Maps Of Explorers

Scientists have new help finding their way around brain's nooks and crannies

Like explorers mapping a new planet, scientists probing the brain need every type of landmark they can get. Each mountain, river or forest helps scientists find their way through the intricacies of the human brain.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new technique that provides rapid access to brain landmarks formerly only available at autopsy. Better brain maps will result, speeding efforts to understand how the healthy brain works and potentially aiding in future diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders, the researchers report in the Journal of Neuroscience Aug. 10.

The technique makes it possible for scientists to map myelination, or the degree to which branches of brain cells are covered by a white sheath known as myelin in order to speed up long-distance signaling. It was developed in part through the Human Connectome Project, a $30 million, five-year effort to map the brain's wiring. That project is headed by Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota.

"The brain is among the most complex structures known, with approximately 90 billion neurons transmitting information across 150 trillion connections," says David Van Essen, PhD, Edison Professor and head of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Washington University. "New perspectives are very helpful for understanding this complexity, and myelin maps will give us important insights into where certain parts of the brain end and others begin."

Easy access to detailed maps of myelination in humans and animals also will aid efforts to understand how the brain evolved and how it works, according to Van Essen.

Neuroscientists have known for more than a century that myelination levels differ throughout the cerebral cortex, the gray outer layer of the brain where most higher mental functions take place. Until now, though, the only way they could map these differences in detail was to remove the brain after death, slice it and stain it for myelin.

Washington University graduate student Matthew Glasser developed the new technique, which combines data from two types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that have been available for years.

"These are standard ways of imaging brain anatomy that scientists and clinicians have used for a long time," Glasser says. "After developing the new technique, we applied it in a detailed analysis of archived brain scans from healthy adults.

Compass for Maps Fleshes Out the iPhone's Stock Maps App

Last week we showcased Speed for Maps , a Speedometer jailbreak add-on for the iPhone’s stock maps app. This week, the same developer has followed up with a sequel of sorts, a compass add-on that looks and feels just like his previous work.

The main difference here, is that you must use an iOS device equipped with a digital compass. In other words, when it comes to the iPhone, only the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 qualify.

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