US scientists have created the most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain, and it’s mind-blowing.
We’re talking half a billion synapses, 84,000 neurons, and 5.4 kilometers of brain “cables”—all packed into a cube smaller than a grain of sand.
“This is a watershed moment for neuroscience,” said Dr. David Markowitz, likening it to the Human Genome Project.
Dubbed the MICrONS project, the team didn’t just map where everything is—they recorded how these neurons talk to each other.
First, the mouse watched YouTube (yes, really), while scientists at Baylor tracked its brain activity.
Then the Allen Institute sliced that brain cube into 25,000 razor-thin layers.
Researchers Used AI For Experiment
Princeton researchers stitched it all back together using AI, creating a 3D brain model weighing in at 1.6 petabytes of data.
Turns out, inhibitory neurons—the brain’s “quiet down!” crew—are way choosier than we thought.
They don’t just silence at random; they selectively guide the whole network’s flow.
“This is like having the circuit diagram for your brain,” said Dr. Nuno da Costa.
And if the brain’s a busted radio, that blueprint could one day help us fix it.
