additional analysis.

We've reached the state where we can no longer shrug and say 'well it's biology and it's a bit of a mess'. It is possible to get to the point of real quantitative agreement between theory and data.'' Professor Bill Bialek By applying a coarse-graining method and using the strength of correlation as a surrogate for the physical neighborhood, his approach respects the critical fact that neurones interact over considerable distances. He scales out to ''superneuronal'' activity, averaging over groups of up to 256 neurones, and shows they have simple, orderly behaviors that are quantifiable and reproducible across different animals.''We've reached the state where we can no longer shrug and say 'well it's biology and it's a bit of a mess'. It is possible to get to the point of real quantitative agreement between theory and data.'' Professor Bill Bialek

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The call for evidence-based policy within the environmental sector is a positive one. However communicators at the science-policy interface may need to strike a balance between staying true to scientific processes and ensuring impacts on policy-making. By analyzing interviews with those involved in a European science communication project, the study provides insight on the nature of these dilemmas and general recommendations on ethical practice.