About

Fly Brain Simulations or Fruit Fly Brain Mapped, also known as Fly Brain Memes or Fly Playing Beat Saber, refers to a viral video and series of memes surrounding the release of the complete connectome (a complete map of the neural connections in the brain) of an adult male fruit fly (Drosophila) by HHMI Janelia Research Campus and Google Research in early September 2026.

Following the publication of the brain map, users began experimenting with the openly available data by connecting simulations of the fly's neural network to various simulations, video games like Beat Saber, web browsers, stock, crypto and meme coin-trading bots and virtual environments in games like Minecraft, turning the scientific dataset into a source of jokes and experimental projects, often with absurd concepts and videos showing the fly performing the action.

Origin

The meme originated on September 3rd, 2026, following the release of MaleCNS v1.0, a complete wiring diagram of an adult male fruit fly's central nervous system created by HHMI Janelia's FlyEM team, the Cambridge Connectomics Group and Google Research.^[1][2]

The dataset maps roughly 165,000–166,000 neurons and millions of synaptic connections, traced from electron-microscope images of a real fly. It was released as an openly available dataset that could be downloaded and simulated, following earlier efforts such as FlyWire's mapping of the female fruit fly brain.^[1][2]

Later on September 3rd, the official News from Google X^[6] / Twitter account (@NewsFromGoogle) tweeted about the scientific breakthrough, garnering over 13.4 million views, 27,000 likes and 380 replies in eight days.

Within days of the release, developers began running leaky-integrate-and-fire simulations of the connectome and connecting the fly's sensory and motor neurons to external inputs and outputs.

On September 7th, 2026, YouTuber Ro0oney uploaded a video titled "I Put A Fly's Conscious Brain into Minecraft," showing how they simulated the fruit fly in the video game Minecraft. The upload received over 241,000 views and 10,000 likes in three days, becoming one of the earliest major viral posts about the fly brain and simulations using it.

Spread

Additional simulations using the virtual fruit fly brain continued appearing over the following days and weeks as it garnered virality, sparking considerable discourse and memes in September 2026.

On September 8th, 2026, X^[3] user @lyraaaa posted a video captioned, “the fly brain can play beat saber,” showing the fruit fly brain being used in the game. The post received approximately 22 million views and 84,800 likes in two days.

On September 10th, 2026, X^[4] user @nftechie_, also known as Alex Wormuth, posted a video titled “I gave the fly brain $100 to trade bitcoin,” explaining that dopamine neurons are stimulated when the fly makes a profit. The post received approximately 3.4 million views and 28,500 likes in one day.

Later that day, X^[5] user @alright_mark, also known as Breg Grockman, posted a video captioned, “the fly has completed* the ultimate test: parallel parking,” showing the simulated fly-brain system driving. The post received approximately 1.5 million views and 16,000 likes in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References