Neuropixels, which come in several versions, record electrical activity from hundreds to thousands of neurons simultaneously. Neurons are nerve cells that receive, process and transmit information.

While the data collected has led to insights on the neural basis of perception and decision-making, those probes cannot sample fine-scale brain structures. They also are limited in resolving (separately distinguishing) the electrical fields around individual brain cells.

A newly developed probe, called Neuropixels Ultra, overcomes some key technical challenges in recording the cell type and activity of thousands of individual cells across many brain regions during a single experiment.