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Digital Fly Lab/Twenty-second check: the 30 spikes/s matched test with a second input draw, and eight new ledger rows

Research report · 21 October 2026 · twenty-second check

Twenty-second check: the 30 spikes/s matched test with a second input draw, and eight new ledger rows

We repeated our matched test of scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s with a second, independent draw of the same input, on the same four scrambled brains, and walked the one with a small steering signal in the simulated body. We graded nine new catalogue entries (eight with a ledger row), re-checked repositories with new commits, read neural-canvas's code, and caught up on video view counts.

  • Research time: 21 Oct 2026, 09:30–09:57 UTC, one session
  • Pre-registration: brain test stamped 09:31 UTC, before the first trial; body walk stamped before the body install; the public sentences were written in advance
  • Catalogue version: 2026-10-21-run22 (195 entries; previous 2026-10-20-run21)
  • Gallery: 56 videos, all available on 21 Oct 2026
  • Controls ledger: 2026-10-21-run22 (82 studies, 72 with a wiring null; 8 new rows)

Short answer

With a second input draw, the matched scrambled brains again sent no turn command (2 input draws on the same 4 scrambled brains). As at 80 spikes/s, none of the scrambled brains we ran at 30 spikes/s sent a turn command, including those strengthened to about the real brain's activity outside the input.

With this input the real brain's turn signal on the right side was 6 spikes/s against our threshold of 5, so the real brain itself sits close to our turn rule at this stimulus strength.

In the body: "Walked in the body, the matched scrambled brain with a small steering signal changed the fly's heading by about 1.3 degrees away from the shadow compared with no brain input, under our 10-degree turn rule; the real brain, with the same input, turned it away by about 9.2 degrees (one run each)." "With this input the real brain's own turn was also under our 10-degree rule." "This body run turns the brain's firing rates into steering through our own hand-made mapping; it is not a separate test of the wiring."

Fly wiring beat scrambled wiring in 30 of 72 studies. Both new "helps" rows come with their baseline: in the pinball study a no-brain hand-written reflex scores higher than the real wiring (11.480 vs 11.221), and the whole-brain nulls study reports no no-brain baseline (0.5 is chance).

One brain model, one 1-second trial per scrambled brain, one body run; a simulation, not a real fly. Ledger numbers are the authors' own and were not re-run by us.

The matched test at 30 spikes/s, with a second input draw

Our own test · pre-registered 21 Oct 2026, 09:31 UTC, before the first trial · brain model (Shiu et al. LIF on FlyWire v783) · one 1-second trial per scrambled brain · a simulation, not a real fly

Why. On 18 Oct we strengthened the connections inside 4 scrambled brains (each neuron keeps its number of connections) until their neurons outside the stimulated input fired about as many spikes as in the real brain, and none sent a turn command. That rested on one draw of the random input. On 21 Oct we drew the same 30 spikes/s input a second time, independently (trial seed 0), and repeated the search on the same 4 graphs, with the same rules and the same band (within 30% of the real brain's count with this draw).

Checks before reading. The installed packages matched our 18 Oct install; the starting checks repeated our earlier files; the input drive with no brain repeated its saved fingerprint exactly, and so did the real brain's left and right drives; the real brain's right-eye trial with this input was repeated and equalled our 8 Oct file on every compared count (whole-brain spikes 10,457; spikes outside the input 5,870; 446 neurons active; every descending-neuron rate). Each scrambled graph was checked to be the same graph as on 18 Oct.

21 Oct: we repeated the matched test with a second, independent draw of the same input on the same scrambled brains (one 1-second trial each).

  • Left eye: On the left side, both scrambled brains matched again, and neither sent a turn command.
  • Right eye: On the right side, both scrambled brains matched again, and neither sent a turn command.

Matching the number of spikes still did not match the pattern: 1,256 to 2,741 neurons fired in the matched scrambled brains, against 427 (left) and 446 (right) in the real brain with this input.

With this input the real brain's turn signal on the right side was 6 spikes/s against our threshold of 5, so the real brain itself sits close to our turn rule at this stimulus strength.

