An adult fruit fly brain has been mapped

Post by pazimzadeh » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 1:06 AM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #26

mjburgess wrote: post #3

It was my understanding that all this connectome-based research was largely a deadend, because it doesnt capture dynamics, nor a vast array of interactions. if you've ever seen neurones being grown (go search YT), you'll see it's a massive gelatinous structure which is highly plastic and highly dynamic. Even in the simplest brains (eg., of elgans), you get 10^x exponential growth in number of neurones and their conne…

It is useful. It is like getting a static map of the country's roads with no cars on it. You can not make it come alive with cars (activity), but you can infer where people need to drive but you don't know when and why they drive or what they are doing, but it is a major clue.

Post by taneq » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 1:27 AM UTC

rkp8000 wrote: post #29

mjburgess wrote: post #3

It was my understanding that all this connectome-based research was largely a deadend, because it doesnt capture dynamics, nor a vast array of interactions. if you've ever seen neurones being grown (go search YT), you'll see it's a massive gelatinous structure which is highly plastic and highly dynamic. Even in the simplest brains (eg., of elgans), you get 10^x exponential growth in number of neurones and their conne…

Connectome-adjacent neuroscientist here. Definitely not a dead end! But also definitely not the whole picture. One of the main open questions in neuroscience right now is how network structure, dynamics, and function are related in the brain. Connectomes provide tremendous insight into structure, but as mentioned this does not generically solve either the dynamics or function problem. For example, for many of these n…

Post by flashman » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 1:39 AM UTC

holtkam2 wrote: post #60

What hard steps exist between mapping the physical structure of the brain and simulating a running one via software?

Post by perryizgr8 » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 1:55 AM UTC

Lonestar1440 wrote: post #85

A big reason for my imminent-AGI Skepticism is the fact that our understanding of the currently existing, Biological intelligence is so, so shallow. We're here at "Systems level sketch of a fruit fly brain". It's incredible work! But as other comments detail, there is far more to the function of a fly brain than this "map". It's quite a long way from "Deep understanding of a Human Brain, to the point where we can beg…

Post by baanist » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 2:17 AM UTC

twarge wrote: post #86

baanist wrote: post #16

Are all fruit fry brains the same? Does anyone know what has actually been mapped and why it would generalize from one fruit fly to the next?

Yes, they are apparently exactly the same, with exactly the same neurons and connections! Happened to go for a walk with the corresponding author and made her repeat this fact for me.