Scientists Create , Detailed Diagram , of an Insect's Brain.<br />Engadget reports that scientists have created a detailed <br />"circuit map" of an insect brain, an accomplishment <br />that may shed light on how the brain processes data.<br />As reported in 'Neuroscience News,' researchers have , created a connectome, of a fruit fly larva.<br />The connectome is a diagram <br />of the insect's 3,016 neurons <br />and 548,000 synapses.<br />The detailed diagram could help scientists <br />understand exactly how the brain controls behavior, <br />learning, body functions and much more.<br />Up until this point, we’ve not seen <br />the structure of any brain except of <br />the roundworm C. elegans, the tadpole <br />of a low chordate, and the larva <br />of a marine annelid, all of which <br />have several hundred neurons, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory <br />of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'.<br />This means neuroscience has been <br />mostly operating without circuit maps. <br />Without knowing the structure of a brain, <br />we’re guessing on the way computations <br />are implemented. But now, we can start <br />gaining a mechanistic understanding <br />of how the brain works, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory <br />of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'.<br />To create the detailed diagram, the team scanned <br />thousands of slices from the larva's brain and integrated <br />the results, annotating every neural connection.<br />To create the detailed diagram, the team scanned <br />thousands of slices from the larva's brain and integrated <br />the results, annotating every neural connection.<br />Engadget reports that the team now plans to take <br />a closer look at structures involved with behavioral <br />functions that include learning and decision-making.<br />The team also plans on investigating <br />connectome activity while the insect <br />performs specific activities.<br />In the same way that genes are conserved <br />across the animal kingdom, I think that <br />the basic circuit motifs that implement <br />these fundamental behaviors <br />will also be conserved, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory <br />of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'
