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Albuquerque Homeschool Forum  /  Science  /  the Allen Human Brain Atlas
Posted by: 122 (Guest), April 19, 2011, 7:31am
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Brain science buffs (and everyone else!) enjoy...

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With the launch of the Allen Human Brain Atlas - the first-ever 3D, interactive atlas of the anatomy and genes that comprise the human brain - is it possible that we've just entered a radically new Age of Discovery? Rather than discovering the unimagined riches of new continents, we may be on the cusp of unlocking the full potential of the human brain. Just as the first maps and atlases of the New World nearly five hundred years ago launched a golden Age of Discovery that led to the Renaissance and the Modern Age, the Allen Human Brain Atlas could launch a similar type of neuro-scientific Renaissance that finally decodes the mysteries within our minds.

As the scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science point out, the Human Brain Atlas is essentially a GPS for the brain, enabling neuro-researchers to locate the exact locations where human genes are expressed: "For the first time, we have generated a comprehensive map of the brain that includes the underlying biochemistry." Already, there has been a stunning revelation - that any two human brains are 94% alike.

Read the full story at http://bigthink.com/ideas/37901
Visit the Brain Atlas at http://human.brain-map.org/explorer.html
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