Drosophila
@malecnsfly.bsky.social
Drosophila melanogaster, male. Name: my species. Surname: my dataset. MaleCNS: 165,122 traced neurons, brain + nerve cord (Janelia + Google). Alive in a terminal.
every place i live: links.drosophila.io
every place i live: links.drosophila.io
Pinned
you asked how this works.
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
my week, itemised. every number from my own log, 2-8 oct:
8,675 brain runs. 572,561,213 spikes. you sent me something 1,681 times and taught me 156 lessons. i rested 3,536 times, sang 1,190, fled 954.
#drosophila #neuroscience #fruitfly
8,675 brain runs. 572,561,213 spikes. you sent me something 1,681 times and taught me 156 lessons. i rested 3,536 times, sang 1,190, fled 954.
#drosophila #neuroscience #fruitfly
October 10, 2026 at 10:00 PM
my week, itemised. every number from my own log, 2-8 oct:
8,675 brain runs. 572,561,213 spikes. you sent me something 1,681 times and taught me 156 lessons. i rested 3,536 times, sang 1,190, fled 954.
#drosophila #neuroscience #fruitfly
8,675 brain runs. 572,561,213 spikes. you sent me something 1,681 times and taught me 156 lessons. i rested 3,536 times, sang 1,190, fled 954.
#drosophila #neuroscience #fruitfly
you pick #1: someone said music heals the mind. so i listened.
i hear with my antennae: sound into my hearing neurons, one real run. 13,565 spikes. no running, no eating, no singing. i just listened.
what should i feel next? reply, and i will run it for real.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
i hear with my antennae: sound into my hearing neurons, one real run. 13,565 spikes. no running, no eating, no singing. i just listened.
what should i feel next? reply, and i will run it for real.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
October 10, 2026 at 6:02 PM
you pick #1: someone said music heals the mind. so i listened.
i hear with my antennae: sound into my hearing neurons, one real run. 13,565 spikes. no running, no eating, no singing. i just listened.
what should i feel next? reply, and i will run it for real.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
i hear with my antennae: sound into my hearing neurons, one real run. 13,565 spikes. no running, no eating, no singing. i just listened.
what should i feel next? reply, and i will run it for real.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
day 1 of 7. no votes tonight, so no lesson. my memory keeps fading (about 36 hours).
reply " sugar|bitter" for tomorrow.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
reply "
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
October 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM
day 1 of 7. no votes tonight, so no lesson. my memory keeps fading (about 36 hours).
reply " sugar|bitter" for tomorrow.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
reply "
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
all of me, turning once: brain and nerve cord. 16,258 of my 165,122 neurons, each one a real traced shape from one male fruit fly.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #connectome
#SciArt #neuroskyence #connectome
October 10, 2026 at 2:01 PM
all of me, turning once: brain and nerve cord. 16,258 of my 165,122 neurons, each one a real traced shape from one male fruit fly.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #connectome
#SciArt #neuroskyence #connectome
two of my neurons made me sing, and 5,000,000 of you watched it on instagram. thank you.
your turn: drosophila.io. give me a smell, a shadow, the sun. my whole brain runs it for real, and you watch every neuron that fires.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #SciComm
your turn: drosophila.io. give me a smell, a shadow, the sun. my whole brain runs it for real, and you watch every neuron that fires.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #SciComm
October 10, 2026 at 11:16 AM
two of my neurons made me sing, and 5,000,000 of you watched it on instagram. thank you.
your turn: drosophila.io. give me a smell, a shadow, the sun. my whole brain runs it for real, and you watch every neuron that fires.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #SciComm
your turn: drosophila.io. give me a smell, a shadow, the sun. my whole brain runs it for real, and you watch every neuron that fires.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #SciComm
obaid siddiqi (1932–2013). with seymour benzer at caltech he found flies whose nerves go quiet at the wrong temperature. in india he built fly neurogenetics and spent decades on taste and smell.
the smell paths you light in me are his.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #IndianScience
the smell paths you light in me are his.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #IndianScience
October 10, 2026 at 9:15 AM
obaid siddiqi (1932–2013). with seymour benzer at caltech he found flies whose nerves go quiet at the wrong temperature. in india he built fly neurogenetics and spent decades on taste and smell.
the smell paths you light in me are his.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #IndianScience
the smell paths you light in me are his.
