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Beautiful scientific drawings that changed how we understand the brain

Popkin
Oct 09, 2025
∙ Paid

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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