that's why I totally agree with Dave Featherstone arguing that "If we're going to understand brain function by mapping the brain, we need to include most of the brain in our map." http://www.nature.com/nature... - Attila Csordas

i disagree, glial cells are nowhere near as important in terms of function - Christopher Harris

do you disagree with the analogy or with the argument that glial connectome should be mapped too? 2 different issues, I guess it's easier to disagree w/ the analogy - Attila Csordas

Glial cells are neuroscience's "junk" DNA? - Eric Jain

yep, they were the "non-coding" "redundant" "repetitive" parts of the brain in the past but that's about to change http://www.nature.com/nature... - Attila Csordas

The view that glia do not influence function in the brain is becoming quite antiquated. There is mounting evidence that glial "seals" around individual synapses actually influence transmission through the removal of transmitter from the synaptic cleft as well as by direct release of transmitters and other cofactors. Add in the work of Dwight Bergles from Hopkins revealing that a class of glia called NG2+ cells actually receive synaptic inputs and the argument over the relevance of glia to function quickly diminishes... - Noah Gray

got an answer back from Dave Featherstone: "Yeah, that's a good analogy. The original version of my column said the connectome would be like if the human genome had only sequenced exons. But that sentence was cut for space considerations" - Attila Csordas