The online Kymata Atlas, a joint project and between the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC-CBSU) that allows users to browse more than 7,000GB of neuroimaging data, has entered beta testing.

The atlas currently has 20 aspects of brain function such as ‘loudness’ available for the public to view and explore, although the MRC-CBSU says this figure will grow in the future.

The Brain Sciences Unit, which was established in 1944, investigates a number of areas of human cognition and the disorders that affect it in order to develop new treatments for memory problems and depression.

Speaking about the Kymata Atlas and its move into beta, Dr Andrew Thwaites, who leads the project, said the unit was fortunate to have “both the most advanced imaging equipment in the world, and the necessary High Performance Computing power needed to analyse the data acquired with this equipment. It is hoped that sharing our findings in their entirety online will allow researchers to check our results in an open and transparent way.”