A new map shows off these structures in a rainbow of colors. By Greg Miller, Science NOW To the unaided eye, the most striking feature of the human brain is its squiggly pattern of bumps and grooves.

Different grid cells have hexagonal firing patterns with different spatial scales and offsets, allowing them to cover the entire 2D plane. Because of the striking symmetry, regularity and consistency ...

Grid cells provide the entorhinal–hippocampal spatial map with a metric. The regular structure of the grid pattern is likely to depend on path integration.

The strange pattern was clearly man-made. In older imagery from Bing and Nokia Maps taken prior to 2004, the strange pattern wasn't visible, indicating the shapes appeared more recently.

The new findings also suggest that grid patterns may be more prevalent in humans. Human grid cells were found in the entorhinal cortex – same as the rats – but also in the cingulate cortex.

Hint: It’s not due north. Seriously. Look at the map. Streets in other cities — Chicago and (sigh) Raleigh — go north-south and east-west in a classic grid pattern.

However, whether a grid pattern is visible at a particular point depends on when users log on. The interactive map available on the website only records the previous 48 hours of data.

The strange pattern was clearly man-made. In older imagery from Bing and Nokia Maps taken prior to 2004, the strange pattern wasn't visible, indicating the shapes appeared more recently.