Animal Brains, More Beautiful Than You Could Ever Imagine
More than just eye candy, these images are teaching scientists new insights into how the brain is organized
- By Laura Helmuth
- Smithsonian magazine, July-August 2012,
(Martinos Center For Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital)
Neurons in the brain zip messages to one another along long white fibers called axons. Previously scientists traced axon pathways in dissected animal brains, but now they can see the structure of this amazing information superhighway in a living human organ. Using new software with a technique called “diffusion tensor MRI” that tracks water molecules as they move along the axons, Van Wedeen of Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues found that the fibers are arranged in a surprisingly regular 3-D grid. For instance, the red axons in the image converge on the purple pathway at a 90-degree angle. Axons are interwoven like “the warp and weft of a fabric,” the researchers say, with the pattern bent along the brain’s convolutions. “It’s really pretty, all the little loops and folds,” Wedeen says.
Comments (5)
I would really like to have this on a poster, preferred in 3D of course, but with a picture like that, any thing will do!!!
Posted by Jim on October 30,2012 | 02:25 PM
The detailed image showing the 3D grid of axons reminds me of the wire wrap that was used in electronics. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmschneid/6369702149/
Posted by Joe Schneid on September 15,2012 | 10:27 AM
it's very intresting to see the nerves of brain,how they are scattered looks so flatering! wonderful work of nature.
Posted by mustafa on August 12,2012 | 07:06 PM
the intricacies of our wonderful brain, which far exceeds the capabilities of the smartest super-computer, speaks of intelligent design of our Creator. Chance and time will never duplicate the amazing brain!
Posted by sketch on July 2,2012 | 03:44 PM
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Posted by Seashell on June 27,2012 | 12:01 AM