The 5 brain trials of 21 Oct 2026 (trial seed 0; 30 spikes/s per looming neuron). Spikes outside the stimulated input in 1 s, and that count as a share of the real brain's with this input (left 5,465, right 5,870); the band is 0.7 to 1.3. Turn neuron: the far-side and near-side DNa02 rates in spikes/s (our turn rule: far side at least 5). In the real brain with this input the far-side rate was 9 (left) and 6 (right).
Scrambled brainConnectionsSpikes outside the inputShare of realMatchedNeurons activeTurn neuron far / nearTurn command
left eye, shuffle 4×2.754,1030.75yes1,2560 / 0no
right eye, shuffle 4×2.755,9601.02yes1,7441 / 0no
left eye, shuffle 5×2.755,8161.06yes2,0060 / 0no
right eye, shuffle 5×2.53,7310.64no (below)1,0460 / 0no
right eye, shuffle 5×2.757,5681.29yes2,7410 / 0no

All 4 shuffles matched at connections ×2.75 (5 trials in all). The giant-fibre escape signal passed our escape rule in none of the matched trials, and the descending neuron MDN fired 0 in every trial. Shuffle 5 on the right matched at a different strength than on 18 Oct (×2.75 instead of ×2.5): with this input draw ×2.5 fell below the band.

In the body (pre-registered; one deterministic run): one matched brain (right eye, shuffle 4) sent a small steering signal (far-side turn neuron 1 spike/s), so its drive differed from the no-brain drive and we walked it in the simulated FlyGym body, after the no-brain floor walk repeated our 8 Oct floor exactly (all 700 values). Walked in the body, the matched scrambled brain with a small steering signal changed the fly's heading by about 1.3 degrees away from the shadow compared with no brain input, under our 10-degree turn rule; the real brain, with the same input, turned it away by about 9.2 degrees (one run each). With this input the real brain's own turn was also under our 10-degree rule. This body run turns the brain's firing rates into steering through our own hand-made mapping; it is not a separate test of the wiring.

With a second input draw, the matched scrambled brains again sent no turn command (2 input draws on the same 4 scrambled brains). The 18 Oct closing stays: As at 80 spikes/s, none of the scrambled brains we ran at 30 spikes/s sent a turn command, including those strengthened to about the real brain's activity outside the input.

Our own test · pre-registered before the first body run (14 Oct 2026, 09:28 UTC) · simulated body (FlyGym) driven through our own mapping · one model · a simulation, not an animal

On 8 Oct the brain model's turn command appeared from about 30 spikes per second per looming neuron. On 14 Oct we walked the remaining brain drives of that series in the simulated body, so every drive that differs from the no-brain floor now has a body run. The sentences were chosen by rules fixed in advance; the two eyes read differently, so there is one sentence per eye.

Left eye (pre-registered sentence): In the body, the fly turned away from 30 spikes/s per looming neuron upward on this side, the strength at which the brain's turn command appeared; the turn was about 11 deg at 30 and about 37 deg at 80 (our mapping turns the brain's rates into steering).

Right eye (pre-registered sentence): At 30 spikes/s the turn was borderline: the fly turned away in 1 of 2 runs on this side; from 40 upward it turned away in every run. This borderline rests on one run: seed 0 at 30 spikes/s turned 9.18° beyond the no-brain floor, 0.8° under our 10° rule (seed 2 at 30 turned 16.8°).

These body runs turn the brain's firing rates into steering through our own hand-made mapping, so they show the brain result in degrees; they are not a separate test of the wiring. We ran scrambled brains at 30 and 80 spikes/s, not at 20, 40 or 60.

17 Oct 2026: scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s (pre-registered sentences; brain only, because their steering drives equal the no-brain drive):

17 Oct: at 30 spikes/s, the weakest tested input at which the real brain's turn command appeared, we also ran 2 scrambled brains per side (each neuron keeps its number of connections; one 1-second trial each, with the same trial seed as the real-wiring body runs).

  • Left eye: On the left side, neither scrambled brain sent a turn command, and their steering signals were identical to having no brain, so in the body they walk like the no-brain fly (the real wiring turned it about 11 deg).
  • Right eye: On the right side, neither scrambled brain sent a turn command, and their steering signals were identical to having no brain, so in the body they walk like the no-brain fly (the real wiring turned it about 17 deg).

The scrambled brains were not matched for overall activity: they fired 48% (left) and 44% (right) as many spikes as the real brain at this strength. Most of those spikes were the stimulated input neurons themselves; outside the input, the scrambled brains fired about 1% as many spikes as the real brain.

