Harvard and Google's breakthrough in brain mapping generates new insights
Collaboration between scientists from Harvard and artificial intelligence specialists from Google has led to the most advanced study on neuron mapping, thanks to the imaging and mapping of a sample of the human brain. The scientists reconstructed only a tiny tissue fragment, but the brain map thus generated as much as 1.4 petabytes of data. Along the way, many discoveries were made.
The researchers used a sample of human brain tissue that was taken from a woman suffering from epilepsy. The study aimed to help control seizures but made many exciting discoveries.
During the brain surgery, a cube-shaped tissue of about 1 millimetre was removed and then cut into 5,000 pieces thinner than human hair. The scientists took pictures of each slice using an electron microscope and reassembled them into a digital brain map. The Google team used a machine learning model to reconstruct all 2D images into a detailed 3D brain map. The team made the map available for free to other researchers.
New discoveries by the scientists
The study revealed many secrets of the brain that were previously unknown — some clusters of cells grew in symmetrical patterns, a single neuron had over 5000 connection points with other neurons, and some axons (nerve endings that conduct signals) were coiled into balls for unknown reasons.
Jeff Lichtman, a Harvard professor, commented on the research in The Guardian:
"We found many things in this dataset that are not in the textbooks. We don’t understand those things, but I can tell you they suggest there’s a chasm between what we already know and what we need to know."
A full brain map would occupy a huge amount of space
A 1-millimetre cube of human brain tissue generated 1.4 petabytes (PB) of raw data, which created the most detailed image of the human brain ever made. However, we are still talking about a microscopic fragment of the organ.
Tom’s Hardware calculated that a cubic millimetre of brain tissue represents just one millionth the size of an adult human brain. This means that the data needed to generate a full map of the adult human brain would occupy 1.6 zettabytes (ZB) of data. The problem is that, with current technology, it is challenging to construct a computing system with such capacity - the storage media needed to develop such a centre would cover an area of nearly 57 hectares (or about 79 football pitches).
