The article begins by talking about how neural circuits were just based on numbers until recently. Ju Lu a Harvard university graduate student in Jeff. W litchmans laboratory has just published the first map of the neuromuscular circuit or as he liked to call it a “connectome”.
The article continues with a series of questions and answers between Catherine Clabby and Professor Jeff W. Lichtman. It explains how Prof J.W.L thinks that’s the human brain is the most sophisticated and competent brain on the planet. Prof J.W.L and his student used computers to aid them in their research but at some certain point the computer was not enough and that is where Ju Lu stepped in. They also note that the younger the animal is the more complex and more wiring the brain had and they had figured out a way of tracing each nerve on its own by using various colors forming to what they like to call the “brainbow”. And these color patterns show the power of tools that allows one to see things that were already hidden. And according to J.W.L he ends the article by saying “Many times we see things we didn’t expect-and that is good!”
After reading the article it really opened my mind and interest towards neural circuits. It is really odd how the article or Prof J.W.L states that us human have the most sophisticated minds on the planet yet it takes us longer to learn an action, other than an insect, for example a firefly, that can chase a fly just as it opens it wings for the first time. Then it got me wondering, could animals be smarter than us? Even though our brain is more sophisticated? What makes us different? I would really like to see more of this newly experimented technology. Who knows, they might discover answers to the question us humans or more specifically scientists have been looking for for years.
Reference: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/real-deal-connectivity/1
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