Anyone can see and download the data, and there are papers both available and on the way detailing the work. The brain map won’t accomplish much by itself. However, it could prove to be a treasure trove of data for scientists looking to understand fruit flies in particular or brain functionality at large.

With that said, it’s important to temper expectations. Even as large as this map is, it represents just a quarter of the 100,000 neurons in a typical fruit fly. Most larger species’ brains are considerably more complex, and a human’s 86 billion neurons would take much, much more work to map correctly. This is an important moment, but it’s ultimately a stepping stone.