The visible brain has arrivedthe consistency of Jell-O,as transparent and colourful as a childs model,but vastly more useful. Scientists at Stanford University reported last week that they had made a whole mouse brain,and part of a human brain,transparent,so that networks of neurons can be viewed in their 3-D complexity without slicing up the organ. Unlike earlier methods,the new process,called Clarity by its inventors,preserves the biochemistry of the brain so well that researchers can test it over and over again with chemicals. The researchers say this process might help uncover the underpinnings of devastating mental disorders. The work,reported in the journal Nature,says that the key is a substance called hydrogel,a material that is mostly water held together by larger molecules to give it some solidity.
