Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking milestone by creating the first precise, three-dimensional map of a mammal’s brain. Using just a speck of mouse brain tissue the size of a grain of sand, researchers have detailed the form, function and activity of 84,000 neurons, revealing nearly one and a half times the length of New York City’s Central Park worth of neuronal wiring.
The project, known as The Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) program, involved a team of over 150 scientists working at 22 institutions for almost a decade. By recording brain activity in a small portion of tissue and reconstructing images into a composite, the researchers were able to map the mouse brain’s neural connections with unprecedented detail.
The team used specialized microscopes to record brain activity in the visual cortex, where the animal processes what it sees, and deployed machine learning tools to trace the contour of every neuron. The resulting map shows how specific parts of the mouse brain are organized and offers insight into how different cell types work together.
While mapping the entire human brain connectome is considered an impossible challenge, this achievement paves the way for new possibilities in studying human brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism and schizophrenia. By creating a digital blueprint of the mouse brain, researchers can compare healthy and diseased brain wiring to develop new treatments and therapies.
The project has also sparked excitement among scientists, with one associate director describing the map as “incredibly beautiful” and another calling it a “Google map or blueprint of this grain of sand.”
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/15/science/3d-brain-map-mouse-mammal-breakthrough/index.html