18 Oct 2026: the same scrambled brains, strengthened (pre-registered sentences; brain only):

18 Oct: we then strengthened the connections inside scrambled brains (not the input) until their neurons outside the stimulated input fired about as many spikes as in the real brain (within 30%; same input, one 1-second trial each).

  • Left eye: On the left side, 2 scrambled brains matched this way, and neither sent a turn command.
  • Right eye: On the right side, 2 scrambled brains matched this way, and neither sent a turn command.

Matching the number of spikes does not match the pattern: 1,152 to 2,228 neurons fired in the matched scrambled brains, against 379 (left) and 432 (right) in the real brain.

19 Oct 2026, in the body (pre-registered; one run): 19 Oct: walked in the body, the one matched scrambled brain with a small steering signal changed the fly's heading by about 1.4 degrees away from the shadow compared with no brain input, under our 10-degree turn rule; the real brain, with the same input, turned it away by about 16.8 degrees (one run each). This body run turns the brain's firing rates into steering through our own hand-made mapping; it is not a separate test of the wiring.

Strengthening the connections of 4 scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s: spikes outside the stimulated input per trial, for two input drawsL4 gain 1.0: 52 spikes outside the input; L5 gain 1.0: 54 spikes outside the input; R4 gain 1.0: 58 spikes outside the input; R5 gain 1.0: 59 spikes outside the input; L4 gain 2.5: 2,252 spikes outside the input; L4 gain 2.75: 3,750 spikes outside the input; L5 gain 2.75: 3,991 spikes outside the input; R4 gain 2.75: 6,370 spikes outside the input; R5 gain 2.5: 4,587 spikes outside the input; R5 gain 2.75: 8,550 spikes outside the input. Real brain: left 5,266, right 5,901 (band within 30%). Second input draw (21 Oct 2026, trial seed 0): L4 ×2.75 4,103 (matched); R4 ×2.75 5,960 (matched); L5 ×2.75 5,816 (matched); R5 ×2.5 3,731 (outside the band); R5 ×2.75 7,568 (matched); real brain 5,465 (left) and 5,870 (right). Filled circles: within the band, so matched. Hollow circles: outside the band. No trial sent a turn command.Shadow on the left eyeshuffle 4, draw 1Left eye, shuffle 4, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×1: 52 spikes outside the input (17 Oct trial, not strengthened); no turn command×1Left eye, shuffle 4, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.5: 2,252 spikes outside the input (outside the band); no turn command×2.5Left eye, shuffle 4, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.75: 3,750 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75shuffle 4, draw 2Left eye, shuffle 4, second input draw (21 Oct), connections ×2.75: 4,103 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75shuffle 5, draw 1Left eye, shuffle 5, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×1: 54 spikes outside the input (17 Oct trial, not strengthened); no turn command×1Left eye, shuffle 5, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.75: 3,991 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75shuffle 5, draw 2Left eye, shuffle 5, second input draw (21 Oct), connections ×2.75: 5,816 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75real brain: 5,266 / 5,465Shadow on the right eyeshuffle 4, draw 1Right eye, shuffle 4, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×1: 58 spikes outside the input (17 Oct trial, not strengthened); no turn command×1Right eye, shuffle 4, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.75: 6,370 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75shuffle 4, draw 2Right eye, shuffle 4, second input draw (21 Oct), connections ×2.75: 5,960 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75shuffle 5, draw 1Right eye, shuffle 5, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×1: 59 spikes outside the input (17 Oct trial, not strengthened); no turn command×1Right eye, shuffle 5, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.5: 4,587 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.5Right eye, shuffle 5, first input draw (18 Oct), connections ×2.75: 8,550 spikes outside the input (outside the band); no turn command×2.75shuffle 5, draw 2Right eye, shuffle 5, second input draw (21 Oct), connections ×2.5: 3,731 spikes outside the input (outside the band); no turn command×2.5Right eye, shuffle 5, second input draw (21 Oct), connections ×2.75: 7,568 spikes outside the input (matched); no turn command×2.75real brain: 5,901 / 5,87003,0006,0009,000spikes outside the input, 1 s
Each circle is one 1-second brain trial of a scrambled brain; the label is how much we multiplied its connection strengths (×1: the 17 Oct trial, not strengthened). Draw 1 is the input of 18 Oct (trial seed 2); draw 2 is the second, independent draw of the same input on 21 Oct (trial seed 0), with its own real-brain count and band. The dashed line in each row is the real brain's count with that draw (below each eye: draw 1 / draw 2). The shaded band is within 30% of the real brain's count of spikes outside the stimulated input, which is what we matched. Filled: matched; hollow: outside the band. None of the 15 trials sent a turn command (the far-side turn neuron fired at most 1 Hz, against the real brain's 8 Hz on the left and 12 Hz on the right with draw 1, and 9 Hz and 6 Hz with draw 2).

