We Can Now See the Tiniest Part of Our Brain – in 3D !

Engineers from Google and Harvard managed to create a browsable 3D map of a tiny fraction of the human brain, thus helping us understand what neurons and synapses do, and how thought, emotion, memory, behavior, and consciousness are created.

Google and the Lichtman Lab at Harvard University put their heads together to take on this Herculean task: they took one-millionth of a human brain, and cut it into about 5,300 slices. Each slice – just 30 nanometers thick – was then imaged with a scanning electron microscope, generating 225 million images that they stitched into 3D.

What these two American powerhouses have developed is considered one of the most comprehensive maps of the human brain – and it is now available online!