# We don’t understand the human brain **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2023, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618 "2023-11-05T03:45:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618/21 "2024-05-10T17:53:34Z")
I’m not sure that anyone is _really_ an expert on this thing. We don’t even know much of what we don’t know, you know? But I enjoy reading current research on neurology. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618/22 "2024-05-13T19:16:56Z")
Wait. What? > **[Sleep does not help brain wash out toxins, study suggests](https://amp.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/13/sleep-does-not-help-brain-wash-out-toxins-study-suggests)** > > Finding that clearance of fluid in mice brains is lower in sleep and anaesthesia runs counter to dominant view in neuroscience ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618/23 "2024-05-13T19:27:00Z")
Why did anyone think that to begin with? Do other organs wash out toxins during sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618/24 "2024-10-03T03:31:36Z")
Maybe understanding the fly brain will help. However, it is the size of a poppy seed **Excerpt:** _It took more than a decade for the scientists to produce the first [high-resolution model](https://flywire.ai/) of the fly brain. Based on the different shapes of the neurons, Gregory Jefferis, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge, and his colleagues classified the cells into [8,453 distinct types](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07686-5), making it the biggest catalog of cell types in any brain. (Scientists have identified only [3,300 cell types](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/science/human-brain-cells-atlas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N04.xHxn.dXkFk88OhZsV&smid=url-share) in the human brain.)_ _By tracing the neurons through the map, Dr. Murthy and her colleagues have gleaned clues about what those different types of cells do._ _Some types of neurons, for example, command walking flies [to come to a halt](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07854-7). One circuit, researchers found, stops the flies by blocking the walking commands, and a second stops a fly by stiffening its leg joints._ _Philip Shiu and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, used the map to build a [virtual fly brain](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07763-9), with simulated neurons passing signals to connected cells._ _Dr. Shiu’s team tested the simulated brain by seeing how it responded to food. A fly’s tongue-like proboscis is covered in neurons that are sensitive to sugar. The researchers activated them and watched the signals race through the fly’s brain…_ [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/science/fruit-fly-brain-mapped.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/science/fruit-fly-brain-mapped.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-don-t-understand-the-human-brain/992618.md?page=1)