How Slicing Up Brains Could Unlock the Mind's Secrets

There's a multibillion-dollar race going on to build the first complete map of the brain, something scientists are calling the "connectome." It involves slicing the brain into thousands of pieces, and then digitally stitching them back together using a powerful AI algorithm.
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[@Trezzon]

“Overeducated fish farmers”. haha I love your narration, most of all your questions and visual reveals of the most cutting edge science on consciousness.

[@valleyhack]

Thx!

[@ednan9]

Slicing of brains into small pieces & studying it is a start - it is one difficult task but i hope many years from now we get a better understanding of how our complex brain works

[@ednan9]

@@sovietshnuckums2357 opps 🥶

[@sovietshnuckums2357]

👌

[@NikiHerl]

The idea of understanding my condition - Tourette Syndrome - on that level of detail is tantalizing af. I wonder how far science/tech/humanity will come on that front in my lifetime.

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

I'm lucky this work has begun when I was a little kid. I mean, I'd be luckier if I were born 100 years later, but this is good enough.

[@davidpark761]

what if 100 years late you were born into like neo feudalism

[@commoq3764]

The Human brain is so complicated even in a million years time humans will barely understand it, and its said to be the ''most complicated thing in the universe'' which surprises me knowing how stupid some people on the internet are (not talking about you lol).

[@demonz9065]

​@@davidpark761 arent we kinda already neo fuedalism? after just looking up the definition you could make the argument that we already are. a small group of the rich largely determine the outcome of the world right now and workers have less rights than they've had for a while. it's nearly impossible statistically for a person who didn't start out in this controlling class to end up in it.

[@Chiamex]

@@demonz9065 I've been thinking fir a while now that we're more like slaves for the rich. We build, support and hold together their empire.

[@monsieurLDN]

​@@commoq3764 and yourself of course

[@user990077]

10:59 It breaks my heart to see that guy cruising along on his roller blades with no safety gear. Not even a helmet! I'm 67 years old and have over 4000 miles on my blades and always where the appropriate exoskeleton, elbow pads and all. I have had a few spectacular wipe outs but get up and keep going. That poor man only has to hit a small stick on the trail to end up a bloody mess.

[@marilyng8127]

Ashlee never let us down with these series!!!

[@user-ov2fc5sd1e]

What kinda girly name is that

[@scc8127]

I need more quicktakes like this

[@dannypope1860]

Very impressive. But it just shows how difficult the brain is to understand. And how far we are from replicating one.

[@krikukiks]

10:10 If a bird can determine the orientation of magnetic field by triggering quantum mechanical effects in its eye, I wouldn't consider that idea so outlandish. Sounds quite reasonable even

[@govindkrishnalb]

Brain learning about itself.

[@jedidiahanarfi]

This is truly powerful!

[@atanaka3321]

Once done, they can enjoy the slices with a bit of Chianti

[@khuprock]

with fava beans

[@NeuraPod]

Great video. Thanks for creating it.

[@YerSiNia14]

I'm in awe with what HelloWorld series could offer, thanks for the insights!

[@shadbakht]

But wouldn't every single human have a different wiring diagram in their brain? It's like having a wiring diagram of one city and applying to every other city in the world.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

The general architecture is the same unless the person's had a congenital condition, disease, or injury.

[@stripstick]

I think you might be right. But there could still be value out of figuring out how things work. For example, the tall big buildings in cities are skyscrapers and most are corporate headquarters. And buildings with lots books in them are libraries and every county seems to have one. And the bad guys are held in prisons, etc. If you can figure it out for one brain, then it could make it exponentially easier to figure it out for ANY brain. But you have a great point!

[@demonz9065]

first off once we manage one we're for sure doing hundreds or thousands more at some point, and while it may not be a perfect map to your brain it'll give us way more insite than we've had until now. especially on what kind of connections exist. it's like getting a book that teaches you about cities using an example of a specific city. there's still tons to be learned about "cities" in general, specific cities isn't what we're focused on.

[@Felix9lives]

Just like the DNA of humans and apes differ at about 1.2% and 0.1% between individual humans respectively, for me it is safe to say that the difference in brain wiring is not that significant. "Form follows function" come to mind. It will serve as a general map for future brain mapping :))

[@EdeYOlorDSZs]

Loved this topic Bloomberg Quicktake, I hope advancements in Neuroscience will be covered more often on your channel

[@Motivation2Invest]

Evolution is millions of years ahead of Human based science, puts into perspective how little we know...

