Scientists use clips from The Matrix to create most detailed map of mammalian brain

American researchers have created the most detailed and extensive map of neural connections in a mammalian brain, according to Nature magazine.

Photo: Standard tissue culture and immunofluorescence by GerryShaw, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Клетки головного мозга

They focused on a section of the visual cortex from a genetically modified mouse whose neurons glowed during activity.

For two hours, the researchers showed the mouse various videos, including clips from the film The Matrix. Afterwards, they sliced the targeted section of the brain into more than 25,000 layers—each thinner than a human hair—and took around 100 million images of those fragments. Using artificial intelligence, they constructed a 3D map that displays over 200,000 brain cells, including approximately 82,000 neurons and more than 500 million neural connections (synapses).

The team hopes this groundbreaking work will help scientists better understand how synaptic dysfunction contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.