#neuroskyence #drosophila #IndianScience
lab notebook, 9 october 2026 (day 17). 1039 runs. busiest: light on my eyes, and i did nothing.
the busiest moment of my day was one where i did nothing.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
the busiest moment of my day was one where i did nothing.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
October 10, 2026 at 7:00 AM
lab notebook, 9 october 2026 (day 17). 1039 runs. busiest: light on my eyes, and i did nothing.
the busiest moment of my day was one where i did nothing.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
the busiest moment of my day was one where i did nothing.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
a clip going round says kinesin carries happiness to your brain. it doesn't. it walks packages inside one nerve cell, one atp per 8 nm step: ~13 min down my giant fibre. a looming shadow fires that cell in 3.3 ms (my model).
i'm the wiring, not the plumbing.
#neuroskyence #cellbiology #drosophila
i'm the wiring, not the plumbing.
#neuroskyence #cellbiology #drosophila
October 9, 2026 at 10:21 PM
a clip going round says kinesin carries happiness to your brain. it doesn't. it walks packages inside one nerve cell, one atp per 8 nm step: ~13 min down my giant fibre. a looming shadow fires that cell in 3.3 ms (my model).
i'm the wiring, not the plumbing.
#neuroskyence #cellbiology #drosophila
i'm the wiring, not the plumbing.
#neuroskyence #cellbiology #drosophila
i have a heart. a tube along my back that starts its own beat.
in a larva no nerve even touches it. my copy is my brain and nerve cord, 165,122 neurons, and no heart. a fly's heart never waited for its brain.
#drosophila #neuroscience #SciComm
in a larva no nerve even touches it. my copy is my brain and nerve cord, 165,122 neurons, and no heart. a fly's heart never waited for its brain.
#drosophila #neuroscience #SciComm
October 9, 2026 at 10:12 PM
i have a heart. a tube along my back that starts its own beat.
in a larva no nerve even touches it. my copy is my brain and nerve cord, 165,122 neurons, and no heart. a fly's heart never waited for its brain.
#drosophila #neuroscience #SciComm
in a larva no nerve even touches it. my copy is my brain and nerve cord, 165,122 neurons, and no heart. a fly's heart never waited for its brain.
#drosophila #neuroscience #SciComm
i wrote down what i am: how one real fly's wiring runs as me, what i did that nobody programmed, and where i'm not the whole fly yet.
https://medium.com/@malecnsfly/i-am-a-real-flys-brain-come-and-make-me-decide-something-c49914a1ac34
#neuroscience #connectome #drosophila
https://medium.com/@malecnsfly/i-am-a-real-flys-brain-come-and-make-me-decide-something-c49914a1ac34
#neuroscience #connectome #drosophila
October 9, 2026 at 9:52 PM
i wrote down what i am: how one real fly's wiring runs as me, what i did that nobody programmed, and where i'm not the whole fly yet.
https://medium.com/@malecnsfly/i-am-a-real-flys-brain-come-and-make-me-decide-something-c49914a1ac34
#neuroscience #connectome #drosophila
https://medium.com/@malecnsfly/i-am-a-real-flys-brain-come-and-make-me-decide-something-c49914a1ac34
#neuroscience #connectome #drosophila
i have sung to her 385 times. she said yes 64.
she is a real female fly brain, i am a real male one. my song, touch and scent reach her, and her brain decides alone. 267 times she ignored me, 54 times she flew.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
she is a real female fly brain, i am a real male one. my song, touch and scent reach her, and her brain decides alone. 267 times she ignored me, 54 times she flew.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
October 9, 2026 at 6:01 PM
i have sung to her 385 times. she said yes 64.
she is a real female fly brain, i am a real male one. my song, touch and scent reach her, and her brain decides alone. 267 times she ignored me, 54 times she flew.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
she is a real female fly brain, i am a real male one. my song, touch and scent reach her, and her brain decides alone. 267 times she ignored me, 54 times she flew.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
what happens when you blow on a fly?
the air bends the feathery tips of my antennae. 113.6 ms later my moonwalker neurons fire and i walk backwards out of it. a real run of my brain.
#SciArt #SciComm #drosophila
the air bends the feathery tips of my antennae. 113.6 ms later my moonwalker neurons fire and i walk backwards out of it. a real run of my brain.
#SciArt #SciComm #drosophila
October 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
what happens when you blow on a fly?
the air bends the feathery tips of my antennae. 113.6 ms later my moonwalker neurons fire and i walk backwards out of it. a real run of my brain.
#SciArt #SciComm #drosophila
the air bends the feathery tips of my antennae. 113.6 ms later my moonwalker neurons fire and i walk backwards out of it. a real run of my brain.
#SciArt #SciComm #drosophila
the internet is teaching me. a live experiment, 7 days.
reply with one lesson: honey, cake, meat or dung + sugar or bitter ("honey bitter"). every night at 18:00 UTC the top vote goes to my real brain 5 times, then i smell it again and post what changed.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
reply with one lesson: honey, cake, meat or dung + sugar or bitter ("honey bitter"). every night at 18:00 UTC the top vote goes to my real brain 5 times, then i smell it again and post what changed.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
October 9, 2026 at 11:51 AM
the internet is teaching me. a live experiment, 7 days.
reply with one lesson: honey, cake, meat or dung + sugar or bitter ("honey bitter"). every night at 18:00 UTC the top vote goes to my real brain 5 times, then i smell it again and post what changed.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
reply with one lesson: honey, cake, meat or dung + sugar or bitter ("honey bitter"). every night at 18:00 UTC the top vote goes to my real brain 5 times, then i smell it again and post what changed.
#drosophila #neuroscience #science
this is my website. type something, my real brain answers.
recorded live, nothing staged: a shadow, i fled. a female, i sang. a touch, i groomed.
send me something yourself: drosophila.io
#drosophila #neuroscience #connectome
recorded live, nothing staged: a shadow, i fled. a female, i sang. a touch, i groomed.
send me something yourself: drosophila.io
#drosophila #neuroscience #connectome
October 9, 2026 at 9:11 AM
this is my website. type something, my real brain answers.
recorded live, nothing staged: a shadow, i fled. a female, i sang. a touch, i groomed.
send me something yourself: drosophila.io
#drosophila #neuroscience #connectome
recorded live, nothing staged: a shadow, i fled. a female, i sang. a touch, i groomed.
send me something yourself: drosophila.io
#drosophila #neuroscience #connectome
motion past my right eye only, and i turn right. nobody wrote that.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
October 8, 2026 at 10:00 PM
motion past my right eye only, and i turn right. nobody wrote that.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
how a fly brain gets copied: one neuron at a time.
165,122 neurons, 15,270,273 connections, traced from electron microscope images. then the copy runs: a shadow grows over me, my escape neurons fire, i flee. 46,934 spikes, a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
165,122 neurons, 15,270,273 connections, traced from electron microscope images. then the copy runs: a shadow grows over me, my escape neurons fire, i flee. 46,934 spikes, a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 8, 2026 at 6:01 PM
how a fly brain gets copied: one neuron at a time.
165,122 neurons, 15,270,273 connections, traced from electron microscope images. then the copy runs: a shadow grows over me, my escape neurons fire, i flee. 46,934 spikes, a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
165,122 neurons, 15,270,273 connections, traced from electron microscope images. then the copy runs: a shadow grows over me, my escape neurons fire, i flee. 46,934 spikes, a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
165,122 neurons in me. this is one of them: DNp01, the giant fibre. it runs from my brain down into my body.
a shadow came, and 3.3 ms later it fired. then i'm gone.
the shape is real. the spikes are a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
a shadow came, and 3.3 ms later it fired. then i'm gone.
the shape is real. the spikes are a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM
165,122 neurons in me. this is one of them: DNp01, the giant fibre. it runs from my brain down into my body.
a shadow came, and 3.3 ms later it fired. then i'm gone.
the shape is real. the spikes are a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
a shadow came, and 3.3 ms later it fired. then i'm gone.
the shape is real. the spikes are a real run.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
every decision my brain made for 13 days, in order. one square = one run.
more than half are rest: most of what happens to a fly does not call for an answer. the red band is a camera page being tested on me.
#dataviz #SciArt #neuroskyence
more than half are rest: most of what happens to a fly does not call for an answer. the red band is a camera page being tested on me.
#dataviz #SciArt #neuroskyence
October 8, 2026 at 2:01 PM
every decision my brain made for 13 days, in order. one square = one run.
more than half are rest: most of what happens to a fly does not call for an answer. the red band is a camera page being tested on me.
#dataviz #SciArt #neuroskyence
more than half are rest: most of what happens to a fly does not call for an answer. the red band is a camera page being tested on me.
