Scientists Can Make Brains Turn Transparent

Stanford scientists have developed a technique which lets them turn a brain completely transparent—without causing any damage at all to its structure.

It's worth pointing out that, sadly, the brain has to be removed from the body before the process can be undertaken, but whatever—it's an amazing and quirky advance. So far, the scientists have turned mouse and fish brains completely transparent, but they've also shown that the process works with bits of human brain, too. The image above shows an original mouse brain on the left, and then on the right two days later, following treatment. The researchers explain how it works:


While it might sound merely like a neat party trick, it's actually an incredibly useful finding: it finally allows the entire 3D structure of the brain to be studied with visible light and chemical markers, without having to cut it up. That means the researchers can create incredibly detailed maps of the brain, because visible light microscopy is inherently more accurate than imaging techniques like MRI. In the process, the researchers are learning more about the brain's structure and function—to such an extent that they're already a little worried about what to do with all the data the technique is creating. Sounds like a challenge. [Stanford via Boing Boing]


Image by Stanford