Looking deep into the brain: stunning images from neuroscientists
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The human brain is full of complex structures, most of which cannot be seen with the naked eye. But innovative technologies make it possible to look “into the mind”.
The New York Times publishes new images made by neuroscientists.
Microscopic blood flow in the rat brain
The image of the brain’s complex circuitry was captured using a tool that provides a higher level of detail and visualization, a new MRI scanner developed at the University of California, Berkeley.
| Image: UUniversity of California, Berkeley |
The device has 10 times better resolution than its previous models. The breakthrough could help researchers uncover the causes of common diseases, including schizophrenia and autism.
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| Image: UUniversity of California, Berkeley |
“Organoid”
This picture shows an “organoid” – a miniature cerebral cortex that imitates the real one. Cancer researchers from the Netherlands raised her to better understand how brain tumors develop in children and why they might occur.
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| Image: Princess Maxima Children’s Oncology Center |
The model is self-organizing and has the same shape, structure and properties as the real cerebral cortex. Its different neurons are depicted in different colors.
“Jellyfish”
Scientists studying ways to control the spread of brain cancer have photographed an attack on the network of capillaries in the brain that helps produce cerebrospinal fluid.
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| Image: Massachusetts General Hospital, USA |
They made this image after modifying breast cancer cells and implanting them into the brain of a mouse. The scientists watched as local nerve cells – astrocytes (shown in yellow) – rushed there, actually helping the tumor grow.
Alzheimer’s disease
The photo shows the visual cortex of the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease. It is permeated by a giant blue web consisting of astrocytes – cells that normally help form and protect neural connections.
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| Image: Massachusetts General Hospital, USA |
But recent images, including this one, have shown that astrocytes can also engulf and attack brain synapses (shown here as fluorescent dots). This contributes to the deterioration of the psyche.
Visualization of the disease
Neurofibromatosis type 2 looks like this. The picture was taken by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital.
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| Image: Massachusetts General Hospital, USA |
The image resembling a flowering tree is actually a spinal nerve surrounded by neurons as well as immune and tumor cells. The “trunk” of this tree is the spinal nerve, green leaves are neurons, yellow dots are immune cells, and red and orange flowers are tumor cells.
“Antrobots”
Scientists from Tufts University and Harvard used human cells to create tiny robots – so-called “antrobots”. In laboratory dishes, they move through areas of neural tissue and promote healing.
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| Image: Tufts University, USA |
“Antrobots” can be as thin as a hair, and their tiny follicles allow them to move.
“Superbots”
This image was taken by the same researchers as the previous one. It depicts a group of multicellular robots in action. Bots combined into a “superbot” are shown in green, and the growth of broken neural connections is shown in red.
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| Image: Tufts University, USA |
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