New Study Finds That Flies Have Brains
WouterA new study has found that flies have brains. It shows that flies have similar structures to our own brains, and that they model the world around them in a similar way. Interestingly, flies also have egocentric behaviour, which means that they choose to pay attention to particular things.
The fly brain is relatively small, roughly the size of a poppyseed. It contains approximately 100,000 neurons, which are organized into distinct regions. Each lobe contains clusters of neurons that process sensory information. The individual lobes control different activities in the insect. They are connected to stalked structures called mushroom bodies.
The brain of a fly is much smaller than our own, but it is remarkably complex. Scientists estimate that there are about 100,000 neurons in a fly’s brain. It is estimated that each neuron is about 250 micrometers long and contains up to 20 million connections. These neurons are responsible for the complete motor control, memory, and basic behavior of the insect.
Scientists have also found that the fly brain has a connectome, which contains information about all neurons in the fly brain. This connectome also contains many redundancies, including connections that allow information to flow both ways. It also has a larger number of neuron types than scientists had previously estimated. As a result, the fly connectome is more complex than expected, and scientists must find ways to ground it in functional observations.
