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The most comprehensive circuit diagram of neurons in a mammalian brain has been created by scientists, providing groundbreaking insights into the mystery of how the brain works. The map is of a speck of a mouse's visual cortex, smaller than a grain of sand, and traces the structure of 84,000 neurons linked by half a billion synapses and approximately 5.4km of neuronal wiring.
The 3D reconstruction of the cubic millimetre of brain is helping uncover how the brain is organised and how different cell types work together, and could have implications for the understanding of intelligence, consciousness and neuronal conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism and schizophrenia. The advances are "a watershed moment for neuroscience, comparable to the Human Genome Project in their transformative potential", according to Dr David Markowitz, former programme manager of the US governmental organisation Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), who coordinated the work. The MICrONS project sought not only to map the structure of neurons, but also investigated the electrical signalling between then, showing how they communicate and providing a better picture of the hidden conversations in the brain.
Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas began by using specialised...
Hannah Devlin.
