The brain as we’ve never seen it before: The most detailed map of neural connections ever drawn has been published

One cubic millimeter of brain tissue contains 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels and 150 million synapses, a total of 1,400 terabytes of data: researchers from Harvard and Google have created something amazing: the most detailed map of neural connections. It has never been painted before

amazing! Researchers from Harvard And Google They have created something amazing, the most detailed map of Neural connections Never before drawn: One cubic millimeter of brain tissue contains 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and 150 million synapses, for a total of 230 millimeters of blood vessels. 1400 terabyte data.

The work has already been created The largest 3D brain reconstruction performed to dateEach cell and its network of connections is shown in vivid detail, and the temporal cortex, about half the size of a grain of rice.

This study is the result of a collaboration that lasted about 10 years with scientists from Google researchwhich combines electron microscopy imaging with artificial intelligence algorithms to color code and reconstruct the highly complex wiring of the Mammalian brain.

A terabyte, for most people, is huge – explains Lev Lichtman, who led the work – and yet part of a human brain – just a small piece of a human brain – still exists. Thousands of terabytes

The map contains Never before seen details of brain structure, including a rare but powerful set of axons connected to up to 50 synapses. The team also observed abnormalities in the tissue, such as a small number of axons that form large-scale vortices.

Such comprehensive maps can help scientists better understand living organisms Brain functions And the Neurological diseases.

Google’s cutting-edge algorithms make it possible to reconstruct and map brain tissue in three dimensions, as well as one dimension A set of publicly available tools Researchers can use them to examine the neural network and comment on it.

The work was published on Sciences.

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sources: Harvard Gazette / Sciences

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