Mapping the connectome — the digital wiring diagram of the brain’s white matter — promises to revolutionize neuroscience.

The payoffs could be huge. Even the most rudimentary blueprint of the brain could reveal how genes and experience shape our wiring, which in turn determines our individual differences. It would advance our understanding of conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and addiction — all of which are increasingly viewed as “connectopathies.” It could even shed light on such mysteries as intelligence and consciousness, and  serve as the first step to downloading human brains into computers.

Techniques being used in connectomics include MRI (neuroanatomy), fMRI (changes in blood supply, assumed to correlate with local nerve activity), diffusion MRI (tracking water molecules along axons), and functional connectivity MRI (resting-state MRI) to track long-distance communications.