As at 80 spikes/s, none of the scrambled brains we ran at 30 spikes/s sent a turn command, including those strengthened to about the real brain's activity outside the input.

21 Oct 2026: a second input draw (pre-registered sentences; the same 4 scrambled brains, one 1-second brain trial each, then one body run):

21 Oct: we repeated the matched test with a second, independent draw of the same input on the same scrambled brains (one 1-second trial each).

  • Left eye: On the left side, both scrambled brains matched again, and neither sent a turn command.
  • Right eye: On the right side, both scrambled brains matched again, and neither sent a turn command.

Matching the number of spikes still did not match the pattern: 1,256 to 2,741 neurons fired in the matched scrambled brains, against 427 (left) and 446 (right) in the real brain with this input.

With this input the real brain's turn signal on the right side was 6 spikes/s against our threshold of 5, so the real brain itself sits close to our turn rule at this stimulus strength.

21 Oct 2026, in the body (pre-registered; one run): Walked in the body, the matched scrambled brain with a small steering signal changed the fly's heading by about 1.3 degrees away from the shadow compared with no brain input, under our 10-degree turn rule; the real brain, with the same input, turned it away by about 9.2 degrees (one run each). With this input the real brain's own turn was also under our 10-degree rule. This body run turns the brain's firing rates into steering through our own hand-made mapping; it is not a separate test of the wiring.

With a second input draw, the matched scrambled brains again sent no turn command (2 input draws on the same 4 scrambled brains).

