An adult fruit fly brain has been mapped—human brains could follow
For now, it is the most sophisticated connectome ever made
FRUIT FLIES are smart. For a start—the clue is in the name—they can fly. They can also flirt; fight; form complex, long-term memories of their surroundings; and even warn one another about the presence of unseen dangers, such as parasitic wasps.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “On the fly”
From the October 5th 2024 edition
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX has achieved something extraordinary
If SpaceX can land and reuse the most powerful rocket ever made what can’t it do?
Could life exist on one of Jupiter’s moons?
A spacecraft heading to Europa is designed to find out
Noise-dampening tech could make ships less disruptive to marine life
Solutions include bendy propellers and “acoustic black holes”
Meet Japan’s hitchhiking fish
Medaka catch rides on obliging birds, confirming one of Darwin’s hunches
AI wins big at the Nobels
Awards went to the discoverers of micro-RNA, pioneers of artificial-intelligence models and those using them for protein-structure prediction
Google’s DeepMind researchers among recipients of Nobel prize for chemistry
The award honours protein design and the use of AI for protein-structure prediction