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Beautiful scientific drawings that changed how we understand the brain

Popkin
Oct 09, 2025
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Long before brain scans and neural networks, two scientists used chemistry and ink to uncover what the brain actually looks like. In the late 1800s, Italian scientist Camillo Golgi developed a staining method he called the “black reaction,” a chemical process using silver nitrate that made individual nerve cells turn jet black under the microscope. Sudd…

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