Recently James blogged about the male brain which inevitably led to a discussion on whether or not there is a difference between male and female brains. Very soon we may have another type of brain to worry about because scientists are currently working on trying to build an artificial brain.
Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project says it is not impossible to build a human brain and that it can be done within the next 10 years.
They are hoping the project will help them understand brain diseases and disorders which may lead to new treatments.
The Blue Brain project at Swizerland’s EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) was launched in 2005 and aims to reverse engineer the mammalian brain from laboratory data.
In particular, his team has focused on the neocortical column – repetitive units of the mammalian brain known as the neocortex.
“It’s a new brain,” he explained. “The mammals needed it because they had to cope with parenthood, social interactions complex cognitive functions.
“It was so successful an evolution from mouse to man it expanded about a thousand fold in terms of the numbers of units to produce this almost frightening organ.”
And that evolution continues, he said. “It is evolving at an enormous speed.”
Your knowledge never ceases to impress me!
Aww! I just blog about me and things I find interesting along the way
My earlier comment didn’t get through…502 error.Same error also popped up when I clicked on my link to you.
Yes I am having intermittent problems myself too. I have submitted a works ticket to the web host, the problem is with them.
Ah, now that was very, very interesting. Uber – Cherie had blog problems yesterday. I couldn’t access her either for a while.
Interesting and a little scary!!!
I read in one of our weekend papers a few weeks back where scientists are confident of developing human sperm. While in medical instances all this research may become invaluable, the implications are vast and not always good.
Hi Nunyaa nice to see you again. Sometimes I think they do things just to prove they can without thinking of the consequences.
Well we already have AI why not an artificial brain?
It is certainly a fascinating idea. I does rather remind of some of the SciFi stories where the machines and computers take over.
It is fascianting and also scary. But if it helps find a way to cure cruel neurological diseases, I am for it.
It is rather scary but I agree it would be good if we could cure those diseases!