Gyrafold

Explore the human brain in 3D, right in your browser. Tap a structure to see what it does and what it connects to, then quiz yourself until the names stick.

Open Gyrafold Take the 5-minute tour

Free. No account. Works on a phone.

Colour-coded 3D model of the human brain, seen from the left and slightly above

How a brain signals

Each row is a model neuron and each tick is a spike. Most of the time the neurons fire at random; when a stimulus arrives (the cyan band), many fire together. This is a simulation for illustration, not recorded data.

What you can do

  • Explore in 3DRotate, zoom and cut through the brain on three planes. Isolate any region to see it alone.
  • Drill into the partsOpen a region such as the thalamus and step into each of its nuclei, with what each one does.
  • Learn at your levelBeginner and expert lessons for each structure, with every claim linked to its source.
  • Practice that sticksFind-it and name-it quizzes with spaced review bring back what you are about to forget.
  • Use it anywhereOn a phone the panel becomes a sheet you drag up; one finger rotates, two fingers zoom.
Gyrafold on a phone: the brain at the top and a structure page for the left superior frontal gyrus in a sheet below

How it's made

  • Real anatomyThe 3D models come from the SPL/NAC Brain Atlas (Halle et al., 2017). A Python and VTK pipeline converts its 359 source files into 328 web-ready models.
  • Cited lessonsEvery point in a lesson links to its source, mostly peer-reviewed StatPearls chapters and OpenStax textbooks.
  • Learning scienceQuizzes use retrieval practice and a Leitner spaced-review schedule, and they ask how confident you were.
  • Private by designNo accounts, cookies or trackers. Your progress stays in your own browser.
  • Open sourceBuilt with AI assistance. The source is open on GitHub.

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