July 07, 2008

Scientists Map the 10 Billion Neurons of Human Cerebral Cortex & Find a Central Switchboard - The non-invasive technique of Diffusive Spectrum Imaging has enabled an international team of scientists to get inside the human head without breaking anything. The system has mapped the mass of ten billion neurons that make up the human cerebral cortex - and found a central switchboard hiding inside, a densely-packed region of connections which works hard even when the rest of the brain is chilling out.
posted by Hank Mabuse 16 years ago
  • Suck it...errm, this comment doesn't work. Damn. Hey - how come my post didn't even get nanosecond 1 as a top of the page post??? Huh, huh, huh??? for those of you coming in late to the piece, I hit post apparently marginally before this post got posted cos MY very fine post is sitting underneath THIS post and didn't spend any time WHATSOEVER at the top of Monkeyfilter. Very sad. *sniff*
  • That'd be this post incidentally. For those of you looking to read something NOT at the top of the page. Ever. Not that I'm bitter. Or anything.
  • If you've got 18 minutes to kill, this is an outstanding TED talk on the subject.
  • This looking into the body without cutting it open thing never ceases to amaze me.
  • My thing can look into your body without cutting it open and my email's in the profile.
  • *checks profile*
  • *checks email*
  • ...so the next time you're cursing a slow-loading connection, do so in the smug knowledge that your own skull can do a better job. Well, there are days... *wanders around looking for keys, wondering why the butter dish is in the silverware drawer*
  • TUM - the "cutting it open" thing can get a bit messy, and often the one undergoing the cutting objects to said incision.
  • Well, there are days... I get those 404 errors a lot too, GramMa.
  • CLF - I meant "amaze" in a good way.
  • Actually, the article writer is wrong about that, because the brain's bandwidth is not that impressive. I forget what it was estimated at, using nerve signalling as measure. 16bps or something.
  • Not sure you want to be measuring brain "bandwidth" in bits per second, as the brian deals with neither bandwidth nor bits.
  • Yeah, but Hank, considering the short distances it has to travel, 16bps is a lot faster than you might think. And it's also routing countless packets at once.