Google Research and HHMI Janelia · Fly Brain Connectome

Male Fruit Fly Connectome

Published in Cell on 3 September: the complete central nervous system of the male fruit fly - central brain, optic lobes and ventral nerve cord - at over 166,000 neurons and 125 million synaptic connections, the largest brain map by neuron count so far. Built from electron-microscopy sectioning, AI 3D reconstruction using flood-filling networks, and a PATHFINDER system that puts synthetic neurons into the training data, then verified by hand with Columbia and Harvard. With the female map already done it makes direct male-female comparison possible, and is positioned as a step towards vertebrate brains.