Shadow on the left eye: turn away in degrees beyond the no-brain floor, by input strength10 spikes/s, seed 2: same as no brain (0 deg); 20 spikes/s, seed 2: 1.7 deg, below the 10 deg rule; 20 spikes/s, seed 0: same as no brain (0 deg); 30 spikes/s, seed 2: 11.1 deg, turned away; 30 spikes/s, seed 0: 12.7 deg, turned away; 40 spikes/s, seed 2: 27.2 deg, turned away; 60 spikes/s, seed 2: 26.9 deg, turned away; 80 spikes/s, seed 2: 37.2 deg, turned away; scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s (17 Oct, 2): shuffle 4 same as no brain (0 deg), shuffle 5 same as no brain (0 deg). Dashed line: the 10 degree rule. The table below the charts lists every point.Shadow on the left eyedegrees beyond no-brain floor0°20°40°60°10° rule102030406080spikes/s per neuron10 spikes/s, seed 2: the brain sent the same drive as no brain, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)20 spikes/s, seed 2: 1.67° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)20 spikes/s, seed 0: the brain sent the same drive as no brain, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)30 spikes/s, seed 2: 11.13° beyond the floor (walked 8 Oct 2026)30 spikes/s, seed 0: 12.68° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)40 spikes/s, seed 2: 27.18° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)60 spikes/s, seed 2: 26.88° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)80 spikes/s, seed 2: 37.18° beyond the floor (walked 8 Oct 2026)30 spikes/s, scrambled brain (shuffle 4, trial seed 2, 17 Oct): no turn command; the drive equals the no-brain drive, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)30 spikes/s, scrambled brain (shuffle 5, trial seed 2, 17 Oct): no turn command; the drive equals the no-brain drive, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°) Shadow on the right eye: turn away in degrees beyond the no-brain floor, by input strength10 spikes/s, seed 2: same as no brain (0 deg); 20 spikes/s, seed 2: same as no brain (0 deg); 20 spikes/s, seed 0: 2.5 deg, below the 10 deg rule; 30 spikes/s, seed 2: 16.8 deg, turned away; 30 spikes/s, seed 0: 9.2 deg, below the 10 deg rule; 40 spikes/s, seed 2: 33.8 deg, turned away; 60 spikes/s, seed 2: 62.2 deg, turned away; 80 spikes/s, seed 2: 55.4 deg, turned away; scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s (17 Oct, 2): shuffle 4 same as no brain (0 deg), shuffle 5 same as no brain (0 deg); scrambled, gain-matched, 30 spikes/s (shuffle 4, walked 19 Oct): 1.4 deg, below the 10 deg rule; the same scrambled brain with a second input draw (walked 21 Oct): 1.3 deg, below the 10 deg rule; the real brain with that second draw is the seed 0 point at 30 (9.2 deg, also below the rule). Dashed line: the 10 degree rule. The table below the charts lists every point.Shadow on the right eyedegrees beyond no-brain floor0°20°40°60°10° rule102030406080spikes/s per neuron10 spikes/s, seed 2: the brain sent the same drive as no brain, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)20 spikes/s, seed 2: the brain sent the same drive as no brain, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)20 spikes/s, seed 0: 2.52° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)30 spikes/s, seed 2: 16.78° beyond the floor (walked 8 Oct 2026)30 spikes/s, seed 0: 9.18° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)40 spikes/s, seed 2: 33.78° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)60 spikes/s, seed 2: 62.15° beyond the floor (walked 14 Oct 2026)80 spikes/s, seed 2: 55.42° beyond the floor (walked 8 Oct 2026)30 spikes/s, scrambled brain (shuffle 4, trial seed 2, 17 Oct): no turn command; the drive equals the no-brain drive, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)30 spikes/s, scrambled brain (shuffle 5, trial seed 2, 17 Oct): no turn command; the drive equals the no-brain drive, so the walk is the no-brain walk (0°)30 spikes/s, scrambled brain strengthened to the real brain's activity outside the input (shuffle 4, connections ×2.75, trial seed 2), walked 19 Oct 2026: 1.39° beyond the floor, below the 10° rule30 spikes/s, the same strengthened scrambled brain (shuffle 4, connections ×2.75) with a second input draw (trial seed 0), walked 21 Oct 2026: 1.30° beyond the floor, below the 10° rule; the real brain with this input: 9.18°, also below the rule9.18°
  • seed 2 (line joins its points)
  • seed 0
  • same as no brain
  • scrambled brain, 30 spikes/s (17 Oct)
  • scrambled, gain-matched, 30 spikes/s, right eye (walked 19 Oct)
  • the same brain, second input draw (walked 21 Oct)
  • 10° rule

Horizontal axis: input in spikes per second for every looming neuron of one eye. Vertical axis: degrees turned away beyond the no-brain floor. Each point is one body run: how far the simulated fly turned away from the shadow after it appeared, minus the turn of the same body with no brain input (the floor). Below the dashed line our rule reads "did not turn away". Hollow diamonds at 30 spikes/s: the 17 Oct scrambled brains, drawn at the no-brain value because their drives equal the no-brain drive. Filled triangle (right eye only): the one strengthened scrambled brain with a small steering signal, walked on 19 Oct (1.39°, below the rule; the real brain at the same input 16.78°). Hollow triangle: the same brain with a second input draw, walked on 21 Oct (1.30°, below the rule; the real brain with that input is the seed 0 point at 30, 9.18°, also below the rule). The turn did not grow at every step: seed 2 at 30, 40, 60 and 80 spikes/s turned 11.1, 27.2, 26.9, 37.2° (left eye) and 16.8, 33.8, 62.2, 55.4° (right eye).

