The First Immortal Fly

CODEX

Scientists once dreamed of creating a model of the human brain by cutting it into thin layers and digitizing neural connections. This ambitious project inspired by the idea of "digital Lenin" was not implemented due to the complexity of the task. We decided to start with the mouse brain, but it turned out to be difficult: 70 million neurons is already a big load. For comparison, there are 86 billion neurons in the human brain, each with 2,300 connections. • Scientists went in stages: first they digitized the brain of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (302 neurons), then the nervous system of the larva Ciona intestinalis, then another worm and a fish, and later a mouse. However, working with the mouse has only advanced by 0.1% so far. • Finally, scientists have achieved a breakthrough: They have completed the decoding of the connectome of an adult Drosophila (Drosophila melanogaster). There are 139,500 neurons and 54.5 million synapses in her brain. This was made possible thanks to an international team, special equipment and 33 years of work. The project started in 2016. • Now a complete digital image of the drosophi brain