First 3D Map of the Brain’s Connections
We knew anatomy could be gorgeous, but this is beyond anything else we’ve ever seen, and it’s guaranteed to be something you haven’t seen, being the first 3D image of a brain’s connections.
Van Wedeen, a Harvard radiology professor, is awestruck: “We’ve never really seen the brain – it’s been hiding in plain sight.” Conventional scanning has offered us a crude glimpse, but scientists such as Wedeen aim to produce the first ever three-dimensional map of all its neurons. They call this circuit diagram the “connectome”, and it could help us better understand everything from imagination and language to the miswirings that cause mental illness. But with 100 billion neurons hooked together by more connections than there are stars in the MilkyWay, the brain is a challenge that represents petabyte-level data.
Photographed above is the 3D image of an owl-monkey’s brain.
February 9, 2010 12:57pm
Firsties!!!!!!!!!!!
February 28, 2010 12:35pm
omfg….. and to dashhawn… you freaking wasted the first post…(ballsmash) on another note… damn.. that is bloody cool
February 28, 2010 15:46pm
…but you didn’t call shotgun.
and awesome pic and up-coming in the history of science
March 5, 2010 0:37am
There are so many connections in the human brain. Wow. Phenomenal.
March 7, 2010 20:26pm
If the brain is that complicated why do ppl still drive for miles with their turn signals on?
March 10, 2010 20:55pm
Because its that complicated.
Just because people have the potential doesn’t mean they have any idea how to use it.
But that just about sums up most of humanity o_o;
March 13, 2010 1:58am
Brains are like money………..There are/is a lot around, shame it doesn’t come with directions.
March 20, 2010 14:55pm
The human brain is an approximately 3 lbs +/- wonder. PET scans have shown big differences between human male and female brains. In males one side of the brain is larger than the other side. In females both sides are equal in size. And what does all this mean??? Males are one-sided whereas females must multitask!!!
March 29, 2010 2:34am
haha people driving with their turnsignals on for miles XD. But yeah this aint a human brain, word for the guy who thought so. But its a monkey brain i think. Im guessing a human brain would have just been a big mess of wires. And i didnt know that a males brain in larger on one side then the other. It could be that the brains that they used had entirely different lives. Like a female is less likly to perfect their motor skills unlike a male who is more physical in their daily life. And females have more of a nitch for verbal skills. But hey what do i know… Ill post later when i become a neuroologist…
April 14, 2010 14:53pm
@Nancy No, just like a large something else, its EXTRA brain power that females lack. Thats why they are so CRAZY all the time.
April 21, 2010 22:51pm
This is so cool! Im excited to see the other animals they start creating 3-D models of and eventually humans!
May 18, 2010 19:27pm
Wow this is truly a huge step forward for man kind, whether its a human brain or a monkey brain doesn’t quite matter, we have made a 3D model of the most complicated and wonderful thing that we know of, the brain.
June 2, 2010 20:13pm
this model looks 2D to me
June 17, 2010 14:44pm
It looks as though i opened my girlfriends sewing drawer. Just like her its a very organized mess. Now get in there and knit me a sweater!
June 22, 2010 1:38am
dreamy
August 24, 2010 12:24pm
number 16 !!! braaains