Google has mapped out the most detailed part of the human brain

According to Michael Marshall, there are about 4,000 nerve fibers connected to this neuron, and Google/Lichtman Labs helped to draw the most detailed human brain connection map to date

This brain map is available online for free, including 50,000 cells, all presented in three dimensions

This data set is too large, and researchers have not studied it in detail

"This is the first time we have seen the real structure of the human brain," said Catherine Dulac of Harvard University, who was not involved in this work

Lichtmann and his team immediately immersed the sample in a preservative, and then stained the sample with heavy metals such as osmium so that the outer membrane of each cell can be seen under an electron microscope

All these details are just a small part of the brain

For Drucker, the data set is "the next few years treasure"

Usually, when the tendril of one neuron is close to another neuron, it will only form one synapse, or rarely form two to four synapses

The reason is not clear, but Lichtman speculates that multiple synaptic connections are the basis of learning behavior

The research team also found mysterious pairs of neurons deep in the cerebral cortex that had never been observed before

Brain mapping, or connectomics, has made great progress since the first breakthrough in the 1980s, when researchers mapped 302 neurons in a nervous system called Caenorhabditis elegans

"The whole mouse brain is only 1,000 times larger than this, an EB instead of a PB," Lichtman said.

Drawing the entire human brain map will require a 1,000 times larger data set, a zettabyte, Lichtman said, which is "equivalent to the amount of digital content produced by the earth in one year

But it may not be worth it.

DOI: 10.