This week saw the launch of a 10-year (or so) project between IBM and a Swiss university team to model the entire
human brain. The Blue Brain project will involve building a new computer based on IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer (one of
the top 5 fastest). The team will start by modelling the electrical structure of neural circuits repeated throughout
the brain and then map and model their behavior. Once complete, they will move onto creating a molecular model of the
neurons involved and a complete neocortex (the largest and most complex part of the human brain) before modelling the
rest of the brain. The end product will then (hopefully) give us an understanding of certain malfunctions in the
brain's "microcircuits" which are thought to cause psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, depression and
internal doubts that Apple would ever go Intel.
[Via NewScientist]