The mysteries of the human mind might soon be revealed, now that a consortium of experts has figured out how to render entire brains transparent — meaning that researchers will be able to analyze grey matter with unprecedented levels of detail.
A team of chemical engineers and neuroscientists at Stanford University collaborated on the new federally-funded technique, known as CLARITY, which was described today in the journal Nature. Experts involved in the project suggest it will play a pivotal role in the government’s recently announced BRAIN project, a blockbuster venture that hopes to map the mind, much as scientists over the last decade mapped the human genome. The hope is to understand processes like memory formation and learning, and treat ailments like Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy.
via The Verge
