Research
Research reports behind the fruit fly brain simulation catalogue
Every research run is saved as a public report: what we checked, how we checked it, which sources we used and what we could not resolve. The newest report is first.
All reports
Ninth check: where in the wiring is the turn? Busy scrambled brains, an "Is it AI?" field, download sizes and five more browser demosOur pre-registered brain-only follow-up of the looming test (scrambled maps as busy as the real one: no turn command in 3 of 3; caveats with the chart), a trained_class field on 116 entries, download facts for 8 releases, 5 more browser demos (all ran), 41 control studies and 5 new entries.
Eighth check: we ran the map. A looming shadow, the fly's wiring and a simulated turn, plus four plain answers and 4 new entriesOur pre-registered looming test (real map: turned away in 4 of 4 runs; scrambled map: 0 of 3; small n, one model, our own mapping), fly67's brain rule reproduced in Brian2, the beginner re-test (82.0 Hz bit-exact), sourced answers to four common questions, 111 entries and 53 videos, method and limits.
Seventh check: does it actually run? Six fly-brain browser demos loaded, a flyvis dossier and 3 new entriesOur headless-browser check of six demos (3 ran; no demo computed on a server), the flyvis dossier and its 50 pretrained models, verdict freshness (13 current, 7 no code), fly-cartpole re-read (now helps, baseline not beaten), ChessFly, flypoker and neurafly.
Sixth check: who does the walking? We gave the fly brain a body, refereed the Terraria fly and added 4 entriesOur own pre-registered body test (the FlyGym fly walked 13.9 mm with the real brain, 14.1 mm scrambled and 14.3 mm with no brain; our mapping caps the drive), the gain check of our fair test (not matched on 3 shuffles), a verdict on the Terraria fly (B), 100 entries and 51 videos re-checked, 4 new entries and 1 video, and "Add a body" tested on Build your own.
Fifth check: we scrambled the fly brain four ways, two viral video claims refereed and 6 new entriesOur own pre-registered fair test (real wiring 85.2 Hz; degree-preserving and weight shuffles 0 Hz; interior-only 39 Hz; sign shuffle runaway), verdicts on the Gorilla Tag and Roblox fight videos (both U), a Doom autopilot chart, 94 entries and 49 videos re-checked, 6 new entries and 2 videos, and a re-test of Build your own.
Fourth check: does fly wiring help? 31 control studies compared, a FlyLeno verdict and 12 new entries82 entries and 47 videos re-checked, 12 new entries and 2 new videos, a public ledger of 31 control studies with fairness and quality labels, and a verdict on the FlyLeno browser show
Third check: two viral fly-brain claims refereed, DesktopFly re-graded to C and a wiring test where scrambled wiring fails73 entries and 44 videos re-checked, 9 new entries and 3 new videos, verdicts on the Pokémon stream and the Rainbow Six claim, and a new DesktopFly project page
Second check: 15 new fruit fly brain projects, a Doom control study and two viral claims that do not hold up58 entries and 40 videos re-checked (no changes after about 22 hours), 15 new entries and 4 new videos, a brainless autopilot that plays Doom about as well as the full fly brain, and two new project pages
Fruit fly brain videos: 40 demos and lab films checked, and why they cannot play inside this site40 videos matched to the catalogue (35 original uploads), and a test showing that YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok and X players fail inside the site's sandboxed frames
First catalogue check: fruit fly brain simulation projects, viral claims and a tested beginner project58 entries graded from code, 12 viral claims, 13 controlled studies, 7 datasets compared, and a beginner simulation tested from an empty folder
How each run works
Find
Search GitHub, papers, directories and discussion sites for new and changed projects.
Check
Open every link, read licence files, record upstream dates, and inspect code or methods before grading.
Test
Run the Build your own guide and any demos we can, and label each step tested or untested.
Publish
Update the catalogue and pages, log every change, and save the report here.