Scientists at MIT replicate brain {synapse} activity with chip

[eppur_se_muova]

Scientists are getting closer to the dream of creating computer systems that can replicate the brain.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a computer chip that mimics how the brain's neurons adapt in response to new information.

Such chips could eventually enable communication between artificially created body parts and the brain.

It could also pave the way for artificial intelligence devices.

There are about 100 billion neurons in the brain, each of which forms synapses - the connections between neurons that allow information to flow - with many other neurons.
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The MIT team, led by research scientist Chi-Sang Poon, has been able to design a computer chip that can simulate the activity of a single brain synapse.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15772240




So much for that one transistor = one neuron idea. :)

[MilesColtrane]

1. So, we'd only need a computer with 40 quadrillion transistors to build a human brain?

(And, there's the simple matter of the software too.)

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Well, we can always save resources by building a Republican brain ...

but we wouldn't learn anything from it.

[Turbineguy]

3. Damn!

Beat me to it!

[Thor_MN]

4. Hell, I have an old black and white TV in the garage that can replicate the GOP brain

Nothing but static...