298 | Jeff Lichtman on the Wiring Diagram of the Brain

298 | Jeff Lichtman on the Wiring Diagram of the Brain

The number of neurons in the human brain is comparable to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Unlike the stars, however, in the case of neurons the real action is in how they are directly connected to each other: receiving signals over synapses via their dendrites, and when appropriately triggered, sending signals down the axon to other neurons (glossing over some complications). So a major step in understanding the brain is to map its wiring diagram, or connectome: the complete map of those connections. For a human brain that's an intimidatingly complex challenge, but important advances have been made on tinier brains. We talk with Jeff Lichtman, a leader in brain mapping, to gauge the current state of progress and what it implies.

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/09/298-jeff-lichtman-on-the-wiring-diagram-of-the-brain/

Jeff Lichtman received an MD/PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Santiago Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is co-inventor of the Brainbow system for imaging neurons. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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AMA | August 2022

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205 | John Quiggin on Interest Rates and the Information Economy

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204 | John Asher Johnson on Hunting for Exoplanets

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203 | N.J. Enfield on Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Not Scientists

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AMA | July 2022

AMA | July 2022

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4 Juli 20223h 26min

202 | Andrew Papachristos on the Network Theory of Gun Violence

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201 | Ed Yong on How Animals Sense the World

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20 Juni 20221h 9min

AMA | June 2022

AMA | June 2022

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