Science & technology | Mind maps

A big advance in mapping the structure of the brain

After larval fruit-flies’, more complex brains are next

KJ0HBY Caribbean fruit fly larvae on fruit
Image: Alamy

The cognitive abilities of a fruit-fly larva may not seem particularly noteworthy. This creature—the fly’s early, wormlike phase—is just about capable of sensing its environment, searching for food and avoiding predators. Its brain does not yet know how to walk, fly, or even properly see. And yet its limited capacity is still, in miniature, a useful model for what larger and more complex brains can do.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Mind mapping”

From the March 18th 2023 edition

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