Fly Brain Map Powers Doom and Minecraft Experiments

A complete wiring diagram of the adult male fruit fly brain and central nervous system has been published by Google Research in collaboration with HHMI Janelia Research Campus and other partners, and within days developers have repurposed the dataset to control video games including Doom, Minecraft, Super Mario 64 and Beat Saber. The map, released as the MaleCNS v1.0 dataset, contains more than 166,000 neurons and roughly 125 million synapses, making it the largest neuron-count brain map published to date. Researchers produced the connectome by sectioning the brain into millions of ultrathin slices, then combining high-resolution imaging, AI-assisted reconstruction and human proofreading to build a 3D model of the nervous system. Google described the result as a foundational map that can accelerate understanding of the brain and marks a major milestone in neuroscience. Scientists expect it to support research into how neural circuits process sensory information and generate behavior, with potential implications for studying neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's and depression.