Published in Physics World, 1 Dec 2013
How do you map the brain of a very small, very active person? Just ask those scientists working on the Developing Human Connectome project, says Jon Cartwright
Eighty-five billion neurones, and upwards of 100 trillion connections – the adult human brain is the most complex object in the known universe. But how does such a rich neural network grow from a tiny foetus? And how does that growth affect the way our brains ultimately function?
Scientists have a rough picture of how a brain develops in the womb. About three weeks after conception, brain cells begin to form at the tip of the embryo into a tube that will eventually form the spinal cord. This tube then begins to form a brain, where the neurones – brain cells – develop and begin to form contacts with each other. Until the foetus is about 20 weeks old, some quarter of a million cells are growing every minute. […]
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