Biggest brain map ever details huge number of neurons and their activity

Researchers have created the largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date, by mapping cells in a cubic millimetre of a mouse’s brain tissue1. In a landmark achievement, the diagram also details the activity of individual neurons on a large scale ― a neuroscience first.The high-resolution 3D map contains more than 200,000 brain cells, around 82,000 of which are neurons. It also includes more than 500 million of the neuronal connection points called synapses and more than 4 kilometres of neuronal wiring, all found in a tiny block of tissue in a brain region involved in vision. The only brain map of comparable scale is that of a cubic millimetre of human brain, which included 16,000 neurons and 150 million synapses2. The new map also captured the activity of tens of thousands of neurons firing signals and interacting with each other to process visual information.Read more on the MICrONS projectThis brain-activity map, combined with the wiring diagram, marks a mile...