[@BRUH-fe8wz]

Not millions probably hundreds considering even with our current technology we can already map out a cubic millimeter of brain and judging by how fast out computer technology is advancing I think in a couple hundred years we should have most diseases cured

[@maverick-_-hunter]

Fascinating subject, but let's take a moments to appreciate German Robin Williams doppelganger shirt :D

[@vishva8kumara]

Expectation of Immortality is immature once you understand our own self is only a stream. A much better way to perpetuate self is procreation. It drives the evolution forward, unlike the stagnation in immortality.

[@BRUH-fe8wz]

I’d rather be stagnated in immortality tbh

[@Ray2311us]

Yea tell that to the devils and see if they care

[@futurehofer1564]

@@BRUH-fe8wz immortality would be extremely boring and you would suffer too much tbh

[@SirGarthur]

@@futurehofer1564 if that's true then why are you bothering to live right now?

[@virtusmindset]

Our brain is so complex and there is much more to find out about it. Increasing neuroplasticity should be a priority for everyone.

[@CyPorter]

I remember when the laser was invented people often asked, "It's cool, but what are we going to do with it?" *laughing, crying*

[@douglas_chinwuba]

“It’s an additional tool”, I agree with that. Mapping the human brain is a tool, not an answer

[@cavekagoo2799]

Wow, that last part is certainly something to be concerned of. Good job👍👍👍.

[@pjacobsen1000]

I once had cold, sliced pig's brain in China. It was bland and mushy and sadly didn't give me much insight into the life of that pig.

[@ながれる季節]

Great job, Mr. Vance!

[@DarkshadeMusic]

Love that Eckert guy for his straight talk. LOL.

[@houleronald]

M. Vance. You are great.

[@valleyhack]

Kind of you, mate. Thx!

[@posthocprior]

Good to see the interviewer back. Good to see, too, that he still seems hungover.

[@valleyhack]

Persistence is everything

[@angus00000]

I’m impressed! Animations on a screen. Where are you now, Vance?

[@taylorjohnson4943]

Could train a AI to analyze every picture and construct the image for you. Then you can reconstruct the entire construct of a brain into a supercomputer. Then have a virtual brain.

[@happinessloading1198]

That's what I was thinking! This can become so powerful!

[@superlambmilkshake4904]

not really

[@taylorjohnson4943]

Probably right not very efficient

[@superlambmilkshake4904]

@@taylorjohnson4943 Actually no, my bad. They are using Machine-Learning to make sense of the data, but not mapping a virtual brain

[@taylorjohnson4943]

The point I was trying to make is that it would be an interesting template you would still have to give each individual neuron and its connection its weights

[@Paradoxiumm]

i wish i could have that much brain 😂

[@demonz9065]

a cubic centimeter?

[@NeoFighterX]

i am at 1:20 and I'm on Team "what a an amazing waste of time" hope to be convinced

[@jonatan01i]

18:19 I agree. But once we can build (i.e. 3D print) an organic brain exactly like the state of the brain scan..

[@nareshthakuri2777]

Missed you Vance👊

[@kekefan6984]

new ashlee vance episode just dropped 😬🥶

[@stefan_popp]

4:55 why not show the actual 'worms' _C. elegans_ and 'flies' _D. melanogaster_ ?

[@userou-ig1ze]

3:25 he means higher (resolution) I would guess, at least if he wants to make the point about electronmicroscopy and huge amounts of data

[@ameyoameyo]

Really liked the "expectations management" point , try explaining how a pc work to a kid starting from the wall outlet, to the monitor and the pixels.... keep in mind :) it's made by a human. I think a human is a lot like a PC , hardware only is absurd , software only is absurd as well, only the sweet spot between them

[@Motivation2Invest]

I thought the guy in the pink tee was Robin Williams 😂

[@VastKnowledge2023]

I love this "overeducated fish farmer" guy's accent! Is it Irish?

[@jonatan01i]

Other people say it's a colossal waste of money and time. Well, even if we won't benefit from it.. Even just knowing after trying that it's really not the way, is golden knowledge that worth the effort. Someone believes in this, well, let's be happy that he has so much interest in this that he pours a lot of money and human resources into this. And also, if we don't manage to find what we are looking for with these brain maps; there might be a lot of other potential things we can find out that we are not looking for. I hope they will open their maps to the public. Then anybody with an idea can see if their idea makes any sense. Alchemy: what a waste of time and money was it, right? Oh; hell No! Just look at where we got because of alchemy. We didn't manage to create gold in the end, but look at all the other things we got from it without even looking for them.

