Vibrational fiber photometry enables Raman spectroscopy in the mouse brain with low impact, owing to the use of tapered fibers.

During the 2015–2016 outbreak, Zika virus infection was linked to birth defects. Here, the authors show that epidemic strains cause less severe disease in mouse embryos than pre-epidemic strains and conclude that less severe disease leads to higher fetal survival rates but results in noticeable birth defects.

Moculus is a virtual reality headset for mice that allows realistic display of three-dimensional environments. The system improves performance in visual-learning tasks and can be combined with various microscopes to study neural circuitry.

MouseGoggles is a miniaturized virtual reality (VR) headset for mice that provides an improved immersive experience compared with existing VR equipment. MouseGoggles can also be combined with pupil tracking and has been applied in combination with calcium imaging or electrophysiological recordings.

Differences in standard chow diets can influence mouse model phenotypes and impact experimental reproducibility. Here Knuth et al. show that the timing during which mice are exposed to standard chow can also affect phenotypic outcomes.

Telomere dysfunction, usually owing to shortening, activates cellular senescence and can contribute to age-associated diseases and cancer. Mouse models are crucial for telomere research, but human and mouse telomeres have key differences. This Review discusses telomere maintenance and damage, and recent efforts to generate ‘humanized’-telomere mouse models.

Studies in human cell lines and transgenic mouse models show that non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase TYK2 phosphorylates tau at Tyr29 and thereby promotes its stabilization and accumulation. In mice, knockdown of TYK2 reduced tau levels and attenuated tau neuropathology.

Being first in a family to aim for a science career takes resilience and resourcefulness.

Facemap tracks keypoints on the mouse face and feeds the information into a deep neural network to predict neural activity.

The requirement for a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) is a well-known limitation of the CRISPR–Cas9 system, as it restricts the range of sequences that can be targeted. To address this limitation, we demonstrate a phage-assisted evolution approach for engineering a compact SlugCas9, simplifying its PAM requirement and broadening its DNA targeting scope.

Wild three-dimensional imaging of solvent-cleared organs (wildDISCO) uses conventional antibodies for whole-body staining in mice, creating comprehensive biological atlases of nerves, blood vessels and lymphatics. It uncovers pathological changes, such as tertiary lymphoid structures in cancer, and it enables the precise tracking of therapeutic molecules and cells, enhancing our understanding of disease pathology and treatment.