Ladies and gentlemen we’re floating in space

I just came across these two beautiful images in a paper by neuroscientist Marek Kubicki and colleagues on diffusion tensor imaging studies in schizophrenia.

DTI is a technique that using MRI scans to track how water moves throughout the brain. As water tends to move in one particular direction when its trapped inside nerve fibres, a technique called MRI tractography can be used to map out all the white matter ‘cabling’, separate from the rest of the brain.

I think the technique produces some of the most beautiful images in neuroscience. You get to see the brain’s connections, disconnected, and suspended in space.

Link to full-text of paper (see page 27 for images).
Link to PubMed entry for same.
Link to more DTI tractography images.