To understand how cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs) help form many more body parts than the skull and facial skeleton, scientists from the lab of Gage Crump created a series of atlases over time to understand the molecular decisions by which CNCCs commit to forming specific tissues in developing zebrafish. The researchers labeled and tracked CNCCs throughout the lifetime of zebrafish. With the help of a new computational analysis they created, they identified genetic signs that point to the specific tissues CNCCs were destined to form. The researchers also identified many of the potential switches that allow CNCCs to form these very different cell types.