An Australian mapmaker discovers a part of the brain that allows you to play the piano

"He found me. It looked me in the eye for 30 years, "he says.

Professor Paxinos has spent more than 40 years using a 4B pencil to hand draw extremely detailed maps of the human brain.

He is one of the most important Australian scientists and his brain atlases are among the most cited neuroscience publications and are used in surgery.

Its newly discovered region is integrated with a major neuronal highway that connects the spinal cord and the brain. This part of the brain is known to be involved in the way we control the movements of our limbs and our body.

Generally, human brains look a lot like monkey brains – they're just bigger. But when Professor Paxinos went looking for his new area in other animals, he could not find it. This seems to be a unique part of the human brain involved in the control of movement.

What movements can we make that monkeys can not? Perhaps the endorestial kernel is linked to our unique ability to move our fingers with great precision, speculates Professor Paxinos.

"Monkeys, you do not see them playing pianos, is not it?" He said.

But Professor Paxinos is only the cartographer: now that he has discovered the new region, it is up to the other scientists to determine what he is doing.

He has already discovered many areas, but this discovery is particularly special because it allows him to do the complete tour. He published his first brainstem atlas 28 years ago: "I saw something unusual in this area. Very striking cells.

"But I did not have the audacity to say that it was a separate structure."

For the new edition, soon available, he decided to return to this curious place and study it intensively for a few days. Almost immediately he noticed was different – an island of separate cells, with their own unique connections and chemistry.

"At least I would say how stupid I am to have studied it in more detail 30 years ago," he laughs.

To create a new atlas, the team cuts a brain sample horizontally into about 200 ultra-thin slices.

These are then photographed in very high resolution and blown on prints of one meter by one meter before being placed on tables around a space the size of a conference room.

Professor Paxinos can then browse a giant representation of the brain and retrace its neural highways and remote roads.

"He will hold his pencil and magnifying glass on each region," says Dr. Steve Kassem, a postdoctoral fellow in his lab.

"He chooses a small box, then follows it through about 100 photos from beginning to end, to try to follow the different structures that should exist in this area."

When he discovered this last region, as he did at each new place he mapped, he stopped and took a step back.

His long-time collaborator and co-author, Charles Watson, went to the back of their lab in Sydney and released a saxophone.

Professor Paxinos sat down and Professor Watson put his fingers on the brass keys and played. And, together, they enjoyed the feeling of discovery.