Particle physicists are used to popping champagne corks when they make discoveries at lilliputian scales, but now it’s neuroscientists’ turn. After 12 years and more than $40 million, an eclectic team of 100 biologists, computer scientists, and neuronal proofreaders announced on Wednesday that they have mapped the “connectome” in the central region of the poppy-seed-sized brain of a fruit fly, working out the precise meanderings of 25,000 neurons and their 20 million connections.
Image: Cross-section of fly brain seen under an electron microscope; different colors mark individual neurons. COURTESY JANELIA RESEARCH CAMPUS/HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE
