Google and HHMI Release Complete Male Fruit Fly Brain Connectome
Google Research's Connectomics team, in collaboration with HHMI Janelia Research Campus, released the complete wiring diagram (connectome) of the adult male fruit fly brain and central nervous system—the largest brain map to date by number of proofread neurons. Google later recapped community research building on the dataset.
Confirmed
- The connectome covers over 166,000 neurons and roughly 125 million synaptic connections, extending from the brain into the spinal-cord-like nerve cord, with neurons classified into about 11,700 cell types.
- The team used AI to assemble millions of 2D images into 3D neural morphology for the full reconstruction.
- The work continues the 2020 female fruit fly hemibrain 3D reconstruction (25,000 neurons); with this release, both male and female maps are available.
- Google published a companion blog detailing the map and its impact on neuroscience; cross-species efforts such as zebrafish connectomics are ongoing.
Why it matters
- A complete connectome lets researchers trace neural circuits at single-synapse precision—a foundational dataset for understanding how brains process information and generate behavior, and key infrastructure for AI for Science.
- Compared with the 2020 hemibrain, the new map scales up neuron count and coverage substantially, building methods and engineering experience for larger vertebrate connectomes.
2026-09-09 ~ 2026-09-11 · 7 related posts
- Episode 1: AI Helps Map Complete Fruit Fly Connectome: 166,000+ Neurons, Largest Yet(2026-09-04, 12 posts)
- Episode 2: Full Fruit-Fly Connectome Runs in Minecraft, Driving an In-Game Fly(2026-09-05, 9 posts)
- Episode 3: Google Maps Entire Fruit Fly Brain with 166,000 Neurons(2026-09-06, 4 posts)
- Episode 4: Full Fruit Fly Connectome with 166,700 Neurons Runs Inside Minecraft(2026-09-08, 3 posts)
- Episode 5: Fly Brain Connectome Simulation Plays Beat Saber in Real Time(2026-09-09, 5 posts)
- Episode 6: Google and HHMI Release Complete Male Fruit Fly Brain Connectome(2026-09-09, 7 posts)
- Episode 7: Viral 'Fly Brain Plays Beat Saber' Turns Out to Be Overfit Replay(2026-09-10, 3 posts)
- Episode 8: Fruit Fly Connectome Experiments Raise Consciousness Ethics Concerns(2026-09-11, 3 posts)
- Episode 9: Fly Brain Connectome Mapped — and Made to Play Smash Bros(2026-09-11, 2 posts)
- Episode 10: Google Maps Complete Male Fruit Fly Brain Connectome(2026-09-13, 4 posts)
- Episode 11: Fruit fly brain connectome wired into walking Strandbeest robot(2026-09-13, 3 posts)
- Episode 12: Complete Fruit Fly Brain Connectome Flies Drones with Zero Flight Code(2026-09-14, 5 posts)
- Episode 13: Google and partners release complete adult fruit fly brain connectome(2026-09-15, 3 posts)
- Episode 14: Fruit Fly Brain Uploaded to Robot Drives Autonomous Behavior(2026-09-19, 2 posts)
Primary sources
- [source] Google and HHMI release complete wiring diagram of the male fruit fly nervous system — GoogleAI · 2026-09-09
- [source] New fruit fly connectome maps 166,000 neurons and 125 million connections across both sexes — GoogleAI · 2026-09-09
- Google publishes blog detailing how fruit fly brain maps advance neuroscience — GoogleAI · 2026-09-09
- Google uses AI to map the complete fruit fly brain, reconstructing 166,000+ neurons in 3D — SunirKM · 2026-09-10
- [source] Google Highlights Research Built on Full Connectome of Fruit Fly's 166,000 Neurons — GoogleAI · 2026-09-11
2 near-duplicate retellings: GoogleAI · alex_verem