Meet the brain molecule of the moment: 4-(2-Aminoethyl)benzene-1,2-diol. You have been its beneficiary from birth. Lately, you might have seen it splashed across the headlines under its common name.

For decades, dopamine has been celebrated in neuroscience as the quintessential "reward molecule"—a chemical herald of pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement. In popular understanding, higher ...

Closely related subtypes of dopamine-releasing neurons may play entirely separate roles in processing sensory information, depending on their physical structure. New research from the Institute of ...