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Interactive tool maps a fly’s brain neurons firing in real time
Someone built a Minecraft mod that runs a real fruit fly’s entire nervous system inside the game. Not a fake simulation. Actual wiring.
Google Research and HHMI Janelia mapped every neuron in a male fruit fly’s brain. The result: 176,422 neurons and 125 million synaptic connections, all publicly available. This mod plugs that data directly into Minecraft.
Each fly mob runs its own brain on its own thread, in real time. The Minecraft world feeds sensory input in, and real motor neurons decide what the fly does. Two HUD panels show you everything:
- Brain view (B key): a live map of the whole nervous system, neurons lighting up as they fire
- Neuroscope (H key): decoded motor commands, firing rates, spike history, and the fly’s retina view
Sprint at the fly and its looming-detector neurons trigger an escape jump. Drop sugar near it and the proboscis motor neuron fires. It’s the real pathway, not a script.
To try it: drop the jar into .minecraft/mods/, run /fruitfly spawn, then press B and H. The full connectome is bundled inside. more…