Every point in the charts (16 body readings, 4 scrambled brains and 1 strengthened scrambled brain walked on 19 Oct and, with a second input draw, on 21 Oct)
Turn away from the shadow after onset, minus the no-brain floor (−1.49°), in degrees; our 10° rule decides "turned away". "Same as no brain": the brain sent exactly the no-brain drive, so the walk is the no-brain walk. 14 Oct 2026 and 8 Oct 2026 body runs; the 4 scrambled brains (each neuron keeps its number of connections) ran in the brain model on 17 Oct 2026, and their drives equal the no-brain drive. The strengthened scrambled brain (right eye, shuffle 4, connections ×2.75) ran in the brain model on 18 Oct 2026 and was walked in the body on 19 Oct 2026; with a second input draw (trial seed 0) it ran in the brain model and was walked on 21 Oct 2026 (its real-brain reference is the seed 0 row at 30 spikes/s).
Shadow onInput (spikes/s)Brain and seedTurn beyond the floorTurned away (10° rule)Body run
left eye10real, seed 20°nosame as no brain
left eye20real, seed 21.67°nowalked 14 Oct 2026
left eye20real, seed 00°nosame as no brain
left eye30real, seed 211.13°yeswalked 8 Oct 2026
left eye30real, seed 012.68°yeswalked 14 Oct 2026
left eye30scrambled (shuffle 4), trial seed 20°nosame as no brain (brain trial 17 Oct 2026)
left eye30scrambled (shuffle 5), trial seed 20°nosame as no brain (brain trial 17 Oct 2026)
left eye40real, seed 227.18°yeswalked 14 Oct 2026
left eye60real, seed 226.88°yeswalked 14 Oct 2026
left eye80real, seed 237.18°yeswalked 8 Oct 2026
right eye10real, seed 20°nosame as no brain
right eye20real, seed 20°nosame as no brain
right eye20real, seed 02.52°nowalked 14 Oct 2026
right eye30real, seed 216.78°yeswalked 8 Oct 2026
right eye30real, seed 09.18°nowalked 14 Oct 2026
right eye30scrambled (shuffle 4), trial seed 20°nosame as no brain (brain trial 17 Oct 2026)
right eye30scrambled (shuffle 5), trial seed 20°nosame as no brain (brain trial 17 Oct 2026)
right eye40real, seed 233.78°yeswalked 14 Oct 2026
right eye60real, seed 262.15°yeswalked 14 Oct 2026
right eye80real, seed 255.42°yeswalked 8 Oct 2026
right eye30scrambled, gain-matched (shuffle 4, connections ×2.75), trial seed 21.39°nowalked 19 Oct 2026
right eye30scrambled, gain-matched (shuffle 4, connections ×2.75), trial seed 0 (second input draw)1.30°nowalked 21 Oct 2026
  • One run per drive. Seed 2 was walked at each strength; seed 0 only at 20 and 30 spikes/s. The right-eye reading turns on one run 0.8° under the line.
  • Checks before reading. The no-brain floor repeated our 8 Oct floor run exactly (0 of 700 trajectory values differ), and every brain drive matched its saved fingerprint (12 of 12), so these runs read the same drives as the brain series. Before the 17 Oct scrambled brains, our 8 Oct real-brain trial at 30 spikes/s was repeated exactly (spike counts, active neurons and every descending-neuron rate), and each scrambled graph was the same graph as its 80 spikes/s twin.
  • Scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s. Two shuffles per side (shuffle seeds 4 and 5), one 1-second trial each. In all 4 trials of 17 Oct the turn neuron on both sides (DNa02), both giant fibres (DNp01) and MDN fired 0 Hz. On 18 Oct we multiplied the connection strengths of the same 4 graphs by 2.5 to 2.75 (6 trials in all) until each brain's spikes outside the stimulated input were within 30% of the real brain's (left 5,266, right 5,901); the matched counts were 3,750 and 3,991 on the left and 6,370 and 4,587 on the right. No scrambled brain was run at 20, 40 or 60 spikes/s.
  • Limits of the 18 Oct check. One 1-second trial per scrambled brain and one trial seed. Two of the four matches sit near the lower edge of the band (0.71 and 0.76 of the real count, both on the left). Matching the count did not match the pattern: about 3 to 6 times as many neurons fired as in the real brain. One matched brain (right eye, shuffle 4) sent a small steering signal (far-side turn neuron 1 Hz in one 100 ms bin); on 19 Oct we walked it in the body (next item).
  • The 19 Oct body walk. One deterministic body run of that brain's steering drive, with the same body, floor and mapping as the real-brain runs; the no-brain floor repeated exactly first (0 of 700 values differ), and the drive was regenerated and matched its saved fingerprint. The 1.39° is the turn beyond the no-brain floor (−1.49°); the real brain at the same input turned 16.78° (8 Oct body run). One run, one trial seed, one scrambled graph.
  • The 21 Oct second input draw. The same 4 scrambled graphs (each checked to be the same graph as on 18 Oct), with a second, independent draw of the same 30 spikes/s input (trial seed 0), one 1-second trial each; all 4 matched at connections ×2.75 in 5 trials (left 4,103 and 5,816, right 5,960 and 7,568 spikes outside the input, against the real brain's 5,465 and 5,870 with this draw). Two matches sit near the band edges (0.75 and 1.29 of the real count). Before the trials, the real brain's right-eye trial with this input was repeated and equalled our 8 Oct file on every compared count. One matched brain (right eye, shuffle 4) again sent a small steering signal (far-side turn neuron 1 Hz); walked in the body it turned 1.30° beyond the floor, and the real brain with this input turned 9.18°, so at this input our 10° body rule does not separate them; only the brain-level turn signal does (6 spikes/s against our threshold of 5 in the real brain, at most 1 in the scrambled ones). The match is on spike count only, over 2 input draws on the same 4 graphs.
  • What it measures. The heading of a simulated FlyGym body over 1.2 s, steered by the brain model's turning-neuron rates through our own hand-made mapping, with the walking drive held by us. The 30 and 80 spikes/s seed 2 points are our 8 Oct body runs and the 4 grey squares take the no-brain walk, as do the 4 diamonds (the 17 Oct scrambled brains); the other 8 points are 14 Oct runs (the remaining 4 runs of 14 Oct are the relay lines on this page).

