Wormbrain

A real worm brain. Running in your browser.

This is C. elegans, a 1 mm worm whose whole nervous system has been mapped. All 302 of its neurons are wired here as the maps show. Poke it, feed it, shine a light on it, and watch which neurons decide what it does.

  • 302 neurons
  • 4,665 chemical connections
  • 1,096 gap-junction links
  • 95 body-wall muscles
Crawling forward
Nothing is touching it. A steady trickle into the forward command neuron AVB keeps it crawling.
Forward · AVB PVC
Backward · AVA AVD AVE
Which way the command neurons are tipping, relative to rest. It reverses when backward pulls clearly ahead.
Tap the head or tail · tap the dish to drop foodTap head · tail · dish

The brain, live

Every dot is one of its 302 neurons, grouped by kind. They light up as they fire. The strip below is the 95 body-wall muscles, laid out from head to tail.

Sensory 83Interneurons 81Motor 108Pharynx 20Other 10

How it works

The real wiring

Every connection comes from the electron-microscopy maps of Cook et al. (2019): which neuron connects to which, and how big each contact is. Nothing here is invented or trained.

A simple brain model

Each neuron is a leaky unit that adds up its inputs. The maps don't say which synapses excite and which inhibit, so we follow common choices: the 26 GABA neurons inhibit, the touch circuit uses OpenWorm's c302 signs, and the rest excite. It's a toy model, not a full biophysical simulation.

Neurons drive, the body follows

The body on screen is an animation steered by the neurons. The forward (AVB, PVC) and backward (AVA, AVD, AVE) command neurons pick direction and speed, AIY and AIB tip runs versus reversals, ASEL and ASER steer it toward food, and the head muscles pick which way it turns.

Touch the nose. FLP, ALM and AVM fire, the backward command neurons (led by AVD) take over, and it backs up, then turns away.
Touch the tail. PLM and PVD wake PVC and AVB, and it speeds off forward.
Drop food. The smell switches AWA on and AWC off, so it stops reversing. ASEL and ASER feel it getting stronger or weaker and steer it in. On the pellet it slows down and the pharynx neurons fire.
Turn on the light. The light-sensing neurons ASJ, ASK, ASH and AWB fire and it backs away, then settles as they adapt.

$Wormbrain

The Wormbrain coin. Launching on pump.fun.

CA: coming soon