Category: Brain Architecture & Maps
- Groundbreaking Brain Map Reveals Fruit Fly Brain in Stunning Detail ()
With a brain the size of a sesame seed, the lowly fruit fly is often considered a kitchen pest. But to neuroscientists, the flies are a treasure trove of information detailing how the brain’s intricate connections guide thoughts, decisions, and memories—not just for the critters, but also for us. Mapping these connections is the first […]
- This MIT Device Maps the Human Brain With Unprecedented Resolution and Speed ()
A squishy, fatty, beige-colored organ covered with grooves and ridges, the brain doesn’t look all that impressive on the surface. But hidden underneath are up to 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses—the connections between neurons that form networks—densely packed in a squishy three-pound organ that controls our thoughts, feelings, movement, memories, and sense of […]
- Google and Harvard Map a Tiny Piece of the Human Brain With Extreme Precision ()
Scientists just published the most detailed map of a cubic millimeter of the human brain. Smaller than a grain of rice, the mapped section of brain includes over 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and 150 million synapses. The project, a collaboration between Harvard and Google, is looking to accelerate connectomics—the study of how […]
- New computer tools can reconstruct 3D brain from biobank photos ()
Researchers have developed a suite of free tools for analyzing vast amounts of brain dissection photographs at brain banks worldwide to enhance understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. The study, published today as a Reviewed Preprint in eLife, is described by the editors as providing a valuable open-source tool for researchers in the neuropathology and neuroimaging field, […]
- New Map Shows How Our Neurons Communicate ()
Summary: Researchers from Cleveland Clinic and OHSU have unveiled a pioneering technique for charting the intricate conversations occurring within our brains. Such insights are key to decoding behavioral alterations in neurological disease patients. The innovative tool, CaMPARI, allows scientists to witness brain activity in real-time, marking active neurons red and inactive ones green. This breakthrough […]
- Scientists built the largest-ever map of the human brain. Here’s what they found ()
Scientists are one step closer to understanding the 170 billion brain cells that allow us to walk, talk, and think. A newly published atlas offers the most detailed maps yet of the location, structure, and, in some cases, function of more than 3,000 types of brain cells. “We really need this kind of information if […]
- Scientists just drafted an incredibly detailed map of the human brain ()
A massive suite of papers offers a high-res view of the human and non-human primate brain. By Cassandra Willyard October 12, 2023 This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. When scientists first […]
- Scientists just used A.I. to map a fruit fly’s brain. Here’s why it’s a ‘turning point in neuroscience’ ()
Without A.I., the researchers would have taken roughly 2,000 collective years to finish the work—they also made almost 3 million edits to fix the A.I.’s mistakes. All ~130,000 neurons in the flywire.ai connectome. Further details in Dorkenwald et al and Schlegel et al bioRxiv preprints. Imagine you need to find a room in an expansive, […]