Brilliant 10: The Neuron Observer
Staring into the brains of fruit flies could clarify the connection between genes and behaviors Gaby Maimon, of Rockefeller University, can read fruit flies' minds. As their wings buzz under his microscope, he watches the neurons fire in their poppy-seed-size brains. By doing so, he is able to discern how the firing of certain neurons corresponds to certain behaviors. His goal is to untangle precisely how genes and neuron activation trigger behavioral disorders like autism and ADHD. To achieve such insights, Maimon needed to be able to to study fly neurons while the insects were awake and behaving as they normally would while flapping their wings. He built a plastic platform that immobilizes the flies' heads in a saline bath-where he can surgically insert electrodes into their brains-but allows their wings to stay dry and flap freely as they "fly" through a simulated environment. His recordings of neuron activity, the first...