Is a transparent fish the future of brain science? This center is betting on it

Article excerpt

The Janelia Research Campus, one of the world's premier brain science centers, is pivoting from fruit flies to danionella, a tiny, nearly transparent fish about the size of a grain of rice, to study how brains generate behavior. The fish's transparent body lets researchers watch neural activity and biological processes in real time without invasive techniques. Scientists believe the danionella's more complex brain and behaviors, compared to fruit flies, could unlock insights into the neural circuits that control movement, decision-making, and other functions. The shift reflects growing confidence that studying vertebrates, even very small ones, offers advantages that invertebrate models can't match.