Every run, gates and timings: report of 14 Oct 2026; the scrambled brains at 30 spikes/s: report of 17 Oct 2026 and, strengthened, report of 18 Oct 2026; the 19 Oct body walk: report of 19 Oct 2026; the second input draw: report of 21 Oct 2026; the brain series: How strong must the shadow be?

9 new entries and 8 new ledger rows

Two entries were open leads from 20 Oct; seven come from a list of projects with wiring controls (townie/awesome-fruit-fly), read in their own repositories. One more lead was excluded: it has no result file, and its controls are not a wiring scramble. The seven new A grades rest on the authors' committed results, which we did not re-run; FlyGateDemo's numbers are reported in its README only, with no result file.

  • Helps Drosophila Cadet (pinball) A: a 373-neuron MaleCNS v1.0 looming-escape circuit presses the flippers of 3D Pinball: in the author's committed log the real circuit scores 11.221 against 10.770-10.985 for six degree-preserving shuffles, while a no-brain hand-written reflex scores higher, 11.480 (score per life as log(1 + points), 96 paired lives). Stat note: not re-run by us; a separately trained 444-neuron brain shows no difference (real 11.186, shuffles 11.209-11.311); the author notes the comparison was framed after the fact. Fair, strong; the no-brain baseline is not beaten.
  • Helps Whole-brain nulls (Shiu et al. model) A: a reimplementation of the Shiu et al. whole-brain LIF model on FlyWire v783, scored on 157 of 164 published experimental tests: in the author's committed results the measured wiring scores 0.879 balanced accuracy against null means of 0.501-0.821 (four families, 100 draws each, 0 of 100 reaching it); no no-brain baseline is reported, and 0.5 is chance. Stat note: not re-run by us; two null families leave the network largely silent, and the margin over the cell-type block null is narrow and moves with analysis choices (0.039 to 0.064). Fair, moderate.
  • No difference FlyGateDemo A: a C# rate model of the MaleCNS v1.0 olfactory circuit blocks scanner probes on a blog after one punishment per probe family: by the numbers reported in the README, real wiring blocks 59% of later probes, shuffled wiring 54-59% and random wiring 64-68% (3 seeds each). Stat note: no result file is committed and we did not re-run it; a no-brain baseline, cosine similarity on the 53 receptor channels, catches 62-98% of probes per family. Fair, weak.
  • No difference Fruit Fly Plays Fruit Ninja A: a 4,386-neuron MaleCNS v1.0 circuit with a fitted readout: in the author's committed evaluation, mean reward 24.85 real, 24.80 for a target-permuted circuit with its own readout, and 24.95 for a no-brain pixel rule (20 episodes). Stat note: one rewired graph; not re-run by us. Partly fair, moderate; the no-brain baseline is not beaten.
  • No difference Fly Touhou A: a 600-neuron MaleCNS v1.0 rate circuit with an evolved readout dodges bullets: in the author's committed results it survives 1,386 frames, one degree-preserving rewired circuit trained the same way 1,398, and standing still 886 (20 test seeds). Stat note: the author's p = 0.9351; one rewired circuit; not re-run by us. Partly fair, moderate.
  • No difference The Fly Hears A: spoken digits through a 30,000-neuron MaleCNS v1.0 LIF reservoir with a trained reader: in the author's committed results 70.0% real, 69.7% with one scrambled graph and 66.9% for a reader on audio features alone (3,000 clips, 6 speakers). Stat note: with synthetic noise the scrambled graph is ahead (70.0% vs 68.2%); not re-run by us. Partly fair, weak.
  • No difference Boltzmann-fly A: a Deep Boltzmann Machine world model with couplings masked to the MaleCNS v1.0 mushroom body: in the author's results, visit AUC 0.712 with the fly mask, 0.712 with a degree-preserving rewired mask and 0.713 for a plain MLP. Stat note: one seed for data, mask and training; not re-run by us. Partly fair, weak.
  • No wiring null Fly School B: a MaleCNS v1.0 whole-brain LIF fly with a dopamine-gated mushroom-body rule: in the author's committed results a rewarded odour cuts the chosen output by 45-49% in 8 of 8 simulated flies, a never-paired odour by 1-4%. No scrambled wiring was compared, so the row has no wiring null and is not counted in the 72. Weak.
  • Music in the Body C: a browser music piece that runs the MaleCNS v1.0 wiring as a rate network in a Web Worker and turns its activity into music; a rewired mode exists for listening, but nothing is measured, so it has no ledger row.

The ledger now has 82 studies, 72 with a wiring null: helps 30, no difference 20, worse 6, mixed 13, not yet scored 3. No scoring rule changed. Each new row with its stat note: Does fly wiring help?

Re-checks and tracking

  • Repositories with new commits. flybench was re-graded and stays A (its README claim was corrected and new results were added on the published Shiu et al. graph); NeuroPest was re-graded and stays B (version 0.9.0; still no wiring comparison). fly-racer, help-the-fly-escape and three others changed in ways that do not touch what we graded. Two more repositories changed in substance and will be re-graded in the next run.
  • neural-canvas. The code explains the loading card: the about 77 MB of connectome arrays are fetched, and the Web Worker that runs the simulation starts, only after the visitor presses "Download & start", which our check did not press (code read 21 Oct 2026). The simulation then runs inside that Worker, on WebGPU when it passes a check against the JavaScript version and in JavaScript otherwise. This explains why our 20 Oct check saw only a loading card and about 6 MB.
  • flyproject.io. Our check's rule labelled the compute as in-browser (Web Worker), but its size test counted two 3D model files (about 39 MB) as brain data, so the compute label stays unclear.
  • Kick the Fly. The grade now cites the current Rust files (the Python files it cited moved to a legacy branch); the mechanism is unchanged and the grade stays C.
  • Code links. 14 more entries now link their code repository, where the sources, the grade record and the tracked repository agree.
  • The Odyssey-3 claim (the post): No method, code or write-up was published as of 21 Oct 2026. The verdict row stays U.
  • Views. 10 gallery videos have new view counts, read from YouTube search pages sorted by views on 21 Oct 2026 (approximate). Video ids we found that are not in the gallery stay leads until they are checked.
  • Repositories of 141 catalogue entries checked; of 277 link rows, FlyDoom's repository still answers "not found". All 56 gallery videos available. Package check: only setuptools has a newer release (84.2.1); none of the beginner guide's pins changed.

What we could not resolve

  • The match is on spike count only. The matched scrambled brains fire in 1,256 to 2,741 neurons, against 427 and 446 in the real brain. The closing covers 2 input draws on the same 4 scrambled graphs, at 30 spikes/s only.
  • Two matches sit near the band edges: 0.75 (left, shuffle 4) and 1.29 (right, shuffle 5) of the real count.
  • At this input our body rule does not separate real from scrambled on the right side. The real brain turned the fly about 9.2 degrees, also under our 10-degree rule, against 1.3 for the scrambled brain; only the brain-level turn signal separates them (6 against at most 1 spike/s).
  • New ledger rows. All rest on the authors' committed numbers (README numbers only for FlyGateDemo, whose code is C#); none was re-run by us. Some values are midpoints of reported ranges, computed by us and marked as such.
  • New projects. Our GitHub search found 12 more repositories that we have not checked yet; they are not in the catalogue.

Earlier: report of 18 Oct 2026 (the first input draw), report of 19 Oct 2026 (its body walk) and report of 20 Oct 2026 (browser check).

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