Today's word is 'connectome', which is a "a comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain, and may be thought of as its 'wiring diagram'." It's newly relevant because "Google and the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia have published the largest high-resolution map of brain connectivity in any animal, sharing a 3D model that traces 20 million synapses connecting some 25,000 neurons in the brain of a fruit fly." The article talks about the research being criticized as a waste of money, but I think it's the first real glimpse we have of actual knowledge (indeed, I think the relevant philkosophical; question today is whether the body's knowledge is equivalent to its neural connectome, or whether we need to include connections in additional systems (such as the immune system) to complete the picture.
Today: 5 Total: 115 [Direct link] [Share]
