http://x.com/i/article/2082255563094654976
Mapping the Brain with Connectomics
Did you know that mapping a speck of the human brain （smaller than a grain of rice） revealed never-before-seen structures， like single neurons connected by up to 50 synapses？ This offers us brand-new clues into how the brain processes information， forms memories， and what happens when those networks fail.
Mapping these intricate networks is a field called connectomics and it's critical to helping scientists understand how the brain works.
@GoogleResearch is developing advanced technology and AI tools to accelerate connectomics research. Here's a quick history of connectomics and how it's evolved over the past 40 years：
- The Roundworm： In 1986， researchers completed the first connectome for the C. elegans roundworm （302 neurons）. It took 16 years of using markers to manually trace paths on enlarged photographs！
- The Fruit Fly： In 2020， our team mapped roughly half a fruit fly brain （25，000 neurons）. That connectome database and its visualization reframed the way neural circuits are studied and understood in the fly brain.
- The First Human Sample： In 2021， the H01 dataset was released， showing a 1.4-petabyte 3D rendering of one cubic millimeter of human brain tissue. This marked the first-ever human connectome map and offered new insights into the human cortex.
- Mapping the Mouse Brain： In 2023， an NIH-supported project to map 2-3% of the mouse brain was launched， focusing on the memory- and navigation-encoding hippocampal region as a key step toward mapping a whole mouse brain.
- Complete Fruit Fly and Fish： Coming soon， complete connectomes of the male fruit fly （166，000 neurons） as well as the larval zebrafish. The larval zebrafish will mark the first full brain map for a vertebrate！