After 12 years of work, American and British scientists have published a diagram showing all the neurons of a larval fruit fly and the connections between them. This is the most advanced map of the insect brain to date.  

This breakthrough achievement brings researchers closer to true understanding of the mechanism of thought. A description of the study and its results were published in the journal Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.add9330).  

The map shows the location of all 3016 neurons in the brain of fruit fly larva and the connections between them. According to the scientists, the connectome could be a key step in understanding how the brain works. 

 The FlyWire consortium that conducted the study included researchers from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Princeton University, the University of Vermont and the University of Cambridge, among others.