To really understand the human brain, scientists say you'd have to map its wiring. The only problem: there are more than 100 trillion different connections to find, trace and characterize. But a team of scientists has made a big stride toward this goal, a complete wiring diagram of a teeny, tiny brain: the fruit fly larva.
different connections to find, trace and characterize. But a team of scientists has made a big stride toward this goal, a complete wiring diagram of a teeny, tiny brain: the fruit fly larva.
With a full map, or connectome, of the larval fruit fly brain, scientists can start to understand how behaviors shape, and are shaped by, the specific wiring of neural circuits. On today's episode, our resident neuroscience aficionado, NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton, talks over the new findings with Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong, and explains why we big-brained humans ought to care.
But a team of scientists has made a big stride toward this goal, a complete wiring diagram of a teeny, tiny brain. The brain of the fruit fly larva is a lot simpler than a human's, with about 500,000 connections to map. But it's still a major step up from the best-mapped model organisms so far, such as the roundworm and the larval sea squirt.
, of the larval fruit fly brain, scientists can start to understand how behaviors shape, and are shaped by, the specific wiring of neural circuits.
"There's regions that correspond to decision making, there's regions that correspond to learning, there's regions that correspond to navigation. And so lessons that we learn about foundational issues such as how decisions are made, and how learning happens, we hope that they're general principles that will apply not just to the larval drosophila brain but also, essentially every other brain," saysOn today's episode, our resident neuroscience aficionado, NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton, talks over the new findings with Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong, and explains why we big-brained humans ought to care.
This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Gabriel Spitzer and fact checked by Anil Oza. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon.
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