[ExI] NYTimes.com: Decoding the Human Brain, With Help From a Fly

[Keith Henson]

Decoding the Human Brain, With Help From a Fly
*
*Taiwanese researchers have managed to bar code some 16,000 of the 100,000
neurons in a fruit fly’s brain and to reconstruct the brain’s wiring map.

In terms similar to those that define computers, the team describes the
general architecture of the fly’s brain as composed of 41 local processing
units, 58 tracts that link the units to other parts of the brain, and six
hubs.

Biologists see this atlas of the fly brain as a first step toward
understanding the human brain. Six of the chemicals that transmit messages
between neurons are the same in both species. And the general structure ­
two hemispheres with copious cross-links ­ is also similar.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This certainly has implications for doing the same with human brains.

Keith
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