Scientists took years to map 50m connections, which may lead to understanding of how wiring gives rise to behaviour

Researchers have produced the first wiring diagram for the whole brain of a fruit fly, a feat that promises to revolutionise the field of neuroscience and pave the way for unprecedented insights into how the brain produces behaviour.

Rarely in science has so much effort been directed toward so little material, with scientists taking years to map the meanderings of all 139,255 neurons and the 50m connections bundled up inside the fly’s poppy seed-sized brain.

In the process, the researchers classified more than 8,400 different cell types, amounting to the first complete parts list for building a fly brain.

“You might be asking why we should care about the brain of a fruit fly,” said Sebastian Seung, a professor of computer science and neuroscience at Princeton University and a co-leader on the FlyWire project. “My simple answer is that if we can truly understand how any brain functions, it’s bound to tell us something about all brains.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/02/fruit-fly-brain-connections-wiring-diagram-neuroscience