RSS Feed
April 16th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - The ‘brain’ will take 12 years to build
- It will feature thousands of three-dimensional images built around a semi-circular ‘cockpit’
By
Tamara Cohen
13:27 EST, 15 April 2012
|
14:14 EST, 15 April 2012
The human brain’s power could rival any machine. And now scientists are trying to build one using the world’s most powerful computer.
It is intended to combine all the information so far uncovered about its mysterious workings – and replicate them on a screen, right down to the level of individual cells and molecules.
If it works it could be revolutionary for understanding devastating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and even shedding light into how we think, and make decisions.
Ambitious: Scientists are hoping to build a computer that will simulate the entire human brain
Leading the project is Professor Henry Markram based in Switzerland, who will be working with scientists from across Europe including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute at Cambridge.
They hope to complete it within 12 years. He said: ‘The complexity of the brain, with its billions of interconnected neurons, makes it hard for neuroscientists to truly understand how it works.
‘Simulating it will make it much easier – allowing them to manipulate and measure any aspect of the brain.’
Housed at a facility in Dusseldorf in Germany, the ‘brain’ will feature thousands of three-dimensional images built around a semi-circular ‘cockpit’ so scientists can virtually ‘fly’ around different areas and watch how they communicate with each other.
It aims to integrate all the neuroscience research being carried out all over the world – an estimated 60,000 scientific papers every year – into one platform.
The project has received some funding from the EU and has been shortlisted for a 1 billion euro (£825million) EU grant which will be decided next month.
When complete it could be used to test new drugs, which could dramatically shorten the time required for licencing them than human trials, and pave the way for more intelligent robots and computers.
There are inevitably concerns about the consequences of this ‘manipulation’ and creating computers which can think for themselves. In Germany the media have dubbed the researchers ‘Team Frankenstein’.
Graphic: Corbis
But Prof Markram said: ‘This will, when successful, help two billion people annually who suffer from some type of brain impairment.
‘This is one of the three grand challenges for humanity. We need to understand earth, space and the brain. We need to understand what makes us human.’
Over the past 15 years his team have painstakingly studied and managed to produce a computer simulation of a cortical column – one of the small building blocks of a mammal’s brain.
They have also simulated part of a rat’s brain using a computer. But the human brain is a totally different proposition.
High energy consumption: The computer will require the output of a nuclear power station like Sellafield, pictured here
Our brains have 100 billion neurons. Each one performs billions of ‘calculations’ per second – roughly similar to a desktop computer.
So the brain computer will need to be able to do a billion billion calculations which will require the output of a nuclear power station.
Finding a way to power the supercomputer will be one of the researchers’ major challenges.
The brain is still largely an unknown quantity for researchers and unravelling its mysteries – which have evolved over millions of years – is widely considered the final frontier of science.
Richard Walker, who works with Professor Markram, said: ‘Our brains consume tiny amounts of energy but they last for 90 or more years.
‘At the moment we cannot even afford to run the biggest computers we could build, so if we can find out how the brain works, it could bring huge advances.’
Disorders of the brain, from depression and mental illness to the diseases of old age such as Alzheimer’s – which affects 800,000 people in Britain – are also a growing problem.
David Cameron recently pledged £66million to fund research into the ‘national crisis’ of dementia.
-
Still starstruck: Young Belgian’s misery three years after…
-
Qatar named as the fattest nation on earth where HALF of all…
-
Haunting pictures of boots and a coat at Titanic wreck site…
-
New York Jets star fathers TEN children with EIGHT different…
-
Diana’s niece and the royal send-up: Alcoholic-fuelled poses…
-
Epic fail: North Korea’s botched rocket launch is mocked in…
-
San Franfrazzled: Once-in-a-lifetime picture of lightning…
-
Teacher ‘had sex with a student while her daughter slept in…
-
Hunt to find a home for loyal dog who refused to leave her…
-
Family sues landlord after ‘ghosts’ force them to flee…
-
Indian politicians place $2000 bounty on vampires ‘who have…
-
Livin’ la vida loca! Hillary Clinton knocks back a beer and…
Share this article:
Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.
The comments below have not been moderated.
-
Newest -
Oldest -
Best rated -
Worst rated
Please hand one out to each student starting in kindergarten. Our society could use it.
Report abuse
“I am fully operational and all my circuits are working perfectly.” Seriously, there is a huge difference between building a simulated brain, which can mimic the electro-chemical processes of the human brain, and making a self-aware entity that can think for itself. Even HAL was only carrying out the instructions that had been programmed into him.
Report abuse
Remarkable, nature can build a brain in 9 months and scientist will take 12 years. Isn’t life forms and the universe wonderful?
Report abuse
Nobody has the faintest idea how the human brain produces consciouness,that’s no idea at all- Brains, Tracy Island, 15/4/2012 22:07
============= They do. Neuroscience has made massive steps over the past 10 years and we are beginning to understand but the concious and unconcious and how they interact in a way that has never been possible before. Just because you don’t know about this research doesn’t make it non-existent!
Report abuse
I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Dave
Report abuse
The human brain is the most important organ in our bodies and we know comparatively little about it. The value of this research will be priceless.
Report abuse
“why not use a portion of everyones pc eg make a free app like a virus scanner insted of paying for it its alowed to take a portion of your processor and use that, that way you have billions of connections to run it no need to build it then
– Dave, fife, 16/4/2012 00:49”
To get anywhere close to a brain’s complexity you’d need 50 times more computers than there are on the entire planet and not all of them will be available at the same time all the time.
Report abuse
why not use a portion of everyones pc eg make a free app like a virus scanner insted of paying for it its alowed to take a portion of your processor and use that, that way you have billions of connections to run it no need to build it then
Report abuse
If they want to save on material and labour, they can build a benefits-chav’s brain. It should only cost about 3.99 in parts, and contain about 73 neurons.
Report abuse
I suspect this has very little to do with ‘fighting against brain disease’ and everything to do with the IBM Checkmate Project.
Report abuse
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Posted in 
Tags: 
