diff --git a/R/neuronlist.R b/R/neuronlist.R
index ea872c79..e8bf46e5 100644
--- a/R/neuronlist.R
+++ b/R/neuronlist.R
@@ -388,6 +388,8 @@ as.data.frame.neuronlist<-function(x, row.names = names(x), optional = FALSE, ..
 #'   error. The default value (\code{NA}) will result in nlapply stopping with
 #'   an error message the moment there is an error. For other values, see
 #'   details.
+#' @param withMeta whether or not to include the metadata from the neuronlist
+#'   data.frame
 #' @param .progress Character vector specifying the type of progress bar (see
 #'   Progress bar section for details) The default value of \code{"auto"} shows
 #'   a progress bar in interactive use after 2s. The default value can be
@@ -479,7 +481,7 @@ as.data.frame.neuronlist<-function(x, row.names = names(x), optional = FALSE, ..
 #' options(nat.progress=NULL)
 #' sl=nlapply(Cell07PNs, FUN = seglengths)
 #' }
-nlapply<-function (X, FUN, ..., subset=NULL, OmitFailures=NA, 
+nlapply<-function (X, FUN, ..., subset=NULL, OmitFailures=NA, withMeta=FALSE,
                    .progress=getOption('nat.progress', default='auto')){
   if(isTRUE(.progress=='auto')) {
     .progress = ifelse(interactive(), "natprogress", "none")
@@ -495,6 +497,12 @@ nlapply<-function (X, FUN, ..., subset=NULL, OmitFailures=NA,
     class(X) 
   else c("neuronlist", 'list')
   
+  if (withMeta && ncol(X[,]) > 0) {
+    meta_list <- split(X[,], seq(nrow(X[,])))
+    Xlist = mapply(append, X, meta_list, SIMPLIFY = FALSE)
+    X = as.neuronlist(lapply(Xlist, as.neuron))
+  }
+  
   if(!is.null(subset)){
     if(!is.character(subset)) subset=names(X)[subset]
     Y=X
diff --git a/R/neuronlistfh.R b/R/neuronlistfh.R
index 1ebc509d..d64f1a95 100644
--- a/R/neuronlistfh.R
+++ b/R/neuronlistfh.R
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ remotesync.default<-function(x, remote=attr(x,'remote'), download.missing=TRUE,
 #' @rdname remotesync
 #' @examples
 #' \dontrun{
-#' kcs20=read.neuronlistfh('http://flybrain.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/si/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds')
+#' kcs20=read.neuronlistfh('http://virtualflybrain.org/data/VFB/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds')
 #' # update object from the web
 #' kcs20=remotesync(kcs20)
 #' # download all neurons with significant innervation of the vertical lobe
diff --git a/man/nlapply.Rd b/man/nlapply.Rd
index 1a98c899..6a5d14ba 100644
--- a/man/nlapply.Rd
+++ b/man/nlapply.Rd
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ nlapply(
   ...,
   subset = NULL,
   OmitFailures = NA,
+  withMeta = FALSE,
   .progress = getOption("nat.progress", default = "auto")
 )
 
@@ -45,6 +46,9 @@ error. The default value (\code{NA}) will result in nlapply stopping with
 an error message the moment there is an error. For other values, see
 details.}
 
+\item{withMeta}{whether or not to include the metadata from the neuronlist
+data.frame}
+
 \item{.progress}{Character vector specifying the type of progress bar (see
 Progress bar section for details) The default value of \code{"auto"} shows
 a progress bar in interactive use after 2s. The default value can be
diff --git a/man/remotesync.Rd b/man/remotesync.Rd
index 479fd927..8f05e797 100644
--- a/man/remotesync.Rd
+++ b/man/remotesync.Rd
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ Synchronise a remote object
 }
 \examples{
 \dontrun{
-kcs20=read.neuronlistfh('http://flybrain.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/si/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds')
+kcs20=read.neuronlistfh('http://virtualflybrain.org/data/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds')
 # update object from the web
 kcs20=remotesync(kcs20)
 # download all neurons with significant innervation of the vertical lobe
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-.neuronlistfh-remote-nocran.R b/tests/testthat/test-.neuronlistfh-remote-nocran.R
index 42b854d6..5e6564e6 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-.neuronlistfh-remote-nocran.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-.neuronlistfh-remote-nocran.R
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ test_that("we can download a neuronlistfh object with MD5'd objects", {
   localdir <- tempfile()
   dir.create(localdir)
   on.exit(unlink(localdir, recursive=TRUE))
-  kcs20.url="http://flybrain.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/si/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds"
+  kcs20.url="http://virtualflybrain.org/data/VFB/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds"
   kcs20md5 <- read.neuronlistfh(kcs20.url, localdir=localdir, quiet=TRUE)
   # test trying to read in neuronlistfh object which is now available locally
   # before we have downloaded any data objects
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ test_that("we can synchronise a neuronlistfh object with its remote", {
   localdir <- tempfile()
   dir.create(localdir)
   on.exit(unlink(localdir, recursive=TRUE))
-  kcs20fh.remote <- read.neuronlistfh("http://flybrain.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/si/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds",
+  kcs20fh.remote <- read.neuronlistfh("http://virtualflybrain.org/data/VFB/nblast/flycircuit/kcs20.rds",
                                       localdir=localdir)
   expect_equal(dim(kcs20fh.remote[[1]]$points), c(284, 3))
   # make a neuronlistfh object from the local data bundled with this package
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-neuronlist.R b/tests/testthat/test-neuronlist.R
index b0721825..3d91458c 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-neuronlist.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-neuronlist.R
@@ -327,6 +327,24 @@ test_that("[<-.neuronlist does the right thing",{
   expect_null(colnames(kcs13[,]<-NULL))
 })
 
+test_that("neuronlist includes metadata",{
+  kcs13=kcs20[1:3]
+  
+  # expect that withMeta output will contain more attributes
+  out1 = nlapply(kcs13, function(x) x)
+  out2 = nlapply(kcs13, function(x) x, withMeta = T)
+  expect_true(
+    length(attributes(out1[[2]])$names) < length(attributes(out2[[2]])$names)
+  )
+  
+  # or parts of columns
+  data.frame(kcs13) <- NULL
+  out3 = nlapply(kcs13, function(x) x, withMeta = T)
+  expect_true(
+    all(names(out1[[1]]) == names(out3[[1]]))
+  )
+})
+
 test_that("prune twigs of a neuronlist", {
   n = Cell07PNs[1:3]