Collectively, neurodegenerative diseases share the common theme of uncontrollable neuronal loss in the brain which eventually results in progressive cognitive impairment and locomotor deficits. How and where these devastating degenerations strike—and possible avenues for therapeutic intervention—have been an intense focus of neuroscience research. Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus issue on neurodegeneration consisting of reviews and perspectives that highlight the latest advances in our understanding of pathological mechanisms, and the possibility of harnessing this information for translational research.

Nature Neurosciencepresents a special focus issue on hearing, which covers recent advances in genetics, clinical treatment and neuroscience which have advanced our understanding of how sounds are translated into neural signals and processed to support functions such as language.

Subtle abnormalities during birth, proliferation, migration, phenotypic maturation and wiring of CNS neurons may contribute to mental retardation, schizophrenia, and autism-spectrum disorders, necessitating a detailed understanding of developmental mechanisms. Brain "development", we also know, is not finished after adolescence. In this Web Focus we present a collection of papers highlighting the latest progress in the field, published over the course of the last year by Nature Neuroscienceand other journals in the Nature Publishing Group family.

The ability to make appropriate choices is critical for survival. Successful decision making requires the integration of sensory information, motivational states and potential outcomes to select the best action. Recently, there has been great progress in our understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting decision making in a wide range of contexts, including risky choices and social interactions. This special focus on decision making contains four reviews that highlight recent achievements in this important field.

Glia are critical to many brain disorders. Glial cells regulate brain vasculature and the blood-brain barrier, modulating ischemia and blood flow changes in response to neural activity. Moreover, they are important in brain repair after injury and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. This special focus on glia and disease contains four reviews and two perspectives that highlight recent research in these areas and discuss how advances in understanding glial biology may lead to new treatments.

Individual quality of life depends on the ability to experience emotions appropriately and to regulate them in response to stressful events. In addition, depression and anxiety are a substantial public health burden.This special focus contains four reviews and a perspective from leaders in the field, who discuss how the brain regulates emotions, how this regulation becomes impaired by disorders of emotion and which therapies may be effective in treating these disorders.

Nature Neurosciencepresents a special focus on childhood developmental disorders, which contains four perspectives exploring the overlap between normal and abnormal development, as well as the commonalties between different disorders. Disorders covered include autism, specific language impairment, dyslexia, and the mental retardation syndrome fragile X. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the March of Dimes, Autism Speaks and Cure Autism Now, this focus will be freely available online through December 2006.

To understand the brain, theoretical and experimental approaches must be integrated to make sense of the enormous amount of existing data, and to guide future experiments. In the December 2005 issue, we present a special focus on computational and systems neuroscience. Along with commissioned perspectives, the focus contains primary research articles featuring the best work presented at Cosyne, a meeting that rings together a diverse group of theoretical and experimental neuroscientists.

This focus contains a series of specially commissioned reviews and perspectives on the neurobiology of drug abuse, decision making and habit formation, as well as a commentary on how these basic science insights should guide public policy on addiction and its treatment. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, this focus will be freely available online through January 2006.

Food intake and body weight are subject to complex regulation by the hypothalamus and other brain centers. This focus presents six commissioned articles highlighting current progress in the neurobiology of feeding regulation, energy metabolism and obesity. It is sponsored by the Obesity Research Task Force of the National Institutes of Health, and freely accessible through July 2005.

This focus examines the sexual development and differentiation of the brain, as well as the brain circuits behind pair bonding, a sex-associated social behavior. An accompanying commentary raises ethical issues that must be considered when studying such a complex (and controversial) topic as human sexuality. These articles are freely available for the month of October.

These Perspectives critically appraise high-throughput methods such as proteomics, microarrays and multiple-electrode recording, and evaluate the current and future database resources that such studies require. They are freely available with help from the NIH.