Indian scientists produce most detailed 3D atlas of the human brainstem (bbc.com)
175 points by BaudouinVH 12 hours ago
yalogin 3 hours ago
I am sure this is great but it requires some depth in that field to appreciate this. I don’t understand if what they developed is a tech to do a live scan of any person or just a detailed map of one brain.
rramadass 10 hours ago
You can see the 3d atlas videos at the project website online - https://anchor.humanbrain.in/
21asdffdsa12 9 hours ago
+1 for indian public funded science being publicly available and feeling the need to justify their existence by explaining what they do to the public.
iandanforth 8 hours ago
The article sometimes makes it sound like this is a diagnostic tool but am I wrong in thinking it's a reference constructed from a small number of individuals?
deskamess 6 hours ago
Correct...
"Anchor is not a diagnostic tool. Instead, its greatest value lies in the questions it could help answer."
and
"Users can zoom from the whole brainstem seen on MRI down to individual neurons while maintaining their precise spatial relationships."
Thats pretty cool. The diagnosis/evaluation is still in the hands of another entity (doctor/scientist/AI assistant). More samples (via end of life donations) would help understanding, early diagnosis, and hopefully/eventually cures.
pchangr 7 hours ago
my understanding is that they took 3 specimens, aged 25 gestational weeks, 9 and 54 years old.. did “800 serial histological sections” and manually tagged them. But you can check out the information yourself here: https://anchor.humanbrain.in/
CubicalOrange 9 hours ago
> The researchers have made the atlas freely available online
fuck yes. finally someone not gatekeeping lifesaving technologies so they can make shit ton of money out of it.
pchangr 7 hours ago
I believe this is how most publicly funded research and some private research institutes work. This research was conducted by a public Indian university (IIT Madras). Which, by the way is literally more selective than IVY league universities
hsb3 7 hours ago
Doesnt matter how selective they are if the Budget of 1 MIT is $5 Billion while the budget of all 23 IIT is less than $1 Billion. There is a reason why so many Indian scientists move out of India.
higginsniggins 2 hours ago
pchangr 5 hours ago
pchangr 5 hours ago
hgoel 5 hours ago
Selectivity is just a numbers game, doesn't translate well in the way you're trying to present.
porridgeraisin 7 hours ago
This particular lab happens to be primarily privately funded, donations, grants, etc,. Most big ticket research at IITM like this one are industry-funded or donation-funded. The public funds cover all the usual stuff and I don't mean to understate it.
pchangr 5 hours ago
philipallstar 5 hours ago
Me hiring a PA is literally more selective than that. Only one person can qualify.