Fruit Fly Airlines

Inside this glass fruit fly is a real brain: all 165,122 neurons of a real fly, mapped cell by cell by neuroscientists, every one where it really is. FLY IT AROUND THE REAL WORLD Tap to flap through 166 cities, from Tokyo to Lagos to Reykjavík, each in its real time of day and its real weather, right now. Thread the gap between each city’s landmark and its clouds. Clear a continent. Make it all the way round. LET ITS BRAIN FLY Hand the controls to the fly. Its real looming detectors see the buildings coming; its escape neurons fire. It remembers the cities that killed it, and flies further each time. Or fly the World Brain, taught by every player. EXPERIMENT ON A REAL BRAIN In the Brain Lab, switch off its looming detectors, its escape neurons, one eye, and see what it can no longer do: the way neuroscientists find out what cells are for. EXPLORE IT, CELL BY CELL Dive from the whole fly…