Dr Denk, for example, tracks the myriad branches of a single nerve cell using an enzyme from horseradish.

ECONOMIST: Connectomics aims to map the atlas of the brain

Dr Denk is speeding matters up by using a scanning electron microscope instead.

ECONOMIST: Connectomics aims to map the atlas of the brain

Dr Denk (or, rather, his graduate students) are thus able to load the machine with a chunk of plasticised brain and a slicer.

ECONOMIST: Connectomics aims to map the atlas of the brain

Crucially, Denk says he spends about 10 to 15 hours week on his own research of these collectibles, so he has amassed a considerable amount of knowledge about them.

FORBES: A Portfolio Manager's Top Investment Pick? Vintage Paper Financial Documents

It may be a small market, but it seems to be working for Denk, who has no plans to change his the amount of vintage financial documents in his portfolio.

FORBES: A Portfolio Manager's Top Investment Pick? Vintage Paper Financial Documents

Winfried Denk of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, estimates that it would take a graduate student (the workhorse of all academic laboratories) about 130, 000 years to reconstruct the circuitry of such a column.

ECONOMIST: Connectomics aims to map the atlas of the brain