High-res 3-D model of brain will put flood of new discoveries into context

Scientists have created the highest resolution three-dimensional digital model yet made of a human brain, showing features as small as 20 micrometres across - thinner than a human hair and almost on the scale of individual cells.

At 50 times the resolution of any available anatomical atlas of the brain, the "BigBrain" model will give scientists their closest look yet at the structures that underlie aspects of the organ, ranging from cognition and language to ageing and disease.

Until now the highest resolution MRI brain scans have only been able to resolve features down to about a millimetre.

Researchers, led by Katrin Amunts, of Germany's Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, constructed their digital model based on the preserved brain of a 65-year-old woman that had been set in paraffin.

The brain was sliced into more than 7,400 sections, each no more than 20 micrometres thick.

The slices were stained to highlight the different types of cell present and then scanned into a computer, creating around a terabyte of data - equivalent to about 120 video DVDs.

The slices were then reconstructed into a whole 3-D digital brain.