Biological puzzles abound in an up-close look at a human brain

Never-before-seen details may eventually lead to a better understanding of how the brain works

A colorful swath of nerve cells fans out horizontally.

These nerve cells, within a tiny piece of a woman’s brain, were digitally mapped. Their colors indicate different sizes of their main cell bodies, which were between 15 and 30 micrometers across.

Google Research and Lichtman Lab/Harvard University; Rendering by D. Berger/Harvard University

It’s a bit like seeing a world in a grain of sand.