[@jonatan01i]

9:06 That's already newly discovered, as I understand. If you don't do these scans, you can never know what information you could miss that's important. If you do the scans and find nothing new, that's also much informative, as you don't have to waste time thinking about what if there are important things we don't know about.

[@jonatan01i]

My first thought also was that it's a goddamn coil!

[@abhiabhi-oo6yx]

we can now seriously consider we can have a brain copy but just a single cubic mm is 1.4 petabyte of raw data then to actually completely simulate it or also whole of the brain of it ..can we actually do it ?!

[@BRUH-fe8wz]

Yes there is more than enough storage

[@احمدسلمان-س2ط]

Interesting

[@chrisscott7545]

Yes let’s do it

[@alanmcrae8594]

Big Data means that all sorts of audacious scientific research is now possible. Everything that is learned will help us in the future in some way. And science is synergistic, so things learned in one area often become useful in another area. Just do it...

[@lisaseabrook4545]

I love purple muscle tee shirt guy

[@THEVERYANGRYPERSON]

THE VOICE DIDNT RING A BELL, BUT HIS WALK DID...........................................................

[@ahmeddaboi5732]

i don't understand

[@valleyhack]

Majestic

[@skybowl456]

I dig smart doug benson, great host

[@valleyhack]

I'll take it

[@helloryantanaka]

Cool.

[@sufianj501]

Excuse the language, but this was fuckin mindblowing !

[@christopheb9221]

clearly the connectome will only be a small part of a person just like the genome is a small part of an organism. the 4 pieces ATGC the code of dna only mean so much now that we know about gene expression and epigenetics and also all of the other things that interact with the organism like environment like nutrients, microbiome(bacteria, viruses, etc). we will need many connectomes to see the variety

[@mobilbrokbrok8390]

Congratulations

[@joshmcdowall2236]

Dr. Lichtman lists a bunch of brain diseases and forgets the most important one before autism, that neurotypical-ness devastating large swathes of the human population for millennia. I diagnosed the man himself having this disease- stay strong Dr.lichtman you brave soul

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

And with in no time we will have Brain burgers lol. Just kidding. This is super coll though

[@briansmith9439]

One glaring fault is when he states that memory is 'almost certainly in the wiring diagram' [of the brain] - that is not (a) a proven statement and (b) not supported in the research. If you start from a faulty base, everything you build will have that inherent fault built in. Much like last year's Nobel Prize winner that demonstrated what transmitters were responsible for chronic pain showed that the use of pain medications which are aimed at the pain nerve fibers and acute pain do not work because they are not the neurons involved in chronic pain.

[@raresmircea]

You’re basically telling all the neuroscientists to f*ck off from your living-room sofa :))

[@jaredf6205]

Probably another crazy dualist who thinks consciousness is incorporeal.

[@celestialmedia2280]

Who are to upload yourself for immortality 😂 👍🏼

[@ryccoh]

My copy would be me but i wouldn't be my copy

[@kay-dc8495]

Makes a change from people accidently falling into blenders i guess

[@larcomj]

@12:55 i just realized this guy must be a HUGE David Hasselhoff fan.

[@somerandomfella]

Yummmm... brain carpaccio..

[@User-kjxklyntrw]

Circuit printed board

[@thai9503]

Just use prusa slicer

[@lisaseabrook4545]

So what are we naming these new animals

[@wilkensbrito2879]

We are just some thought of a bigger being.

[@purneetp4328]

anyone else feel bad for the mice? they are trying to escape

[@seamusdebuitleir20]

Just spend a week in a ghetto and you will now how it works, be around people long enough and you become like them.🔐💚🤝☘️🇮🇪

[@TheNuclearBolton]

Make NFTs of brains... :3 idk maybe

[@mariaofarrell7tsavororite12-7]

Will this be able to tell us why young people are getting Dementia like old ?

[@brianfong5711]

Fidget spinners!

[@demonz9065]

they aren't? when i look it up i see an increase of below 64 demtia of 131 percent but the original number was only 37,000 meanwhile of the people who've made it past 71 3.4 million (or about 13.9%) have dementia, and the increase could easily be explained by better diagnostic practices. dementia is caused by accumulation of a broken protein in the brain, so the only thing that could even cause more dementia in young people would be something that increases the error rate for this protein.

[@Ray2311us]

@@brianfong5711 nice, I thought fidget spinner’s induced Parkinson’s due to it’s ability to light up the nervous system and burn out the nerves.

