After a Decade, Scientists Unveil Fly Brain in Stunning Detail
After a Decade, Scientists Unveil Fly Brain in Stunning Detail
Scientists have mapped out how 140,000 neurons are wired in the brain of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The wiring diagram will be a boon to researchers who have studied the nervous system of the fly species. The new fly map is “the first time we’ve had a complete map of any complex brain,” said Mala Murthy, a neurobiologist at Princeton who helped lead the effort. Other researchers said that analyzing the circuitry in the fly brain would reveal principles that apply to other species, including humans, whose brains have 86 billion neurons.
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by the numbers, 7050 sections to capture 140,000 neurons in 21 million images taking 10 years.
the article ends with "we can't wait 10,000" years which is a bold claim.
the idea that humanity could unlock mind uploading in 10,000 years is quite an achievement for our species. alas, i understand, i can't wait either.
there are some interesting workflow optimization opportunities here, if they exist.
our efforts to build systems like CERN and land on a moon provide a blueprint for hope when we come across problems that need a LOT of humans to take on the manual work while also finding new optimizations in the workflow.
and yet, the biggest hurdle is likely just getting societies to coordinate, commit to long term projects with no end in sight and have the energy to not give up or get distracted.
the payoff seems worth it for our species, but maybe less so on the individual level because we just can't wait.
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