Google publishes largest ever high-resolution map of brain connectivity (Jan 2, 2020) by James Vincent - The Verge

[Patient4Life]

Google publishes largest ever high-resolution map of brain connectivity (Jan 2, 2020) by James Vincent - The Verge

It’s a fruit fly brain, but it’s still impressive

Scientists from 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 model is a milestone in the field of connectomics, which uses detailed imaging techniques to map the physical pathways of the brain. This map, known as a “connectome,” covers roughly one-third of the fruit fly’s brain. To date, only a single organism, the roundworm C. elegans, has had its brain completely mapped in this way.

Connectomics has a mixed reputation in the science world. Advocates argue that it helps link physical parts of the brain to specific behaviors, which is a key goal in neuroscience. But critics note it has yet to produce any major breakthroughs, and they say that the painstaking work of mapping neurons is a drain on resources that might be better put to use elsewhere

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[Wonko]

I have to ask, why does google have this, why have they invested to research it and to what use to they intend to put it, when combined with their total surveillance ambitions?

 

[rvallee]

I have to ask, why does google have this, why have they invested to research it and to what use to they intend to put it, when combined with their total surveillance ambitions?

Google (well, Alphabet) is making a big push into health care. It's also clearly a huge area for AI, medicine being one of the most promising industries for AI, where the human element is already stretched so far past its breaking point that huge numbers of sick people, like us, are simply written off. By itself this is a huge market, you only need to look at the size of the alternative medicine industry to measure the sheer size of unmet needs.

And no doubt this will have huge impacts on neural networks research, how we design and implement them. Nature has solved many of the problems we try to solve already and this is the map.