{"id":95302,"date":"2026-03-17T16:17:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=95302"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:20:19","slug":"researchers-upload-simulated-fly-brain-into-a-matrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/researchers-upload-simulated-fly-brain-into-a-matrix\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Upload Simulated Fly Brain into a &#8216;Matrix&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eon Systems has simulated 125,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections of an adult fruit fly. The model was then placed into a virtual environment reminiscent of the &#8216;Matrix&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e21OUXPlnhk?si=ZU8vNF6MkIKE3Jzr\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The experiment&#8217;s video was published by the company&#8217;s co-founder, Alex Wissner-Gross. It shows an animated insect moving its legs, rubbing them together, and drinking from a small dish using its proboscis in a simulated &#8216;sandbox&#8217;.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;For decades, whole brain emulation has been a tantalizing analogue of artificial intelligence. To copy it neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse, and run it,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/theinnermostloop.substack.com\/p\/the-first-multi-behavior-brain-upload\">wrote<\/a> Wissner-Gross.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to the scientist, the experiment is &#8220;the world&#8217;s first embodiment of a full brain emulation capable of producing multiple types of behavior.&#8221; It is based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-07763-9\">research<\/a> by Eon Systems&#8217; senior research scientist Philip Shiu and his colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, experts created a complete computational model of the fruit fly&#8217;s brain to study its neural connections responsible for feeding and grooming.<\/p>\n<p>The team utilized an existing Princeton University project for the complete development of the insect brain&#8217;s neural circuitry, the FlyWire connectome.<\/p>\n<p>The research revealed that the computational model predicts the motor behavior of the simulated fly with about 95% accuracy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Activation of neurons sensitive to sugar or water in the computational model accurately predicts the nerve cells responding to taste,&#8221; the article states.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Wissner-Gross noted that scientists at Eon Systems provided the &#8220;disembodied brain&#8221; with an environment to exist.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Sensory signals come in, neural activity spreads throughout the <span data-descr=\"a complete, detailed map of all neural connections (synapses) in an organism's nervous system, often referred to as the brain's 'wiring diagram'\" class=\"old_tooltip\">connectome<\/span>, motor commands go out, and the physically simulated body executes them. For the first time in history, whole brain emulation closes the loop from perception to action,&#8221; stated Wissner-Gross.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He added that the experiment builds on previous research, such as the work by DeepMind&#8217;s team in 2025, where the fruit fly&#8217;s neural pathways were modeled using reinforcement learning.<\/p>\n<p>Eon Systems aims to advance further. It plans to first create a digital emulation of a mouse brain, and then a human brain.<\/p>\n<p>However, achieving such a level requires colossal work. A mouse brain contains over 500 times more neurons than that of a fruit fly.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;If the sensory-motor loop could be closed in the fly simulation, for a mouse, it&#8217;s a matter of scale, not principle,&#8221; wrote Wissner-Gross.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Back in July 2024, Chinese scientists <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/chinese-scientists-develop-robot-with-lab-grown-brain\">developed<\/a> a robot with a lab-grown artificial brain, capable of being taught to perform various tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eon Systems simulated 125,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections of an adult fruit fly. The model was placed into a virtual environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Eon Systems simulated 125,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[438,1414],"class_list":["post-95302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-medicine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"274","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Eon Systems simulated 125,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95304,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95302\/revisions\/95304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}