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posted by martyb on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the now-to-wire-up-a-simulant dept.

3D image reveals hidden neurons in fruit-fly brain

Scientists have produced a 3D image of a fruit fly's brain that's so detailed, researchers can trace connections between neurons across the entire organ.

Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) display a suite of complex behaviours, including courtship dances and learning. But understanding the neural networks that drive these behaviours remains a challenge. The data from this image, published on 19 July in Cell, resolved the insect's brain down to individual cells — revealing some neurons that have never been seen before. This offers scientists a new tool with which to study fruit-fly behaviour and allows them to compare the insects' neural networks with that of other species.

Researchers cut a fly's brain — roughly the size of a poppy seed — into more than 7,000 slices and shot a beam of electrons through the sample. A high-speed camera captured high-resolution pictures of each slice — a process never used before — generating roughly 21 million images that the team stitched together using custom computer software.

Also at Science Magazine, Science News, Discovery Magazine, and National Geographic.

A Complete Electron Microscopy Volume of the Brain of Adult Drosophila melanogaster (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.019) (DX)


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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:51PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:51PM (#710560)

    #CrookedHillary is having an orgasm at the thought of cutting Trump's brain into 7,000 slices and shooting a bean if electrons through the sample. Get over it woman, you lost.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @01:23AM (#710625)

    "shooting a bean if electrons"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:56AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:56AM (#710647)

    "CrookedHillary is having an orgasm". I wanted to not see that... Even in my mind.

    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday July 22 2018, @04:32AM (1 child)

      by mhajicek (51) on Sunday July 22 2018, @04:32AM (#710665)

      That would explain the seizure-like convulsions...

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
      • (Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:18PM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:18PM (#710757) Homepage Journal

        She has big problems with her brain. People are saying it's epilepsy. A lot of people are saying epilepsy. Look at the blue glasses!!!!