Scientists have finely sliced a human brain into 7,400 wafer-thin sheets and then reconstructed it to create the world’s most detailed map of the brain in three dimensions.
The so-called “Big Brain” project, which took a 65-year-old woman’s brain and cut it into slices just 20 micrometres thick, shows the brain’s anatomy in microscopic detail, almost down to a cellular level, said the scientists who carried out the work.
A micrometre, or micron, is a millionth of a metre. The resulting 3D reference brain will allow researchers worldwide to study the organ in unprecedented physical detail, paving the way for deeper understanding of how processes like cognition and emotions work, and how brain diseases develop.
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