Want a look inside your head? Researchers from Germany and Canada have created a 3-D map of the human brain so precise that its spatial resolution is smaller than a fine strand of hair.
The project, dubbed "BigBrain," is the most detailed 3-D map ever created of the human brain. While most reference brains typically give viewers a look at the macroscopic intricacies, BigBrain goes far deeper, showcasing cellular specifics, and is 50 times more detailed than other reference brains.
The project, according to Dr. Alan Evans, a professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, "has been a tour-de-force to assemble images of over 7,400 individual histological sections, each with its own distortions, rips and tears, into a coherent 3-D volume. This dataset allows for the first time a 3-D exploration of human cytoarchitectural anatomy."
The study detailing BigBrain, titled "BigBrain: An Ultrahigh-Resolution 3D Human Brain Model," can be found in the journal Science.
It took around 1,000 hours for all of the necessary data to be collected. The team of researchers sliced a 65-year-old female brain covered in paraffin wax into tiny 20-micrometer thick histological sections. Each section was then analyzed under a microscope, and finally run through a high-resolution flatbed scanner. The result is the world's most advanced map of one of the world's most advanced pieces of machinery.
"The authors pushed the limits of current technology," said Science's senior editor Peter Stern. "Such spatial resolution exceeds that of presently available reference brains by a factor of 50 in each of the three spatial dimensions."
BigBrain is publicly available to those who wish to register through the CBRAIN Portal.
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