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)
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:34PM
The scientology's not ready yet, they're working on the Brain Scan. Then they need to do the Brain Copy. Possibly the Brain Fax. They'll be able to scan the brains of our very best politicians. Fax that to a lot of places. And make copies in those places. So it's like having the same guy -- the very best guy -- in a lot of places.