China's 1-Gram Wireless Microscope Enables Real-Time Brain Imaging in Moving Animals

Researchers at Zhejiang University have built a device that weighs less than a postage stamp and transmits high-resolution neural data wirelessly from freely moving mice, eliminating the tethering that previously confined neuroscience experiments to stationary animals. Behavioral neuroscience can now observe mice in movement rather than under constraint, revealing how neural circuits function during natural behavior. The advancement also reflects China's growing competitiveness in precision biomedical instrumentation, a domain historically dominated by Western institutions.