April 3, 2012

Build a better brain?

Artificial brains are on the rise, powered by huge investment, exponential growth in computer power, and new insights in everything from statistics to biochemistry.

In Seattle, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pledged US$300-million last week for a series of “brain observatories” that will model the visual parts of mice brains, and allow researchers to “capture fundamental aspects of higher brain function: from perception to conscious awareness, decision-making and action.”

In Toronto, a team at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute is about to release a working model of its Virtual Brain, which aims to recreate the structure and function of grey matter, including its “plasticity,” or the capacity to reorganize after damage.

Read the rest of article here by the National Post

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