Last year there was wild buzz about some new techniques predicted to transform biology. The Brainbow, of course, but even more the light-activated channel rhodopsins which allow you to activate or deactivate key proteins with the flash of light of particular wavelength - you could watch the consequences of opening membrane channels, for example, in a live animal. Yet close to nothing is being presented on this at this meeting.
Does this mean no-one is taking up the offer to transform biology? That is certainly not the case. I suspect that the problem has more to do with the fierce competition in the field. Everyone is playing their cards very close to their chest. The Neuroscience meeting is sadly not always the place for open discussion and presentation of red-hot new results.