The document describes a new technique called CLARITY that allows intact biological tissues to be made optically transparent while preserving native molecular structures. CLARITY transforms tissues into a hydrogel-hybridized construct that is transparent and permeable to macromolecules. This allows for high-resolution microscopic imaging of intact tissues down to the subcellular level. CLARITY has been applied to map neural circuits in intact mouse brains and analyze human brain samples at the subcellular level, providing a way to gain new insights into biological systems.