🧠DesktopFly: A 3D Fruit Fly Driven by Real Neurons on macOS
Meet the fruit fly that thinks like a real one, right on your desktop
TL;DR
DesktopFly is an open-source project simulating a 3D fruit fly with live spiking neurons. It walks, grooms, and reacts just like the real thing, driven by a FlyWire connectome simulation.
DesktopFly is a macOS desktop app that brings a 3D fruit fly to life using a live spiking neural network simulation of the real FlyWire connectome. The fly's behavior, from walking across windows to grooming and fleeing the cursor, mirrors its biological counterpart. If you're curious about neurobiology or want an interactive way to explore how neurons drive behavior, DesktopFly is worth checking out. It requires macOS 13+, Xcode Command Line Tools (Swift 5.9+), and can be installed by cloning a GitHub repository.
Key Points
DesktopFly runs on macOS 13+, requires Xcode Command Line Tools (Swift 5.9+), and installs via GitHub clone
The fly's brain window includes 23,210 real neuron soma positions from FlyWire v783 with live spikes flashing at real neuron locations
Controls include Pause/Resume, Show/Hide Brain, Escape Test, Move to Next Display, Add/Remove Fly, and Scare Flies
The project downloads compact derived files (~60 MB) from the raw FlyWire Codex dumps for data regeneration
DesktopFly is licensed under MIT with CC BY-NC 4.0 for derived files in data/
Why It Matters
If you're interested in neurobiology or want to explore how neurons drive behavior, DesktopFly offers an interactive way to do so. It's particularly engaging for those who work on neural simulations and need a tangible example of real-time neuron activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this matter?
If you're interested in neurobiology or want to explore how neurons drive behavior, DesktopFly offers an interactive way to do so. It's particularly engaging for those who work on neural simulations and need a tangible example of real-time neuron activity.
What happened?
DesktopFly is an open-source project simulating a 3D fruit fly with live spiking neurons. It walks, grooms, and reacts just like the real thing, driven by a FlyWire connectome simulation.
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