Better late than never, Kurzweil reports on researchers generating a human brain blueprint.
Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have generated a blueprint for how to build a human brain at unprecedented anatomical resolution.
This first major report using data from the the BrainSpan Atlas of the Developing Human Brain is published in the journal Nature. The data provide insight into diseases like autism that are linked to early brain development, and to the origins of human uniqueness. The rich data set is publicly available via the Allen Brain Atlas data portal.
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The Allen Institute for Brain Science has released an open-access database of live human brain cells:
It contains data on the electrical properties of about 300 cortical neurons taken from 36 patients and 3D reconstructions of 100 of those cells, plus gene expression data from 16,000 neurons from three other patients.
Neurosurgeons near Seattle, Washington provided cells from epilepsy and brain tumor patients that were previously considered to be medical waste.
Previously: A Blueprint for How to Build a Human Brain
Related: Millions of Functional Human Cells Can be Created in Days With OPTi-OX
(Score: 1) by hellcat on Tuesday April 22 2014, @12:27AM
Ray's a great self-promoter. Maybe very smart, but I'm still dubious. I have a real strong hunch that there's still a lot under our hoods that we haven't discovered yet.
(Score: 1) by e_armadillo on Tuesday April 22 2014, @12:34AM
We may have come a long way since science thought that the brain was a cooling system for the "almighty heart", but not as far as many may think. "The little grey cells" have many mysteries to be uncovered, for certain.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 2) by TheLink on Tuesday April 22 2014, @03:31AM
Can they even build/simulate a single neuron and figure out how it works to 99.99%?
Just because someone can draw a detailed picture of something doesn't mean they can build a working version.
If you ask me, I'd say many single cell creatures can think[1]. The main problem most animal brains solve is not thinking, but controlling and using a multicellular body (interfacing with muscles and sensory systems).
They may not be geniuses but if you only had the senses and capabilities of a single celled creature, how smart would you need to be anyway?
[1] http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=450&cid=113 84 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 22 2014, @04:27AM
now if i can just convert it to LEGO blueprint, it's on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 22 2014, @08:42AM
I remember a quote from an old eighties sitcom that sort of goes: "Do you have a blueprint for your brain? I'm building an idiot."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 22 2014, @09:04AM
Plant sperm in egg, wait nine months for brain to grow.
Kurzweil discovered sex?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Tuesday April 22 2014, @11:29AM
What I really want is a way to save the knowledge and experience of existing people. Tons of valuable knowledge and experience are dying every day and are lost forever.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 22 2014, @04:17PM
More importantly, is it balanced?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 22 2014, @10:31PM
So much for a good car analogy...