Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly. For years, scientists have been mapping the fly’s neurons and synapses in an effort to create a comprehensive wiring diagram, or connectome, of its brain.

Flies are capable of sophisticated behaviors, including navigating diverse landscapes, tussling with rivals and serenading potential mates. And their speck-size brains are tremendously complex, containing some 100,000 neurons and tens of millions of connections, or synapses, between them.

Since 2014, a team of scientists at Janelia, in collaboration with researchers at Google, have been mapping these neurons and synapses in an effort to create a comprehensive wiring diagram, also known as a connectome, of the fruit fly brain.

Source: Why Scientists Have Spent Years Mapping This Creature’s Brain