For all the advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience over the past century, the human brain is still the most intricate and enigmatic machinery on Earth. Scientists are still slowly untangling the brains’s web of profoundly complex connections, seeking the yet elusive knowledge of how it all actually works. This visualisation reconstructs a dustmite-sized slice of a mouse cortex that has been used in recent research. While the mapping reveals much about brain mechanics, it also illustrates the immense challenges scientists face when attempting to map even a minuscule amount of brain material.
Video by Nature
videoMathematics
After centuries of trying, we’ve yet to arrive at a perfect way to map colour
20 minutes
videoAnimals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
videoBiology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
videoBiology
‘Save the parasites’ may not be a popular rallying cry – but it could be a vital one
11 minutes
videoEvolution
The many ways a lizard tongue sticks, grasps, pinches and plops – in slo-mo
6 minutes
videoBiology
Starlings swoosh like brushstrokes across the sky in this dazzling short
3 minutes
videoEcology and environmental sciences
The tree frog die-off that sparked a global mystery – and revealed a dark truth
15 minutes
videoBioethics
What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’
6 minutes
videoEcology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes