What Neurons Look Like (as Drawn by Students, Grad Students, and Professors)

What Neurons Look Like (as Drawn by Students, Grad Students, and Professors)

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What would you draw if somebody told you to draw a neuron?

According to a new study, your sketch will depend on how much science education you have, but not in the way you’d expect. In the image above, the top row — those detailed, labeled, neat renderings — are the work of undergraduates. The bottom row, with their janky, sparse lines, come from the leaders of neuroscience research laboratories. That martini-glass looking thing over there on the left? That’s a neuron, as drawn by a professional scientist. The middle row, some intermediary step, shows drawings from postdocs and graduate students.