Minecraft Mod Drives a Fly with a Real 166,700-Neuron Connectome
The mod puts a real biological connectome, the MaleCNS v1.0 fruit fly map Google and Janelia released, inside Minecraft, letting players watch a 166,700-neuron model drive in-game behavior, even if that behavior is a curated action set rather than a natural simulation.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
Developer Evan Smith announced NeuroCraft Fly on September 5, a Minecraft project that uses the neural activity of a model built from 166,700 neurons to move a fly in the game. The demo responds to six inputs: player approach, nearby mobs, brushing, attacks, food, and light. It does not reproduce natural physiology or behavior; it selects prepared actions based on readout signals chosen by a person. The underlying MaleCNS v1.0 dataset was built by HHMI Janelia and Google Research.
Google announced on September 3 that it used AI to reconstruct millions of 2D images into 3D neural shapes, mapping every neural connection in a male adult fly's brain and central nervous system for the first time. That dataset, MaleCNS v1.0, is the foundation of NeuroCraft Fly.
Smith said on X that he used GPT-6 Astra to help with development. The current GitHub repository holds an introduction, a demo video, and development plans; the MOD and source code are not public yet. Smith plans to release a Fabric mod in the future.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.