From Connectome to Cognition: Building the First Digital Organism

Melvin Vopson

doi:10.59973/ipil.361

Authors

Melvin Vopson School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Portsmouth, PO1 3QL Portsmouth, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59973/ipil.361

Keywords:

Connectome, Brain simulation, Physical world simulation

Abstract

The long-standing ambition of neuroscience to move from static maps of the brain, called connectomes, to predictive, mechanistic models of behavior, has taken a decisive step forward. Advances spanning 2024 to 2026 have transformed the complete connectome of an adult Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) from an anatomical achievement into a functioning, virtually embodied system. Together, these developments mark the first instance in which a fully specified animal nervous system has been rendered into a dynamic computational model capable of generating behavior. In this News and Views article, we briefly review these fascinating developments and their scientific, technological and philosophical implications.

References

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https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0264945