A deep look at a speck of human brain reveals never-before-seen quirks

Extra-strong connections, whorled tendrils and symmetrical cells hint at deep brain mysteries

black background with lots of brightly colored lines spanning out in all directions

Nerve cells that resided in a woman’s brain send out message-sending tendrils called axons (shown). A preliminary analysis has turned up some super-strong connections between cells.

Lichtman Lab/Harvard University, Connectomics Team/Google

A new view of the human brain shows its cellular residents in all their wild and weird glory.