If you’re interested in the complexities of our brain, a glimpse into the incredible complexity and beauty of how connections between our neurons can lead to ultimately what makes us human, this video is a must. Take five minutes, and prepare yourself to be awestruck.
On a personal note, I am not a neuroscientist but have been following this literature lately, simply because I am drawn to trying to understand how our brains work. I am humbled by the superb job done by Charlotte Stoddart in integrating several key studies to paint a picture of our brains that can be understood, and appreciated, by anyone.
And thanks to Adam Rutherford for the tip via Twitter (ah…the power of online social networking!)
Really lovely video about detailed brain mapping http://bit.ly/gYnAwQ by my colleague @CharlotteStod
Uploaded by NatureVideoChannel on Mar 9, 2011
Our brains are a dense tangle of billions of nerve cells connected together at synapses. Knowing how everything links up is key to understanding how the brain works — but it’s a huge challenge. Figuring out the brain’s wiring diagram is the aim of ‘connectomics’. It’s done at many scales: from the ‘super highways’ linking brain areas down to individual cells and their connections. This video shows how, for the first time, scientists have reconstructed the wiring of tiny pieces of the mouse brain and related it to the function of individual cells.
Read the original research papers here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09818 & http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09802