Neurons conversing

Adam Cohen and his group are using genetically-modified neurons that light up when the cells activate to see the communication between neurons in high detail.

More from New Scientist:

Cohen’s team is using the technique to compare cells from typical brains with those from people with disorders such as motor neuron disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Rather than taking a brain sample, they remove some of the person’s skin cells and grow them alongside chemicals that rewind the cells into an embryonic-like state. Another set of chemicals is used to turn these stem cells into neurons. “You can recreate something reminiscent of the person’s brain in the dish,” says Cohen.

Couple that with super slow motion video. Then patterns.