Jun, J.J. et al. Nature 551, 232–236 (2017).

So far, extracellular recording electrodes have been limited to a few recording sites per shank. In a large collaborative effort across several labs with the backing of major funding organizations, Jun et al. have developed high-performance electrodes that harbor almost a thousand recording sites. 384 of these sites can be used simultaneously. Because of their length, the Neuropixels probes can record from several brain regions, which the team demonstrated by recording from the mouse cortex, hippocampus and thalamus using a single probe. When inserting two probes into the brain of a mouse, the researchers could measure the activity of almost 750 neurons. Finally, the Neuropixels probes are compatible with chronic recordings over weeks.