“The maps of the brain we currently have are like those antique maps people used to draw of the New World,” says Allan Jones, chief scientific officer at the Allen Institute. “We can see the crude outlines of the structure, but we have no idea what’s happening on the inside.”

This article on the Allen Brain Atlas project has several heartstopping images of the very manual first steps used in their process of mapping the human brain. In one you can see the lines left on the cutting board underneath an intact specimen. It’s fascinating, sanguine and slightly sanguinary. Beware. (via nuero images.)