[@juqnvasil6104]

Who's brain

[@mfundozulu1432]

I thought about Zuckerberg who actually made money and I thought about the ridiculous Dr in roller scate

[@sanojgreen8874]

Get ready people...... Soon you will get in to trouble for thinking of a crime. Stay tuned

[@r3dp1ll]

if we don't stop the globalists, it will happen

[@demonz9065]

this isnt the research that would make that possible? they're mapping a brain not your brain. the current map making for a brain requires you slice it thinner than a human hair how would they figure out what you're thinking?

[@butterchuggins5409]

Brain makes a delicious sandwich when you slice it thin. Mmm

[@chrislecky710]

Errr would it not be far better to simply grow a brain from stem cells if you want to unlock the secrets of the brain rather than slicing one up.

[@potatomatop9326]

Why this lab is slicing human brains into little pieces: Starting in 2022 the human race will 100% evolve to homer simpsons. That lab will shutdown soon.

[@blyat7276]

why 2022?

[@huckleberryfinn6578]

@@blyat7276 Because next year is 2022. If this year were 2007, he would be writing 2008.

[@blyat7276]

@@huckleberryfinn6578 you are a genius

[@Vandre7]

maybe hide the url dunno if it can be hacked if you are showing it?

[@godblessbharat708]

Poor rats

[@Carson-p5o]

Cubic millimeter... put it in Minecraft

[@littlegamer00]

owned by. `the zombies`

[@Chkhitoooo]

When I was a child I used to tear down things but never got them back together. Hope they're not gonna be like me 😀

[@demonz9065]

why would you put the brain slices back together? it was a dead brain before it got sliced thinner than hair that's a lot of pointless effort

[@xerotoninz]

so which dendrites and axions make up your soul?

[@BRUH-fe8wz]

Once we map out the brain well really find out if the soul is nothing but a combination of all the connections of the brain or something beyond that

[@account4345]

@@BRUH-fe8wz I agree, the soul is just an emergent property of the complex dynamics of the brain.

[@menassies3224]

This guy once told me he was going to do something on Africa on Twitter I am yet to see Anything african

[@antimatterabbasi4689]

MUSLIM extra judicial killing in KASHMIR by indian army ab waqt agya hai hamri bachiya bi bandook uthen jabtak kabiz afwaj phr wo chahy jis bi country ki ho unko mara nhi jaega dyshmano ko sabk nhi milyga PROUD TO BE A KASHMIRIANS o chutiyun mery is comment ko aam kro dunya ko pata chaly rt Russia news trt turky news channels japan news chanal cnn bbc fox aur jitny bi hen wahan copy past kro PROUD TO BE A KASHMIRIANS .

[@user-ov2fc5sd1e]

The purple shirt professor waited 50 years to come out.

[@googleever]

☺️👌♥️💯

[@zajec11]

Anyone else finds Florian's pessimism annoying?

[@Sumitchand01]

जय श्री राम

[@Adityayadav-bd8ui]

Stop it please

[@94JAVS]

We all know that guy is on drugs 24/7

[@raresmircea]

That’s BS! Scientists should be studying the *real* nature of the mind which i know from expert crystal healing blogs: the astral energy body! They can’t see it, touch it, poke it, nothing, but the scientists could learn from these blogs what they should say about it! 😂

[@mobilenotherwise5000]

You should do it, I'm sure you know way more than them

[@Diogenesthedog0]

@Ping Pong I hope it is but given the fact that there are people who believe in Mind and Brain distinction I would not be surprised if he's serious

[@monolithwraith1511]

Are you ok?

[@rayhans7887]

Bruh

[@mta7444]

Narrator on this one is terrible.

[@valleyhack]

I'm . . . I'm right here

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

Yikes!... "ALTERING FISH BRAINS BY MANIPULATING THEIR GENES?..." Didn't they see THAT movie starring "TONY SOPRANO's" evil twin sister? (aka Actress AIDA TUTURRO.) It DIDN'T work out too well for the scientists, staff and visitors in that SCI-FI drama flick! What makes ANYONE think this guy will fare any better in real life. He could be breeding a WHOLE new race of pseudo "piranhas"!!! Yikes x 2!!!

[@lucas9269]

Most of the time scifi does more harm than good to the general population, there's people out there thinking that a clone is a copy of you, little do they know that it's an "artificial twin" and the natural clones(idential twins) are already walking about.

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

@@stereomachine It has a nasty habit of often BECOMING "real life" eventually. History proves it.

[@rayhans7887]

@@johnc.bojemski1757 shut up

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

@@rayhans7887 SCUZE ME? I THINK YOU BETTER TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE.

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

@@rayhans7887 Take your OWN advise "pal"!