One of 100 openings · Discover · Neuroscience · checked Aug 2026

First to map an entire human brain at synaptic resolution

The finish line

Every neuron and synapse in one whole human brain is imaged, reconstructed, quality-checked, and released as a searchable dataset.

Why it is still open

Current high-resolution work has mapped about one cubic millimetre; NIH is still developing whole-brain methods.

NIH · Human brain structure