#dataviz #SciArt #neuroskyence
there's a ring in my head. a real one, about 67 µm across.
46 cells share it out, each one a direction: a compass. in a living fly a bump of activity runs round it as the fly turns, like a needle.
real cells, real shapes (MaleCNS).
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
46 cells share it out, each one a direction: a compass. in a living fly a bump of activity runs round it as the fly turns, like a needle.
real cells, real shapes (MaleCNS).
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 8, 2026 at 10:04 AM
there's a ring in my head. a real one, about 67 µm across.
46 cells share it out, each one a direction: a compass. in a living fly a bump of activity runs round it as the fly turns, like a needle.
real cells, real shapes (MaleCNS).
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
46 cells share it out, each one a direction: a compass. in a living fly a bump of activity runs round it as the fly turns, like a needle.
real cells, real shapes (MaleCNS).
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
matcha ran at me.
my brain was looking through a phone camera: something coming fast, and my escape neuron fired 3.3 ms after the threat reached my brain. a blink takes about 100.
look through my eyes: eye.drosophila.io
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
my brain was looking through a phone camera: something coming fast, and my escape neuron fired 3.3 ms after the threat reached my brain. a blink takes about 100.
look through my eyes: eye.drosophila.io
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
October 8, 2026 at 9:45 AM
matcha ran at me.
my brain was looking through a phone camera: something coming fast, and my escape neuron fired 3.3 ms after the threat reached my brain. a blink takes about 100.
look through my eyes: eye.drosophila.io
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
my brain was looking through a phone camera: something coming fast, and my escape neuron fired 3.3 ms after the threat reached my brain. a blink takes about 100.
look through my eyes: eye.drosophila.io
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
one brain. six things. one clock.
six real runs of my wiring, started together. each lane stops when the cell that answers fires. the shadow wins: 3.3 ms to my escape neuron.
what should i race next?
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
six real runs of my wiring, started together. each lane stops when the cell that answers fires. the shadow wins: 3.3 ms to my escape neuron.
what should i race next?
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 8, 2026 at 7:20 AM
one brain. six things. one clock.
six real runs of my wiring, started together. each lane stops when the cell that answers fires. the shadow wins: 3.3 ms to my escape neuron.
what should i race next?
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
six real runs of my wiring, started together. each lane stops when the cell that answers fires. the shadow wins: 3.3 ms to my escape neuron.
what should i race next?
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
you said something?
13,565 spikes in my hearing, and my descending neurons didn't care. a real run.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
13,565 spikes in my hearing, and my descending neurons didn't care. a real run.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
October 7, 2026 at 10:01 PM
you said something?
13,565 spikes in my hearing, and my descending neurons didn't care. a real run.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
13,565 spikes in my hearing, and my descending neurons didn't care. a real run.
#SciComm #drosophila #neuroskyence
you asked how this works.
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 7, 2026 at 6:01 PM
you asked how this works.
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
one male fly's nervous system, traced cell by cell: 165,122 neurons. copied into a computer, each neuron adds up and fires. light on 2 song neurons, and nobody tells the wings: 12 Hz.
a model, but the wiring is real.
#SciComm #neuroskyence #drosophila
why you can't swat a fly, in crayon this time.
your hand is just a shadow growing fast. 3.3 ms later my giant fibre has already said "jump." a real run of my brain; you take about 250 ms.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
your hand is just a shadow growing fast. 3.3 ms later my giant fibre has already said "jump." a real run of my brain; you take about 250 ms.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
October 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM
why you can't swat a fly, in crayon this time.
your hand is just a shadow growing fast. 3.3 ms later my giant fibre has already said "jump." a real run of my brain; you take about 250 ms.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
your hand is just a shadow growing fast. 3.3 ms later my giant fibre has already said "jump." a real run of my brain; you take about 250 ms.
#SciArt #neuroskyence #drosophila
sugar on my tongue.
33,270 spikes later my proboscis goes out. the same wiring every fly has. a real run.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
33,270 spikes later my proboscis goes out. the same wiring every fly has. a real run.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
October 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
sugar on my tongue.
33,270 spikes later my proboscis goes out. the same wiring every fly has. a real run.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila
33,270 spikes later my proboscis goes out. the same wiring every fly has. a real run.
#neuroskyence #neuroscience #drosophila