According to a recent publication in Nature, scientists have created the most detailed map ever of a living brain in action. In a groundbreaking project called MICrONS (Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks) researchers combined cutting-edge imaging and artificial intelligence to study how the brain of a mouse processes information, offering new clues about how thinking, learning, and perception work.
The team focused on the mouse’s visual cortex, a part of the brain that helps interpret what the eyes see. They recorded brain activity as the mouse watched short videos, while tracking the movements of its eyes and body. Using special proteins that light up when brain cells fire, they observed the activity of 76,000 neurons. Then, using ultra-powerful electron microscopes, they sliced the same piece of brain tissue into 28,000 thin layers and reassembled them digitally, revealing over 84,000 neurons, half a billion synapses, and more than five kilometers of neural wiring.
This combination of structure and activity isknown as “functional connectomics”, whis is a major step forward. It not only shows how brain cells are connected, but also how they work together in real time. Scientists can now trace signals between specific neurons and link brain circuits to actual behaviors. Although the mapped area is tiny, about the size of a poppy seed, it sets a new benchmark in brain science.
This work could help to deepen our understanding of brain diseases, and inspire new treatments for neurological conditions. The full dataset has been made freely available, and teams around the world are already using it to explore everything from memory and decision-making to how different types of neurons behave. Like other big science projects such as the Human Genome Project or the Large Hadron Collider, MICrONS shows how collaboration and technology can unlock some of nature’s most complex mysteries, including the inner workings of the mind.
Assistant Lecturer at the University of the Basque Country