{"id":622769,"date":"2026-09-12T20:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622769\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:46:16","slug":"largest-ever-fruit-fly-brain-map-could-reveal-how-brains-turn-senses-into-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622769\/","title":{"rendered":"Largest-ever fruit fly brain map could reveal how brains turn senses into actions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have created the largest complete map of a fruit fly brain, a major neuroscience milestone that could help researchers better understand how brains process information and produce behavior.\t<\/p>\n

The map covers about 166,700 neurons across the brain and nerve cord of a male fruit fly and roughly 125 million connections between them. It was created by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus and international collaborators, with the findings published in Cell on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

Known as a connectome, the map is essentially a wiring diagram showing how individual nerve cells are connected.<\/p>\n

\"Fruit<\/p>\n

Fruit flies on apple slices. Photo from X<\/p>\n

Mapping the human brain, which contains about 86 billion neurons, remains far beyond the capabilities of current technology. Instead, scientists study smaller organisms whose nervous systems can be mapped from end to end. Despite their tiny size, fruit flies share some basic principles of nervous system function with humans.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a male fruit fly, scientists can trace these connections across the entire central nervous system, from senses such as sight, smell and taste to the cells that control movement and other actions, according to sci-tech news site Tech Explorist.<\/p>\n

The map also allows scientists to compare the male nervous system with existing female fruit fly maps and examine how differences in neural wiring may contribute to behaviors that differ between the sexes.<\/p>\n

Researchers can then investigate whether some of the same basic principles found in fruit flies also exist in more complex animals, including humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have created the largest complete map of a fruit fly brain, a major neuroscience milestone that could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,264494,82],"class_list":["post-622769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-largest-ever-fruit-fly-brain-map-could-reveal-how-brains-turn-senses-into-actions-vnexpress-international","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}