Juan Lerma

A team of neuroscientists from the International Brain Laboratory has described for the first time a virtually complete map of brain activity in mice during the decision-making process. To do so, they recorded the activity of more than half a million neurons across 12 different laboratories, representing 95% of brain volume. The map contradicts a hierarchical view of information processing and shows that decision-making is distributed in a coordinated manner across multiple brain areas. The results are published in two articles simultaneously in the journal Nature.

A set of articles published in Nature and Nature Methods draws a high-resolution map of the structure of and connections between the brain cells of mice. The map is based on data from a single cubic millimetre of brain and includes more than 200,000 cells, around 84,000 neurons and 524 million synaptic connections. Although this is a very small part of the mouse brain, it will help us understand how different types of cells work together.

The seventh Annual Report of the COSCE Transparency Agreement, prepared by the European Animal Research Association, which analyses transparency in the use of animals for scientific experimentation in Spain in 2023, was presented today. According to the document, transparency is consolidated among the signatory institutions -168 in 2024- and all of them publish a statement on their websites on the use of animals. Public mention of the number and species used stands at 47%, compared to 38% the previous year.

Researchers have presented the first connectome - a diagram of neural connections - of the whole brain of an insect, a vinegar fly larva (Drosophila melanogaster). The work, which the authors say will inspire new studies of neural circuits and machine learning architectures, is published today in Science.

Cerebrospinal fluid provides nutrients and other elements to brain cells. Scientists now show that by obtaining it from young mice and injecting it into the brains of old mice, the latter recover their memory. The effect is attributed to a protein, Fgf17, presented today in Nature as a possible brain rejuvenation factor.