Hobbyists Use AI Coders to Perturb Courtship Circuits in a Simulated Male Fruit Fly Brain

Days after scientists released the first complete wiring map of a male fruit fly’s brain and nerve cord, independent developers using AI coding agents have begun running that connectome in sandbox simulations and probing circuits tied to courtship. The official map, published in Cell00942-6) on 3 September 2026, catalogues more than 166,000 neurons and about 125 million synapses in *Drosophila melanogaster*, including male-specific pathways that drive tracking, wing song, and other reproductive behaviors.