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  2. Stranded on New Brainland

Stranded on New Brainland

By retrospectacle on November 18, 2007.

Looking for an unusual brain atlas for that very special neuroscientist in your life? This one is a bit non-traditional, but...wow....

i-019d0213a34effb33e143446872dcdbe-brain island.jpg
By Sam Brown, 2007

The above map's original data was created from a reference photo of a real human brain which was used to build the 3d terrain. This digital elevation model was then used to create contour line data, relief shading and to plan where the roads and features should be placed for map compilation. Real New Zealand public domain data was then added for the surrounding islands.

This appeared as the cover of the most recent issue of the journal Neuron. Purchase here. Prices are relatively cheap, starting at $15 and increasing with quality.

Via Bioephemera and Neurophilosophy.

For more fun, check out this 3D atlas of the human brain, created with MRI and PET data.

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Wow-thanks for the feature Shelly. Anyone interested there are wallpapers up there for download and also some 3d views of the island which aren't exactly polished but as you have said were were used to plan where features go.

Thanks for dropping by, Unit Seven. I love the brain map. I did want to tell you though that your wallpapers are no longer on Flickr. I tried to download them, and Flikr said the image was no longer there.

Beautiful work though.

Hi Shelly,

Notice how the transaxial and coronal views are almost symmetrical. I speculate that this may be due to perturbation from magnetic fields. Most mathematical models would have ideal symmetry.

This type of medical imaging has been modified for astronomy by Harvard AstroMed ['the best of two disciplines'].
http://astromed.iic.harvard.edu/

You may also be interested in the RCSB Protein Data Bank for biological molecules ~47403 structures, some as nuclear magnetic resonance [NMR] images. I was a little surprised to find only 6 structure hits for neurotransmitters.
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do