“Connectomics” is an area of neuroscience that aims to map the brain‘s connections, known as synapses, to gain an understanding of how information flows through the circuits of the brain. With an estimated 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain, each connected to thousands of other nerve cells, adding up to an estimated 150 trillion synapses, the creation of such a map is no small task – but a new technique is bringing scientists a step closer to developing a computer model of the brain.

“We first need to understand the function of each neuron and find out to which other brain cells it connects,” says Dr Tom Mrsic-Flogel, a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow at University College London (UCL). “If we can find a way of mapping the connections between nerve cells of certain functions, we will then be in a position to begin developing a computer model to explain how the complex dynamics of neural networks generate thoughts, sensations and movements.”

With neurons in different areas of the brain performing different functions, Dr Mrsic-Flogel and his colleagues focused on the visual cortex, which processes information from the eye. Using high-resolution imaging they were able to detect, …