Complete circuitry of an insect brain mapped for the first time

The model shows every single neuron and connection in the brain of a fruit fly larva

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have pieced together a map showing every single neuron and how they’re wired together in the brain of a fruit fly larva.

The map shows all 3,016 of the neurons in the larva’s brain and the complex network of 548,000 synapses – known as the connectome – that carry chemical signals between them. It is the biggest map of its kind ever produced. The researchers hope that the map will enable them to study how signals travel through the brain and affect learning and behaviour.